I took delivery of new mobile editing workstation on Friday and it's a little monster with a nuclear powerplant under the keyboard! I loved my old 17 inch HP and it turned out to be a real workhorse, taking all the use and abuse that comes with being a mobile edit suite without missing a beat. The old 8730w really worked hard - when I got back from the doccie shoot last year I had to use an air compressor to flush out all the dirt and grime from three weeks of bush editing!

I'm a firm believer in mobile editing over the old "chained-to-a-desk" alternative, so when I had to start looking for a replacement I automatically phoned up Avid to enquire what the new laptop spec was for a certified system. I opted for a 15.6 inch system this time as I find that I need mobility more than an extra inch and a half of screen real estate. 15 inch laptops also fit into most camera bags and backpacks. The 17 inch ones are usually just too big (ask me, I tried a couple of bags without success). And at 8GB of RAM the new system is a nuclear power plant for my apps. It comes with five USB ports (two of them USB 3.0) spec and the essential eSATA connection required for HD editing.

I've also ordered a USB 3.0 pocket drive and I'm curious to see how it will stand up to HD media.

Watch this space!