Is this enough laptop to edit 1080p in Vegas?

[John Rofrano]

That looks like a really nice laptop for editing HD. I’ve heard bad things about Toshiba quality, but they specs seem awesome.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Rick Antonio]

So with these specs, would I be able to view the preview screen in real time while editing in 1080p?

My current laptop won’t even allow me to do this in 720p, let alone 1080p

Very choppy….to the point that I have to render a small piece at a time just to make sure it’s edited right before doing a full render.

As for Toshiba, my last 4 laptops have all been Toshibas and other than having one fly out of my van during an accident (which was actually replaced with a newer version), I have yet to have any issues with them.

Also, I have a choice of either a 7200rpm HD or upgrade to an SSD

Would it be worth the extra $200 bucks to upgrade?

[John Rofrano]

[Rick Antonio] “So with these specs, would I be able to view the preview screen in real time while editing in 1080p?”

That still depends on the footage. Are we talking 1080-60p or 1080-30p? You make have difficulty with any computer if you are using 60p footage. Also what codec does the footage use? If you are using HDV it should edit smoothly, if you are editing AVCHD / AVC/H.264 there may still be choppiness depending on what manufacturer made the file. In general, you should get smooth playback with Vegas Pro 12.0.

[Rick Antonio] “Also, I have a choice of either a 7200rpm HD or upgrade to an SSD”

Usually SSD’s trade off size for speed but that laptop looks like it can hold two hard drives. If it can, go with the SSD for speed. Otherwise you mike want the 7200rpm for it’s capacity.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Rick Antonio]

OK, with the release of Win8, they’ve made some changes on how I’m able to configure this laptop.

Here’s what I have so far:

Qosmio X870-BT3G23

Intel Core i7-3630QM

Windows 8 standard (pro is $99 bucks more, but I don’t think I’ll need it)

Memory 32GB DDR3

Primary HD: 1.0TB 5400rpm Hybrid 8G Serial ATA (256GB SSD is $340 bucks more)

Secondary HD: 500GB 7200rpm

Graphics Controller: 3GB GDDR5 NVIDA G-Force GTX 670M

Blue Ray Disc RE w/super-multi DVD A+R/RW

Intel Wireless LAN (802.11 b/g/n Wireless Display Ready)

3 Year Accidental Damage Warranty (served me well in the past)

A couple of questions:

1) Will I have any problems running Vegas on Win8?

2) If not, would it be worth it to upgrade to Win8 Pro for $100 bucks more?

3) For the primary HD, would the increase in speed of the SSD be significant enough to warrant a $340 difference and only 25% of the storage over the 1TB 5400rpm Hybrid HD?

Since I can use external USB3 HD’s, I don’t mind losing the storage space for the internal HD’s, but it’s kinda hard to justify spending that much more money on SSD’s unless I’m sure it will make a noticeable difference for my intended use.

[John Rofrano]

[Rick Antonio] “1) Will I have any problems running Vegas on Win8?”

Sony doesn’t yet support Windows 8 but I’m guessing they just might be waiting for the official release to make a statement. I have Windows 8 on my test machine and I was about to do some testing with Vegas Pro 12.0 and our VASST plug-ins so I’ll let you know what I find.

[Rick Antonio] “2) If not, would it be worth it to upgrade to Win8 Pro for $100 bucks more?”

I don’t believe there is anything in Pro that you need. It use to be that Windows 7 Home Edition could not use more than 16GB of memory but if they are offering you Windows 8 Standard with 32GB of memory, I’d say you’re all set.

[Rick Antonio] “3) For the primary HD, would the increase in speed of the SSD be significant enough to warrant a $340 difference and only 25% of the storage over the 1TB 5400rpm Hybrid HD?”

If they would give you the 1TB as a secondary drive with the SSD then I would go for it. Otherwise, it’s not worth the money. You can buy a Crucial M4 256GB SATA III SSD for $249! Why would you pay them $340 + a 1TB drive? That’s outrageous.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Rick Antonio]

OK, another question.

The prebuilt 3D model is limited to only 16GB RAM

Is this enough for cutting 1080HD or should I shoot for 32GB in one of the customizable models?

Rick

[John Rofrano]

[Rick Antonio] “Is this enough for cutting 1080HD or should I shoot for 32GB in one of the customizable models?”

I only have 16GB on my new hex core and I’ve never seen more than 8GB being used so I would say that 16GB is enough.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Rick Antonio]

OK, here’s a link to the pre-built model with 16GB Ram and a pair of 1-TB 5400rpm HD’
s

https://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/pdet.to?poid=2000040278

Pro’s:
It’s pre-built with plenty of goodies
3D screen and comes with glasses
Dual HD’s with 1TB each
16GB RAM

Con’s:
It’s limited to 16GB (only 2 slots)
Both HD’s are 5400rpm
Back ordered for 4-5 weeks

I’m debating between that or one of these:

https://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cdetland.to?poid=2000044488

Plan to configure with 4GB RAM, 750GB 5400rpm primary drive and 1TB secondary drive

Pro’s:
Cheaper to configure
Ram is limited to 32GB, which I can upgrade through crucial for only $150 bucks (compared to Toshiba’s $840 option)
I can upgrade the primary HD to a 512 SSD from crucial for less than the price of the 256GB SSD Toshiba offers as an upgrade.
Only a 2 week build time

Con’s:
No 3D screen
In order to get the secondary HD slot, I need to order a secondary HD (slot is not available if secondary HD is not ordered)
I’ll have to do some upgrades that I’ve never performed before I’m a computer newb)
In the end, I’ll probably be over the price of the pre-built unit, but will have a bit more speed with the SSD and 32GB Ram.

Decisions decisions

[Rick Antonio]

BTW, were you able to use Vegas with Windows 8?

It’s the only OS available at this time and it would suck if my current Vegas progam (Vegas 10 Pro) isn’t compatible =o(

[John Rofrano]

[Rick Antonio] “BTW, were you able to use Vegas with Windows 8?”

Yes, I tested Vegas Pro 12.0 last night and it worked quite well.

[Rick Antonio] “It’s the only OS available at this time and it would suck if my current Vegas progam (Vegas 10 Pro) isn’t compatible =o(“

Vegas Pro 10.0 is never going to be officially supported on Windows 8. I think you need to be prepared to upgrade to Vegas Pro 12.0 when it officially supports Windows 8. If you expect older versions to work, you may be disappointed because as soon as you run into a problem, you’ll have no support from Sony and Windows 8 security is different from Windows 7 so some things might not work.

BTW, You may want to download the Windows 8 Preview and see if you can tolerate the new interface because it’s horrible and makes everything harder to use if you want to just use the desktop because there is no Start button! You’ll need to Google for YouTube tutorials on how to turn your computer off because it takes several steps that are not obvious and well hidden. You might want to buy a copy of Windows 7 and wipe the hard drive and install that instead (or buy a laptop with Windows 7 on it).

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com