Laptops

[ROCKMORE]

I'm editing on an i7 PC with Adobie CS6 / Win Ultimate 64bit working with H-264 files. I'm on the road more than not these days and it would be nice to be able to edit at least get a head start before I go back to my studio. I have a small HP Laptop for downloading cards etc and would like to keep a replacement as small as possible. I have a lot of shoot gear, cameras lenses that has to be carry on board flights which is getting strict already. What is the minimum size laptop, processor speed I can get away with. Cost is also the top of the list as well. Any suggestions ?

 

[deltoidjohn]

If you're just looking to cut short-form projects and web clips, you can get away with fairly little these days - my laptop is a 3-year-old off-the-shelf-on-sale Toshiba with a an i5 (2.3ghz I think?) and a basic Nvidia card. I doubled the RAM from 4GB to 8GB and did the CUDA hack to get CS6 working with the bottom of the line graphics card. I use it for all my editing on the road - mainly 2-3 minute action sports clip - and it handles it fine. It's even handled some RED files ok at 1/4 playback res.

As long as you are not trying to cut a feature film or an entire TV show then most laptops around the $750+ range will be able to handle some video editing with CS6 at 1080p these days. Specs wise, I'd be looking for a late model i5 as a minimum and upwards of 2.4ghz, at least 8GB ram (you can retro-fit this yourself, of course) and a CUDA capable Nvidia card with minimum 1GB. It's fairly easy to find these kind of specs in a 15.6" laptop but I've not really looked at anything smaller than that.

Of course if you are trying to cut a feature film on a laptop then ignore me completely as you'll be looking for something much more powerful!

 

[ROCKMORE]

I use it for all my editing on the road - mainly 2-3 minute action sports clip - and it handles it fine.

That's exactly what I need it for. I go on the road about 1 week a month now shooting. I come home with a huge amount of footage. When I get back I cut 90sec segments from 2 camera interviews with action footage over. It takes me a week to get through all from a 3 day shoot. I really just want to be able to set up and load all my footage directly to projects and rough things out when I have time during the day and at night in the hotel. Last week I got stuck for 3 days with cancelled flights and it would have been great to get 3 days editing out of the way.
I edit on a 4 year ASUS PC tower with first generation i7 with 16gb ram and it's pretty fast for an aging dog. I looked at some ASUS laptops off the shelf including Windows 8 64bit, 4th generation i7 2.5ghz, comes with 4 gb ram card, but has 2 slots up to 16gb. 17inch is about $1,200 and 14 inch same specs is about $900. They also come with a 2 year in store service warrantee. I haven't been looking at laptops in 4 years and they have really come down in price. I'd really rather spend a grand on a lens, but I guess this will make my life a lot smoother.