Take a PowerBook G4 1.67GHz, Canon Vixia HV30, Final Cut Pro 6.x and a few hours to spare. Capturing HDV clips is still possible to do on a 3-plus year old PowerBook G4. Well, an external FireWire 800 hard drive was also included in the work-flow.
MacBook Pro are much more powerful compared to any PowerBook G4, but it doesn’t make them completely obsolete. Consider that MacBook Pro has ExpressCard slot built-in and PowerBook G4 (15-inch and 17-inch models) have PC Card slot built-in. Many professional DVCPRO HD camcorders are using P2 Cards. An adapter is needed to import the content of those P2 Cards to a MacBook Pro as opposed to a PowerBook G4.
It has been 3 something years since the last 15-inch PowerBook G4 was released. It still is a great computer even though it’s lacking the proper ability to handle playback for higher definition videos. It still can import HDV movies just fine with a proper set-up.