what spec laptop for SDEs, editing in general at DVinfo.net

James Strange · March 17th, 2010, 07:36 PM

Hi guys,

Im looking to get a laptop to edit SDEs on,

What spec of laptop are folks using for SDEs or editing in general?

Would this one cope?

The Dell Online Store: Build Your System

(its HDV editng)

cheers

james

Mark Von Lanken · March 17th, 2010, 08:49 PM

Hi James,

It will partially depend on what NLE you are using. I can only speak for Edius and I get great real time performance with HDV footage from a Core 2 Duo 2.0 with two gb of ram.

Some general things to think about is the hard drive. I can edit from the system drive with Edius, but I get much better performance from a different drive. I noticed the laptop listed had a 5400 RPM drive. This may or may not be okay for a system drive, but it will not be acceptable for editing HDV footage. I know, I know, many say not to edit from the system drive, which is true, but I can on Edius with a 7200 RPM drive.

Speaking of hard drives, you could consider a laptop with two internal drives. My current laptop has two 500 gb drives and it is wonderful, but two internal drives comes at a price. A cheaper alternative is an external drive, and you will get much better performance from an eSATA drive going through the eSATA connection versus using the USB connection. If the laptop you are looking at does not have an eSATA connection look for an express card slot. You can get an Express card slot that has a couple of eSATA jacks and this will give you the speed you need to edit HDV, or at least it does with Edius.

As far as RAM goes, I just had 2 Gbs of DDR2 RAM when I was editing HDV and it was fine for Edius. When I got our latest laptop for editing AVCHD, I made sure I had 6 Gb of DDR3 RAM.

Chris Davis · March 18th, 2010, 09:10 AM

A screen resolution of 1366x768 is pretty low for any editing software I use (Vegas, Premiere, After Effects.)

I'd move up to the Studio 17. It supports two internal drives. I'd also go with the i7 processor. Actually, I did just that and it arrives tomorow. I went with the full HD (1920x1080) screen.

I see right now you can move up to the Studio 17 for only £100 more. It still has pretty much the same specs as the one you linked, but it has a larger 1600x900 screen, and that extra screen real estate is very valuable for video editing.

James Strange · March 18th, 2010, 12:15 PM

Hi Chris, thanks for the reply

Last night when I posted, the link I put in took you to a build that came to £530.

that price has gone up to to £630 now, so the one you've suggested is £200 more than the one I listed (although the one I listed has gone up £100)

Ah well,

back to drawing board

Chris Davis · March 18th, 2010, 01:16 PM

Is there a UK equivalent to the Dell Outlet (www.delloutlet.com)? That's where I buy all my computers. They're 30%-50% less than regular price and carry the same warranty. I've purchased at least a dozen computers from the outlet and each has been indistinguishable from new.

The Studio 17 I'm receiving tomorrow cost $1070 (about £700.)

EDIT: Yes, there is: Dell Outlet - Refurbished Laptops & Desktops/PCs - Home & Home Office | Dell United Kingdom and I see a Studio 17 with great specs for under £500.

James Strange · March 20th, 2010, 01:43 PM

"EDIT: Yes, there is: Dell Outlet - Refurbished Laptops & Desktops/PCs - Home & Home Office | Dell United Kingdom and I see a Studio 17 with great specs for under £500. "

Sorry to be a pain, but which one? I don't see it.

Also, processor wise, would I be better with a core i5 2.4 or a core i7 1.6 ?

Cheers

James

Stan Chase · March 20th, 2010, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Davis

A screen resolution of 1366x768 is pretty low for any editing software I use (Vegas, Premiere, After Effects.) I'd move up to the Studio 17.

Studio 15s are available with 1920x1080 displays..even from the outlet. That's where I bought mine. Plenty of res for editing and for dot for dot playback. $500 like new with 1yr warranty.

Chris Davis · March 20th, 2010, 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by James Strange

"EDIT: Yes, there is: Dell Outlet - Refurbished Laptops & Desktops/PCs - Home & Home Office | Dell United Kingdom and I see a Studio 17 with great specs for under £500. "

Sorry to be a pain, but which one? I don't see it.

Also, processor wise, would I be better with a core i5 2.4 or a core i7 1.6 ?

Cheers

James

Dell Outlet inventory changes continuously. Keep checking. I was watching the inventory daily for two weeks before I found mine. You can only have a system in your cart for 15 minutes before it goes back into inventory. So figure out exactly what you want, then when you see it, buy it.

I don't know about the Euro Outlet, but here in the states, the inventory is updated twice an hour, at :00 and at :40 (give or take a few minutes.)

i7 is better than an i5.

James Strange · March 23rd, 2010, 08:26 AM

Guys, thanks very much for the advice, especially about the dell outlet.

I got a Syudio 15 model
Studio 1557

4096MB (2x2048) 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel

500GB Serial ATA (7200RPM)

Graphics 512 MB ATI Mobility Radeon HP 4570

Operating System English Genuine Windows 7 Professional (64 BIT)

6 cell 56W HR LI-ION Battery

Intel i7-720QM(1.6GHz)

Camera Integrated 2.0 Mega Pixel Camera

Grade 1 Scratch or Dent

8 X DVD +/- RW

Wireless Intel WiFi Link 5300 (802.11 a/g/n) Half Mini Card European

15.6 Widescreen Full High Definition (1920X1080) WLED with TrueLife

Black Chainlink

All for £530 including VAT & deliviery.

Chris' advice was spot on.

I checked it every day for the past week or so, waited till I got one that I liked, and then spapped it up.

The only thing it didn;t have was blu-ray, but that would have been a luxury.

I did a rough spec build on the regualr dell site, and this system would cost £1000 or more!!

Sure its from the outlet so it may have a few scratches or dents, but there wont be any on the screen, and I can live with a few scratches on the casing for £540!

Thanks again for the advice

Now I just have to wait for delivery!

James

Chris Davis · March 23rd, 2010, 09:17 AM

Good on ya. Virtually the same specs I got except yours is 15.6" and mine is 17.3".

Mine also was a "scratch and dent" but the only hint of a scratch I see is what looks like a small scuff toward the top of the keyboard. You wouldn't notice unless you were told to look for it.

My laptop was ordered last Monday and delivered on Friday. Hopefully yours will arrive as fast or faster.

I don't know if this problem would affect the Studio 15, but mine would refuse to "wake up" after being in sleep mode for more than 20 minutes. After updating the BIOS and video driver to the latest versions, all was well.

Sigmund Reboquio · March 23rd, 2010, 10:46 AM

James

Your graphics processor could also be improved in my opinion. If your doing SDEs, you need a faster one especially if you will be using plugins.

Chris Davis · March 23rd, 2010, 12:20 PM

He's buying a laptop, therefore reducing his choice of video cards.

For the most part, high horsepower video cards are for gaming, not video editing. Pretty much the only thing a better video card would help with would be 3D effects, and you'd typically stay away from that kind of slow-rendering stuff in an SDE.

As long as the video card can drive the native resolution of the LCD panel, you're ok.

Besides, a 512MB ATI Radeon is no slouch.

Kren Barnes · March 23rd, 2010, 03:34 PM

Dell Alienware M15x with 1GB Nvidia video card and i3 processor ..6GB DDR3... 500GB SATAII 7,200RPM ..

March 17th, 2010, 07:36 PM	#1
James Strange Major Player Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Glasgow, Scotland, UK Posts: 309	what spec laptop for SDEs, editing in general Hi guys, Im looking to get a laptop to edit SDEs on, What spec of laptop are folks using for SDEs or editing in general? Would this one cope? The Dell Online Store: Build Your System (its HDV editng) cheers james

March 17th, 2010, 08:49 PM	#2
Mark Von Lanken Major Player Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Tulsa, OK Posts: 910	Hi James, It will partially depend on what NLE you are using. I can only speak for Edius and I get great real time performance with HDV footage from a Core 2 Duo 2.0 with two gb of ram. Some general things to think about is the hard drive. I can edit from the system drive with Edius, but I get much better performance from a different drive. I noticed the laptop listed had a 5400 RPM drive. This may or may not be okay for a system drive, but it will not be acceptable for editing HDV footage. I know, I know, many say not to edit from the system drive, which is true, but I can on Edius with a 7200 RPM drive. Speaking of hard drives, you could consider a laptop with two internal drives. My current laptop has two 500 gb drives and it is wonderful, but two internal drives comes at a price. A cheaper alternative is an external drive, and you will get much better performance from an eSATA drive going through the eSATA connection versus using the USB connection. If the laptop you are looking at does not have an eSATA connection look for an express card slot. You can get an Express card slot that has a couple of eSATA jacks and this will give you the speed you need to edit HDV, or at least it does with Edius. As far as RAM goes, I just had 2 Gbs of DDR2 RAM when I was editing HDV and it was fine for Edius. When I got our latest laptop for editing AVCHD, I made sure I had 6 Gb of DDR3 RAM. __________________ Mark Von Lanken www.VonWeddingFilms.com

March 18th, 2010, 09:10 AM	#3
Chris Davis Trustee Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Willmar, MN Posts: 1,400	A screen resolution of 1366x768 is pretty low for any editing software I use (Vegas, Premiere, After Effects.) I'd move up to the Studio 17. It supports two internal drives. I'd also go with the i7 processor. Actually, I did just that and it arrives tomorow. I went with the full HD (1920x1080) screen. I see right now you can move up to the Studio 17 for only £100 more. It still has pretty much the same specs as the one you linked, but it has a larger 1600x900 screen, and that extra screen real estate is very valuable for video editing.

March 18th, 2010, 12:15 PM	#4
James Strange Major Player Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Glasgow, Scotland, UK Posts: 309	Hi Chris, thanks for the reply Last night when I posted, the link I put in took you to a build that came to £530. that price has gone up to to £630 now, so the one you've suggested is £200 more than the one I listed (although the one I listed has gone up £100) Ah well, back to drawing board

March 18th, 2010, 01:16 PM	#5
Chris Davis Trustee Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Willmar, MN Posts: 1,400	Is there a UK equivalent to the Dell Outlet (www.delloutlet.com)? That's where I buy all my computers. They're 30%-50% less than regular price and carry the same warranty. I've purchased at least a dozen computers from the outlet and each has been indistinguishable from new. The Studio 17 I'm receiving tomorrow cost $1070 (about £700.) EDIT: Yes, there is: Dell Outlet - Refurbished Laptops & Desktops/PCs - Home & Home Office \| Dell United Kingdom and I see a Studio 17 with great specs for under £500.

March 20th, 2010, 01:43 PM	#6
James Strange Major Player Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Glasgow, Scotland, UK Posts: 309	"EDIT: Yes, there is: Dell Outlet - Refurbished Laptops & Desktops/PCs - Home & Home Office \| Dell United Kingdom and I see a Studio 17 with great specs for under £500. " Sorry to be a pain, but which one? I don't see it. Also, processor wise, would I be better with a core i5 2.4 or a core i7 1.6 ? Cheers James

March 23rd, 2010, 08:26 AM	#9
James Strange Major Player Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Glasgow, Scotland, UK Posts: 309	Guys, thanks very much for the advice, especially about the dell outlet. I got a Syudio 15 model Studio 1557 4096MB (2x2048) 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel 500GB Serial ATA (7200RPM) Graphics 512 MB ATI Mobility Radeon HP 4570 Operating System English Genuine Windows 7 Professional (64 BIT) 6 cell 56W HR LI-ION Battery Intel i7-720QM(1.6GHz) Camera Integrated 2.0 Mega Pixel Camera Grade 1 Scratch or Dent 8 X DVD +/- RW Wireless Intel WiFi Link 5300 (802.11 a/g/n) Half Mini Card European 15.6 Widescreen Full High Definition (1920X1080) WLED with TrueLife Black Chainlink All for £530 including VAT & deliviery. Chris' advice was spot on. I checked it every day for the past week or so, waited till I got one that I liked, and then spapped it up. The only thing it didn;t have was blu-ray, but that would have been a luxury. I did a rough spec build on the regualr dell site, and this system would cost £1000 or more!! Sure its from the outlet so it may have a few scratches or dents, but there wont be any on the screen, and I can live with a few scratches on the casing for £540! Thanks again for the advice Now I just have to wait for delivery! James

March 23rd, 2010, 09:17 AM	#10
Chris Davis Trustee Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Willmar, MN Posts: 1,400	Good on ya. Virtually the same specs I got except yours is 15.6" and mine is 17.3". Mine also was a "scratch and dent" but the only hint of a scratch I see is what looks like a small scuff toward the top of the keyboard. You wouldn't notice unless you were told to look for it. My laptop was ordered last Monday and delivered on Friday. Hopefully yours will arrive as fast or faster. I don't know if this problem would affect the Studio 15, but mine would refuse to "wake up" after being in sleep mode for more than 20 minutes. After updating the BIOS and video driver to the latest versions, all was well.

March 23rd, 2010, 10:46 AM	#11
Sigmund Reboquio Major Player Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: San Francisco Posts: 212	James Your graphics processor could also be improved in my opinion. If your doing SDEs, you need a faster one especially if you will be using plugins.

March 23rd, 2010, 12:20 PM	#12
Chris Davis Trustee Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Willmar, MN Posts: 1,400	He's buying a laptop, therefore reducing his choice of video cards. For the most part, high horsepower video cards are for gaming, not video editing. Pretty much the only thing a better video card would help with would be 3D effects, and you'd typically stay away from that kind of slow-rendering stuff in an SDE. As long as the video card can drive the native resolution of the LCD panel, you're ok. Besides, a 512MB ATI Radeon is no slouch.

March 23rd, 2010, 03:34 PM	#13
Kren Barnes Major Player Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Winnipeg Manitoba Canada Posts: 415	Dell Alienware M15x with 1GB Nvidia video card and i3 processor ..6GB DDR3... 500GB SATAII 7,200RPM ..