The best laptop for the HVX would have?

[Zack Birlew]

I have one of the most powrfull laptops available:

P4 3ghz 64bit
4X512 RAM
nVidia GeForce Go 6800 256 MB PCI Express 16x
sound card 5.1 Realtek HDAudio
LCD 17'' 1680x1050 (yep..16:9)
Hard disk 80GB 5400rpm X2 RAID 0

and the questions are:

1) Would I need another external HD monitor or I will be fine with 1680X1050
2) Will it be crusial to upgrade my hard disks to 7200rpm or since I always work
with externals 7200 firewire there is no problem at all.
3) Are windows 64bit something to consider about ?
4) Is P4 3.6mhz a major upgrade or a waste of money ?

1) Depends on what you want. The resolution matters most and you have a great display resolution for that. It's not native 1080i resolution, it doesn't need to be. The more resolution you have, the clearer your image will be to edit more accurately and to better see what you're editing. An external HD monitor serves the purpose of showing the full resolution of what you're editing (depending on whether it is a 720p, 1080i, monitor or is capable of both) and to monitor while filming. But, when your monitor isn't the full resolution, the monitor will down convert it so you can see it on that display, this doesn't cause a problem at all on a 1680x1050 laptop display, you wouldn't notice unless you look closely pixel by pixel. On that note, an external HD monitor is still only optional.

2) No, 7200RPM hard drives are good for just about a 5-10% boost in performance, barely noticeable, but it would be better if your laptop were capable of internal RAID setups, I know the newer laptops from Alienware and Dell should be. 5400RPM hard drives will save battery life for you, so it's a tradeoff of that 5-10% versus a longer battery life and, for some, more storage space (100gb HDD's in both 5400RPM and 7200RPM flavors versus 120gb HDD's in just 5400RPM at the moment).

3) Windows XP 64-bit is better for videogamers. For video, it's unuseable, don't worry about that. What I meant in my first post, was that you should aim for 64-bit capable processors in anticipation of Windows Vista, NOT Windows XP 64-bit. Windows Vista should be out later this year and will be 64-bit capable and you should see better performance boosts with Vista using a 64-bit capable processor versus a standard 32-bit processor.

4) If you can afford to upgrade the processor, do it. More processing power doesn't hurt. I for example am upgrading my laptop from 3ghz to, my mistake to all that read my first post, 3.4ghz. The speed boost is warranted enough for me since I just got my brother's Alienware laptop back and his is much speedier with the new 3.4ghz upgrade. However, if you have a newer laptop, which it sounds like you do, then maybe wait for a mobile dual core upgrade? If not, then 3.6ghz will do just nicely.

 

[Andreas]

Thanks Jack !

1) You are probably right, but what about color corection ?

2) My laptop HAS internal RAID. This helps the software to work better. I use externals for the footage, for better workflow. So I quess by what you say my 2 5400 hard disks are fine.

3) I havent heard about win vista. I will search around a bit.

4) Well, afford is relavent. If it worth the extra cash I probably consider it, but I need some statistics or something. I only know that if P4 4.0ghz is available will make a difernece since I always upgrade near to 1ghz limit and have that expirience.