About to pull the trigger. Ee gads, am I doing the right thing?

A

AppaLuci

Active member
I suppose this message is a call out for moral support from the editing community! Now that I've got your attention, the "trigger" I'm referring to is...

Buying it. Doing it. The slightly under $3K new laptop computer.

Help! Sorry to beat this topic, but those editing on laptops please chime in with your great experience of how fast laptops can be these days and how I'll be just fine! (?)

Laptop mobility really fits my life as it looks now...but I have a family of computer geeks who have done nothing short of warning me about all the speed reduction and the loss of productivity from a slower system. The Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz w/4G RAM, 512 GF8800 & 17" hi-res LCD will be much zippier than anything I'm used to as of yet... and alienware machines look solid. I know a killer desktop would edit like a champ, but couldn't this laptop do it too, AND have the benefits of portabilty?

I finally graduated to Premiere Pro CS3 (from Elements 3.0) and haven't undertaken After Effects yet, but even if/when that happens, could I run it fine on this machine?

Just give it to me straight. I'm nervous about pulling that TRIGGER... maybe today. Hold my hand please folks. :huh: thanks
 
I've always thought Alienware was way overpirced.

If you're just doing DV, I think this is overkill. Check out Barry Green's thread in this forum regarding Lenovo notebooks.
 
brianluce said:
I've always thought Alienware was way overpirced.

If you're just doing DV, I think this is overkill. Check out Barry Green's thread in this forum regarding Lenovo notebooks.
Click to expand...

Brianluce, I thought so too. That's what I'd heard about Alienware. So that's why I was so pleasantly surprised to find this system priced no higher than something equivalent that I'd find elsewhere. If I went with a different type of graphics card maybe I'd save. But this system comes in around the 2500mark (plus tax, shipping). I looked at Lenovo's thanks to Barry's thread, and they looked interesting. Maybe this is my stubborn-ness, but I find myself pretty adament about hard drives and space. I know I'll have externals for storage, but for current projects I don't want to be struggling to find a place for a smaller or personal project when also working on larger or pro project. So this Alienware system also has 2 drives in RAID 0, and gives me 400GB inside.

I'm feeling pretty good about it, feel there's value there, and I love hearing feedback that I might have overkill. That's what I want. I don't want to be held back for speed and I want it to last me awhile.

So, what, you guys sayin' go for it?
 
I say go for it. I edit in CS3 at home on a slower desktop with DVCProHD and its just fine as far as speed. I also have been looking for a laptop of this caliber and 2500 is about what I keep coming to (even with Lenovo) after you really deck one out. Now if you're willing to sacrifice a few things I bet the lenovo would be the cheapest of them all.
 
jdajda said:
Now if you're willing to sacrifice a few things I bet the lenovo would be the cheapest of them all.
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Yeah, and if I sacrificed a few things on the Alienware, it'd be much cheaper too. I got the impression Alienware might be, as unusual as they look, a solid choice for a zippy computer. Figure for all that gaming, they must make 'em pretty tough. Not a huge fan of the logos personally (an alien on the lid!) but aw well. That's just me. Most techies surely love it. (Now, if they could emblazen a horse there...)

Hey, could ya'll just bombard me with, like, impressed statements of awe and envy about how great this machine's gonna be, and how fast I'll be able to edit with it while still getting to enjoy my jetsetting lifestyle... so I can put them all in my dad's and brother's faces and they can convert into die hard supporters of this choice?

('course, I'd hope they're true)
 
my macbook pro is almost a year old. i need to defrag to get the system to speed up a bit (i REALLY abuse this poor thing...)

i think the final price tag was around 3k. i edit DVCPROHD files, completely untethered (if necessary) i have little to no problems, no crashes, etc. i have 2gb of ram and its a 2.16 ghz intel core 2 duo.

if you're just wanting SD and you know you'll stick with that camera for awhile, i agree with others, go dell, or lenovo. i'm particular to lenovo because i've had great thinkpads in the past and if barry is diggin' on it, it'll probably be overkill for what you need AND cheaper.

but for an end to end editing system, esp. if you are gonna go HD (eventually even), i can't praise my little 17" laptop that could, it really rocks.
 
J.R. Hudson said:
Go Dell
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J.R. - you know, after all my researching and debating and posting and sweating and now at the brink of pulling the trigger, you can't just say something like this and then provide no additional explanation for WHY. I gotta go on a little more than this, man, if I'm going to conduct a total redirect. This simply isn't helpful.

Do you suggest that the 256MB ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X1800 Dell puts in is a better choice than the 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8700M GT graphics card in Alienware's? Or is it just that you like all the fancy pink carrying cases and colored styles of laptops Dell offers? Or is it the plant a tree offer?
 
Always buy harddrive and memory after market unless you are getting a significant discount on them.
 
I'm a huge fan of Alienware. They make solid, well built machines. I've never had the luxury of being able to afford one, but one of my computer consulting clients once had me spec one out so he could do some editing on the road. I was really impressed with everything they managed to cram inside that thing. What impressed me most, though, was that when I fired it up, it was clean and ready to go. Most of the time when you buy a new, prebuilt computer, it comes with a ton of extra junk installed, and the desktop is half covered in icons. The Alienware had none of this. Only a few basic system utilities, and already optimized for performance. It was beautiful. I'm not sure if any of this has changed since Dell bought them out, but I shouldn't think it has.
 
Eh, I've had badluck with DELLs. I use a Macbook Pro and love it. Still going strong, editing HDV footage from my XH-A1 fine. Price tag was around $3k. I say you get what you pay for in this day and age and though best bang for your buck is always a great deal, overkill in terms of computers is much better in my opinion.

If I were to ever buy a PC laptop again, it'd be an Alienware and I'd never look back. I've used those bad boys and wow are they ever killer.

I think you've made a solid choice and wouldn't sway my decision to a lesser computer company. If it wasn't a laptop, I'd say build it yourself..I don't think I'll buy another box again - only building my own from now on.

-Kegan
 
Just two weeks ago I bought a Lenovo T61p for $1,800 including taxes and free shipping. I got a 1920x1200 LCD screen, an Nvidia Quadro 540FX video card, a PCMCIA slot, Expresscard slot, 3 usb, a fire-wire port, and a 2.5Ghz Core 2 Duo processor.

The 1 negative about it is that it only has a VGA port (no s-video or HDMI port).


Also, I believe Alienware is now Dell anyway. They just sell them separately. In any case, I always felt Alienware was overpriced and playing on the gaming crowd's desire to have the "Best" system out there.


Think of it this way, get a cheaper computer now and put the $1K you save towards video gear.
 
You could do that..but when it comes time to change your laptop, it'll cost more than the grand you saved and put towards video gear. Dell and Alienware ARE the same company now, but the parts used in each machine are very different.

It could be playing on the gaming crowd's desire to have the best of the best, but it's been recognized multiple times as such. I'm not knocking the other brands without trying them...I've used the brands I'm commenting on. I hope that those commenting on Alienware just being a fad or a marketing scheme have actually used them.

-Kegan
 
I should say I have never used an Alienware machine and I would admit to considering buying one several times because of the fact they pack so much into a great looking (spec wise) machine. But I always stop just short of buying one because I realize, for my needs, I just don't need that overkill.

The original poster said she was planning on using this for SD editting for now and looking to move to HD in the future. The cheaper Dells, HPs, and Lenovo laptops can handle both at a cheaper price than the Alienware or other high end gaming machines. From a logical standpoint I just don't see the point in overshooting your needs. Especially on laptops and any computer items because pricing drops rapidly and whats best changes daily.

In any case, If you end buying the Alienware I am quite sure you will be well satisfied and it will serve your needs for a long while.
 
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