OT New system: desktop or laptop?

BrianStanding wrote on 11/6/2006, 9:11 AM
So, my old Athlon XP 2700 desktop system gave up the ghost recently, and I find myself in the market for a new editing system. After doing the research on Anandtech, this forum, and others, I was all set to buy the following system:

- Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Case w/ 450Watt Power Supply
- ASUS P5B Deluxe Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express Motherboard
- Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz LGA 775 Processor
- GIGABYTE GV-NX76G256D-RH GeForce 7600GS 256MB Video Card
- CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800 Dual Channel Kit
- Western Digital Caviar SE 120GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s System Drive
- (2) Western Digital Caviar SE 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s A/V Drives
- SAMSUNG 18X DVD±R EIDE DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write

I was planning on using my existing 20" and 19" CRT monitors until I can scrape together to get an 1920 x 1080 LCD screen. I might get a cheap ($200 or so) 17" or 19" LCD monitor in the meantime.

But then, I saw this Sony laptop:

SONY VAIO VGN-SZ340P9
and started drooling.

I can't afford both. Which one would you pick?

Comments

grh wrote on 11/6/2006, 9:26 AM
Laptops are not known for performance. That Sony has a small screen, will have limited memory bandwidth, a slow drive, and the graphics adapter is irrelevant unless you're want to use something like Boris, which can take advantage of the GPU for rendering. Compared to a powerful desktop (that can be easily upgraded), faster drives (SATA) and dual displays? No contest. Buy a good desktop and then, if you absolutely must, a cheap laptop ($600 or so) for noodling out and about.

Do you really need to sit in Starbucks to do your editing? ;-)

[To be fair, I don't carry my laptop with me wherever I go. I prefer to do work in an appropriate location, but otherwise separate life and work.]
TheHappyFriar wrote on 11/6/2006, 9:38 AM
all depends on what you want: if you want to take your PC to clients & such, a laptop is a good idea. But when you want to get that brand new 800gb SATA drive.... you're SOL, you're stuck with internals.

I'd prefer a desktop to edit & a moderately powered laptop for everything else & "in the field" editing.
BrianStanding wrote on 11/6/2006, 9:55 AM
Well... I have a moderately powerful laptop... an older Sony VAIO GRT-250P with a P4 2.8. It works perfectly. I work a day job, so have to squeeze editing in at odd times, hours and places... (not Starbucks because I don't want to support them, but certainly other coffeeshops!). I find that I'm doing more editing on the laptop these days than at my desktop (even before my desktop bit the dust).

My only complaints about my current laptop are that it's heavy as lead and eats through a fully-charged battery in under an hour. Both of which kind of defeat the purpose of having a portable computer in the first place. I have a mental map of all the places downtown with access to electrical outlets, but it's a bit of a pain. Not to mention I'm growing a hump by lugging this beast around town! So a speedy, light, energy-efficient machine certainly has an appeal.

On the other hand, a standard desktop would certainly be faster, cheaper and have more upgrade options (including possibly Kentsfield 4-core CPUs early next year).

Thanks for the input so far. Keep 'em coming!
FrigidNDEditing wrote on 11/6/2006, 12:39 PM
I do too much out and about, so for me laptop is the primary, I just use a docking station and have everything hooked up to that, come home, sit down to dual 20" LCD's and my laptop sits off to the side. Then when I'm working conventions, or out at a shoot and need to run my teleprompter from a laptop, I have one there as well. I can take it to clients all kinds of stuff. I have a 100GB SATA 7200 RPM HD, and 1GB of ram, but I have externals that push me well into the TB range of storage. this one's an HP DV9000t (1.83 Ghz Core 2 Duo) with a GeForce Go 7600 256MB, and a 17" screen that does 1680x1050. It ran me about 1700 with the docking station, but that also solves the problem that most every laptop manufacturer seems to suffer (poor soldering on the power jack that causes shorts in chargers and motherboards from normal wear and tear).

My desktop will be purchased next year after the quads are out. Then I'll be able to have an upgradable system and a portable one, but till then, this laptop running dual LCD's and having a dock seems to fit the bill just fine.

Dave
deusx wrote on 11/6/2006, 1:21 PM
Laptops are perfectly fine performance wise, there isn't that much difference any more unless you are talking about top of the line desktop and rendering speeds.

But, not that sony. You should get a 15.4 inch wide screen with 1680 x 1050,
ASUS makes nice ones and it will cost you about the same or a little more than that sony..