turnkey laptops at DVinfo.net

Steve Witt · March 14th, 2005, 09:49 AM

can anyone recommend a decent laptop for editing for around $1500. All I want to do on it is edit digital video and watch DVDs.

Richard Alvarez · March 14th, 2005, 10:11 AM

Much will depend on what you consider a 'decent' nle to be? To you have a preferred software? Premiere? Final Cut? Vegas? Avid? I-Movie?

Different NLE's have different requirements.

Steve Witt · March 14th, 2005, 10:49 AM

well, let me ask this first. Is it possible to put the editing sofware programs to an external hard drive and then hook it up to the laptop.

Edward Troxel · March 14th, 2005, 11:18 AM

Because of required registry entries and other needed files, that answer would be no unless you INSTALLED the software on each machine and pointed that installation to the same location on the external drive. You're better off installing the NLE on the local drive.

Richard Alvarez · March 14th, 2005, 11:22 AM

Usually, the software rests on the internal hardrive, and the media rests on external or 'extra' drives. This is the most efficient way to use an NLE.

Do you have a preferred NLE?

Steve Witt · March 14th, 2005, 11:49 AM

Thanks for the help Richard. I guess that I am a step ahead of myself. I think I hear most about Premiere so I will probably choose that one. I am someone who has become very ambitious about digital video and the editing process just through my research on trying to choose a camcorder. All I know for sure is that I am getting a Panasonic Gs400 and I would like to have a laptop editing machine to work on the video I shoot as a hobby when I am sitting in hotels, (which I do alot). I dont want to start out with just basic editing software. I want to be able to do pretty creative stuff (a little of everything). But not something so complicated that it would take someone with years of experience to use it. I am ground-zero brand new to this stuff but I am a quick study and I'm sure that I will enjoy creating with digital video.

Edward Troxel · March 14th, 2005, 12:59 PM

Instead of just picking Premiere "because you've heard most about it", I recommend you download the demos of several and see which ones work best for you.

Adobe Premiere
Sony Vegas
Avid Express
Canopus Edius
Ulead

etc...

Steve Witt · March 14th, 2005, 04:33 PM

I have checked out a book at the library that just came into print
(copyright 2005) Adobe Premiere Elements for Dummies by Keith Underdahl. So far this book says that this is a good start for low experience users like me but at the same time it was developed on the foundations of Premiere Pro. It says that Elements is NOT a dumbed down version of Pro and that little has been left out. This sounds like what I have been wanting and it fits my budget too. I think this sounds like a good place for me to start as far as NLE software. After the library I went to Best Buy and they have a Sony laptop on sale this week with specs that way exceed the minimum requirements for Premiere Elements. I am strongly considering this one now. I'm now going to do a search on here for Premiere Elements to see if/what people are saying about it.

Richard Alvarez · March 14th, 2005, 04:49 PM

Premiere Elements is like photoshop elements. Not 'dummed down' but 'stripped down'. Same interface, fewer features. The same thing is available for Final Cut, they have Final Cut Express... lower price, same interface, fewer features.I know Final Cut Xpress can be upgraded to Pro at a later date... Don't know if Elements has that ability. Avid has AvidXpress FREE which, again is the same interface, but with absolute minimum features which is NOT upgradeable, but hey - it's free. Avid then has different price points for different packages. All of the other NLE's have free trial downloads, which usually time out after a while.

If you are planning on doing only short videos, then a basic laptop with single drive will probably do what you want. Later, you can add external drives for your media. The problem arises when you are trying to run the program, and access media on the same drive. It can create a bottleneck at times.

Steve Witt · March 14th, 2005, 07:53 PM

Thanks Richard. I already have the thought of an external hard drive in the back of my mind. They seem affordable as far as I can tell. I don't know if they are all created equal but I will check'em out. I am going to start out shooting and editing videos of my 3 year old daughter (birthdays, playground, dance, etc) but I will also shoot experimental videos involving compositions, bluescreens, forced perspectives and things like this. This is where I feel I want to get the most creative. These special effect type (star wars) effects. I am the only one in my family that will have a video camera, much less the only one that will be doing editing and effects on a computer. I am gonna knock their socks off with this stuff.

Richard Alvarez · March 14th, 2005, 09:19 PM

Steve,

When you start compositing, layering, muti-streams of effects, THATS when you need to have your media on a seperate drive from your os drive.

Just a heads up.

Edward Troxel · March 14th, 2005, 09:45 PM

<<<-- Originally posted by Steve Witt : I have checked out a book at the library that just came into print
(copyright 2005) Adobe Premiere Elements for Dummies by Keith Underdahl. So far this book says that this is a good start for low experience users like me but at the same time it was developed on the foundations of Premiere Pro. It says that Elements is NOT a dumbed down version of Pro and that little has been left out. This sounds like what I have been wanting and it fits my budget too. I think this sounds like a good place for me to start as far as NLE software. After the library I went to Best Buy and they have a Sony laptop on sale this week with specs that way exceed the minimum requirements for Premiere Elements. I am strongly considering this one now. I'm now going to do a search on here for Premiere Elements to see if/what people are saying about it. -->>>

Yes and Vegas Movie Studio is a stripped down version of Vegas for under $100. They all have stripped down versions for lower prices. My recommendation that you look at them all still stands.

Steve Witt · March 14th, 2005, 09:59 PM

thanks Edward, thats great advice. It seems like I hear good things about each of the major NLE software programs and I'm glad to hear that each has their own stripped down versions for beginners like myself. I am definitely going to take your advice and check'em all out. Elements gripped my attention first though because Videomaker magazine rated it high among these begginer versions and secondly because I stumbled across this book at the library today. I'm not that easy though. I will keep investigating the other possibilities. Thanks again!!

Kevin Janisch · March 15th, 2005, 06:42 PM

I have an HP ZD7000 Laptop and love it. Full Pentium 4 Processor (not scaled back M), 17" screen, 1GB of Ram and it has been great for my video productions. I paid $2400 last February maxed out, but you as of now you can get it from Costco.com for $1493 (+ $50 rebate and free shipping base price) with a killer 17" brightview screen. Costco is great also because if anything happens to the laptop or if you simply decide not to keep it, you can return it within 6 months.

http://www.costco.com/CTO/HPConfigurator.aspx?Prodid=10029570&whse=BC&topnav=&cat=4580&hierPath=84*4332*4580*&model=PF456AV

March 14th, 2005, 09:49 AM	#1
Steve Witt Major Player Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: kentucky, USA Posts: 429	turnkey laptops can anyone recommend a decent laptop for editing for around $1500. All I want to do on it is edit digital video and watch DVDs.

March 14th, 2005, 11:18 AM	#4
Edward Troxel Sponsor: JET DV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 7,953	Because of required registry entries and other needed files, that answer would be no unless you INSTALLED the software on each machine and pointed that installation to the same location on the external drive. You're better off installing the NLE on the local drive. __________________ Edward Troxel [SCVU] JETDV Scripts/Scripting Tutorials/Excalibur/Montage Magic/Newsletters

March 14th, 2005, 12:59 PM	#7
Edward Troxel Sponsor: JET DV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 7,953	Instead of just picking Premiere "because you've heard most about it", I recommend you download the demos of several and see which ones work best for you. Adobe Premiere Sony Vegas Avid Express Canopus Edius Ulead etc... __________________ Edward Troxel [SCVU] JETDV Scripts/Scripting Tutorials/Excalibur/Montage Magic/Newsletters

March 14th, 2005, 09:45 PM	#12
Edward Troxel Sponsor: JET DV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 7,953	<<<-- Originally posted by Steve Witt : I have checked out a book at the library that just came into print (copyright 2005) Adobe Premiere Elements for Dummies by Keith Underdahl. So far this book says that this is a good start for low experience users like me but at the same time it was developed on the foundations of Premiere Pro. It says that Elements is NOT a dumbed down version of Pro and that little has been left out. This sounds like what I have been wanting and it fits my budget too. I think this sounds like a good place for me to start as far as NLE software. After the library I went to Best Buy and they have a Sony laptop on sale this week with specs that way exceed the minimum requirements for Premiere Elements. I am strongly considering this one now. I'm now going to do a search on here for Premiere Elements to see if/what people are saying about it. -->>> Yes and Vegas Movie Studio is a stripped down version of Vegas for under $100. They all have stripped down versions for lower prices. My recommendation that you look at them all still stands. __________________ Edward Troxel [SCVU] JETDV Scripts/Scripting Tutorials/Excalibur/Montage Magic/Newsletters

March 14th, 2005, 10:11 AM	#2
Richard Alvarez Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Mateo, CA Posts: 3,840	Much will depend on what you consider a 'decent' nle to be? To you have a preferred software? Premiere? Final Cut? Vegas? Avid? I-Movie? Different NLE's have different requirements.

March 14th, 2005, 10:49 AM	#3
Steve Witt Major Player Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: kentucky, USA Posts: 429	well, let me ask this first. Is it possible to put the editing sofware programs to an external hard drive and then hook it up to the laptop.

March 14th, 2005, 11:22 AM	#5
Richard Alvarez Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Mateo, CA Posts: 3,840	Usually, the software rests on the internal hardrive, and the media rests on external or 'extra' drives. This is the most efficient way to use an NLE. Do you have a preferred NLE?

March 14th, 2005, 11:49 AM	#6
Steve Witt Major Player Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: kentucky, USA Posts: 429	Thanks for the help Richard. I guess that I am a step ahead of myself. I think I hear most about Premiere so I will probably choose that one. I am someone who has become very ambitious about digital video and the editing process just through my research on trying to choose a camcorder. All I know for sure is that I am getting a Panasonic Gs400 and I would like to have a laptop editing machine to work on the video I shoot as a hobby when I am sitting in hotels, (which I do alot). I dont want to start out with just basic editing software. I want to be able to do pretty creative stuff (a little of everything). But not something so complicated that it would take someone with years of experience to use it. I am ground-zero brand new to this stuff but I am a quick study and I'm sure that I will enjoy creating with digital video.

March 14th, 2005, 04:33 PM	#8
Steve Witt Major Player Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: kentucky, USA Posts: 429	I have checked out a book at the library that just came into print (copyright 2005) Adobe Premiere Elements for Dummies by Keith Underdahl. So far this book says that this is a good start for low experience users like me but at the same time it was developed on the foundations of Premiere Pro. It says that Elements is NOT a dumbed down version of Pro and that little has been left out. This sounds like what I have been wanting and it fits my budget too. I think this sounds like a good place for me to start as far as NLE software. After the library I went to Best Buy and they have a Sony laptop on sale this week with specs that way exceed the minimum requirements for Premiere Elements. I am strongly considering this one now. I'm now going to do a search on here for Premiere Elements to see if/what people are saying about it.

March 14th, 2005, 04:49 PM	#9
Richard Alvarez Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Mateo, CA Posts: 3,840	Premiere Elements is like photoshop elements. Not 'dummed down' but 'stripped down'. Same interface, fewer features. The same thing is available for Final Cut, they have Final Cut Express... lower price, same interface, fewer features.I know Final Cut Xpress can be upgraded to Pro at a later date... Don't know if Elements has that ability. Avid has AvidXpress FREE which, again is the same interface, but with absolute minimum features which is NOT upgradeable, but hey - it's free. Avid then has different price points for different packages. All of the other NLE's have free trial downloads, which usually time out after a while. If you are planning on doing only short videos, then a basic laptop with single drive will probably do what you want. Later, you can add external drives for your media. The problem arises when you are trying to run the program, and access media on the same drive. It can create a bottleneck at times.

March 14th, 2005, 07:53 PM	#10
Steve Witt Major Player Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: kentucky, USA Posts: 429	Thanks Richard. I already have the thought of an external hard drive in the back of my mind. They seem affordable as far as I can tell. I don't know if they are all created equal but I will check'em out. I am going to start out shooting and editing videos of my 3 year old daughter (birthdays, playground, dance, etc) but I will also shoot experimental videos involving compositions, bluescreens, forced perspectives and things like this. This is where I feel I want to get the most creative. These special effect type (star wars) effects. I am the only one in my family that will have a video camera, much less the only one that will be doing editing and effects on a computer. I am gonna knock their socks off with this stuff.

March 14th, 2005, 09:19 PM	#11
Richard Alvarez Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Mateo, CA Posts: 3,840	Steve, When you start compositing, layering, muti-streams of effects, THATS when you need to have your media on a seperate drive from your os drive. Just a heads up.

March 14th, 2005, 09:59 PM	#13
Steve Witt Major Player Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: kentucky, USA Posts: 429	thanks Edward, thats great advice. It seems like I hear good things about each of the major NLE software programs and I'm glad to hear that each has their own stripped down versions for beginners like myself. I am definitely going to take your advice and check'em all out. Elements gripped my attention first though because Videomaker magazine rated it high among these begginer versions and secondly because I stumbled across this book at the library today. I'm not that easy though. I will keep investigating the other possibilities. Thanks again!!

March 15th, 2005, 06:42 PM	#14
Kevin Janisch Major Player Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Monterey, CA Posts: 406	I have an HP ZD7000 Laptop and love it. Full Pentium 4 Processor (not scaled back M), 17" screen, 1GB of Ram and it has been great for my video productions. I paid $2400 last February maxed out, but you as of now you can get it from Costco.com for $1493 (+ $50 rebate and free shipping base price) with a killer 17" brightview screen. Costco is great also because if anything happens to the laptop or if you simply decide not to keep it, you can return it within 6 months. http://www.costco.com/CTO/HPConfigurator.aspx?Prodid=10029570&whse=BC&topnav=&cat=4580&hierPath=8443324580*&model=PF456AV