Best laptop for editing high-def home video!

[peekinglemer]

Looking to purchase a new laptop that will support my high-def flip video recorder. My old Sony Vios just can't keep up.

Thoughts?
Experiences?

Looking to spend around $800.00.

Thanks

 

[peekinglemer]

bump

 

[Swimalie]

It's over your budget but Apple has a great photo editing software called iMovie that is easy to use, does a great job and comes free with an Apple. My husband had all of his 8mm movies converted to digital tapes and then edited them all together, added breaks and titles and it he was self-taught.

 

[estherhead]

Another vote for a Mac. I have a Gateway I love that is within your budget, but when it comes to video editing we exclusively use my dh's Mac. We've been making videos for about 11 years now and what I've learned is: spend the money to get the proper equipment. Two years ago we switched to the HD and the Mac didn't skip a beat.

So maybe double your budget. Sorry. I'm sure that isn't what you wanted to hear. But the movies we make for our families and friends for weddings, babies, anniversaries, and vacations are priceless.

 

[mkel34]

If you want to stick with a pc then I would look at the dell xps line, look for something with the I7 , 8 gig ram, and a dedicated video card/not integrated. It might be difficult with that budget, but if you go to slickdeals and set an alert for dell xps, you'll probably get a hit within the week.

 

[dfchelbay]

Looking to purchase a new laptop that will support my high-def flip video recorder. My old Sony Vios just can't keep up.

Thoughts?
Experiences?

Looking to spend around $800.00.

Thanks

Try a place called MicroCenter. There are two in New York, hopefully close enough for you to shop. They have every kind of computer imaginable. If you can up your budget a few hundred, you can get a Mac. But, if you cannot, they sell refurbished Macs too, for 1/2 the price. I think at my store they were $500. I asked what the difference was and was told the operating system was not the latest, but you can just download the latest version and it would be up to date...that's it. Sales person said, she didn't understand why people didn't just snap them up and update them. She said people think they are old and outdated....making them useless, but she said they are not. They also give you a warranty with them.

ETA...Forgot to mention the MAC mini. I think those are $599, see if the specs on that will work for you.

 

[thomas998]

I think if you really want the most bang for your buck you will consider a desktop. I've got a macbook pro that I have done HD editing on and while it will work, if I do anything beyond your basic editing it is much slower than my desktop PC that cost a fraction of the price of the macbook pro. For HD editing you need lots of memory, a fast hard drive and the right processor... when I say the right processor you need to know what software you are going to use and then find out whether it is designed to use multiple processors. My old descktop is an older single core machine but it is faster than the macbook pro because the software only uses 1 core and my desktop processor is running 3.8 vs the macbooks 2.5... Also decide how much screen space you need, my laptop is only 15 inches vs a desktop with 22 inches of screen... the desktop is just much easier to edit on.

IF you are sure you will be getting a laptop I say go to newegg and just limit your search by price... then look for the fastest processor you can find with at least 4gig of memory... less than that amount of memory will start slowing you down.

 

[mrsklamc]

For video and graphics macs are far superior.

 

[thomas998]

For video and graphics macs are far superior.

Sorry but is simply not true.

A mac might be easier for someone who is clueless about computers, but they are in no way superior... I've used both and the only benefit of a Mac is the limited amount of available software and hardware make it nearly idiot proof... but when you talk about bang for your buck a mac fails compared to nearly any PC out there...

The low end Macbook would would cost $1200 and only give you a 13 inch screen.. a i5 chip.. a 320gb hard drive.. 4gb of ram.. and a video card with 256mb of memory... for less than $1000 I can get a dell with a 17 inch screen.. a i7 chip.. a 640gb hard drive.. 8gb of ram and a video card with 2GB of memory... oh and blu-ray drive that you don't get with a mac... and you want to tell people a mac is superior... Please... Where is your superiority there? It just ain't so.

 

[mrsklamc]

Any professional video editor or graphic designer will tell you that macs are best for their particular genre.

 

[timmac]

Any professional video editor or graphic designer will tell you that macs are best for their particular genre.

That used to be true, maybe 6 or so years ago. Much less true now. The professional video editing crowd as I know it seems pretty well split between FinalCut (Mac) and Sony Vegas (Windows). Of course, professionals are running on hardware that may cost $3,000 or more.

The hardware has been basically identical for Mac/non-Mac since the switch to Intel, and the fact remains that for similar hardware, a non-Mac will get more bang for the same buck. From that standpoint, having a system that can "handle" larger videos is often easier with a Windows PC.

Now, in terms of the preloaded/default software offerings of both platforms, I would absolutely agree that iMovie is far and away better than Windows Movie Maker. I'd expand that generalization to almost all of the iLife suite in fact.

 

[timmac]

The low end Macbook would would cost $1200 and only give you a 13 inch screen.. a i5 chip.. a 320gb hard drive.. 4gb of ram.. and a video card with 256mb of memory... for less than $1000 I can get a dell with a 17 inch screen.. a i7 chip.. a 640gb hard drive.. 8gb of ram and a video card with 2GB of memory... oh and blu-ray drive that you don't get with a mac... and you want to tell people a mac is superior... Please... Where is your superiority there? It just ain't so.

There is something to be said for the out-of-the-box usability of a Mac over a Windows PC, and the included software is a lot better for many people. That said, there is, as you point out, a substantial price premium for that. (As well as far more limited choice beyond the out-of-the-box offerings) Depends what you want out of the system... both have their place.