Good Laptop for Sony Vegas Editing

[Guillaume Jeffrey]

Hi,

I’m currently using a laptop sony to edit HD videos without any problem for previewing (as long as auto preview resolution is selected).
I don’t have an i5 processor but an i7, all the other spec are similar to yours except the video card which is a Nvidia & screen resolution higher.
I think it’s better if you take a Nvidia card (if you are using vegas pro 10 and AVC rendering) as sony-AVC is optimized for CUDA technology used in Nvidia card. I notice a 5 to 10% increase in my rendering performance when I enable the GPU.
A 1920×1080 screen is also better as you can see better your vegas windows.
Of course a desktop will give you better performances.

Hope this help.

[Chelsea Volz]

Thank you. 🙂

So, I found two laptops that I’m now considering, but the prices are quite different and I’m curious as to which is the better buy.

This one is only $1,300.00:

– Intel® Core™ i7-740QM processor
– Features a 6MB L3 cache and 1.73GHz processor speed with Turbo Boost up to 2.93GHz.
– 6GB DDR3 memory, expandable to 8GB.
– Blu-ray Disc-enabled DVD±RW/CD-RW drive
– 16.4″ LCD widescreen display, with 1600 x 900 resolution
– 640GB Serial ATA hard drive (5400 rpm)
– NVIDIA GeForce GT 425M graphics, features up to 1GB dedicated video memory
– Include 1 Memory Stick PRO/Memory Stick PRO Duo with MagicGate functionality and 1 Secure Digital for storing additional information.

And this one, is $4,699.00:

– Intel® Core™ i7-640M processor (2.80GHz1) with Intel® Turbo Boost technology20up to (3.47GHz)
– 8GB of pre-installed system memory.
– Enjoy a 512GB2 Solid State Drive (256GBx2)
– Blu-ray Disc-enabled DVD±RW/CD-RW drive
– 13.1″4 LCD Display with 1920 x 1080 resolution
– NVIDA® GeForce® GT 330M graphics card and 1GB VRAM.

What’s the difference? Is the second laptop worth almost 3,000 extra dollars?

[Nigel O’neill]

The 512GB solid state drive probably makes up at least $2000 of that. You have slightly more RAM and a faster processor in the more expensive system.

Performance-wise, solid state drives are extremely fast but VERY pricey.

Instead, you might want to consider getting the less expensive laptop with a PC Express slot that allows for eSATA or see if the laptop has an eSATA connection built-in, so you can hook up a much cheaper cradle ($40) and pop a standard SATA drive in the cradle. You can swap hard drives as a bonus.

OR

You might want to consider a laptop with USB 3.0 ports, and use USB 3.0 portable external hard drives. USB 3.0 drives are just starting to emerge. A 500 GB portable USB 3.0 should retail for around $120.

Intel i920, 12GB RAM, ASUS P6T, Vegas Pro 9 (X64), Vista x64 Ultimate, Vegas Production Assistant 1.0, VASST Ultimate S 4.1

[Al Bergstein]

Yes, I didn’t go with solid state because of price and size. I agree with the notion of larger hard drives, or eSata port, along with proper video card. My blu ray player will not properly play standard DVDs I have produced on my Mac. So I would be leery of buying one again.

You can always buy a stand alone blu ray player for when you show your videos to an audience. They are dirt cheap now. And most people are still asking for standard DVDs I’ve found.

Alf

[Ken Mitchell]

I have been using an HP Pavillion 9543.. This model is 2 years old and only has a core 2 duo BUT… HP 17 inch laptops have 2 internal drives.. which means that you can use one for your operating system and one for your video elements… this adds greatly to the speed of the system without adding an external esata or usb3 drive… firewire and usb drives would be much slower…

[Mike Allgeier]

I’m using an HP HDX16 with an Intel Core2 Duo 2.26GHz processor, 4GB of RAM, and Vista 64 for the OS. It’s been working great for me now for about 2 years. It has an ESATA port, HDMI out, Firewire, and 4 USB ports. I’m really enjoying it.