Gaming World Forums
General Category => Technology and Programming => Topic started by: pburn on May 10, 2011, 01:36:21 am
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I quit the internet, but I thought I'd come back a bit since everyone here since I need some tech help.
I've had this laptop for about two years, an 18" HP HDX laptop. Kind of regretted the purchase since it's not portable at all - heavy, clunky, won't fit in a backpack etc. The ink on the keys has smudged to hell and the left mouse button doesn't work anymore. It's basically falling apart. Not too bad though, it pretty much does everything I want it to do and it never leaves the room. As far as video goes, it runs raw DSLR footage near flawlessly without any image post-processing.
I need a new laptop though, one that's more portable and solid for video editing - also for photos too but pretty much everything can handle 15mp anyway. I was thinking about the new Macbooks since they're obviously constructed solid and are easy to carry around and color management being much easier to handle and all that. Seriously, I have no idea why working with color is so goddman awful on PC. But, for the $2k USD that it'll take to buy one of those, I could get a Windows laptop has better specs... that and 5/6 of my externals/backups are NTFS formatted.
Basically, I need some recommendations for a laptop that will cost less than $1.5k USD that runs on Windows, with the solid construction and portability of a Macbook. I know that description has been thrown around way too many times and is more of a dream or a Dr. Dre laptop, but I basically know nothing about hardware nowadays.
Current specs:
Intel core 2 duo p8800 2.66ghz
4gb ram
Geforce 9600M GT
EDIT:
I have no idea if Dr. Dre laptops are any good, but if they fit what i'm looking for, let me know.
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Macbook pros are actually priced pretty close to windows laptops with similar specifications, especially if you buy one right when they release new models(right around now would be a good time to get one). OSX can work with NTFS so it's not really something you've got to worry about too much either. If you're doing photography and video editing, you should probably be using a mac and formatting your hard drives in FAT32 or HFS+ anyway, everyone else in your field is doing it.
Also you should probably avoid anything with celebrity branding. The Dr. Dre laptop is an HP Envy which costs about as much as a new macbook pro but isn't as good and has older hardware inside.
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Thanks for the helpful response, I'll probably end up getting a Mac, probably a 15in. Unlike PC's, the specs don't seem too customizable. I'm assuming a 2.0ghz quad-core w/ 4gb is much better than what I have now, but if an extra 8gb of ram worth an additional $200?
The small screen size and resolution won't be an issue since I'm using an external monitor anyway..
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I doubt it's worth an extra $200 but ram is pretty important depending on what kind of thing you're doing. I have 4gb and even doing simple vfx for stupid game videos in after effects I sometimes have trouble doing ram previews of a useful length and have to render out instead. It's not too big of a deal. If you're mainly just cutting together footage then 4gb will be more than enough I would have thought
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Thanks for the helpful response, I'll probably end up getting a Mac, probably a 15in. Unlike PC's, the specs don't seem too customizable. I'm assuming a 2.0ghz quad-core w/ 4gb is much better than what I have now, but if an extra 8gb of ram worth an additional $200?
The small screen size and resolution won't be an issue since I'm using an external monitor anyway..
I don't know, they're about as customizable as any other laptop: A handful of i7 and i5 processors, 4-8GB of RAM, a few different HDD/SSD sizes, 3 different GPU options and screen sizes, glossy or matte screen... What other specifications would you want to customize in a laptop?
Yes, the current lineup of macbook pros have newer/better hardware than your current laptop and unless you know/care to learn how to change the RAM yourself then 200 dollars isn't unreasonable for 8GB. You can get more RAM cheaper HERE (8GB for about 85 bucks) (http://"http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145281") and you can see how it's installed here: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-MacBook-Pro-15-Inch-Unibody-Mid-2010-RAM/3032/1
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I don't know, they're about as customizable as any other laptop: A handful of i7 and i5 processors, 4-8GB of RAM, a few different HDD/SSD sizes, 3 different GPU options and screen sizes, glossy or matte screen... What other specifications would you want to customize in a laptop?
I don't see any options for processors and video cards without choosing a different base configuration or screen size, but I guess that is kind of irrelevant.
I'll probably end up installing the ram myself, but that would void the warranty right? I'm kind of keen to heaving my electronics break despite my being careful.
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I don't see any options for processors and video cards without choosing a different base configuration or screen size, but I guess that is kind of irrelevant.
I'll probably end up installing the ram myself, but that would void the warranty right? I'm kind of keen to heaving my electronics break despite my being careful.
As far as I know, it has no effect on the warranty. There are no warranty stickers anywhere on the machine so I don't think there's any way to detect tampering with the internals if you manage to break it. Just put the original RAM back in and send it off. I think you have to cause water damage or drop/smash the machine to void the warranty.
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Macbook pros are actually priced pretty close to windows laptops with similar specifications
Should be mentioned that the upgrades you can get from the Apple Store are (in my experience) pretty expensive compared to upgrades from third parties. Might want to buy your extra RAM elsewhere.
edit: oh you already mentioned that, my bad.
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Why dose it need to be portable/ a laptop?
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Because not everybody lives in their parents' basement.
JONED
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Because not everybody lives in their parents' basement.
JONED
I don't know how a desktop means you live in your parents basement. I'm just saying you can get a way better price with more performance if it wasn't a laptop.
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I don't know how a desktop means you live in your parents basement. I'm just saying you can get a way better price with more performance if it wasn't a laptop.
I want a macbook and I don't want to have to purchase both a laptop and desktop
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I don't know how a desktop means you live in your parents basement. I'm just saying you can get a way better price with more performance if it wasn't a laptop.
laptops can be moved around easily and desktops cannot. Usually people want a laptop so they can move their computer around and take it with them when they leave home.
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Especially since unless this has changed in the last year or w/e ryanj is a student and yeah you're gonna want something you can take to class etc.
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Depends how serious about video editing you are.
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I ordered the MacBook pro. Thank you everyone.