Latest & Best PC Laptop Specs - Please help!

TommyTallarico wrote on 6/16/2014, 11:04 PM

Hi!,

Long time reader... first time poster! Such amazing information and people on here. Always a pleasure browsing!

Question...

I'm about to purchase a new laptop for the newest version of Vegas. Having a desktop is not an option... and the laptop MUST be in the 13 inch - 15 inch range.

I looked for options that are light, super fast for editing and rendering and at least a 4 hour battery life for working on planes. Price is NO object. Oh... and Apple is not an option. :)

I would NOT be using this laptop for gaming. Just e-mail/MS Office, video/audio editing, YouTube/Hulu/Netflix/Skype streaming, etc.

So... I found a bunch of different options out there that range from $1,700 - $3,300. Could someone knowledgeable in the "spec" world tell me what the VERY BEST specs would be to run Vegas? I'm just not sure if paying the top dollar is going to benefit me. But I do want to keep this for at least the next 5 years or so.

1. Considering everything will be Intel Core i7... is 16GB system memory going to be a big difference over 8GB?

2. Is 3 or 4 GB on the graphics card going to make a difference over a 2 GB for Vegas?

3. Do I really need a screen resolution over 1920x1080 (I connect it to an extra large screen for most of my editing).

4. Does having a touch screen matter for Vegas?

5. Is there a difference between Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 in regards to running Vegas?? I have the option of both on some of the systems.

Everything would have huge RAID SSD hard drives so space isn't an issue.

What SPECS are going to get me the very best performance for Vegas???

I'm currently running 32 bit Vegas 7 & Pro 9 in Windows XP (stop laughing!) But it works fine for what I need it for... but it's definitely time to upgrade.

I'm on the road touring constantly so please don't recommend a desktop and I don't want to lug around a 17 inch laptop.

Thoughts????? Suggestions???? This is so confusing! PLEASE HELP!!

Thanks!

Tommy

Comments

trombonist wrote on 6/17/2014, 12:34 AM

Hi Tommy,
I'm an orchestra conductor and producer. I use Vegas 13 for video and audio so I'll throw in my 2 cents worth.

1. Considering everything will be Intel Core i7... is 16GB system memory going to be a big
difference over 8GB?
Get the 16 GB. It does make a difference.

2. Is 3 or 4 GB on the graphics card going to make a difference over a 2 GB for Vegas?
2 GB is ok. Not much performance difference here.

3. Do I really need a screen resolution over 1920x1080 (I connect it to an extra large screen for most of my editing).
I would get a full HD screen. You can see any HD at full rez.

4. Does having a touch screen matter for Vegas?
No. But 13 does have some iPad integration that can help if you work in groups.

5. Is there a difference between Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 in regards to running Vegas?? I have the option of both on some of the systems.
It's Win 8 compatible, but there is no real optimization just yet.

Everything would have huge RAID SSD hard drives so space isn't an issue.

What SPECS are going to get me the very best performance for Vegas???
You are bang on with the i7. For client work I like to have decent tech support if I need it.
I own an Asus i7, but have seen some sweet HP i7's with the later generation processor.
The HP was completely silent and the keyboard was much better than my Asus.
I would go for the HP ZBook 15 Mobile Workstation with an i7 4700 cpu. It's Win 8 but has a free downgrade to Win 7 Pro they can set up for you. It also has a 7200 RPM hard drive for more speed.
That being said-I think you should talk to either Videoguys 516-759-1611 or ADK 859-635-5762 and tell them who you are.( I would even consider paying for a few consulting hours) They build custom workstations and can give you the ins and outs.
Love your work and I hope this helps you narrow things down a bit.
Also-see if you can get a thunderbolt port.
NB-The most important thing for rendering in Vegas Pro is CPU cores. The more the better.

musicvid10 wrote on 6/17/2014, 1:10 AM

Get the one with the best looking screen.

Byron K wrote on 6/17/2014, 1:44 AM

One of the best laptops out there now is the MSI GT70-2OL.

Has 3 SSD and up to 16gigs of RAM. My co-worker purchased one of these and the thing is faaaast!

If I wasn't in the process of spec'ing out my next hex core 4930K machine to be purchase by the end of the year, I was seriously considering one of these.

OldSmoke wrote on 6/17/2014, 8:24 AM

I would have a look at Sager Laptops.

TommyTallarico wrote on 6/17/2014, 10:48 AM

Hi Trombonist!,

Thanks for the great advice! Been checking out the HP ZBook 14 & 15 all morning. I love the fact that the 14 is 3.5 lbs and a 6hr battery life... and you can swap batteries (comes in handy on those 20+ hr flights to China!) and the 15 even has Blu-Ray (which I love for watching movies on a plane).

When I loaded up the ZBook 15 it came to around $4,000! But there was a bunch of options I didn't quite understand. Would the two companies you mentioned below (Videoguys/ADK) build out a ZBook? Or do they just do custom stuff?

There seems to be a huge price difference between a 1TB 7200 rpm drive and the 512GB SSD. I love the speed and instant access of SSD's (which I've used since they first came out). But it's about a $1,000 difference. Is the $1,000 really worth it?

I can get up to 32GB of internal RAM. Is that overkill? Or is 16GB more than fine? I want to use this machine for the next 5 years... so I'm always leaning towards getting the most I can right now (so I don't need to open it up 3 years from now when I want to upgrade). The price on 32GB doesn't seem to be that much... so probably worth getting now?

Both the 14 & 15 only have 1920x1080. I noticed all the gaming laptops have above that. Will I be fine with 1920x1080 you think?

It looks like HP comes with a thunderbolt port. Not familiar with what that is/means exactly. I'm guessing it's something faster for data transferring? I sync with 2 4TB drives at home so that might come in handy.

What orchestra do you conduct for? Have we ever worked together? Have you seen my show? I've been using Vegas for the past 10 years for all the video editing in the show.

Oh! One other question... What are the coolest FX add-on's for Vegas these days? There are SO MANY to choose from. I want awesome titles and super cool transitions.... and anything else that might be video game-esque looking/related.

Thank-you for your time and insights!

Tommy

TommyTallarico wrote on 6/17/2014, 10:53 AM

Thanks Byron!,

I checked out the MSI... yeah! They are nice... and fast!

The downsides for me are that they are definitely a lot bigger/thicker than the HP ZBooks and the 15.6" version is twice as heavy as the HP's and the battery life is about 1/3 of the HP's.

I read a review that said that aside from the featured parts in the MSI that everything else was really cheap parts from Taiwan. A few users complained that they've bought two and both machines had screen problems, keyboard issues and overheating.

Yikes!

TommyTallarico wrote on 6/17/2014, 11:02 AM

Thanks OldSmoke!

Checking out all the Sager's now. Lots of great options!

T.T.

OldSmoke wrote on 6/17/2014, 11:50 AM

Keep in mind that a good laptop for editing will be around $3-4k no matter what. Laptops with that kind of power are about twice as much as a comparable desktop; "freedom" has its price.

TommyTallarico wrote on 6/17/2014, 1:55 PM

For sure! Yeah... Everything I'm looking at is in the $3K price range. But I'm hoping to get 5+ years out of it and will use it everyday as my main machine also.

T.T.

Byron K wrote on 6/21/2014, 5:52 PM

Yea Tommy, sorry I forgot to mention that the msi is kind of a beast of a laptop. My friend has one of those USB laptop coolers which will likely draw more power from the life of the battery.

Pls let us know which one you decide on and how it works for ya! (:

Also imho 16 gig is more than adequate amount of RAM. My desktop (i7 2.8 GHz) has 16 gig and I rarely use all of it except when I render video. I don't think if I had the extra 16 gigs (32 total) will help decrease my render times.