Help me buy a laptop!

[hoorhay]

Hello!

I'm looking to buy a new laptop. I typically have general purposes including email, videos/movies, word processing etc. I will however be using video transferring, or whatever you call it.

I have lots of old home movies formatted in in various ways, like vhs, digital etc. I'm also looking for advice on video software and a capture device that will work with the suggested laptop.

I'd like an i7 with at least 16GB of memory for this task. And I'm not sure, but a dedicated GPU for rendering? Asking the experts here. Budget is hard to say, I was looking at stuff at best buy for like $900. And stuff elsewhere for like $1200-1300. So within that parameter, but it can go a bit over if worth it.

Suggestions for setting me up entirely! Thanks!

 

[Gamer Cat]

Here is what I have found... ($1,299)
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834315169

It also has an SSD for faster boot times and all that.

It meets all your requirements.

 

[jaguarskx]

It's called video editing / encoding and it is more or less relies solely on the CPU unless you use some special effects that can make use of a graphics chip, but in most cases integrated graphics should be more than enough unless you are constantly using a lot of special effects.

I don't encode / edit home movies, but I have encoded my DVD and Blu-Ray collection. I use a program called Handbrake to encode my collection. I suppose a popular program that people use to edit videos is Adobe Premier.

I assume you digital camcorder allows you to link it up to a laptop to transfer the video files or at least a removable SD card that you can simply stick in the laptop's SD card reader. For VHS tapes, it is a bit trickier. Obviously you will need a VHS player, next you need a video capture device like the following so that the laptop can record the video while it is being played back.

http/www.amazon.com/Diamond-VC500-Camcorders-supporting-connection/dp/B000VM60I8

 

[jaguarskx]

You can buy the following 15.6" Dell Inspiron 7559 for $949 which has a Core i7-6700HQ CPU, a 1080p screen and a GTX 960m graphics card. If you do not play games or use much special effects when editing video, then it is more or less not very useful to you. The 1TB HDD gives you plenty of room to store you videos. It only comes with 8GB of RAM, but adding in another 8GB stick of RAM on your own should be pretty easy and cheap.

http/www.dell.com/us/business/p/inspiron-15-7559-laptop/pd?oc=cai157w10ph5716&model_id=inspiron-15-7559-laptop&dgc=BF&cid=22740&lid=4279737&acd=12309198376456750&ven1=12255013-227502-goo_dealdetail_Dell%20Small%20Business_1030_10488&ven3=273802888263898196


The following HP Envy 15t Slim Quad has an i7-6700HQ CPU with no graphics chip and only a 1366x768 resolution screen that starts with a base price of $680. Upgrading the screen to 1080p only added $50. You can upgrade the RAM from 8GB to 16GB adds another $125, but it would be cheaper to simply buy the following 8GB stick of RAM for $33 and install it yourself.

HP Envy 15t Slim Quad
http/store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/Laptops/hp-envy---15t-slim-quad-laptop-t1p54av-1?jumpid=ba_r329_hhoaffiliate&aid=38293&pbid=Es5Ekr9eEBk&aoid=35252&siteid=Es5Ekr9eEBk-ZDC5ZNofbTP1HVIAx9C15w

RAM
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148679


You can configure it with a nVidia GTX 950m for $150, but for you I don't think it is necessary... unless you play games. Then I recommend the above Dell since it has the more powerful GTX 960m.

 

[jaguarskx]

Apparently, AMEX cardholders can get a $50 credit on their statement if they make at least a $250 purchase from HP.com by November 11th. But you also need a Twitter account to get the credit.

http/www.techbargains.com/deal/428780/american-express