Laptop Recommendations

fc wrote on 2/9/2003, 9:04 PM
Hi all,
Looking to purchase my first laptop to edit video with V4. This will NOT be my primary editor. I plan on using it when I travel (infrequently) and for business presentations, DVD demo reel, etc. I will also install Microsoft Word. Cost is a very important consideration.
Any recommendations for an off-the-shelf models???
Models to eliminate???
Chipset...Celeron? Intel?
Name brand and models, please.
TIA
Jerry

Comments

DataMeister wrote on 2/9/2003, 10:20 PM
Well, my dream laptop is the Sony GRX600. The top end of this line has a 2.0GHz mobile P4 with 1GB of RAM, a 60GB hard drive, a DVD-R/CD-RW drive (yes that's a DVD burner), and a honkin' huge 16.1" screen that can run at 1600x1200. Of course all of this and it's not terribly cheap price of $3409.99 just about makes it a desktop replacement. But, for editing video screen realestate rules and the 1600x1200 screen is what's making me drool. That model also comes with Windows XP Pro and Office XP Pro.

They do have a couple of smaller models having the same size screen. The cheapest being for $1799.99. It has only 1.8GHz CPU, 256MB RAM, and 30GB hard drive.

Of course all of these come with that goofy little Sony 4 pin firewire port.

I don't work for Sony and I haven't used one of these laptops so it may actually suck when dealing with high bandwidth apps. All I know is that I had to wipe the slober off the keyboard after playing around with one for the first time at my local Best Buy.

JBJones



P.S. Oh, and the part about drooling ... Umm ... I was just kidding about that. I would never do anything as undignified as drooling all over the B and the N keys on a beautiful work of art like a GRX600. And don't bother checking the survielence footage for that day. It has mysteriously disapeared. :)
DataMeister wrote on 2/9/2003, 10:36 PM
My other recommendation would be to just get a laptop with the fastest CPU you can afford, get about 512MB of RAM, and a resonable hard drive (40GB maybe). Then get a PCMCIA FireWire adapter and an external FireWire drive. Most laptop drives are NOT very big or very fast. The size of the screen is up to you. Most portables now days have at least a 1024x768 screen which would get you by. Of course bigger is better.

Other than that I don't really have any preferences about brands or models. I just looked at Dell's web site and they have an Inspiron 2650 that seems to have decent specs for less than $1,000.

I also have a friend with a Dell laptop and he (with my help) has used tech support a couple of times. Good and friendly support.

JBJones
Laurence wrote on 2/9/2003, 11:28 PM
I like the Toshibas. The probably have the best sound of any laptops. The latest model I saw had a P4 2 gigahertz mobile cpu, 512 megs of RAM, a sixty gig hard drive, a DVD-R burner, Firewire and three USB 2 ports, built in WiFi, and an extra drive bay that could be used for either an extra battery or a second hard drive. That's about as well configured as they come.

On the low price end, I kind of like the "Desknote" machines. They are like battery-less laptops that can be bought as "barebones" systems for under $800. You add your own desktop CPU, notebook hard drive, desktop memory and Windows.

Laurence Kingston