Rupert - I edit HD (hdv transcoded or rendering to prores, dvcprohd,) at 1080p every day in fcp on a macbook pro. You definitely want one or more good FW800 or esata drives, though I'd think a 5400rpm internal should handle it (though without much in the way of real time effects). I've even done color correction for other people's HD projects on this system (using an MXO for output), though they're doing the final renders on their own systems.
That's also not editing native h.264, which I doubt I'd do even if FCP handled it without a hiccup and with 10 streams using 6 layers each of effects in real time.but that's just me and my snooty image control issues. Brook _______________________________________________________ Brook Hinton film/video/audio art www.brookhinton.com studio vlog/blog: www.brookhinton.com/temporalab
