PC Laptops for Editing

[Norman Willis]

Dear Carlton,

This may not be the answer you are looking for, but I think you may find that most pros on this forum don’t use laptops for HD editing, primarily due to heat issues. The secondary reason is that for HD, you want twin hard drives in RAID 0 for D:\. You can do that via external interface (such as eSata, or maybe USB 3.0), but other than that it is just not fast enough.

If you do specifically need a laptop for HD editing (due to portability or whatever other issue), the Asus is probably one fo the best. Lenovo would be another. I would look for a metal case (not injection molded plastic), for heat dissipation, and USB 3.0 coupled with a G-Raid Mini.

If you want to do somethings short, you might get away with it. But if you want to do anything heavy, or graphics intensive, it might generate too much heat.

I know some guys use laptops, but I would not advise it, unless you absolutely cannot avoid it.

I hope that helps.

Norman Willis
http://www.nazareneisrael.org

[Carlton Rahmani]

Hey Norman,

Thanks for the advice and dropping some more information for me. Just to let you know, I went ahead and purchased the Asus g51 I was talking about, and will put an update on this thread after I get it up and running.
The issues you brought up were valid, though, and I appreciate the input. I think this will work for me as a semi-intermediary, since it’s gonna be a while before I start doing anything in true HD–I still love working with this cheapy $50 digicam I got at walmart–and will probably have a nice desktop setup for myself by the end of the year. But my last laptop was an old gateway I UPGRADED to 2Gb ram (its max.)with a 5,400 rpm internal hard drive. Obviously I pushed that sucker a lot–didn’t know any better–and never was too disappointed with how things went. So I’m pretty eager to see what I can do with this upgrade and proper configuring.
Heat will be a concern I figure, so I’m already devising ways I can look to reduce it, particularly for the real heavy work.
I’m still on a learning curve, though, so anyone else have any suggestions or input, I’m open.

[Norman Willis]

>>I think this will work for me as a semi-intermediary, since it’s gonna be a while before I start doing anything in true HD–I still love working with this cheapy $50 digicam I got at walmart–

Hey, if it works for you, that’s great. That’s the true test 🙂

And if you’re continuing to work in SD, then yeah, a modern laptop will probably cut through it like a knife through butter.

I would be very interested to know how you like your Asus. They get great reviews, and I am looking at that brand for whenever I replace.

Best.

Norman Willis
http://www.nazareneisrael.org

[Eleanor Trezise]

My laptop isn’t as powerful as your new Asus… at all. However I work with HD clips a lot with little problems despite the huge amount of heat that’s generated.

One thing is to make sure the laptop has good air circulation around its bottom. I do this by suspending it on books (but not blocking the fan) and sometimes standing the laptop on its side and leaving it for a bit. And that’s another thing – if the laptop is getting slow and it feels hot give it a break! Shut down and leave it for a bit. Otherwise you may cause damage to components.

If you’re previewing videos you’ve rendered while Vegas is still open then use VLC media player since it’s one of the most efficient and will cause your laptop less grief and therefore less heat.

Also, when previewing the project within Vegas itself (pre-rendered) set the quality to “preview” or even “draft” as opposed to “normal” or “best”. Also add effects last just before you render.

Hope that helps and I’m jealous of your new laptop!

[Carlton Rahmani]

Thanks for the input about editing HD. What kind of laptop are you using anyway?
As for the heat issue, that’s something I’ve been well aware of, even with my old laptop, BEFORE I tried my hand at editing. I would always prop the rear of the laptop up on top of my wallet. And there’s been times where I put my laptop outside in the cold–around 30F–just to help keep it cool while rendering. I’m particularly very cautious about this with the new laptop, since heat has been one of the issues reported.
But, just to moreorless round off my initial point of inquiry, I went ahead and purchased the Asus g51 model I was talking about.
I’ve had it for about a week–I wanted to wait at least that long before I relate anything about my decision, for objectivity’s sake–and I gotta say I LOVE IT.
I haven’t done much with it–only edited, as a test, some videos using footage captured on the built-in webcam and some of Vegas’ generated media–and can only offer so much in terms of expertise, since the only other computer I’ve edited on was my old (Gateway 2gb) laptop, but I CAN say with a degree of confidence that THIS COMPUTER IS SOLID!
Truth is, after reading some of the recent forums, I’m more concerned about the direction Vegas seems to be heading.
I’ve done some work with V9–the downloadable trial, until I get the cash for purchase–and haven’t had any problems yet. But so far my tasks have been minor, and not intensive at all.
One encouraging thing I’ve seen with V9 is that it recognizes some of the AVIs that Vegas 7 wouldn’t.
As for the other problems that people are reporting: I’ll stick with Vegas as long as it delivers. . .actually, I’m ‘rooting’ for it.
Only, I wish I could feel as confident with it as I did up till a few weeks ago.

[Norman Willis]

My laptop is a Dell Inspiron E1720, CoreTwo Duo at 2.0GHz, 4GB RAM, and Vista x32. It does have twin HDD’s, which is cool. I cannot upgrade the processor, as I am limited by the motherboard and/or the chipset (I forget which one). I would worry about it, except that the thing has an injected-plastic housing that just seems to trap heat. So I don’t bother. When I edit, I use my desktop.

The air intake is on the bottom. I have the thing mounted full time on a laptop cooling pad, which basically just blows air up into the intake. It does seem to help (a lot), but still it is no match for my desktop (Dell T3400 Workstation with CoreTwo Quad at 3.0GHz, 8GB RAM, Vista x64, C:\ and D:\ both 7200RPM spin in RAID 0. The Core i7 machines are way faster than the CoreDuo Quad, and I would love to have one of those new six-core monsters, but budget is taking a real hit, and this is what I’ve got. I would worry about it, but I have been outsourcing my editing lately, and hope to be able to continue to afford that in the foreseeable future. (My editors use Avid, and FCP. I just have them do everything, start to finish.)

This laptop is a replacement for a Dell Inspiron E1705 that would not stay running. Dell tried fixing it eight times here, and then after they sent it back to the depot four times I insisted that they give me something that worked…so they sent me this. So far it has been a really good machine. The only thing I don’t like about Dell is the plastic bodies, and the fact that they have Nvidia make them video cards with shortcuts in them. I could not run Boris RED on the laptop without problems, because the Nvidia card is not all there.

Those Asus machines sound sweet. I have about a year left on this warranty (5 year contract), but when I eventually do replace, I would like to go with either Asus or Lenovo. But right now that’s just dreaming, because this machine works, and I’ve got no budget 🙂

Norman Willis
http://www.nazareneisrael.org