Laptop question to techy people

[MrsKellyPierce]

I'm gonna be buying a new laptop soon

I need one for fast HD camming and for multimedia editing

Besides MAC - a lot of cam sites aren't compatible with Mac

What would be great lap top...

I saw that the HP envy has awesome reviews/awards

Also has awesome specs

I would prefer a 17 inch monitor

Any suggestions

[Kevin Dong]

Not sure if I qualify as tecchy but I was at Best Buy the other day and the Lenovo brand really appealed to me. Seems that they give you a lot for the money you pay. The hard drives are 500GB + and the screens were big, plenty of RAM, etc. And it must have been 700$ CAD +tax. I have a mac with half the specs and it cost me well over 1500.

[MrsKellyPierce]

Not sure if I qualify as tecchy but I was at Best Buy the other day and the Lenovo brand really appealed to me. Seems that they give you a lot for the money you pay. The hard drives are 500GB + and the screens were big, plenty of RAM, etc. And it must have been 700$ CAD +tax. I have a mac with half the specs and it cost me well over 1500.

Googling now

[Genetic]

My suggestion is to stick with a brand you've heard of and has higher specs than you actually need so that it doesn't become redundant quickly. If you're happy with HP then go with them.

[Donkey]

If you're buying a Windows machine, Lenovo is a good option. They make some of the better laptops out there.

[LibertyHarkness]

mac book pro

they work with streamate, imlive, livejasmine, adultwork, cam4 i have 2 mac laptops x

[Wendy Summers]

What editing suite are you using for your media?

[MrsKellyPierce]

I'm not really a fan of my HP laptop

But I just saw that the envy had a lot of good reviews etc

My webcam on my laptop now isn't HD I use an attachment cam

What about Gateway?

[flabbybody]

Lenovo looks like outstanding value.
But when I got my Toshiba laptop 4 years ago I needed a buddy to come by and set it up. Are these things a little easier to start using when you get them home?

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/na/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:CompareByNeed?current-category-id=653343E0DE54435882FABC3CE1BC569A

[Wendy Summers]

I'm not really a fan of my HP laptop

But I just saw that the envy had a lot of good reviews etc

My webcam on my laptop now isn't HD I use an attachment cam

What about Gateway?

Avoid Gateway at all costs: 10 years ago their machines were great - now they have reliability issues

[MrsKellyPierce]

What editing suite are you using for your media?

I've been using premiere

[LibertyHarkness]

dell do some great laptops if you like windows stuff as well ...or a nice sony vaio .. if i was into windows based laptops i would go with one of those most likely .. or probably a monster alienware one so i can game haha

[LibertyHarkness]

you can use premiere on either mac or pc systems.. just get something that has at least quadcore i7 and at least 8gb ram .. if you want your editing to fly by...

[Mayrah]

Get anything with USB3.0

[Wendy Summers]

you can use premiere on either mac or pc systems.. just get something that has at least quadcore i7 and at least 8gb ram .. if you want your editing to fly by...

lolz just what I was going to recommend to her

[MrsKellyPierce]

dell do some great laptops if you like windows stuff as well ...or a nice sony vaio .. if i was into windows based laptops i would go with one of those most likely .. or probably a monster alienware one so i can game haha
I notice Ashley has issues with her MAC on streamate a lot

[LibertyHarkness]

my mac has no issues whatsoever and many of the girls i know that cam hard on that site have no issues with their mac ..all comes to cost kelly .. how much your prepared to spend, what you want to do with the laptop longterm etc..

i mean shit i have a dell mini book with a 9inch screen that i webcam from as well ,its purely for camming on the road ..its great... i have a macbook pro full spec as i edit and its a workhorse machine ..

work out what your budget is. work out what you actually want to do, then fit accordingly.. but whatever you get you want ideally an I7 Quadcore, 8gb Ram, and if you can SSD harddrive .but the SSD is not essential its ciing on cake :)

[MrsKellyPierce]

my mac has no issues whatsoever and many of the girls i know that cam hard on that site have no issues with their mac ..all comes to cost kelly .. how much your prepared to spend, what you want to do with the laptop longterm etc..

i mean shit i have a dell mini book with a 9inch screen that i webcam from as well ,its purely for camming on the road ..its great... i have a macbook pro full spec as i edit and its a workhorse machine ..

work out what your budget is. work out what you actually want to do, then fit accordingly.. but whatever you get you want ideally an I7 Quadcore, 8gb Ram, and if you can SSD harddrive .but the SSD is not essential its ciing on cake :)

Cool

[GroobyKrissy]

I have used a variety of laptops over my life since I usually upgrade just about every year and a half. A few years ago I bought my first Toshiba and I haven't used anything since.

Currently I'm using a Qosmio series and I've been pretty happy with it. You can get some pretty good deals on a I5 one if you look hard enough but if you've got the bank, I would just go to the I7. Fast, 3D capable without glasses, blu-ray, USB 3.0, dedicated graphics, etc. etc.

The trade-off with Toshiba laptops is that they are bricks. So if lightweight is more important than functionality, not the brand to consider.

Vaio WAY overpriced in my opinion.

[MrsKellyPierce]

I have used a variety of laptops over my life since I usually upgrade just about every year and a half. A few years ago I bought my first Toshiba and I haven't used anything since.

Currently I'm using a Qosmio series and I've been pretty happy with it. You can get some pretty good deals on a I5 one if you look hard enough but if you've got the bank, I would just go to the I7. Fast, 3D capable without glasses, blu-ray, USB 3.0, dedicated graphics, etc. etc.

The trade-off with Toshiba laptops is that they are bricks. So if lightweight is more important than functionality, not the brand to consider.

Vaio WAY overpriced in my opinion.
Ts Jesse recommended Toshiba too

[GrimFusion]

I'm a pretty well-qualified technician. Tempest knows her shit, too. Arguably better than I do.

As far as manufacturers go, there are a few brand names you want to steer clear of like Gateway, E-machines, and Acers. Any laptop from any manufacturer can end up being a dud or experience finicky hardware issues. Most manufacturers don't have a problem replacing hardware or providing you with a new laptop if the one you bought ends up being a dud, so aside from finding a laptop that works for you, you'll also want to consider company customer satisfaction.

The only reason I'd steer you away from Gateways, E-machines, and Acers is because they're all the same company. Even their top-of-the-line products use budget components from no-name hardware vendors, but that's not the deal breaker. Their customer service and support is. I've worked tech retail for the last two decades; at both Circuit City and BestBuy the stores decided it was easier swapping dud Gateway, Acer, and E-machine laptops at store-level. We'd send the laptops back to the manufacturer as dud vendor displays because customers were having such a headache getting their laptop replaced under the manufacturer's warranty. They like to make you prove that you didn't cause the damage before they'll do anything for you, even if the laptop was a dud the first day you took it out of the box.

I used to really like Toshibas. Shockproof HDD-locking is an awesome idea, and it means you can be a little more brutal with a Toshiba and not worry so much about losing data to a hard drive crash. I would recommend one, but over the last couple of years, Toshiba started loading their laptops down with buttloads of pointless driver utility applications and manufacturer-ware. If you want a laptop for video editing, you don't want to be running a crapton of applications in the background.

Vaio's suck in the same regard. They may look pretty; I gotta give it to Sony - their case designs are really artsy and awesome, but they're overpriced and suffer from the same driver utility and manufacturer-ware overload Toshibas do. I don't know if it's an issue anymore, but Sony's always been pretty crappy about building proprietary accessory hardware into their laptops and skimping on industry-standard port options. SDHC card reader for your digital camera? Nope. Sony Memory Stick Pro slot. If you don't have a Sony camera, you're stuck buying a card reader.

Asus also builds with budget components, but their customer support isn't bad and their prices are fucking fantastic.

HP churns out laptops like nobody's business. That means dud rates are a little higher, but their customer support isn't horrible. The only issue I've found intrinsic to both HPs and Vaios is that their top-of-the-line laptops include brand-spankin'-new hardware that isn't industry tested. What good is the newest, most powerful graphics chipset or motherboard if you're without a laptop for six weeks due to a recall?

Alright... I'm pretty much done talking shit. If I could recommend a few brands over the others, it'd be IBM/Lenovo or a Mac. IBM and Lenovo are the same company. Their laptops can be a little expensive because they only build with quality components and you have to be really particular about your graphics chipset because most of their low and mid-range laptop offerings include Intel integrated graphics, and Intel integrated is crappy. Certainly nothing you'd want to depend on for video editing. That aside, their customer service is epic-good. I've never had a customer complain about having to deal with IBM on product defect or customer return.

Macs are Macs. They're "overpriced". Least, that's probably the claim you'd hear from most people. Apple builds with really quality hardware and their cases are both gorgeous and durable as hell, so the extra money you're spending isn't just disappearing. You're paying for excellent build quality. Unfortunately, you're not paying for power. Macs usually include less RAM, slower CPUs, and older graphic chipsets. Thankfully, OSX uses far fewer system resources than Windows, so what you lose in system specs, you gain in application performance. Outside of the dependability, durability, and the operating system itself, there's no other reason to buy a Mac. It used to be that Macs were preferred for multimedia authoring, but not any more. The only thing that makes Mac a better platform for video editing is the editing software itself. Any dolt can figure out how to use it, but simplicity always comes at a price. You lose features and customization. You're a Premiere user, though. Nice choice, BTW. That's my video editing app of choice. You're likely never going to use the video editing apps built into OSX anyhow. Do you really want to re-buy a Mac licence of software you already have, though?

Everybody else has already talked about system specs, so I'm skipping that. I can help you out there, too, but nobody has said anything outlandish. 8GB of RAM or more, an Intel Core-i7, and a GeForce GTX 295 chipset or better. The only other thing I'd recommend is while researching chipsets, don't go by the stats listed on the desktop model graphics cards. While desktop graphics cards and laptop chipsets may share the same model numbers, graphic cards are usually a lot more powerful. Don't be fooled by the stats off of a desktop graphics card while selecting the right graphics chipset. They'll have two entirely different sets of hardware specs.

Woo... my fingers are sore.

[GrimFusion]

Libby recommended a solid-state hard drive. Laptops usually only have room for a single 2.5" HDD, and if you're only going to have one hard drive, it shouldn't be an SSD. Solid state drives have write limitations and your operating system is constantly writing data to the hard drive. While SSD technology is improving and write cycle limits are increasing, even the current generation SSDs wouldn't last more than two or three years as your primary boot drive.

If we're talking desktops, SSDs are the bees knees. They're great to use as scratch discs, and so long as your system has a good amount of RAM, sticking the Windows swap/page file on an SSD isn't a bad idea. It can really bolster disk load times.

[Silcc69]

Yo Grim I have a question about my laptop. I have an 8440P that that has a 820QM in it, I want to put a 920XM in it but the TDP for 920XM is 55 while mine is at 45. I'm thinking that it might get to hot for my laptop.

[Genetic]

Toshibas are pretty good, though as someone else has said they aren't light to carry around. Damn good machines though.

And Acers should definitely be avoided at all costs.

[GrimFusion]

Yo Grim I have a question about my laptop. I have an 8440P that that has a 820QM in it, I want to put a 920XM in it but the TDP for 920XM is 55 while mine is at 45. I'm thinking that it might get to hot for my laptop.
Sorry, Silcc. I logged off after that last post.

I doubt it'd overheat, especially if you reapply thermal compound during the swap out. Manufactures always do a shitty job applying thermal paste. Problem is, because it's a different TDP, it's not likely your BIOS will even recognize the new CPU. Even if you stick with a processor within the same TDP, BIOS support isn't guaranteed and the laptop may just refuse to power up. Your best bet is to give the manufacturer a call and ask them what kind of processor upgrades your BIOS supports, or just figure out your mobo model number and your BIOS version and you should be able to google it.

</topic_hijack>

[MrsKellyPierce]

Ooh thank you grim!! I will check out the Lenova brand

[dustoff]

hello just joined this site cause I came across this post and wanted to see if I could offer you any more help. Well I would stick with an i5 if you want to save some money because your not going to see much of any performance in a i7 over the i5 except in heavy threaded applications, also since your looking for one now make sure it has a 3rd gen i5 or i7 as the integrated gpu and quick sync 2.0 will be a great step up for you since your doing video editing. Also since your goning to be doing video editing make sure you get 6-8gigs of ram hard drive space is up to you as I use an external for most of my major files. the Lenovo's aren't to bad of computers the most feed back I get is their ugly and boring (who really cares its a computer) but I do tend to see hp's, Tos. and Dells come back the most (glad we dont sell Acer computers) But Sony, Samsung, and Asus (Asus doesn't build with budget components on their $600+ models) are my top choices however the Samsung series 7's have been having issues with the touch pads. not sure if its the touch pad or the customers though since the display we have has been working fine for a couple months of use and abuse.

what Grim has said about the intel gpu's being crap is more of a thing in the past the 3rd gen i5 and i7's will actually out perform all mid and low end discreet gpu's.

for web cam though I would still use an external as the internal ones are never as good.

Hope that helps a little but the biggest thing is make sure it has the 3rd gen in whatever you chose to get.

[jrob1812]

Mac. Period. If you absolutely need to, they will run Windows.

[dakota87]

Mac. Period. If you absolutely need to, they will run Windows.

You stole my thunder. Macs run multiple OS's. How can you go wrong?

[GrimFusion]

You stole my thunder. Macs run multiple OS's. How can you go wrong?

PCs run multiple OS's too... and near to any flavor of Linux trumps OSX by a long shot 'less you know Unix command-line. Besides, running Windows 7 off of a Mac is a little defeatist when the same amount of money can buy a PC laptop with much more powerful hardware. That and Windows on a Mac is just as vulnerable to malware as Windows running on a PC.

[BiBoyinBeantown]

over the last couple of years, Toshiba started loading their laptops down with buttloads of pointless driver utility applications and manufacturer-ware.

PC Decrapifier works a treat for removing that garbage:

http://pcdecrapifier.com/

I have a low-end Toshiba, myself. I didn't want a high-end machine because of the risk of theft or damage. I can absorb a $500 loss. A $2000 loss would really annoy me. :cry Works OK for what it is. I think how much of a laptop you want to buy depends on whether this is going to be your main computer or not. It's not, for me--my "screamer" is a Core i7 Linux box with 16GB of RAM in it. :-D

[SpoogeMonkey]

ive had two mac's since 2004.
i had 8 pc's from 1998 to 2004

mac

pros
More expensive but more reliable, better built and sleek. macbook pros are the bees knees in overall build.

cons
operating system appears to be getting more locked down and thus 'safer' for people ( however - My elderly mother uses a macmini without much trouble).

PC
pros
cheaper, easier to repair, more variety in the specification.

cons
but far too many variants and brands bringing down the overall quality. few room for genuine upgrading.
you need a degree in nerdism to find the most reliable laptop. Toshiba seem to be an excellent make (build quality in most pc laptops is poor. I strip these down for a living and its all shitty cheap plastics. you pay for the components only and a bit more for the name.).

recommendation? Blow a grand or two on a boy racer Alienware machine from 2008 onwards.

or get a 17" 8gb macbook pro.. that will suffice. youll not get much change from $3k but youll never regret it and youll be laughing at all the shit stream pc users have to endure.

[Ecstatic]

dell do some great laptops if you like windows stuff as well ...or a nice sony vaio .. if i was into windows based laptops i would go with one of those most likely .. or probably a monster alienware one so i can game haha

Mine is a monster Alienware, and I'm stoked. i7 quad, 16GB RAM, 2GB Radio videocard, dual 500GB harddrives, 17" display: it's got power to spare. But Alienware ain't cheap; I recommend checking the Dell Outlet Store for deals.

[Ecstatic]

I'm a pretty well-qualified technician. Tempest knows her shit, too. Arguably better than I do.

Good advice. Yes, Tempest knows her shit, and I consulted with her before buying the Alienware, which was her recommendation. Not a lightweight though: the 9-cell battery and dual hard drives add a lot of weight, and while the case may not be MIL-SPEC, it's far more substantial than nearly any other out there. Plus the really cool Alienware features, great keyboard and best mousepad I've ever used on a laptop (though I usually use a bluetooth keyboard and mouse). I saved somewhere between $600 and $800 snagging it at the Dell Outlet.

[BellaBellucci]

I just bought an HP Pavillion dv6 from Best Buy. After tax it only cost about $600. I love it! It's a fast quad-core, 6GB of RAM, 640GB HD, Radeon graphics, Beats Audio, and an HD webcam built in. Personally, I think it was a steal.

My old laptop had its monitor broken off and only had 1.5GB of RAM, so I think I'm going hook it up to a monitor and give it to my son. He loves my hand-me-downs. He got a phone last month too when I got my new dual-core 4g Android (which is awesome sauce, btw!). <3

~BB~

[deuxglass]

I just bought an HP Pavillion dv6 from Best Buy. After tax it only cost about $600. I love it! It's a fast quad-core, 6GB of RAM, 640GB HD, Radeon graphics, Beats Audio, and an HD webcam built in. Personally, I think it was a steal.

My old laptop had its monitor broken off and only had 1.5GB of RAM, so I think I'm going hook it up to a monitor and give it to my son. He loves my hand-me-downs. He got a phone last month too when I got my new dual-core 4g Android (which is awesome sauce, btw!). <3

~BB~
That's funny! I just bought the same machine as yours a month ago except it cost me 600 Euros instead of 600 dollars. I love it too.

[Genetic]

PC Decrapifier works a treat for removing that garbage:

http://pcdecrapifier.com/



^ This. Yeah Toshibas come loaded with shit, but most laptops do now and God help you if you buy an Acer...

Anyway, Decrapifier FTW.

[eponaskitty]

Whatever you decide to get, be sure to get something along the lines of this: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Targus+-+Laptop+Chill+Mat+-+Black/Gray/9427042.p?id=1218103734860&skuId=9427042 if it's at all powerful.

Laptops are not designed with good cooling, and any portable desktop laptop (meaning basically any laptop that's a powerhouse) is going to have heat issues.

Personally, I like the high end HP Laptops. I've had many of them. I tend to kill them pretty quickly (see the aforementioned heat issues), but they've all lasted far longer than any other brand I've had.

Really when trying to decide on anything tech related, most things come down to your budget, priorities, personal taste, and even your luck.

I've known people that had awesome luck with shit brands, and people that had horrible luck with awesome brands. If you've always had good luck with a certain brand, stick with it. If you've always had terrible luck with a brand, avoid it, even if it's supposed to be the best thing you can get.

Oh also. When you're looking at the video chipset in it, make sure it's discreet video, and not shared. Shared means it uses some of the system's RAM. Discreet means it has dedicated video memory. Much better performance with dedicated.

[flabbybody]

my next door neighbor is telling me I should get a Kindle Fire for the things I do on my pc (Google search, email, pic downloads, bill pay, facebook, porn, etc)
He says it's as good as an ipad for so much less money

[Rivz]

Dell, or HP for a PC I would go with. Preference towards Dell. I run HP's and Dells at work, not a lot of trouble with those. I don't trust Toshiba anymore got a bad batch from them once. Gateway might as well take a shit on. Acer actually improved from what they use to be, still wouldn't get them though, and lenovo is a crap shoot, horror stories, and some success stories. I don't know about you though I don't like to gamble with my money.

[bulldog]

If your willing to spend the money, you wont need to upgrade this sucker ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152304 ) for a good long while, you have plenty of space and a hell of a video card in it. Keep in mind though, this is a future proof laptop that wouldnt need to be upgraded for a longer while than any store bought PC such as a prebuilt one from Best Buy. Would recommend getting extended warranties for any laptop (preferably the ones that allow replacements for accidents.)

If you need anymore help, I would be happy to assist, been building PC's for 7 years and going for my Associates in Computer Support, and Web Development (possibly my bachelors in Computer Science.....dunno yet lol)
Just gimme a price point, tell me exactly what you want to do with it, or at least close, and ill start throwing you suggestions based upon reviews, personal knowledge and what you can get by minimum to meet your needs and what you can buy to future proof yourself.

Also, personally, I would NOT buy any prebuilt laptop unless I knew exactly what it had in it, and even then, they are usually pretty limited. A lot of computer companies, such as HP and Dell will give you deals for upgrading your custom built PC, such as free upgrades to RAM, CPU's and HDD's

[TempestTS]

Good advice. Yes, Tempest knows her shit, and I consulted with her before buying the Alienware, which was her recommendation. Not a lightweight though: the 9-cell battery and dual hard drives add a lot of weight, and while the case may not be MIL-SPEC, it's far more substantial than nearly any other out there. Plus the really cool Alienware features, great keyboard and best mousepad I've ever used on a laptop (though I usually use a bluetooth keyboard and mouse). I saved somewhere between $600 and $800 snagging it at the Dell Outlet.


You needed a monster of a workhorse for video editing, Alienware cant be beat for that. Not exactly the cheapest thing around but if you want speed youll get it.