Any of you techie types

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

jerly

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2006
Messages
166
Reaction score
0
I need to buy a new laptop for photoshop and video editing type stuff for school. Anyone hav eany pointers on what to look for, or good deals at any of the chain stores that would carry what you might suggest? I'm looking to get away with as cheap as I can, but not have the rendering and all that take forever. Are the laptops I've seen for under a $1000 able to perform well enough or would they be hiccuping too much. Definitly don't want to go over $1500.

Any advice is appreciated.
 
I can't tell you where, but I can tell you what. You need RAM - and lots of it. Nothing less than 1 GB is going to cut it - and that's a minimum.
 
Even though their tech support is lousy, you can't beat Dell for prices on laptops. Watch deal sites like dealnews.com for a good laptop deal.

rdwj is right though, you're going to need a pretty beefy machine to do that kind of work. For $1500 you can probably do pretty well though, if you catch a deal.
 
Man, Dell used to have great support but like ryser said that's your best place in my opinion as well. Watch their "bargain" area. Last spring I got my daughter this one for $943 (awesome deal)

Intel Duo Core processor (1.6 ghz)
15.4 wide screen
1gb dual channel ram
intel graphics media accelerator video
80g HD
8x CD/DVD burner
Wireless network (and wired)
Carrying Case
2yr full warranty; at home service.

List was $1429. Watch them at month end and if you don't need it right away; year end when they really start offering deals.
 
I got a phenomenal deal from Dell on my desktop not too long ago, and I've seen some nice bargains on laptops as well. I know their service repuation is in the crapper right now, but they've invested a lot of money in trying to fix that (don't know if they really have or not). They're hurting right now, so it wouldn't surprise me to see some more really good bargains through the end of the year.
 
cheap and video editing usually don't go together. you may want to look at a Mac laptop which are $$$. If not, go with Dell. Compaq sucks and they merged with HP a while back. Sony makes some nice laptops (but do a search for the recent battery recall). I don't have a laptop but I used to sell them.

EDIT: if you can, wait until after Xmas for better deals
 
Most creative industries are on Macs. These days most things can be done on both platforms, but you should make sure your choice matches what you want to do eventually.

If you want to be in a creative industry - better get used to Macs. If you're going to do anything else or creative work in the business world, Mac experience is as worthless as a 3 dollar bill - they're ALL PC.
 
Oh - I didn't read his msg very well on the photo/video stuff. Laptops and that type of work rarely go well together too. I'm business, not graphics so can't help.
 
desertBrew said:
Laptops and that type of work rarely go well together too.

That's very true. I do limited graphics on my laptop. For anything detailed, you'd want that nice big screen. I'm sure the same applies for video.
 
I have never been able to usa any memory-hog programs well on a laptop. RAM is definitely an issue, as is hard drive and inter bus speeds. Laptops generally skimp on all these things - and even a gig of ram on a laptop doesn't go nearly as far as a gig on a decent desktop. Plus you have the screen size issue - not happy w/ graphics.

If you are planni gon running Photoshop (DEFINITELY Adobe Creative Suite....total memory glutton), AutoCAD, 3dsMax, really anything along the graphics lines you are going to be dissapointed with the performance on a lapton no mater what you spend, especially for around $1000. A $500 desktop would perform as good, if not better, than a $1200 laptop. Kind of sucks, but I'd really think about the portability vs. performance thing before commiting to a laptop.
 
If you're in college and need a laptop, I would suggest one of the new macbooks. They run both Mac and Windows, and although the base RAM is 512MB it's easily upgradable. If you don't NEED portability that much, or can get by with a USB jump drive, then I would suggest some kind of desktop computer.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I do already have two desktops at home, neither of which can run the Adobe Premier software I have to use for video. The processors wont run it. I'm not in a graphic design program. I'm a fine art student, so I don't need a machine that a full on hard core graphic designer would want. I basically just need it to be able to run without seriously choking up. I can use the schools machines for any heavy duty stuff. I'll get plenty of mileage out of the laptop for any other courses I have to take.

I basically need to know what the bare minimum for a processor and other specs I should be aware of. I was thinkinig at least the 1 gig of memory. Just so when I go to the store and whoever I ask starts trying to sell to me, I'll no what I'm wanting. I worked in retail long enough to not trust the extent of knowledge the person I will be talking to will have.
 
Gtocha. I'd say you bullet points should be as follows:

AT LEAST 1 gig RAM - preferable some 'fast' type like DDR2
7200 rpm hard drive - big help for video
a dual-core processor - most video/graphics programs take advantage of the nowadays
preferable a 4M L2 cache, 2M might do


i think the actualy processor speed is less important. those number are all fudges anyway these days.

THIS machine, with the hard drive upgrade to 7200rpm and the processor/board upgrade to 4M L2 fits the bill, and is just under 1500. maybe tweak up it's little brother for a cheaper price?

hope it helps...peace!
 
jerly said:
Thanks for all the replies. I do already have two desktops at home, neither of which can run the Adobe Premier software I have to use for video. The processors wont run it. I'm not in a graphic design program. I'm a fine art student, so I don't need a machine that a full on hard core graphic designer would want. I basically just need it to be able to run without seriously choking up. I can use the schools machines for any heavy duty stuff. I'll get plenty of mileage out of the laptop for any other courses I have to take.

I basically need to know what the bare minimum for a processor and other specs I should be aware of. I was thinkinig at least the 1 gig of memory. Just so when I go to the store and whoever I ask starts trying to sell to me, I'll no what I'm wanting. I worked in retail long enough to not trust the extent of knowledge the person I will be talking to will have.

look at the Adobe Premier minimum system requirements and then double them.
 
If you want to go the PC route, I'd also recommend Dell... www.dell.com/tv. I believe they post new deals every Tuesday. I've been directly/indirectly responsible for purchasing several hundred computers from Dell (servers, workstations, and laptops) and wouldn't buy anywhere else. My personal boxes are also Dells.

That being said, for video editing, a Mac is probably your best option. :)
 
Nate said:
If you want to go the PC route, I'd also recommend Dell... www.dell.com/tv. I believe they post new deals every Tuesday. I've been directly/indirectly responsible for purchasing several hundred computers from Dell (servers, workstations, and laptops) and wouldn't buy anywhere else. My personal boxes are also Dells.

That being said, for video editing, a Mac is probably your best option. :)

I'd love a mac, but they might be just a bit too pricey.
 
Something you should know about laptops.
they ALL have adjustable clock Processors, meaning that they run slower when they can, why? BATTERY LIFE!!!.

you MUST use your Power Settings correctly. if you want your Laptop to perform to it's maxim,um potential you MUST have it on HOME/OFFICE DESK.

these settings have a lot to do with screen saver/sleep/stanby timings. HOWEVER, they also control the Voltage to both the CPU and RAM.

that said, I ALWAYS Recommend Toshiba. They are medium priced (i.e. you can find laptop in your price range, but you GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR). they have good support (which I've never used to be honest) but more impirtantly they use the best componants, and have great long term staying power.

as for Dell, to me the only thing they ever had going for them was support for little old ladies, which is no longer the case.
you can likely find a comprable Toshiba for whatever Dell can send at you.

www.toshibadirect.com
 
Yeah, for video editing you'll need Ram, and POWER. Ever spent a day rendering? Not fun. (I'm a video editor/DOP).

For PC you'll want to move on up to Avid Xpress Pro if you intend to do any serious editing. An External 300GB 7200 rpm 16meg buffered Hard Drive is a must as well.

I use a 64 bit AMD Full processor in my laptop. Battery life sucks but processing power is great. Mine is a "Desktop replacement". I'm not a fan of Intel.



jerly said:
I need to buy a new laptop for photoshop and video editing type stuff for school. Anyone hav eany pointers on what to look for, or good deals at any of the chain stores that would carry what you might suggest? I'm looking to get away with as cheap as I can, but not have the rendering and all that take forever. Are the laptops I've seen for under a $1000 able to perform well enough or would they be hiccuping too much. Definitly don't want to go over $1500.

Any advice is appreciated.
 
I love my IBM ThinkPad (now made by Lenovo) T43. It has a gig of RAM and a 1.86GHz processor and a 40GB drive. Mine has the 15 inch screen. You'd want a much larger drive if you are doing film editing with an NLE like Premier, and of course there are many options for memory, hard drive, and processor speed. Two different screen size options on the T43, both 4:3 ratio.

My T43 is rugged and reliable and has one of the best built-in wireless radios around, the Intel 2915abg. I paid $1500 for it a bit over a year ago. Today I'm sure you could probably find a more capable ThinkPad for that price. Unfortunately, they don't tend to be discounted as much as Sony's, Toshiba's, Dell's, etc, so you will have fewer bells and whistles for the same price with the ThinkPad. I do think they are better built than any of those others, though. The new T61 uses the duo core CPU, and I think it is a widescreen.

As a matter of personal taste, I prefer a 4;3 aspect ratio screen. I think all of the widescreen laptops are ugly and the laptops that have them are larger and heavier than a laptop should be. That's two very undesirable characteristics for a laptop. Maybe the widescreen would be better for NLE in 16:9
 
I have a Dell 8400 with 1G RAM and 500G HD (2-250s) and I'm on my 3rd set of HDs. They keep blowing out somehow, but they've been replaced for free ... so far.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND not gettting a HUGE HD and using external HDs for all your info, pictures, tax records, etc. This way if it goes TU you still have your info.

I have seperate ones for music and pictures, etc.

I recently purchased a Simpletech portable HD that's 60G and runs through the USB...no magnet to plug in...works just like a flash stick...$70 after 30 rebate...beats a 1 G for $30.
 
Hey thanks to all of you who chimed in. Wentout last night and got a Gateway from best buy. Was a core 2 duo processor T5500 1.66 Ghz. 2 Gigs of ram with a 160 gig HD with a 15inch screen. For $999 marked down from $1249.

I just got done installing adobe Premier and I couldn't be happer. Made a short video and messed around with all kinds of transitions and effects and rendered it down. It took about twice as long as the schools computers did it, which was well beyond my expectations. So yay! Thanks for all the input.
 
jerly said:
Hey thanks to all of you who chimed in. Wentout last night and got a Gateway from best buy. Was a core 2 duo processor T5500 1.66 Ghz. 2 Gigs of ram with a 160 gig HD with a 15inch screen. For $999 marked down from $1249.

Not too bad. What's the front-side bus speed?
 
Back
Top