New Laptop for editing 720p wmvhd video
 

Looking to setup 20+ editors on staff with a dual core 2.1 gig, 4 gig ram (dd2-800)

Curious... the video card is the integrated card on the Dell Inspiron 15....

What is your opinion on this as a basic editing for web machine??

How much better over would the system run with a 256meg dedi video card?
As compared to that OnTheMother board card???


I welcome all your opinions.

Thank you,
Rock. Rock Reed.

If you are thinking HD and want to use Dell laptops just forget about it.....and the video card does not matter really.

LOCH: Can you elaborate?

What is wrong with a duo core 2.1mhz 4gig dd2 ram?

I nearly bought an inspiron but went for the vostro. It has a faster cpu and hard disk, can take more ram and has a better screen. According to review I read it's more rugged too. And it has firewire.

You can get a graphic card upgrade for inspiron but it's not the best for editing.

Do you need your editors to be mobile? If not you would be much better off with PCs

Yes, must all be mobile... in the field.

I will take a better look at THE VOSTRO


thanks

Well it should first be said that im not an editor, i employ editors inhouse.
Even a quad core Desktop which is faster then any quad laptop comes to a crawl if you want to be able to edit on the fly as in no chopping when scrolling back and forth.
Your rendertimes will be slow as well etc etc

A dual core will be able to edit HD yes, but it will take forever and your editors will miss a lot of stuff while editing unless they know the videos they are editing.

Its just not productive at all.

But the problem is that a hi-end quad-core laptop with 8 gig DD3 ram and 1 gig video card is not cost effective for us at this time.


What do you Suggest LOCH???

Ahh i dident read this one, ok so you need mobility!!!
Rock-reed go quad core 2.1 or 2.3

I would recoment Toshiba as they will never run hot on you, ever!!!
The Qusmio line they have is brilliant!

very true. My Dell is powerful for a laptop and it sucks for anything more demanding

You dont need a good video card, it means nada for what you need.
As for Ram you are FINE with 4 Gigs and you do not need to use DDR3 either.

What you need is a BIG engine, and for mathematical processing that would be your processor.
Here is an example, when you renter or encode your speed will be the same whether you have 2-4 gigs of ram or 50 gigs, makes no difference.
Its all based on your engine "your cpu"

1500 bucks here with a fantastic screen as well.
i7 processor etc
But they have a bunch of other models in there as well

http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/...#1263287754094

Thanks for the great, detailed information you guys took time to reply with.


Are there any other basic issues I would be aware of, referring to editing HD Video in the field mobile on a Laptop?

THANKS

No just make sure that you ask these questions if you talk to a computer rep for bulk deals.

1. Make SURE the laptop has "laptop components", most cheaper models have desktop components, which is why they run hot, when they run hot the slow down and will last YEARS less.....and they will run hot rendering HD.

2. Biggest CPU possible (your CPU speed is directly proportional to your render, encode speed amongst other things while editing)

3. 2-4 gigs of DDR2 ram = OK

4. Cheap Videocard = OK

5. Your Harddrive, speed does NOT matter here, it will always be faster then the speed your CPU can process data and store it to the drive!

for $1500 thats almost getting macbook, has firewire and usb2. But for mobile editing or offline that would be ok. Still nothing beats editing on a desktop :)

if i have to i can edit HDV MPEG2 on my 4 year old Toshiba dual whatever core with 2 gb :2 cents:

could be a little more smooth when scrolling through the video but otherwise it works well

Why not stick to the IBM.

Its all great getting cheaper makes or cooler looking laptops. But if its a business you want, a business laptop you need. IBM