LapTop Build HD video editing

ransom

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Aug 5, 2009
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I'm in the market for a laptop where the only power use is for HD video editing (professional), and Visual effects. I do not care about any 3d, or games. What I am looking for is a fast processor i7 or i5 although I would prefer quadcore. The i7-2670 looks good, but I'm flexible. 6-8GB of ddr3 memory, USB 3.0 and firewire would be excellent, but the FW is a bonus. It is to be used as a mobile editing bay.

I was looking at-- http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/asus-u46e-bal6/4505-3121_7-35035010.html?tag=contentBody;img35035010#reviewPage1

Which is decent. The processor is not as good as would like but it is not bad by any means. If I could keep it in the 850 range it would be great.

It is hard to find what I am looking for, since gaming laptops invest a lot of resources into GPU, which is not something that I need that much of-- Unless it is open gl card, which is out of my range. Other things that would be great, would be 7200 rpm HDD.

Does any one have any recommendations of prebuliders like Sager, or digital storm?

What I want.

Fast Intel chip(i5-i17)
6-8gb ddr3 ram
7200rpm drive
Usb 3.0 (fire wire huge bonus)

Any help would be great. The Sager option looks good but a bit more than what I want to pay. Also, I don't know how they are built-- IE.) if they use quality casings/ screen etc.
 

CaedenV

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Jun 14, 2011
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Well, for video editing the more cores on the processor the better, and the more system ram the better, but the internal HDD speed dosnt matter because almost any single drive can manage to pump out 2 HD streams at once. Besides, I am assuming you will be getting external USB3 drives which will do the bulk of the heavy lifting for data throughput.

I really really hate to say this, but if doing video editing on a laptop platform you may want to go get a mac (eeeww, I can't believe I just said that!). Otherwise I would go for a business class Dell; Either a Latitude or Precision. Get a base model with an i7 processor, minimum 15" screen, 5400RPM drive, and pay the $3 extra to get the windows restore CD (you have to pay $20-30 if you need it later), and then go buy upgrades for it at Newegg (larger 7200RPM HDDs, 8GB+ of ram, etc).
The Latitude is cheaper, but the Precision will allow for multiple HDDs, more ram, and generally kicks A$$.
 
Hello ransom;

Won't you find the 1366x768 LCD resolution limiting?
What HD video editing (professional) and Visual effects software will you be using?
Does it make use of the newer graphics card for GPGPU accelerated editing tasks and rendering?