HD Video Editing: Forget Notebooks!
Stepping up to HD video means an immense increase in demands on PC hardware. Our tests show that efficient work is basically impossible on anything less than a system equipped with a dual-core processor. Even though a system based on a "fast" Pentium 4 running at 3.2 GHz with HyperThreading may be more than sufficient for everyday use, it can't stand up to the demands of HD video processing.
We use a system that's a real performer for editing video: it's built around an Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 955, and so can use HyperThreading to access four virtual processors. Such a system needs at least 1 GB of RAM, and fast hard disks configured into a RAID 0 array are also important; 2 GB of RAM is optimal, and it should be rated at DDR2-667 or higher.
Those who want to maximize performance can boost memory clock rates up to DDR2-1000 - that is, to an actual 500 MHz on the memory bus. You'll find those details in "In Search of True DDR2 Bleeding Edge Memory: Optimal DRAM for Overclocking".
Our Test Platform: A powerful system with a Pentium EE 955, featuring four virtual processors thanks to dual cores and HyperThreading. The AMD FX-60 is only slightly more powerful, and is also equipped with two CPU cores.
Editing HD video really screams on a system with a Pentium EE, which offers dual 3.47 GHz processors.