I edit on a Dell Inspiron 8100 2.0 GHz machine with 1 GIG of RAM. I have two internal hard drives - a 40GB that I use for programs, os, etc., and a 80 GB one that I use for video.

I got the machine with 512 RAM but upgraded it myself with memory I bought from Crucial. It was a lot cheaper than the Dell option.

I ordered the machine with two drives - two 40 GB at the time. The second drive failed (the one with my video stuff on it) and Dell refused to replace it because they said my warranty only covers the "base" system, not accessories. So, I took the bad drive out of the plug-in module, bought the 80GB at Fry's, and put that in instead.

I regularly edit with a friend who uses FCP on a Mac so it's very nice to have the laptop to bring to her house. We network 'em together and easily exchange files.

Mine:

Toshiba 2450 Satellite 768 MB ram 2.8 Ghz P4 prcessor Nvidia Gforce 4. 60 GB HD and 3 external USB 2 HD.

>How much difference is that graphics card going to make and on what?.

Frankly i doubt it will make any difference.

Very few problems of any kind. A couple of things:

1. get a decent external USB sound Device.
2. Not all ext LCD monitors will mate well with the VGA output. A Nec displayed a ghost image altough my Samsung is perfectly clean.
3. It could be tough to match internal and external display in term of color/luminosity response well.

I use this laptop for long capture, editing, graphics,... everything since 1 year without problems. Some very usefull things to add for Vegas work: a Shuttle controller and a numeric pad.

I've done quite a bit of editing on my Compaq EVO 800c. This is a 2.0 Ghz P4 with 1GB memory, a 1400x1050 screen, and an 80GB 5400 RPM drive.

I typically use an external firewire drive for most all of my media files (I have my royalty free audio and some royalty free backgrounds and lower 3rds on an external USB2.0 drive that is powered from the laptop.) My internal hard drive is only 5400 RPM. The external disks are all 7200 or better, and this seems to really help on render times. I'm also careful to have my source media on a different physical spindle than the render output file.

Finally, I've found that for me, a good quality optical mouse is essential. I'm comfortable with the built-in pointer devices for text editing, but for video editing, I really use the mouse.

When I'm using it at home, I have the laptop connected to a 1600x1200 screen and an external NTSC monitor through a Canopus ADVC 100. (I now wish I had bought the ADVC 300 because I'm doing more VHS work than I had previously imagined.) Also, I use a full size external keyboard.

Good Luck,

John.

Hello,

HP Pavillion laptop, 1.5 GHZ Centrino with 512 meg ram, ATI Radeon 64mb video card.. 1 60 gig internal drive, and a 60 gig external firewire/usb2 Acom drive..
Works like a champ, no dropped frames, no problems..

mike M.

I use a little Dell Inspiron 2650 that I bought just before the model was discontinued in March 2003 (paid only $699). It has a 1.6 Celeron, 384MB of ram, a DVD/CDRW drive, and a 20GB internal drive. I use an ADS Pyro external box for video, and I've installed a drive "caddy" into the Pyro box, so I can quickly swap in any of my 120GB drives. I also use a USB optical mouse and a USB Imic sound card.

Dell Inspiron 5150 3Ghz with 512 ram and 800 fsb. Works great. Don't like the Dell laptop keyboard so i went with a World Tech with labeled Vegas keys. Also use a shutle pro2 and usb mouse. Of course, external firewire hard drive and ADVC-100 converter for monitor preview.

Dell Inspiron 8200 1.7 GHz P4
40 GB internal 5400
60 GB Toshiba 5400 in the media bay
120 GB LaCie external Firewire
768 MB RAM
Win XP Home

Love it but have/had problems after about 1.5 years with the system freezing randomly. It has fixed itself somewhat but occasionally still freezes. I suspect it's the heat due to poorer fan performance

Best/Tommy

could just be time to wipe that baby clean and re-install XP. One of the drawbacks to Windows: The registry. have you done much installing and uninstalling of programs etc... into your laptop?

Dell Precision M60 desktop replacement w XP Pro
P4 @ 1.7 with 1gig RAM
C= 60gig @7200rpm
E= 200gig Maxtor @ 7200rpm via USB2, occasionallyy daisychain a second external drive for backup.
media port= DVD+R/CD RW
external sound by Harmon Kardon
pretty darned happy after one year, nary a glitch.

Not a

I have the HP Pavilion zd7180us Notebook PC - It is the ultimate portable digital entertainment and photography studio.

This techno baby features:

- Microsoft® Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2004
- Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor @ 3.2 GHz with Hyperthreading Technology,
- 1024MB DDR SDRAM memory
- DVD+R/RW / CD-RW Combo drive
- An incredible 17.0" WXGA+ wide viewing angle display
- Integrated Wireless 54g 802.11b/g LAN connection
- NVIDIA® GeForce FX Go5600
- A 5-in-1 integrated digital media card reader
- Port Connections include:
4 Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0
1 Parallel SPP/ECP (25-pin)
1 Video - VGA (15-pin)
1 Video - TV-Out (S-Video)
1 RJ-11 (modem)
1 RJ-45 Ethernet (LAN)
1 Port replicator / connector
1 IEEE 1394 (Firewire)
1 FIR (Fast Infrared)
On USB TV/PVR:
1 TV antenna-in
1 TV-in (S-Video)
1 RCA Video-in
2 RCA Audio-in (1L+1R)
On USB IR rec/blstr:
2 Infrared blaster-out

Additional hardware
- 40 GB Pocketec External Hard Drive (Portable-Backup of current project)
- 200 GB Seagate External Hard Drive (At home - BackUP of completed projects)
- Sony DVD+-RW/+-R External Drive

I run Vegas+DVD 5.0 (just upgraded from the 4.0) with Sound Forge 7.0 plus an array of other multimedia suites from Macromedia, Adobe, Maya, 3D Studio Max, etc..etc.. So far, I've had zero issues with performance of the hardware or softwares I operate. (as long as I keep my system clean from virus, worms, adware, and spyware)

Only drawbacks: Battery time is only 1.5 hours, and it nearly 9 lbs. So it NOT something you take to the airport and operate on an airplane on a "regular basis" to do work while in flight. I did pull it out to watch a dvd once.

But this notebook is designed as a "desktop replacement" media system and it's used at my desk between homes in Southern and Northern California. So its plugged in most of the time when I do my work...so battery time is not a factor for me.

I enjoy the 17 widescreen, which gives you so much "viewing space" when you work on vegas's video and audio tracks...or to open multiple applications and split up your screen to view at the same time.