Going on a long trip. Seriously thinking of buying a Surface Pro 7 for VP17 editing. Does anyone know a reason I should not (besides the price)?
Yeah. Don't waste time in a different location editing instead of being there. Find some way to offload and secure your shots and leave your computer at home. It'll give you something to do back at home if it rains.
Also, don't take anything on a trip you would cry over if it were stolen or damaged. It can wreck your whole vacation.
Hmmmmmmm .. I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I'll never know.
What camera and format are you shooting? Do you have a laptop already? What's the editing experience like? How about proxies?
@Musicvid … don't take anything on a trip you would cry over if it were stolen or damaged
Yes, that's my approach as well … with the exception of the camera itself.
I did consider a Surface Pro about a year ago or so ago for taking overseas, but the storage is minimal or super-expensive for larger storage. And I would still take 2 portable HDs to copy backups of camera footage. In the end, I stuck with my budget HP 13" laptop which I had already updated to a 1TB spinning HD - as well as the 2 portable 1TB HDs for backup. In the end, the laptop is really only for storage, and a quick transfer really isn't all that important for me when overseas.
Unless paying a premium price, wi-fi etc in hotels and on cruise ships etc isn't all that quick so I'm not sure a super-modern computer would provide an advantage that way.
And as per @john_dennis, enjoy the trip and leave the editing to when back home. Unless there is a 'business reason' for editing during the trip, make the best of the money you've paid for the trip during the trip.
Oh, and have a really great and enjoyable trip.
The trip is 4 months. A World Cruise. Lots of time at sea to work on old and new projects. I'm not too concerned about "stolen or damaged". I have an old laptop -- heavy by today's standard -- not enough power for VP17. New footage will be coming off Sony RX100 VII (Mark 7) .. and Samsung Galaxy 9 cell phone. Some 4k off the RX100. Considering the Surface Pro 7 and the Dell XPS 13 or 15. The Dell sure looks terrific too.
“The 12.3 in. 2736x1824 display would be a non-starter for me because I wouldn’t be able to see anything on the screen, though I have edited on a 17.3 in. FHD laptop with an internal NVMe and SATA drives.” he said, as he typed on a 9.7” iPad.
You make a good point @john_dennis .. that Surface Pro screen is tablet size .. I've never done editing on a screen that small .. my old laptop is 15.6" .. That did work out for me on previous trips .. so the Dell XPS 7590 with i9 and OLED 4K screen.
Just learned the i9 puts out lots of heat and then throttles down to save the chip from overheating so speed gain is not real .. i7-9750H CPU seems the better choice for Video Editing.
I bought this one at Costco when they were available new. Then, replaced the 2 TB spinning disk...
... with one of these and one of these.
I resisted the whole idea of replacing the laptop after the last one failed, but, my wife wanted it and, after months of her "hinting", I finally just went to Costco and bought her one. Now, it sits on the unused fireplace in the family room 99.93856482649% of the time. Sometimes, I power it up and do Windows 10 updates, but I could use it for editing if we ever left the house.
I'm certain a 15 in. UHD screen would be too small for me, too.
Thanks @john_dennis Looks like your Dell laptop would work fairly well -- if you did ever leave home -- or if your wife got the urge to edit ... in my case I do leave home with the urge to edit so I have to make do.
Years back I had a 17" that I traveled with then went to the 15.6" and found I did just as well. One adapts.
I'm going to sleep on the Dell 7590 .. big bucks but it looks like a machine that would last me for many years to come.
I have a Dell 7570 which has the i7-8550U CPU. I added dual internal SSDs, 32GB of Ram and it performs well but I'm not working with any 4K video. 1080p is good enough for me. The only thing I don't like about it is that I wished I had gotten something with a higher performing GPU.
Something to check out if you're trying to save a few bucks and are on Facebook would be to look at Facebook market place for a used laptop. I've been looking at Surface Pros on Facebook Market place recently and while maybe not being the latest/greatest Surface Pro, you can find some nice deals on previous gen Surface Pros. A lot of gamers always looking to upgrade to the latest/greatest and selling darn good performing Surface Pros and laptops at a significant savings. A gaming laptop is great for video work since they typically have higher performing GPUs.
Thanks @Rednroll for the comments .. If I do go with the Dell 7590, I'll have 1TB for my C drive. and my plan is to buy an external 2TB External SSD like this Samsung T5 SSD I can then use this on my regular PC rig as well ...
Do you find the 15.6" screen size workable for editing?
I have a Surface Pro 4 i5 8GB 256GB SSD, wishing I had an i7, 16GB and 512, but don't really need it, except for a larger SSD. I have travelled a lot with this and I love it. I don't have Vegas on it as I use mostly Magix Video Pro X which works just fine on it. I also have Samplitude Pro X3 Suite, Music Maker, Sound Forge Audio Cleaning Lab, PaintShop Pro, Xara DPX and more loaded on it. The screen size and 2736x1824 resolution are fine, easily readable. I use 2 large monitors on my desktop, but when travelling, the SP4 is great. Good all round machine, tablet and newspaper.
Note that the SP4 has a miniDP port, the SP7 has a USB-C port and the normal USB-A port.
What you'll probably need to go with the SP7 are:
I also usually carry an Iris portable scanner. Great for scanning documents to complement video material.
Still want one?
Thanks @john-brown for the thoughtful reply. Love the Surface Pro 7 spec but still leaning toward the Dell 7590 ..
One thing that was an eye opener for me in your post was the Iris Portable scanner. Now that might be a handy thing to have on the 4 month trip. I'm use to scanning documents for use in my videos .. The Iris looks small enough for travel.
Yes, the Iris fits in the bag nicely. On one trip to a family member's place, I ended up scanning a bunch of family photos. Good quality, but takes a bit of practice.
As for the Surface Pro, I forgot to mention that for me, the touch-screen and use as a tablet are amongst my favourite features. My wife has a Mac and when she asks me for help (I know nothing about Macs) she has to slap my hand away from the screen.
Interestingly, when I see the Surface Pro in a store, it looks much smaller than mine But when I work with it, it seems to be much larger. I wouldn't want a larger machine for travelling. Optical illusion must be because of other larger computers nearby.
When going away for more than a week or two, I also bring my ShuttlePro.
You make a good point about the Surface Pro being a tablet as well as acting like a PC .. The Dell 7590 won't do that .. Like I said. I'll sleep on this decision.
For more than a decade I do not leave home without a powerful laptop. I edit in my hotel room at night so I am not overwhelmed with media when I return. Editing also confirms I shot what I thought I shot. It also confirms I didn't have my cameras in some mode (frame rate, WB, resolution, etc.) that I didn't notice. It also confirms my lens isn't scratched or dirt is on the lens I didn't notice.
I bought a Dell 2 in 1 model 7390 for $3,000 a few weeks ago with a state of the art Intel Ice Lake CPU. My laptop now renders faster than my dual Xeon desktop.
I could give more reasons to always take a powerful laptop but this should be enough. Of course, as shown above, everyone has different opinions.
Rich
Thanks @Rednroll for the comments .. If I do go with the Dell 7590, I'll have 1TB for my C drive. and my plan is to buy an external 2TB External SSD like this Samsung T5 SSD I can then use this on my regular PC rig as well ...
Do you find the 15.6" screen size workable for editing?
It's workable. I typically have it connected to 2 external larger monitors when working at home but when using just the built-in 15.6" screen, I use Vegas keyboard short-cuts to hide/show panels where that works well for me.
These are the KB short-cuts that work best for me when working on a single smaller screen. I'ld suggest getting familiar with these if you're not already.
Minimize/restore the track list= Shift+F11 or Shift+Alt+`
Minimize/restore the window docking area= F11 or Alt+`
Minimize/restore track height= `(grave accent)
I had a larger 17in screen laptop in the past but I found the additional size of it to be a bit cumbersome and bulky for mobility, where I feel the 15.6in screen is the best compromise between portability and usability.
BTW, my Dell 7570 has dual internal slots for hard drives where I'm assuming the 7590 is likely the same or better. 1 slot is a NVMe M.2 and the other is a SATA III. I also own external USB SSDs but I mostly use my internal SATA III SSD for storing my media files when editing in Vegas. Having a SSD hanging off your USB port, I find to be a bit cumbersome and rather not have to deal with it if I don't have to.
Here's my current system configuration.
https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/16876259
The internal 500GB Samsung 960 M.2 Evo is my OS and Program drive, and the SanDisk Plus 1TB SSD is where I store my video files.
Thanks @john-brown for the thoughtful reply. Love the Surface Pro 7 spec but still leaning toward the Dell 7590 ..
One thing that was an eye opener for me in your post was the Iris Portable scanner. Now that might be a handy thing to have on the 4 month trip. I'm use to scanning documents for use in my videos .. The Iris looks small enough for travel.
I've owned a couple Iris portable scanners as well as a Brother portable scanner. They worked well. However, using my mobile phone is now my preferred portable scanning device. It's just so much more convenient, you don't have an additional device that you have to worry about charging and the scan quality is much better. I use the free Adobe Scan app on my phone which allows you to scan, create and edit to PDF.
I went the other way; started with my cellphone, now with the Iris unless I don't have it with me.
Scanning pages from books is difficult with a cellphone as the pages are usually bent, and too much work is required to make adjustments for cropping, perspective and alignment. In fact, I often use the Iris if I have to scan pages of somewhat thick books rather than my flatbed scanner.
I went the other way; started with my cellphone, now with the Iris unless I don't have it with me.
Scanning pages from books is difficult with a cellphone as the pages are usually bent, and too much work is required to make adjustments for cropping, perspective and alignment. In fact, I often use the Iris if I have to scan pages of somewhat thick books rather than my flatbed scanner.
You likely have a different Iris scanner that I had then. Mine couldn't scan a book, it was the auto feeder type where you put a photo, sheet of paper, etc in it and the scanner pulled it in and scanned it. The only way you could scan pages from a book was if you tore them out of the book. My scanners eventually failed due to the battery dying or mechanical failure. The Adobe scan app has an auto detect edges and corners built into it to address the cropping, perspective, and alignment issues you mention.
For me personally, the pros of the cellphone outweighed the cons. No size limits of what can be scanned, and when I scan a document I save it to my cloud drive so when I get to my PC, it's there waiting for me. Plus, like most I always have my cellphone with me and it's just one less device to be carrying around. YMMV.
Definitely not the sheet feeder model; a cell phone would be better. I have the IRIScan Book5 WiFi. It fits into the bottom of my computer bag. Along with the IRIS, I got their OCR program. It all gets down to preferences and needs. For a couple of documents or photos, I would probably use my cell phone.
Once, I photographed with a cell phone a lot of pages in a foreign country as no scanner was available and I had to return the documents before leaving. Painful, laborious, and poor results.
I initially bought this for my wife, doing research, to scan documents in libraries and archives that she couldn't take out. It does multipage pdf files.
I ended up doing most of the scanning for her. She selected documents, I scanned. Try getting books and documents that have been folded, flat and holding them flat while holding a cell phone. Like I said, it depends on the needs. There's something about taking photos of documents in certain settings that make it look like an old spy movie.
If I wasn't travelling with my computer, I likely wouldn't have the scanner with me. It's not a must have, but I find it quite useful.