Best notebooks for video editing - Core 2 Duo, non-shared video ram? 1

[davegmail]

Best notebooks for video editing - Core 2 Duo, non-shared video ram, T2060 (non-Centrino)? Adobe Premiere 2.0

I have been looking at:

Intel® Pentium® dual-core processor

http://www.intel.com/products/processor/pentium_dual-core/index.htm

A vibrant media experience
The Intel Pentium dual-core processor delivers enhanced performance for today's demanding applications such as CAD tools, 3D and 2D modeling, video editing, digital music, digital photography and gaming


First Tests of Intel's New Dual-Core Mobile Processors

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,124230-page,1/article.html

Dual Core Notebook CPUs Explored (Tom's Hardware)

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/02/27/dual_core_notebook_cpus_explored/

Building Your Dream Notebook (Tom's Hardware)

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/05/04/building_your_dream_notebook/index.html

====
Toshiba Satellite Notebook with Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core Processor

T2060 Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core mobile processor T2060 with 533MHz frontside bus, 1MB L2 cache and 1.6GHz processor speed

512MB PC4200 memory for multitasking power, expandable to 2GB

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...ategoryId=pcmcat103700050045&id=1166236115695

======


HD-DVD Laptops We Love

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2036510,00.asp

"While they won't replace your plasma television—HD laptops are laptops first—you'll find they're a great tool for things like gaming, 3D design, video and photo editing, and watching HD DVD movies. They even have video output ports (HDMI or DVI-D), so you can treat your laptop like a set-top player and view those HD-DVD movies onto your 50-inch plasma screen. "

 

[wahnula]

There is a huge difference between "Core Duo" and "Core 2 Duo". The first is based on the Yonah core, the second on the Merom core. Twice or 4X the L2 cache and 667/1033 FSB, longer battery life, better chip period. That PCWorld article is over a year old. Even the budget ones are good:

http://www.3gplaza.com/estore/control/Computer3G/productdetails?id=62236&srccode=PW

Centrino is a technology, not a CPU. It is the combination of an Intel 945PM (I think) chipset, Pentium M and Intel Wireless card. Centrino Duo is the same, look for the Core 2 Duo name only to get the best laptop tech. Modelwise, it's the Intel T5500-T7600.

If you're technically inclined build your own:

http://www.directron.com/z96js.html

It's easy, I am typing this on a 4-year-old Asus homebrew M6N laptop.

Tony

 

[davegmail]

Thank you.

I am looking into a Toshiba Qosmio G35-600 with 2 GB Ram, dual 80 GB HD. For example do a Froogle of this item and pricing is under $1000. There is a G35-670 pending in April according to the mfr. with better specs including HD TV, bigger drives (120 GB?), faster CPU, etc. The expected price is over $2900 - a big difference. PC Mag had great reviews of Qosmio vs competitors.

 

[wahnula]

davegmail,

Thanks for the star. As for buying a notebook online, it is best to see and feel it locally to check out key layout, screen size etc., then get the best price online. Many people are disappointed in the smaller real estate of a WXGA screen. a 20" widescreen is only 11" tall for example, so seeing it in person is a huge help. Newegg, for example, does not accept retirns on notebooks unless defective. Best fo luck w/ your new rig, and make sure it is a Core TWO Duo!

Tony

 

[kmcferrin]

Agreed, Core 2 Duo is much better than Core Duo. And you definitely want to see and test the laptop in person before you buy it. I have found that a lot of the laptops that look "cool" have keyboards that aren't all that great. Some of them have really cheap feeling keys and buttons on the touch pad. There are even some where you can feel the entire keyboard bow a little bit when typing. There's definitely some cheap stuff out there.

I also want to second the point about the WXGA screens. I had only used the more square-screened laptops before, but this weekend I bought one that had a 15.4" WXGA that has the wide aspect ratio, and it does feel cramped using it (vertically speaking). But I've gotten used to it, and it's not bad.

It depends on how much money you have to spend and how much video editing you want to do, but you might want to consider one of the higher-end business line laptops. Depending on what you do you may want 4 GB of RAM, even. They tend to have more options than the consumer lines, which are mostly targetted at hitting the $899/$699/$499 price points.

One last thing, make sure that your applications will run on what you are considering buying. Most new laptops (definitely on the consumer side, not as much on the business side) are sold with Vista pre-installed. If your applications won't run on Vista then you may have to wipe it an install something else. In my case, the laptop I bought this weekend had Vista installed, and when I checked the manufacturer's web site there were no drivers available at all for Windows XP. So for the one or two utilities that I use that won't run on Vista I had to create a Virtual machine using Virtual PC 2007 running XP Pro. It's not that big of a deal for me, but depending on what apps you run it could be a dealbreaker.

 

[xwb]

Try an Apple Mac Pro (the silver ones: not the white ones). The hardware is not generic and geared for speed. You can run either MacOSX or Vista on the Apple Macs.

 

[ArizonaGeek]

I would have to agree with xwb for video editing, Mac is it. If you ask anyone that does video professionally what they use, they'll say a Mac for sure.

Personally I hate Toshiba computers. They load them down with so much crap you'll have to spend two hours uninstalling all their BS.

You don't even get a Windows disk and a driver disk with a Toshiba. You get a ghost image on a DVD so even if you have to reinstall you get all the crap back. If any computer company can't give me a Windows disk and a drivers disk I would never deal with them.

Just my thoughts.

Cheers
Rob

The answer is always "PEBKAC!

 

[kmcferrin]

The sad truth (at least for Windows-based laptops) is that no matter what you buy it's going to be packed with crapware when you get it. I just bought a Gateway that was the same way, but I also know that Dell and HP/Compaq are the same.

On the bright side, my Gateway did come with a Windows CD, but no drivers CD. But they do have a nice, automated process that lets you create a "drivers and applications" recovery CD so that you can reload it if you need to.

 

[ArizonaGeek]

At least on the business end of dealing with Dell we always get a Windows disk and a driver disk with all of our desktops and laptops. I don't know about the consumer side of it though.

We bought 5 Toshiba's about 2 years ago and they are the worst for loading up with junk. I still curse them to this day. And their support is not that great either. Had one of our Toshiba laptops with a bad hard drive and instead of them just overnighting me a hard drive I had to take it to an authorized Toshiba shop. I've been working with computers for more than 10 years, I think I can handle a simple thing like changing out a hard drive. Nope they wouldn't heard of it. We had it at the shop a week, so our user was on an old PIII spare we had laying around for that week.

I am not sure about HP/Compaq is has been so long since I've used them.

Just something to think about...

Cheers
Rob

The answer is always "PEBKAC!

 

[kmcferrin]

On the HP/Compaq business side we used to always get an OS disk and a driver disk as well, but they've started to shift to the "make your own disk" scenarios. On the business side, they also mind sending out replacement parts for user installation.

I can't speak for the consumer side, but I could see why they wouldn't want to send out replacement parts for a user to install.

 

[davegmail]

Excuse me guys but Toshiba is terrific, using for video editing, tablet version for all around. Very rugged, reliable, sturdy from a 4 foot fall - survived very well, voice recognition, photo editing, etc.

I am not a Mac fan, don't intend to either. If you do a clean install with OEM version of Windows, no "crapware" shows up - AOL, etc. If possible, I prefer corporate PC's vs consumer versions - stronger support, etc.

Dave