Which laptop do you edit on?

Rick Meyer said:
Does the Blu-ray player justify getting a lower quality video card with less dedicated RAM? Will I see a difference in performance getting the more VRAM and higher quality video card?
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Are you doing ant HD content to BlueRay this year? From your first post, it seems you are primarily working with your DVX footage. Do you really need BlueRay if you are only spending $700-800? Put that into your GFX card, RAM, or Processor. But of course you are the only one who can really answer that. Cheers.
 
I've got an Asus N73SV, i7 2630QM Quad-core which kicks up to 3.2Ghz. I've done some short edits and field work with it and it holds up pretty good in Vegas, although I haven't''t put any AVCHD though it yet. It doesn't have native 1080 but uses some Asus rendering software to play Bluray/1080. A 2nd monitor gives me all the real estate I need, beats hauling my desk-top around. I was looking more for the fast pipes, USB 3.0 and such. It renders plenty fast with dual 256g SSD's internally, and I can dump cards quickly. It's not a light system and you wouldn't want to wonder the city with it all night. It is solid and dependable, I have yet for it to fail me even once.
 
Gary Huff said:
Always go for the mobile video option that includes 1GB of RAM. Premiere's Mercury Engune requires that if you want to take advantage of an NVIDIA GPU.
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Yes, that was my initial thought. But then I considered that the 512MB RAM loss might be so nominal that I wouldn't notice a difference. And the plus would be that I'd get use out of the Blu-ray player. I have a PS3 that is constantly needing me to open it up and reflow it (again, SONY) and on those occasions having the laptop Blu-ray would be handy to hook up to my HDTV. But, you are probably right. I should be a bit more pragmatic about it...this purchase is solely for the DVX footage and whatever else may come down the road so I probably shouldn't be seduced by the ability to watch Toy Story in 1080p.
 
Gary Huff said:
Always go for the mobile video option that includes 1GB of RAM. Premiere's Mercury Engune requires that if you want to take advantage of an NVIDIA GPU.
Click to expand...

Yes, that was my initial thought. But then I considered that the 512MB RAM loss might be so nominal that I wouldn't notice a difference. And the plus would be that I'd get use out of the Blu-ray player. I have a PS3 that is constantly needing me to open it up and reflow it (again, SONY) and on those occasions having the laptop Blu-ray would be handy to hook up to my HDTV. But, you are probably right. I should be a bit more pragmatic about it...this purchase is solely for the DVX footage and whatever else may come down the road so I probably shouldn't be seduced by the ability to watch Toy Story in 1080p.

James0b57 said:
Then the extra $$$ you spend on a mac, you can save on software. But of course, the same could be said for Sony with Vegas software (I believe you get a discount with the purchase of a Sony computer).
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If I'm not mistaken, those VAIOS come preloaded with some sort of Vegas version. I am not familiar with Vegas at all and have no idea what it's capable of; I've always used Premiere. Do Macs come pre-loaded with software? Full versions? I've always been one to shoot down Macs in my head because I've always felt they were way overpriced. You could buy a suped up PC Laptop every 2.5 years and get the absolute latest hardware for what you'd spend on a 6 year Mac. Having said that, I need to give credit where credit is due. I've yet to see a laptop that has more spit and polish. They are very VERY solid and I'm certainly not completely sold on SONY, that's for sure. Based on what I'm seeing on the net and reading here, ASUS would be my first choice. I just don't like all the adapter-hassle I'd have to deal with.
 
Postmaster said:
I have this here, based on a DELL XPS - I can even edit uncompressed HD on it (yeah, I know, not what everybody needs).

Great bang for the buck. 1920 x 1080 display, i7 Quadcore, 16GIG RAM, e-Sata, USB3, Nvida Cuda card with 2 Gig RAM - just what the good doctor recommends, and for about half the price of a MBP with similar specs (if Apple would offer full HD displays, Cuda cards and USB3). Premiere screams on that baby.http://frankglencairn.wordpress.com/2011/12/07/my-new-editing-suite-in-a-box-and-dit-station/
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Sweet Computer to be sure, Frank. But I think I found your inspiration...
classic_ laptop.jpg
 
HP 8560W, best mobile workstation around.

Intel i7-2630QM, 16GB DDR3, 240GB OCZ Vertex3 SATA-III SSD, 15.6" 1080p DreamColor IPS screen, island-style backlit keys, Windows 7 x64, 1TB Buffalo USB2.0 bus-powered data drive as well.
 
Firewire to USB adaptor. I'd be very leery of the speed decrease. Also, if the camera can actually "talk" to the computer properly, if your transferring video.
Finding proper firewire cards for laptops and desktops would be more SOLID bet, also they can be had for very cheap.
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Right now I edit my DVX footage on a very used Lenovo Thinkpad SL400.
Its in need of an update so I too have started looking for a suitable laptop with Firewire.
So far I've found these Sager models as my best bet.
The Sager NP8131 with Matte Screen, i7 2760, 16GB RAM, 120Gb SSD and Blu Ray reader/writer comes out to $1540 plus change.
That will cover my current DVX needs as well as any HD needs for the future.
You could take off stuff to make it cheaper and Xoticpc has a good track record as well.
The Asus laptops don't offer a firewire port so they are off the list for me.
Lenovo is the only other laptop maker I know of that still supports Firewire.
 
Currently I have a 5 year old Asus Z96js with a 2ghz Core2Duo and 4GB of RAM, 500GB HD. I use Media Composer 5.0.4. Other than a ram dimm going bad and smoking the mobo, which I replaced it has a been a GREAT laptop.

Hopefully going to get a SAGER NP8150 or 8170 this summer. Want to move up to 64bit Windows 7 and have dual hard drives.

Jeff
 
refocusedmedia said:
HP 8560W, best mobile workstation around.

Intel i7-2630QM, 16GB DDR3, 240GB OCZ Vertex3 SATA-III SSD, 15.6" 1080p DreamColor IPS screen, island-style backlit keys, Windows 7 x64, 1TB Buffalo USB2.0 bus-powered data drive as well.
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Yikes, those are some serious specs. Too bad a grand won't cut it.

daihard said:
Firewire to USB adaptor. I'd be very leery of the speed decrease. Also, if the camera can actually "talk" to the computer properly, if your transferring video.
Finding proper firewire cards for laptops and desktops would be more SOLID bet, also they can be had for very cheap.
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Weird that they sell these adapters though, and yet no one can seem to verify that they work.
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Just get whatever laptop you want, make sure it has an express card slot, and get an express card firewire card.

Personally, I would get the Lenovo W520, since it has a Quad core in it, and Quadro video card in it, and has an amazing battery life.
 
What is all that firewire thing about?
Compared to the much more modern USB3, firewire is a joke.

I can edit uncompressed HD or RED Raw of a USB3 RAID - try that with firewire.
Also it´s much faster for backups.

Frank
 
Postmaster said:
What is all that firewire thing about?
Compared to the much more modern USB3, firewire is a joke.

I can edit uncompressed HD or RED Raw of a USB3 RAID - try that with firewire.
Also it´s much faster for backups.

Frank
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I agree with everything you just said. But for us poor saps who haven't moved up to the HD world yet, we're still left to capture footage via firewire. I have a DVX100A. I can't even find a laptop for under a grand with an expresscard slot. An expresscard slot would at least allow me to use an adapter.

The good thing is, nearly everything on my short list has a USB 3.0.
 
Postmaster said:
What is all that firewire thing about?
Compared to the much more modern USB3, firewire is a joke.

I can edit uncompressed HD or RED Raw of a USB3 RAID - try that with firewire.
Also it´s much faster for backups.

Frank
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Yes you are completely correct about USB 3.0 vs Firewire.
Its not that we choose to use it however, its just a matter of what our SD cameras support.
I still run a DVX100B which only has firewire as an option.
Maybe you should read the original post again to see it was for compatibility the OP wanted Firewire.
 
Postmaster said:
What is all that firewire thing about?
Compared to the much more modern USB3, firewire is a joke.

I can edit uncompressed HD or RED Raw of a USB3 RAID - try that with firewire.
Also it´s much faster for backups.

Frank
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Let's not forget that Firewire was around long before USB 3 and, for that matter, USB 2.

Also, the current iteration is Firewire 800 which, I believe, is faster than (or very close to) USB 3.

I think it's more of a Mac thing which is now touting Thunderbolt as their latest, greatest.
 
I plan to upgrade my laptop this year and for that I will definately be going USB 3 but I still need firewire as a legacy option.
So Sager seems to be it for me.
 
Rick Meyer said:
I agree with everything you just said. But for us poor saps who haven't moved up to the HD world yet, we're still left to capture footage via firewire. I have a DVX100A. I can't even find a laptop for under a grand with an expresscard slot. An expresscard slot would at least allow me to use an adapter.

.
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Ah, now I understand.
Can´t you get a Firestore - they pop up pretty cheap on Ebay now.
It served me well for years, back in my HVX200 days.
It happily lives on top of your camera instead of lugging around the laptop.

Frank
 
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