any ideas as to what I should get? I am finding it harder to find a laptop than when I built my home computer setup.

I am going to need it within the next few days for a shoot in AK and I am torn on what I should get.

I just bought the New MacBook Pro 17" with Upgraded Processor and 4 Gigs of Ram for use in the field. It has the New permanent 8 Hour Battery. Which i have yet to form an opinion on...lol.

I guess it all depends on what you want to do with it.

oh, sorry, forgot to add I dont want a mac. I run vegas video.

I am looking at asus, they have a couple that have 2.4ghz processors, 4gb ram, a dedicated 1gb video card express card slot and firewire. I think it has everything I need to run all my programs (mostly concerned with vegas and magic bullet looks) and not take a thousand years to render short 2-5 minute pieces of video.

I have never owned an asus before, but if their computers are anything like their mother boards, it seems safe.

if you edit HD, there are not so many laptop with big screen at 1920x1200, this being imho the minimum to edit HD.
Dell is making nice mobile workstation (the Precision serie) for example.
Nowadays, you can get big 300 to 500 megabytes disks on every laptop, and Core2 duo are powerfull enough to edit HD easily.
just make sure there is an express card slot on the machine.

I have a Toshiba Qosmio G30 - it has 2 hardisks and you can keep one for video. The new G50 has a 18" widescreen. Guess HP has a model with 2 harddisks too. I would choose one that can connect to a extern e-sata too.

Asus makes really good laptops.

Be sure it has the express card slot. That's the problem with Macbooks, USB only.

the asus I am looking at has 1 express card slot, 1 esata port, 1 fire wire port, a vga and HDMI port, 5 usb slots.

it doesnt say if its express 34 or 54 but judging by the picture its 34.

I think this might be the one.

Ian, I have a Macbook Pro and a Mac Pro and use Vegas on both of them with Bootcamp and it works Flawlessly! Anyways, just wanted you to know that you can use Vegas with a MacBook Pro and it works great!

Ian, I have a Macbook Pro and a Mac Pro and use Vegas on both of them with Bootcamp and it works Flawlessly! Anyways, just wanted you to know that you can use Vegas with a MacBook Pro and it works great!

yeah, I know, i just dont feel like spending all that money on a macbook pro. I have used macs before, I just like pc's more. not saying macs arent good, just that they werent for me.

good to know bootcamp works well though!

i am looking on newegg. and the asus I am looking at only says express card, not express card/34. is it the same thing?

I use a MBP late 2008 15".Works very well.

There is a 52mm and a 34mm expresscard slots on various computers, the 34mm is the newer one and the one the Sony S x S card uses.

54/34 are both compatible with SxS cards. They both have the same connector interface, then the 54s get wider.

I have a HP-1050TX with a 54 slot I use for SxS, has HDMI, eSata, and a decent graphics card to play games when I'm not on the job :)

I have to call asus tomorrow I guess, it doesnt say if this is the 54 or 34. its gonna kill me if its the 54, this thing is perfect. but if its the 54 I have to keep looking....so it goes.

54/34 are both compatible with SxS cards. They both have the same connector interface, then the 54s get wider.

I have a HP-1050TX with a 54 slot I use for SxS, has HDMI, eSata, and a decent graphics card to play games when I'm not on the job :)

oh, you posted just before me. thats great news. thanks!

edit--

if its the same interface...whats the point of having the two different models (54 vs 34)?

More area for electronics. You can get all sorts of devices that use ExpressCard, not just storage. It was designed as mobile version of the PCI-Express slots in desktops.

Personally I would go for the Macbook Pro - but if I were to get a PC it would be the Lenova W700s. (Pretty sweet, decked out, and ready to rumble.) :D

Oh, and twice the price of a Macbook Pro, if not more...(depending on config.)

One thing I know from experience, is with video - laptop = misery.
(But that was my experience in early 2005 before I 'retired' and moved. Havent been involved in the video/film scene since then...just lurking and keeping up with trends.) :D

Peace

dAlen

Hmmm, you're running Vegas. I have a Sony Vaio that I use for Avid Media Composer and it works very well, although I had to hack the graphics card to get Nvidia GeForce to work since Avid likes Quadro. But probably not an issue for Vegas. Several things about it are pretty good:

Awesome 17" screen at 1920x1200 and it's extremely crisp and bright

That screen is mandatory with the available Blu-ray burner/player which I have, Blu-ray movies look great on the screen and play with the right aspect ratio pixel for pixel

Striped hard drives standard, I have two 200 GB drives striped for a pretty fast 400 GB

Dual processor like other good ones

Decent Nvidia graphics card although as above its a GeForce instead of a Quadro

Full protection with a 3-year Sony service plan even if I damage it, 24/7 phone support with this plan, good techies have helped me like tonight the Vaio fixated on my Dell's Blue Tooth keyboard/mouse and automatically switched from WiFi to Blue Tooth, fixed in one call

When I bought mine with Sony financing I got 0% interest for 18 months with no minimum payment either. Don't know if that's still happening, but could be, I just got a Dell desktop with 0% for 12 months, this has a minimum payment though.

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