Final Cut Studio 2

I think that what I am asking is whether my Mac in the US would plug in and play in Europe? Or would a special converter be necessary?

steve B)

Power supply issues would be the only thing, if I am understanding correctly. Some of the software will be localized to different default installs. But FW is FW, USB is USB, etc.

I think that what I am asking is whether my Mac in the US would plug in and play in Europe? Or would a special converter be necessary?

steve B)

no reason why it would not work in europe. i am pretty sure that all macs come with support for 110-240v 50-60hz for electricity, and pal/ntsc are only worries for broadcast tv and video/dvd i think, and even then it's only when you render that you chose the format, i think.

i have brought back computers from the US to france with no worries whatsoever. in fact a buddy of mine just bought a new macbook pro last week in the us and he's had no issues in the uk, at least that he has seen.

i am pretty sure that all macs come with support for 110-240v 50-60hz for electricity

Think they do, but the outlets are different in some places, so there would be an adapter needed I would think. Of course outputting an NTSC DVD, for instance, may or may not work based on the player tv combo (ex-US usually is better with people having more PAL and NTSC ability). But you can capture and output PAL material on any Mac. Or convert when needed.

It's normally only the keyboard that's a pain when buying hardware from the US. They go and change the keyboards so they don't have £ or € on them! But then again the mac keyboard layout is a bit different to the Windows layout. For example the @ on a mac is on the 2 button, where on a PC (UK spec) it's totally different, just minor things, but takes a bit of time to begin with to find stuff when typing.

Other than that it should work fine. I thought about getting mine from the US as I have a neat way of getting stuff over, but it was just too large for that route. If you got an Apple reseller to send it to the UK then with shipping and import tax it works out about the same price - Apple themselves wont ship to the UK from the US.

Been playing around with the Mac and FCS2 for about a week now. It's starting to feel a little less 'alien' and I'm really impressed!

Cheers, Simon

Congrats Simon, make good use of the websites I mentioned, especially the www.kenstone.net site and your learning curve will come down quickly. Headed to Bali tonight so will catch up with everyone when I get back.

Take care all.

Steve B)