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Laptop as Editing Stations, Choosing
  • This topic is about choosing proper laptop.

  • 26 Replies sorted by
  • I think that you are choosing amongs gaming laptops.

    First, most of laptops have crappy screens, really crappy.

    And you need something with IPS screen.

    Second, most of the time, you can have big advantage by going to desktop solution, even if they aresmall and ITX based.

    Third, usually as it is gaming laptops they are high marginal products. And all this fancy things won't be useful for you. It is much better idea to get general laptop with good screen and latest Ivy Bridge CPU with QuickSync and replace HDD to SSD (even 256GB are cheap for now), and plug fast external drive (or drives) into USB 3.0 port.

  • http://www.pchardwarehelp.com/guides/lcd-panel-types.php

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TFT_LCD

    Most of this "reviews" are paid reviews, as this is high marginal product. So be very warned. You need ones with actual measurements, not words.

    but I very well may need a laptop in the near future

    Why you will need large laptop? Do you have some specific task?

  • Also if you search really portable stuff with good screen, check Lenovo X230 convertible tablets. You can get refurbished ones with Ivy Bridge i7 processors on ebay (check my link above) for less then $1000.

  • Currently we use some Lenovo Thinkpad W510's with Avid for local BBC news editing, but most edits are completed on desktop machines in full edit suites.

  • I use a laptop for editing because I can also work when I´m abroad and have always all with me. I have a VAIO with i7 720QM, NVIDIA 330M, 8GB RAM, I changed the HDD with a SSD. The display is very bad, the blacks have less shades as when I look the Video on TV; but it is know that the display of my Sony is bad. I think today´s notebook have enough power for edit AVCHD without to be impatient. Most editing software use the power of the graphic card that is a big advantage. I also plan to change my notebook. I whys a good 17" or 18" display (I also have a tablet) don´t know if glare or matt, a triple RAM slot, a i7 series 3 a powerfull Graphic card and don´t give away 1500 € like for my last notebook, I saw interesting machines for less of 1000€, better less and change more often for me. One question why you don´t wait less than a month for Windows 8?

  • Lenovo ThinkPad X230: so far nothing below $1600.00 and most if not all 12.5" . . .

    You have big issues with searching on ebay :-)

    And yes, I referred to X230 tablet with 12.5" IPS screen.

    The Lenovo Thinkpad W510 are cheaper. I'm just wondering about the configuration you're using Energy80s?

    And love for big laptops with big crappy screens.

    Also, your main reason was travelling, but you still love big things.

    One question why you don´t wait less than a month for Windows 8?

    Last time I checked, Pro 8 upgrade and separate is available.

    For editing purposes it makes almost zero reason to wait for Windows 8.

  • The lenovo W20(not sure of the 10's) screens though it does not technically have an ips it is not crappy screen by any means. The w series screens are great(read the reviews)! They are specifically made for this kind of work(DCC,video,CAD). They are not that big either. It is also light compared to other the other big brand "mobile workstations" and they also seem to always be cheaper. I use mine to render rugged architectural renderings in a production enviorment(far far more intensive than most video editing as anyone with knowledge will attest). Other than the battery's size on the w series they are my type of laptop with so many cool features. The w series is almost the anti apple in design philosophy. Just get an ssd and lots of ram and your set!

  • @fstopandgo

    Can you show some review with measurement of this screens?

  • for editing purposes it makes almost zero reason to wait for Windows 8.

    That´s absoltely right however you will have a longer supported operating system, with more value when you sell it.

  • @Kihlian

    I think that most brands already offers with cheap Windows 8 upgrade. If you so want it. I also do not agree with idea that resale value will change.

  • I recently needed a solution for a fast mobile workstation, that could also handle 4k image sequences. I chose the current retina MacBook Pro (cuda support) with 16GB ram and SSD drive. As storage solution I got a Thunderbolt Lacie Little Big Disk and replaced the two hard disk with ssd's. This got me 1TB with sustained 450MB/sec read/write (non compressible data). Very fast, very compact but expensive ...

  • @josangel

    No need to post huge specifications.

    You wanted to spend such money and get pure gaming notebook, you got it.

  • I'm hitting the road for a few months and need a basic affordable laptop. Basic editing with Vegas 10 and CF files. Opinions on this?

    This Asus X54C-BBK19 laptop features a double-layer DVD±RW/CD-RW drive for creating customized DVDs, CDs and Power4Gear technology for quiet, efficient cooling. The built-in high-speed wireless LAN allows an easy connection to the Internet. Operating system: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64-bit Display: 15.6" LCD (1366 x 768) Webcam: 0.3 megapixels Processor: 2.3GHz Intel Core i3 i3-2350M Cache: 3MB L3 Memory: 4GB DDR3 Hard drive: 320GB SATA (5400 rpm) Optical drive: DVD+/-RW/CD-RW (DL) Graphics: UMA graphics Networking: Wi-Fi 802.11n, 10/100/1000 Ethernet Ports: 1 x HDMI, 1 x USB 3.0, 1 x USB 2.0, 1 x Ethernet (RJ-45) Model: X54C-BBK19 Dimensions: 15.2 x 9.9 x 1.4 Weight: 5.8 lbs

  • I was in need of a mac to run a particular piece of software.

    I ended up going with the Retina Macbook Pro, I went with 8G/256G - just to save money when it's out of warrantee, I'll double the RAM .. and SSD will be cheaper by then.

    It seems to run Media Composer and After Effects just dandy, I am hopeful it will be up to the task of Resolve.

    For drives I have attached a Western Digital 4TB Thunder book, and I get a sustained 260Mb/s.

  • @lenuisible The screen x230t seems to be really bad.. wonder if they tested the version with outdoor screen or the normal one.

  • @Meierhans

    Bad in what regard?

    It has not so good gamut, but it is normal sin for many note oriented screens, as this guys try to save power, so make wider color filters that allow to increase brightness, but reduces color quality. Same is usually true for contrast.

  • @kavadni

    I'm not sure if you can change RAM, even after warranty is over.

    But you should be fine with Resolve, since it has Nvidia graphics again. if yours is the GPU with 512 MB you might run into some limitations, though.

    Don't forget to switch to the faster graphics (under Energy Saving) or Resolve won't start.

  • @nomad .. damn you are correct regarding RAM .. it's a solder job :(
    The Flash Disk is proprietary Samsung module. It's a removable card and I am sure it will be cloned
    The GPUs are the 1GB Nvidia and the 512MB Intel

  • You'll be fine with Resolve then, and Premiere too.

  • To edit these hacked mts files in something like premeire or resolve you need muscle and a lot of it. Otherwise it's a waste of time.

    I plan on buying the blackmagic camera so it will take still more muscle to color correct and all the rest. A top of the line macbook pro may, I say may handle it, but that would take a16gb ram I7 ssd and those price out a $3k plus.

    In the thin and light line it looks like the asus u500 is a top PC, with an IPS screen and top specs. But I'm leaning toward a custom gentech built asus g55, big heavy but can get a 95% gamet screen, 32gb ram, ssd, I7, good graphic card.

    the blackmagic camera can do all kinds of fun things with a thunderbolt port and the asus g55 has that, along with the macs.

  • I hope this is appropriate topic for this.

    I'm trying to choose a reliable and long-lasting PC laptop for DAW work, video and photo editing. It should be able to handle 8+ hours a day at high CPU load and be from a series that is easy to find replacement parts for.

    Priority is on a 4 core i7 CPU that will not throttle, so the cooling system should be good. This is also important because of noise - for DAW use noise needs to be moderate, and preferably quieter than even Apple laptops.

    I've been looking at Lenovo T and W series recently, because they are bought in big quantities by businesses, which should mean that standard replacement parts will be available for a long time. HP is another business class alternative, but I'm less sure about their offerings.

    I've also considered Asus ROG series and similar gaming laptops, because they often have decent cooling and tend to be modular, thus - in theory - easy to replace parts if they fail. But AFAIK they are not sold in as high quantity as business laptops, so proprietary parts might be hard to find.

    @Vitaliy_Kiselev, you appear to know much about Lenovo, what is your recommendation? For example are current W/T540 models good? What parts in Lenovo business laptops are most likely to fail?