Laptops for Vegas? at DVinfo.net

Milt Lee · August 14th, 2004, 11:22 AM

Hey I'm just getting ready to plunk down some serious laptop change, and I wanted to hear from some hard core vegas folks what they are using? (laptop-wise)

I love the look of Sony, but I'm ready for whatever gives me a wide screen, and lots of speed and ram. I'm also expecting to put an external drive or 2 on it - just for space. I need something that I can edit with while on the road.

Of course lots of ins and out

Thanks for your tips!

Milt Lee

Edward Troxel · August 14th, 2004, 01:09 PM

I'm using a laptop from Earl Foote at PC Nirvana. I think you will find most laptops to be sufficient. However, you should really look for:

Fastest CPU you can afford
1 Gig or more of RAM
7200 RPM Hard drive (the bigger the better)
I have an external drive in a firewire case
Also check the FSB speed.

Glenn Chan · August 14th, 2004, 03:15 PM

You could get by with 512MB? I don't see how someone could use all the extra RAM unless doing some pretty crazy RAM previews.

FSB speed (533 vs 800) and Hyperthreading make a few % difference in performance. They make a small measurable difference but you can easily do without them. HT seems to speed DVD encoding by around 15% (haven't tested this myself).

Sager makes some interesting high performance laptops (7200rpm internal drives, high end pentium or AMD64 CPU, 1680X1050 resolution). I don't have any experience with them however.

You could take a look at sager laptops at the sager website (http://www.sagernotebook.com/) or on http://www.go-l.com (go-l just rebrands them and puts their rock in it).

Edward Troxel · August 14th, 2004, 08:48 PM

Yes, you *can* get by with 512 meg ram. However, ram is a fairly cheap component - why not go with 1 Gig? It will come in handy when doing ram previews or running multiple instances of Vegas or other programs in conjunction with Vegas.

But in reality, it can get by in 256 meg of ram. In fact - I still have one machine here that is running Vegas 5 just fine in 256 meg. But my newer (faster and most used) machine has 1 Gig!

Rob Lohman · August 15th, 2004, 04:57 AM

I'm using a DELL Inspiron 9100 widescreen laptop:

- 1680 x 1050 res (you can choose an even higher res. model)
- Pentium 4 3.2 GHZ - Hyperthreading processor
- 1 GB RAM
- 80 GB harddisk
- DVD burner
- firewire / USB2

Only downside is weight and size. It is being made as a desktop
replacement not to carry around all day (which I don't).

Milt Lee · August 15th, 2004, 11:26 AM

I'm not familiar with the term FSB - what's that all about?

Thanks for the tips! I've got about 3K but if I can save a little here and there, I can get another mic (you can never have too many!)

Milt Lee

Rob Lohman · August 15th, 2004, 11:46 AM

You should be able to get a laptop for far under 3K I think.

FSB = front side bus: communications channel between the CPU and other devices

Click here for Wikipedia explenation

Glenn Chan · August 15th, 2004, 11:57 AM

FSB = front side bus.

Patrick King · August 16th, 2004, 06:38 AM

Check out www.powernotebooks.com for a NP8790 widescreen notebook with a P4chip and second optional internal hard drive.

Read the resellerrating.com feedback on them. I almost ordered their notebook for Vegas editing before I elected to custom build a desktop machine. I'd buy a Sager from this company before I bought one from Sager itself.

Interesting article on this company's website about how almost all laptops are manufactured by just a few OEMs and then rebadged as Apple, Dell, etc. And we thought Bogen tripods were the only thing rebadged!

Glen Elliott · August 16th, 2004, 09:59 AM

I use a Toshiba P25 S525. It's got a 3.0ghz P4 w/ 800mhz fsb. 512mgs ram, 80gig hd, DVD burner, built in wireless 802.11 wireless, and a sweet 17" 1440x900 WXGA screen...all for under around $1800. Let me tell you- the Vegas timeline looks beautiful spanned across that widescreen. I use it in conjunction with 2 Maxtor One-Touch 200gig external drives. That way I can continue to work on projects when I'm away from home on the weekends. It's great to watch movies on as well....the widescreen aspect ratio fills the screen.

http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/...7&ccid=1291021

Gustavo Nardelli · August 17th, 2004, 10:42 PM

Glen:

I knew from beggining you had a taste for good art. But now it's proved.

Milt:

I do own a Toshiba P25 as well, mine is a S509. I own it for almost one year, and I'm very happy. Had only to upgrade to 1GB of RAM Memory.

You can go wrong with P25's

Randy Stewart · August 18th, 2004, 02:01 AM

You might check out DVLine here: http://www.dvline.com/site/products/laptops.cfm . They have some awesome stuff.
Randy

Bill Ravens · August 18th, 2004, 07:33 AM

Sony PCG-GRT390ZP.
Expensive, but, worth every penny.

Glen Elliott · August 18th, 2004, 10:07 AM

<<<-- Originally posted by Gustavo Nardelli : Glen:

I knew from beggining you had a taste for good art. But now it's proved.

Milt:

I do own a Toshiba P25 as well, mine is a S509. I own it for almost one year, and I'm very happy. Had only to upgrade to 1GB of RAM Memory.

You can go wrong with P25's -->>>

Hey, nice....how much did the upgrade cost? How did you do it- did you install the ram yourself. I think mine is two 256 chips. If I want to add an additional 512 I have to remove a 256 chip to make room....or is there an extra slot...I never looked. Thanks.

Joe Carney · August 18th, 2004, 06:08 PM

Glen ,my son has one of those great Toshibas, and earlier model with a 2.8ghz HT chip. He's made a very good living with it and Vegas. Just need an external firewire drive and a good set of pro quality headphones or earplugs and powerbooks have nothing on us.

Both CompUSA and BestBuy offer them. One note..
If you decide to purchase at either place, don't let them talk you into an extended warranty, not matter how hard they try. Not worth the money. Most major vendors offer their own extended warranty plan. And guess what, you can send in your pc just as easy as the bozo at the discount store can.

btw...HP has come out with their z7000 series as an answer to the Toshibas. Worth checking out

August 14th, 2004, 11:22 AM	#1
Milt Lee Major Player Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Cass Lake MN Posts: 221	Laptops for Vegas? Hey I'm just getting ready to plunk down some serious laptop change, and I wanted to hear from some hard core vegas folks what they are using? (laptop-wise) I love the look of Sony, but I'm ready for whatever gives me a wide screen, and lots of speed and ram. I'm also expecting to put an external drive or 2 on it - just for space. I need something that I can edit with while on the road. Of course lots of ins and out Thanks for your tips! Milt Lee __________________ Professional website - http://manykites.com Personal - http://mrdogsblog.com

August 14th, 2004, 01:09 PM	#2
Edward Troxel Sponsor: JET DV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 7,953	I'm using a laptop from Earl Foote at PC Nirvana. I think you will find most laptops to be sufficient. However, you should really look for: Fastest CPU you can afford 1 Gig or more of RAM 7200 RPM Hard drive (the bigger the better) I have an external drive in a firewire case Also check the FSB speed. __________________ Edward Troxel [SCVU] JETDV Scripts/Scripting Tutorials/Excalibur/Montage Magic/Newsletters

August 14th, 2004, 08:48 PM	#4
Edward Troxel Sponsor: JET DV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 7,953	Yes, you can get by with 512 meg ram. However, ram is a fairly cheap component - why not go with 1 Gig? It will come in handy when doing ram previews or running multiple instances of Vegas or other programs in conjunction with Vegas. But in reality, it can get by in 256 meg of ram. In fact - I still have one machine here that is running Vegas 5 just fine in 256 meg. But my newer (faster and most used) machine has 1 Gig! __________________ Edward Troxel [SCVU] JETDV Scripts/Scripting Tutorials/Excalibur/Montage Magic/Newsletters

August 15th, 2004, 04:57 AM	#5
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	I'm using a DELL Inspiron 9100 widescreen laptop: - 1680 x 1050 res (you can choose an even higher res. model) - Pentium 4 3.2 GHZ - Hyperthreading processor - 1 GB RAM - 80 GB harddisk - DVD burner - firewire / USB2 Only downside is weight and size. It is being made as a desktop replacement not to carry around all day (which I don't). __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors

August 15th, 2004, 11:26 AM	#6
Milt Lee Major Player Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Cass Lake MN Posts: 221	I'm not familiar with the term FSB - what's that all about? Thanks for the tips! I've got about 3K but if I can save a little here and there, I can get another mic (you can never have too many!) Milt Lee __________________ Professional website - http://manykites.com Personal - http://mrdogsblog.com

August 14th, 2004, 03:15 PM	#3
Glenn Chan Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 4,750	You could get by with 512MB? I don't see how someone could use all the extra RAM unless doing some pretty crazy RAM previews. FSB speed (533 vs 800) and Hyperthreading make a few % difference in performance. They make a small measurable difference but you can easily do without them. HT seems to speed DVD encoding by around 15% (haven't tested this myself). Sager makes some interesting high performance laptops (7200rpm internal drives, high end pentium or AMD64 CPU, 1680X1050 resolution). I don't have any experience with them however. You could take a look at sager laptops at the sager website (http://www.sagernotebook.com/) or on http://www.go-l.com (go-l just rebrands them and puts their rock in it).

August 15th, 2004, 11:46 AM	#7
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	You should be able to get a laptop for far under 3K I think. FSB = front side bus: communications channel between the CPU and other devices Click here for Wikipedia explenation __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors

August 15th, 2004, 11:57 AM	#8
Glenn Chan Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 4,750	FSB = front side bus.

August 16th, 2004, 06:38 AM	#9
Patrick King Major Player Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Enterprise, AL Posts: 857	Check out www.powernotebooks.com for a NP8790 widescreen notebook with a P4chip and second optional internal hard drive. Read the resellerrating.com feedback on them. I almost ordered their notebook for Vegas editing before I elected to custom build a desktop machine. I'd buy a Sager from this company before I bought one from Sager itself. Interesting article on this company's website about how almost all laptops are manufactured by just a few OEMs and then rebadged as Apple, Dell, etc. And we thought Bogen tripods were the only thing rebadged! __________________ Fear No Weevil!

August 16th, 2004, 09:59 AM	#10
Glen Elliott Wrangler Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 2,898	I use a Toshiba P25 S525. It's got a 3.0ghz P4 w/ 800mhz fsb. 512mgs ram, 80gig hd, DVD burner, built in wireless 802.11 wireless, and a sweet 17" 1440x900 WXGA screen...all for under around $1800. Let me tell you- the Vegas timeline looks beautiful spanned across that widescreen. I use it in conjunction with 2 Maxtor One-Touch 200gig external drives. That way I can continue to work on projects when I'm away from home on the weekends. It's great to watch movies on as well....the widescreen aspect ratio fills the screen. http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/...7&ccid=1291021

August 17th, 2004, 10:42 PM	#11
Gustavo Nardelli Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Brasília-DF Posts: 28	Glen: I knew from beggining you had a taste for good art. But now it's proved. Milt: I do own a Toshiba P25 as well, mine is a S509. I own it for almost one year, and I'm very happy. Had only to upgrade to 1GB of RAM Memory. You can go wrong with P25's

August 18th, 2004, 02:01 AM	#12
Randy Stewart Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Hooper, UT Posts: 177	You might check out DVLine here: http://www.dvline.com/site/products/laptops.cfm . They have some awesome stuff. Randy

August 18th, 2004, 07:33 AM	#13
Bill Ravens Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: santa fe, nm Posts: 3,264 Images: 10	Sony PCG-GRT390ZP. Expensive, but, worth every penny.

August 18th, 2004, 10:07 AM	#14
Glen Elliott Wrangler Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 2,898	<<<-- Originally posted by Gustavo Nardelli : Glen: I knew from beggining you had a taste for good art. But now it's proved. Milt: I do own a Toshiba P25 as well, mine is a S509. I own it for almost one year, and I'm very happy. Had only to upgrade to 1GB of RAM Memory. You can go wrong with P25's -->>> Hey, nice....how much did the upgrade cost? How did you do it- did you install the ram yourself. I think mine is two 256 chips. If I want to add an additional 512 I have to remove a 256 chip to make room....or is there an extra slot...I never looked. Thanks.

August 18th, 2004, 06:08 PM	#15
Joe Carney Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Centreville Va Posts: 1,828	Glen ,my son has one of those great Toshibas, and earlier model with a 2.8ghz HT chip. He's made a very good living with it and Vegas. Just need an external firewire drive and a good set of pro quality headphones or earplugs and powerbooks have nothing on us. Both CompUSA and BestBuy offer them. One note.. If you decide to purchase at either place, don't let them talk you into an extended warranty, not matter how hard they try. Not worth the money. Most major vendors offer their own extended warranty plan. And guess what, you can send in your pc just as easy as the bozo at the discount store can. btw...HP has come out with their z7000 series as an answer to the Toshibas. Worth checking out