Hi,

I'm looking to buy a laptop for editing in Avid Xpress Pro, but I'm going to use it for After Effects, Flash and Photoshop use aswell.

Future right now is both P2 (HVX200) and SD editing (some sony cam connected through firewire for capturing).

I'm having a hard time figuring out which laptop to go for.

This is the specs I'm looking for (please point out if this is the wrong way to go)

17" 1680x1050
Centrino pro core 2 duo at least at 2Ghz
4GB DDR2 RAM
Big harddrive
Quattro GFX card
HDMI output
S-VHS video out
Firewire
Full keyboard

I've been looking at this model (the site is danish but you'll understand the specs)

http://www.edbpriser.dk/Products/Listprices.asp?ID=389018

It has everything I need but s-vhs video out and HDMI. I find HDMI kind of essential, that being the standard in the future and all. Also I'd like to be able to hook up a proper monitor some time, when the budget allows. But maybe I just need to buy a mojo-box and go through firewire when that time comes. Right now I only have an analog television, so I need the S-VHS to connect that.

Also - will I be able to connect a monitor via VGA and get Avid to show my video in fullscreen-mode? Or is that not possible at all? Or maybe through S-VHS?

I've been looking at HP's consumer-models aswell but they only have 1440px displays and no quattro-card. Besides that it actually seems like it has everything I need.

As you can tell I'm quite confused about what to get. It's my first time buying my own editing equipment. I've been used to Newscutter Adrenaline or Newscutter XP on mojo-solutions that just worked ;-)

I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks for your time!

- Thomas Hartz

EDIT:

Found a danish reseller (http://notebooksalg.computersalg.dk/produkt.html?varenummer=290631&SamleMenuID=24&gruppe=7&Extended=1&SiteID=6&Show_description=0&serie=&producent=HewlettPackard) that lists both HDMI and S-VHS on the 8710p. HP only lists HDMI. I'm confused.

Anyone?

That's the first laptop I've seen with an HDMI port built in.

If you're looking to output a hi-res image to another monitor, try looking for a machine with a DVI out. The only drawback to DVI is that it won't transmit audio along with the video signal, but you can always run a cable from your line-out or headphone jack.

For editing and graphics work, I strongly recommend a Sager or Clevo notebook. I currently own a Sager 5760, but I can't remember off hand what model that translates to for the Clevo side. To try and keep things clear, Clevo is the company that manufactures the computers, and Sager just re-brands them. I'm not sure how pricing is on your end, but I was able to get a great system for about $2500 US. I have a T7200 Core2, 4GB of RAM, and a QuadroFX 2500M graphics card. It has an Express Card port, Firewire 400, S-video, and a DVI port on the back. And it's keyboard has the full number pad and everything, which is GREAT.

I'm currently running the full Adobe CS3 Production bundle along with 3ds Max, and this thing performs admirably. It's main drawback is the lack of mass storage, but I can hook up an external drive to alleviate that problem. So, have a look at Clevo or Sager. I think they're excellent machines.

Thanks Shawn, I'll look in to it