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New Laptop Computer Advice?

C

Chip - HP

Super Member
I am about to buy a new computer ... my first laptop ... my current desk top is 5 years old ... and need some advice.

One of the main uses for my new laptop will be to record (and edit) movies (not available on DVD) off my U-Verse DVR in real time and burn them to DVD. I am looking at laptops with 3 to 4 GB of RAM and at least 250 GB HDs ... I suspect that I need a quality video card ... I am inclined to get a quality external DVD burner ... is there a website similar AudioKarma where I can do some research?
 
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Google can find anything you would need about laptop reviews.


Or just look around at Dell, or HP's website and you will probably find what you want for the price you want to pay.

http://www.dell.com/home/laptops?~ck=mn

or get a factory refurbished MacBook Pro and call it a day, after a ram upgrade, if you still want more. :)
 
Might check out Power Laptops too. They do and work with OEM's. You can configure it however you want.

Bryan
 
I've used my 2 Toshiba Satellites for video viewing and found both to be quite good. One is a M60 with XP and the 2nd is a P200 with Vista. Both are 17" witht he BriteView screen. The machines were bought for business use though not the Pro or business series but is taking the business abuse well. You may also wnt to look at the Sony Vaio as I understand they are very good for video.
 
I have a Macbook Pro and a Dell Latitude D420. I love them both, but they're very different machines. The Dell is far more mobile. The Mac spends most of its time on my desk these days. (I used to take it practically everywhere but the battery is worn out now.) However: if you're going to buy a Dell, go for the Latitude business-class models. I've never used an Inspiron that didn't feel like cheap trash. My Latitude was a refurbished model. Came with the full factory warranty (three years); the final price was right around $700. Built in Ireland, which is way better than China IMO.
 
Does anyone have one of the new Netbooks or smaller flash version laptop. I need to get a new laptop for the wife. She only checks email a couple of websites and downloads every virus known to man. But really hows the mini notebooks fair?
 
Chip - HP said:
Would that be the Mac store? :) ...
Click to expand...

Yes, it would be, in this case primarily for the video editing software Apple makes.

Plus, you can run Windows on a new Mac should you want/need to. You'll pay a premium for the MacBook (MB Pro), but a much smaller one than people seem to think. Worth a serious look.
 
If video editing is important then disk access will be your enemy and by far your biggest bottleneck. I would encourage you to get something that has Firewire 800, or ideally ESata so you have flexibility with data storage and external mediums. Laptop hard drives are consistently slower than even the slowest desktop hard drives. I also think you should shoot for 8GB of memory.

dew.
 
How important is portability here, really? If video editing is your thing, you might want to take high-end desktops into consideration as well. Wedging workstation graphics and tons of memory into a laptop computer case has never been easy, and any laptop you do buy will probably weigh ten or twelve pounds. And as dew042 says, hard drives will always be a very big problem when working with large video files.
 
Thanks for the input ... I just thought it would be nice to have a laptop for mobility for other uses like accessing the Net when I am not home ... originally, I was considering buying a DVD Recorder with a HD but they are as expensive as a new compuer and don't offer much editing capability plus I may need some extra software to deal with copy protection
 
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