Laptop advice

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Kevlar

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Oct 14, 2004
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I'm finally breaking down and doing some serious laptop shopping and would like some expert opinions.

I need something rugged, 15 or 17 inch, I will be traveling with it. I want to be able to run AoE :D and have good graphics. I want a CD/DVD player/burner. I will need to run Quick Books, Excel, Office/Word, Photoshop & Premier or Avid. I will be downloading music, video and pics.

So which one :confused: :heart:
 
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Dell Vostros are nice laptops, as are the Latitudes. You can get refurbished Vostros on outlet.dell.com for cheap. I'd recommend going with XP to avoid possible headaches with Vista. Especially since it sounds like you will be using this in a business role part of the time.

Lenovo also makes good laptops, the Thinkpad series.

My personal opinion: stay away from Acers, Toshibas, HP (consumer stuff found everywhere), and Compaqs. I've found that those laptops aren't well built and cut corners by using cheap parts that fail.
 
Kevlar said:
I'm finally breaking down and doing some serious laptop shopping and would like some expert opinions.

I need something rugged, 15 or 17 inch, I will be traveling with it. I want to be able to run AoE :D and have good graphics. I want a CD/DVD player/burner. I will need to run Quick Books, Excel, Office/Word, Photoshop & Premier or Avid. I will be downloading music, video and pics.

So which one :confused: :heart:
Click to expand...
You might want to rethink the 17" if you're doing heavy travel. That's a heavy beast to haul around.

Premier and Avid? Video editing on a laptop is less than fun, although possible if you at least have room to use an external mouse. SD or HD?
 
theacoustician said:
You might want to rethink the 17" if you're doing heavy travel. That's a heavy beast to haul around.

Premier and Avid? Video editing on a laptop is less than fun, although possible if you at least have room to use an external mouse. SD or HD?
Click to expand...

Ya, I know, but I want the option to edit if I have to.

Right now the only thing I've settled on is the Dell 15 in. and sticking with XP pro. I haven't found the cd/dvd player/burner.
 
Kevlar said:
Ya, I know, but I want the option to edit if I have to.

Right now the only thing I've settled on is the Dell 15 in. and sticking with XP pro. I haven't found the cd/dvd player/burner.
Click to expand...
1. What video source are you editing? Raw DV? You still didn't say if its SD or HD.

2. Any video editing needs 7200 rpm, period.

3. Remind me what it is you do?

4. Still looking for the burner? Just build it in.

As much as I hate to say it, I think you need a 15" Mac Book Pro with Boot Camp/Parallels or a Dell M4400 with the LED backlight option. You won't like the display without it if you're doing color grading or anything of that caliber. If we're just talking about web publishing, obviously less important. A real mobile video editing machine is outside of your price range though.
 
ThinkPad T61 15 Widescreen - 1 Yr Depot Warranty
Description Part number Unit price* Quantity Price*
ThinkPad T61 15 Widescreen - 1 Yr Depot Warranty
Edit 6459CTO $1,401.75 1 $1,401.75
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo processor T9300 (2.5GHz 800MHz 6MBL2) 1
Operating System: Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium 1
Operating System Language: en_USen_US 1
Display Panel: 15.4 WXGA TFT 1
System graphics: NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M (128MB) 1
Total memory: 4 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM) 1
Keyboards: Keyboard US English 1
Pointing Device: UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad) 1
Hard Drive: 160GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm 1
Optical device: DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim 1
System expansion slots: PC Card Slot & Express Card Slot 1
Card Reader: 4 in 1 Media Card Reader 1
Wireless cards: Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN (supporting Centrino Pro) 1
Battery: 9 cell Li-Ion Battery 1
Power cord : Country Pack North America with Line cord & 90W AC adapter 1
Language Pack: Language Pack US English 1
Accessories and options:
3 year depot 9x5 Next Business Day 41C9170 $101.15 1 $101.15
ThinkPad and IdeaPad 90W Slim AC/DC Combo Adapter 41N8460 $95.96 1 $95.96
 
theacoustician said:
1. What video source are you editing? Raw DV? You still didn't say if its SD or HD.

2. Any video editing needs 7200 rpm, period.

3. Remind me what it is you do?

4. Still looking for the burner? Just build it in.

As much as I hate to say it, I think you need a 15" Mac Book Pro with Boot Camp/Parallels or a Dell M4400 with the LED backlight option. You won't like the display without it if you're doing color grading or anything of that caliber. If we're just talking about web publishing, obviously less important. A real mobile video editing machine is outside of your price range though.
Click to expand...

no HD, it could be raw, but I would load it on a disk. Not to worried about color, I would do that on my big system, save things on quick time to load in Final Cut. This would be spuratic at best, but I want to be able to run Avid or Premier if I want to. I want the cd/dvd player/burner so I can transfer files and watch movies :D I definately want to play my games.
 
Arátoeldar said:
ThinkPad T61 15 Widescreen - 1 Yr Depot Warranty
Description Part number Unit price* Quantity Price*
ThinkPad T61 15 Widescreen - 1 Yr Depot Warranty
Edit 6459CTO $1,401.75 1 $1,401.75
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo processor T9300 (2.5GHz 800MHz 6MBL2) 1
Operating System: Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium 1
Operating System Language: en_USen_US 1
Display Panel: 15.4 WXGA TFT 1
System graphics: NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M (128MB) 1
Total memory: 4 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM) 1
Keyboards: Keyboard US English 1
Pointing Device: UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad) 1
Hard Drive: 160GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm 1
Optical device: DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim 1
System expansion slots: PC Card Slot & Express Card Slot 1
Card Reader: 4 in 1 Media Card Reader 1
Wireless cards: Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN (supporting Centrino Pro) 1
Battery: 9 cell Li-Ion Battery 1
Power cord : Country Pack North America with Line cord & 90W AC adapter 1
Language Pack: Language Pack US English 1
Accessories and options:
3 year depot 9x5 Next Business Day 41C9170 $101.15 1 $101.15
ThinkPad and IdeaPad 90W Slim AC/DC Combo Adapter 41N8460 $95.96 1 $95.96
Click to expand...

Vista bad, anything with xp pro?
 
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