> "My research starting point has been Gaming laptops."

You've researched well. Gaming laptops are usually perfect for video editing because the demands of both workloads are about the same.

> " I don't want to spend more than £1,000 but I do want the best that I can get for the money. Keep in mind, however, that I am only a hobbyist with a burning desire to enter some short film competitions in the next couple of years. Am I silly to spend that sort of cash on a distant hobby?"

Not at all. The "silly" people are the ones who think they can spend £400 on a laptop and edit video with it. Cheap laptops are usually underpowered and constructed poorly. IMHO it always plays to invest in high quality equipment even if it's just a hobby. £1,000 is about the going price for a well built laptop. Of course, it's entirely up to you but the editing experience won't be the same if you get an underpowered computer.

> "Skylake is the latest, but is it the best? I could probably save £100-£200 on an older generation or even drop to an i5 model but I don’t know just how much this would affect Vegas performance."

You DO NOT want a Core i5! They will do in a pinch but you really want nothing less than a Core i7 for editing video. Especially because newer camera formats are extremely demanding on processing power. My daughter had a Lenovo Core i5 that she used Vegas Pro with to edit AVCHD video and she constantly complained that it was stuttery and taking too long to do everything. Like I said, it will do in a pinch but the experience is suboptimal.

As for the Skylake, if you can afford it, why not unless you plan to buy again in two years. Then I'd say buy the last generation technology and plan to update frequently. The newer CPU architectures are getting better and better at processing video at the same clock speed so they really do make a difference.

> "8GB 1600 DDR3 RAM (minimum)"

That's a good starting point. In general you want 2GB of memory for every physical core and with a Core i7 4 core that would be 8GB.

> "Nvidia seems to be the gamer’s card of choice with the 960 the current laptop standard. Would Vegas users agree that Nvidia is the way to go or is there a better alternative? Is the 960 the perfect Nvidia model? If so, I’ll probably opt for the 2GB version."

Here is where you're going to have a problem. Vegas Pro likes AMD GPU's because of their superior OpenCL performance. Games like NVIDIA GPU's because they use CUDA. So it's going to be tough to find a gaming laptop with an AMD GPU but that Nvidia GTX 960M is not going to help with Vegas Pro as much as an AMD would.

> "I really think an SSD is a prerequisite. I can’t afford anything other than a 120GB SSD as a primary together with some sort of secondary - an m2 SSD (120GB) or a hybrid (1TB). I have read that m2 SSD's can get hot when processing video..?"

There are 2 strategies here. One is to get a small SSD and edit on external USB 3 drives ad the other is to get a large hybrid. I would even use a 3rd strategy which is get a large hybrid and still edit on external USB 3 drives. ;-) That gives you the option of editing locally if you need to but I personally edit on external USB 3 drives without any problems.

I would also look for a laptop that allows for two hard drives. Then you could have an SSD for your OS and applications and an HDD for video data.

> "Full HD as standard but a wide viewing angle IPS would be awesome!"

Yes it would. Having a display that can minimally show full HD is very desirable.

> "I just wondered if we had any Vegas Pro users who could shed some light on their laptop experiences. Can you offer any advice? Maybe steer me away from a manufacturer or hardware choice, or steer me towards one."

Sorry I can't help there as my laptop is a MacBook Pro. ;-)

> "I’ve not looked at HP, Dell, Toshiba or Lenovo. Not only have I had poor experiences with them in the past, I don’t think they’re as attentive when it comes to small, important details like chipsets, cooling, etc."

I agree. Stick with a boutique gaming laptop builder. They are more likely to build something that will perform well and stay cool.

I'm sure others will reply with the make and model laptops they are using to give you a better idea. My 2012 MacBook Pro is a Core i7 2.3GHz with 16GB of memory and a NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M and it works fine for video editing. If I need to do work where Vegas Pro needs the GPU, I move to my desktop which is a 2010 Mac Pro 12-core with 24GB memory and an AMD Radeon HD 7950 that works really well with Vegas Pro GPU support.

Good luck in your decision and Happy New Year to you too.

~jr

I would recommend using Vegas Pro 8 or 9 on a laptop and you will have solved many of your problems. There isn't anything of any real substance that Vegas 8 or 9 cannot do and the requirements for those programs are easily met by a modest laptop. You will still have the supposed benefits of later versions of Vegas at home on your desktop computer and the portability of a modest laptop as well.

John

> "There isn't anything of any real substance that Vegas 8 or 9 cannot do and the requirements for those programs are easily met by a modest laptop."

...unless you are shooting with a DSLR or GoPro in which case, those formats weren't supported very well back then.

~jr

17" http://www.notebookcheck.net/Schenker-XMG-U726-Clevo-P870DM-Notebook-Review.153136.0.html

15" http://www.notebookcheck.net/Schenker-XMG-U506-Clevo-P751DM-Notebook-Review.151283.0.html

Those are Clevo laptops, in this case assembled by a German company.

In the USA these are sold by Sager, Exotic PC or Mythlogic https://www.mythlogic.com/2015_Models/dia1615s.php

You'll probably have to pay around $2000, but this is the best you can buy. Just do some research so you pick the right screen because they are customizable and some displays are much better than others.

You can also customize just about anything else about them. 17" one on top has a high gamut 4K display, I believe CPU is a desktop model and can be upgraded in the future, but that one costs some serious money.

You can probably find a 15" model with decent parts for between $1600 and $2000.

One question to consider--why a laptop rather than a desktop, unless you are going to be editing on the road for extended periods of time? Your questions of concern are much easier addressed in a desktop environment. If you're not happy, its so much easier to upgrade, swap-out components, etc. Unless you have an IPS display, how could you ever do color grading? Then, there's the issue of screen size--15 or 17 inches? I find that even with two 24" monitors, the real estate often becomes crowded. On the road, I do use a laptop, but mostly for data acquisition, storage, and backup. If resources are limited, I'd consider spending as much as you can on assembling a robust desktop environment and the remainder on a modest laptop as Craftech suggested. Using a small external drive you can easily go from one environment to the other. Just a different point of view.

wwaag

I edit on a laptop with VP13. It's just a Dell Inspiron with i5 processor. My native files are MXF Mpeg2 and VP edits with very smooth preview provided i don't have too many fx. Just finished a 50 min doc with 500 cuts, colour correction, cropping, some compositing etc with no probs, sure I plug in a decent monitor when necessary. So it can be done on the cheap if you have too and proxy files are a great way round it also at least for the basic cutting phase. I too am keen hobbyist so try to keep the costs down. Good luck.

I have Vegas 13 on a 4 year old HP laptop, i7, 8GB Ram, AMD Radeon graphics (not sure of the type), 750GB HD, 1920x1080 display. Cost about $1200 four years ago. I can edit Red 4k raw files on this. I think just about any new i7 laptop (make sure cpu is quadcore, there are dual core i7 laptop cpu's) should be faster than my 4 year old one

Do not rule out the MS Surface pro 4 the last couple surfaces had enough power to run vegas well, and the latest is only better. For reasons still unclear to me, AMD doss not just make a large die APU that has a 270X-290x or better gpu in it. If AMD did this, people may actually buy AMD.

Before the holidays my friend asked me about laptops for resolve, and the specs are almost the same for Vegas's' needs. As an american, I am boycotting anything HP, plus HP makes hardware that is a good deal for HP and not the end user. Dell is also guilty of this to a lessor degree, but I feel their designs are the most comtempory in the industry. Lenovo and Toshiba designs are pretty dated for todays hardware. Below is a copy of that email.

[I]" You were saying you were looking at the Dell XPS13 for a new editing laptop.
This will certainly work with Resolve, but the experience may not be the
best. After reviewing the XPS specs, I would look at the Alienware level of
machines for a couple reasons.

1. The XPS has only one option for RAM memory at 8GB, resolve would need
16GB+ to operate well.

2. XPS has a very low power Graphic unit when compared to the 980M in the
Alienware class laptop.

3. The XPS has only 256GB of storage so you will need an external HHD for
video storage. The alienware machine has both 256GB SSD and an internal 1TB
HHD for video storage.


Other options would be:
Alienware 17 R3 with 16GB RAM -
http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-17-r3/pd?oc=dkcwg04bc&model_id=alienware-
17-r3

Asus G751JY - 4th gen CPU only, but good display, 24GB RAM, and 980M GPU.



No matter the manufacture, if you can get a laptop with roughly these specs,
you will have be good experience in Resolve and the specs will standup a
good 3-4 years.

Processor
IntelR CoreT i7-6xxx (6th gen i7) - You want the 6th Gen i7 due to the big
changes from 4th and 5th gen.

Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64bit English

Display
17.3 inch UHD 4K (3840 x 2160) IPS Display or 1080P IPS display minimum

Video Card
NVIDIA GeForceR GTX 980M with 4GB GDDR5 - Resolve needs the 4GB RAM
optimally.

Memory
16GB Dual Channel DDR4 at 2133MHz (8GBx2) - DDR4 is state of the art right
now, and only on the 6th gen laptops.

Hard Drive
256GB PCIe SSD (Boot) + 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s (internal or external
Storage, with the modern choice being 1TB SSD) "
[i]


I also agree that a desktop still cannot be beat for performance in editing . The laptop hardware is easily half the compute power of a $1000 desktop+GPU.

Remember CES is in January which means new anoucements will mean existing models will drop in price.

>>> I don't want to spend more than £1,000<<<<

He's not gonna find an Alienware for that kind of money, not a good one anyway.

A good Clevo 15.6" laptop can be configured for close to that and ( not just my opinion ) Clevo is better than Alienware, Asus or anything else. No issues with throttling, more customizable and if you have the money they can be had with the latest desktop processors and high gamut 4K screens. Just as fast as any desktop and fully portable ( but that configuration is out of his price range ).

The most important thing is to do some research and make sure you know which display you are getting. All manufacturers switch displays whenever they please so it's easy to get something like a $3000 Alienware with a crap display. 1080, 4K, IPS means nothing if it can only reproduce 70% of sRGB colors.

Wow! Thanks one and all. I didn't expect quite that much input and conversation so soon. Plenty of food for thought and I am a little closer to the answer. What I have learned:

- AMD will be better than Nvidia.
- Older i7 laptops are still capable of running VP.
- Popular consumer brands are being used with VP and are capable.
- Dropping back a few versions of VP will also reduce the minimum hardware spec.

What these answers have done is throw up another massive question/contentious issue. AMD or Intel processor? I know next to nothing about AMD processors so I am at your mercy. My initial findings are that AMD processors can be used but Intel is preferred. Would that be correct? Do we have any AMD processor laptop users using VP?

Thanks guys, I'm one step closer with the Graphics but one step further away with the processor!

Others have much more knowledge than me, but I shall stick my neck out and say that AMD CPUs are no where near as good as Intel. This is just from my reading when I was building my desktop a couple of years back.

I would also echo a few points: Do you need that laptop to be mobile? Could you not wait to edit when you can get to a desktop? You'll have to spend double on a laptop to get the same performance as a desktop..... so your £1k laptop will be as good as a £500 desktop......

I'd also like to comment on you spending that cash as an amateur...... If you can afford it, your kids aint gonna go hungry, what's the problem? If you enjoy your hobby, like making movies, want to be the best you can be, go for it. I too am strictly amateur and basically make 1 year long projects of my family days out and holidays. No one sees them other than my immediate family, my father is the most tech advanced and has a blu ray player but the rest are burned to SD DVD to give out...... I've just dropped a wad of cash on a Sony A7sii, am now shooting 4K but will be possibly the only person on the planet to watch it like that! Why.... because I can!

I'm at the other extreme from 4K, I guess. I have for some reason always liked the idea of extreme portability. With that in mind, I built a little Dell D420 12" laptop editing system that I can just throw in a small pack, along with a small external drive if needed. The D420 was built like a tank out of magnesium, has 1.5GB of ram, an SSD, built-in Firewire, and a dual-core Intel chip. It's running V9c and the combination is completely trouble-free. I can connect to a large monitor if available.

I guess my point is that Vegas, especially an older version of Vegas, is surprisingly hardware-agnostic and even a stone-age machine can edit difficult formats if you don't mind using proxies. The beginning-to-end process takes longer that way, though. If editing is your business and time is not plentiful then newer and bigger and faster is better.

> "...another massive question/contentious issue. AMD or Intel processor?"

Unfortunately for AMD it's not a contentious issue at all anymore... they simply aren't competitive :(

Hands down Intel has won.

I don't think anyone will disagree. AMD CPU's are not competitive for content creation and have not been competitive in quite some time. A midrange Intel Core i5 4670K 3.4 GHz Quad core outperforms a top of the line AMD FX 8350 4 GHz Octa core! It's embarrassing for AMD really.

If you want to edit video... you want an Intel Core i7 CPU.

~jr

Thanks again, John.

And therein lies the problem. The games laptop manufacturers appear to push Nvidia so I'm having difficulty finding a configurable AMD graphics solution.

That leaves pre-built laptops ALL of which, it would seem, require me to make at least one major compromise. For example:
- instead of getting a quad core sixth gen i7, my choices will be dual core 4th and 5th generations.
- Instead of getting an SSD, my choices will be limited to 5,400 HDD based drives.
- Instead of getting an AMD R9 M3xx series (ideally with DDR5 RAM), the R9 M2xx is more prevalent or even the R7 range.
- Instead of getting Win 10, my choice of laptops come with prior versions.
- And, of course, the screen quality.

I think I've squeezed as much information out of this topic without totally peeing everyone off but my decision now appears to be finding the balance between the components that suits my budget and requirements. I'm leaning towards i7 quad core, 4th gen. with an AMD R9 M265. I can upgrade memory, hard disk and OS in the future, and only if required. That may push the budget over £1k but I'll be spreading the cost and, most importantly, it will be a sound investment.

Currently, I'm looking at Lenovo Z51, Toshiba P50t-B-10T, Toshiba P70-B-10T and Toshiba Qosmio X70. Alternativly, the Lenovo Ideapad 500 might just be a really cheap, Dual core, start.

I have to keep reminding myself this is a good position to be in. The fun certainly seems to have drained from this little Christmas project! Thank you one more time to everyone for your help with this. It is very much appreciated.