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Old July 14th, 2013, 03:33 PM   #1
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Laptops for Location Video Editing?

Was wondering if anyone here has experience with using laptops for editing Sony Vegas Pro on location?
I've been getting more and more requests for quick edits on short video segments for quick upload to client websites during live events / conferences, etc.

If anyone here is doing this type of thing on a laptop, please share your experiences and recommendations.

Would like something that doesn't hiccup much on preview/playback, etc. Any external devices recommended to keep things going smoothly... please also share.

Thx,

Chaz
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Old July 14th, 2013, 07:36 PM   #2
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Re: Laptops for Location Video Editing?

depends what format you're shooting?

i have a i7 / 8gb / hd4000 working with hdv. no problems
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Old July 15th, 2013, 10:56 AM   #3
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Re: Laptops for Location Video Editing?

Well sure, Vegas Pro is fine on a laptop, but... like the desktop installs, the more complex/compressed your source footage, the more critical the processor.

What are you typically shooting? For modern camera codecs, a mid-level i7 processor on Win 7 or 8, with 8+GB of RAM and an external drive is really the starting point.
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Old July 15th, 2013, 12:31 PM   #4
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Re: Laptops for Location Video Editing?

get a core i7, 8gb ram, 1 tb for storage + samsung 840 pro 128-512gb solid state drive.

very responsive. extremely quick to render
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Old July 15th, 2013, 02:13 PM   #5
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Re: Laptops for Location Video Editing?

Depends on how much you want to spend. an i5 will handle most things you throw at it without a problem. I edit EX1 and GH3 footage without any problems, on an Acer i5 with 8gb ram, which only cost me £400. USB external drives are perfectly adequate for my needs. Yoy can spend more if you want higher spec/performance.
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Old July 18th, 2013, 04:10 AM   #6
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Re: Laptops for Location Video Editing?

I've also successfully edited HDV footage on a mid-spec Dell laptop (i5, 8Gb RAM, 500GB HDD) that I bought over three years ago. It's helped me out on a number of occasions when clients need clips turned around quickly.
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Old July 23rd, 2013, 09:55 PM   #7
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Re: Laptops for Location Video Editing?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Leslie Wand View Post
depends what format you're shooting?

i have a i7 / 8gb / hd4000 working with hdv. no problems
Thanks for response.... I'm shooting AVCHD more and more and will likely have it as my primary format although I do shoot some HDV. There may be other times where I'll be working with other cameras depending on client and will likely use some DVR device to take camera output via HDMI or SDI...it all
depends. But mostly AVCHD from a Sony NX30 for short location edits.

Not planning on intensive grfx or fx...mostly short & sweet 1 or 2 minute video segments...probably a lot of simple ENG / news-type projects.

I do know that getting the latest quad mobile i7 processors seem to be what folks recommend, that and the most RAM you can afford / load. Just don't want to lug a beast around and would like to keep the cost at around $1K +/- USD.

Sort of thinking at Gaming laptops as they seem to be pretty robust for media files.

Chaz
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Old July 23rd, 2013, 09:56 PM   #8
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Re: Laptops for Location Video Editing?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Seth Bloombaum View Post
Well sure, Vegas Pro is fine on a laptop, but... like the desktop installs, the more complex/compressed your source footage, the more critical the processor.

What are you typically shooting? For modern camera codecs, a mid-level i7 processor on Win 7 or 8, with 8+GB of RAM and an external drive is really the starting point.
Thanks for response.... I'm shooting AVCHD more and more and will likely have it as my primary format although I do shoot some HDV. There may be other times where I'll be working with other cameras depending on client and will likely use some DVR device to take camera output via HDMI or SDI...it all
depends. But mostly AVCHD from a Sony NX30 for short location edits.

Not planning on intensive grfx or fx...mostly short & sweet 1 or 2 minute video segments...probably a lot of simple ENG / news-type projects.

I do know that getting the latest quad mobile i7 processors seem to be what folks recommend, that and the most RAM you can afford / load. Just don't want to lug a beast around and would like to keep the cost at around $1K +/- USD.

Sort of thinking at Gaming laptops as they seem to be pretty robust for media files.

Chaz
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Old July 25th, 2013, 03:48 PM   #9
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Re: Laptops for Location Video Editing?

I know most replies have been mainly concerned with the cheapest laptop that will do the job, but if cost isn't that much of an issue and user experience is...
I've had 2 Windows high end laptops over the last 5 years, one a Core 2 duo Toshiba with dual drives (most expensive in store at time),
and an Asus i7 N53SV which I up-specced a little to SSD system drive, 750gb 7200rpm secondary drive and upped the ram to 8gb. This was a nice machine that could pretty much handle anything my desktop could, even some smaller 1080p multicam jobs.
I have recently upgraded to a Macbook Pro 15 inch Configure - Apple Store (Australia)
Run Vegas in Boot camp.
Why?
The Windows Laptops will lose approx 75% of their value (most likely more) after 2 years.
The Mac will prob only lose 30% (most likely less).
Search ebay completed listings.
I looked around and got the same Macbook that was $3199 in the Apple store discounted for $2499 through an online retailer with full local warranty.
Do the math :)
And I have to say the Macbook is a very nice machine, even on the Windows side. And I dont know of a Windows lappy with a scalable resolution up to 2880x1800. Very handy for getting more screen space in Vegas on a smaller display.
my 2c
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Old July 25th, 2013, 04:33 PM   #10
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Re: Laptops for Location Video Editing?

Gerard,
Your statement might be true for you in premise but in reality it doesn't hold water. I do live rich media capture and live streaming for a living.

I have 7 PC laptops and a MacBook Pro. 4 of my machines are 3 year old Asus I7 gaming machines. Although I don't usually keep machines longer than 3 years these are still going strong. Just as strong or stronger than my beloved overpriced, over hyped MacBook Pro. I can buy almost 3 of these for the price of my MacBook Pro. And you mention value?

So to say that a PC laptop will lose 75% of it's value is hogwash. The values lies in is the machine doing the job it was intended for? I didn't buy it to sell it, I bought it to do a job.

All of my machines are used for live streaming and encoding and decoding video. As well as editing of 1080 video and mastering the final products to h264 and uploading to the clients intranet. My Mac has no edge in any of these task.

I love my MacBook Pro but please let's set the record straight when somebody ask for info.

If I were the OP I would take a serious look at some of the newer offerings in the ASUS line that have Thunderbolt.
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Old July 25th, 2013, 06:10 PM   #11
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Re: Laptops for Location Video Editing?

I used to think that only a Mac laptop was the way to go for responsiveness and bullet-proof performance for laptop video. But I've seen more and more folks on the PC side of things have some success. Since I'm using Sony Vegas Pro for editing.... a Mac is really out of the question. And cost / performance is an issue as well. Whatever laptop I get, I will probably keep it for 3+ years depending on how emerging technologies and Moore's law.

I do think gaming laptops have an edge right out of the box, especially with eSata & USB 3.0. There was a time when it seemed an expresscard slot was necessary to really get the speed with external devices. But
given that I'll be ingesting / editing short(er) clips.... I'm thinking this isn't really necessary.

Thanks again to all for the responses...most helpful!

--Chaz--
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Old July 25th, 2013, 06:42 PM   #12
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Re: Laptops for Location Video Editing?

+ 1 al's comments...

vastly overpriced, underpowered mac's are no competition for even cheap pc's.

i use asus i7's and though i would prefer a better physical build, they do their job and at the price i pay for them, pay for themselves in months....
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Old July 25th, 2013, 09:44 PM   #13
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Re: Laptops for Location Video Editing?

Another argument in favor of the PC:
Quote:
As of March 1, 2013, Apple will no longer sell Mac Pro in EU, EU candidate and EFTA countries because these systems are not compliant with Amendment 1 of regulation IEC 60950-1
Apple to Halt Mac Pro Sales in Europe Effective March 1 Over Regulatory Requirements - Mac Rumors
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Old July 31st, 2013, 10:04 PM   #14
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Re: Laptops for Location Video Editing?

My 2c worth: I purchased a laptop that has to do everything. I use it for work, so I carry it around with me; entering account details into MYOB. I also relax with computer games, and of course video editing as a non-professional.
Machine is a HP Probook, i7 2 Gh, 8 Gb RAM, HDD about 750 GB (but I use an external HDD for video files) ATI Radeon 1 Gb video card. I process vdeo from my Panasonic TM900 - 1920 x 1080 AVCHD @ 50 FPS progressive. I render using CPU only as my GPU doesn't seem to offer any advantage.
The machine performs very well. Rendering is a bit slow - to AVC 50P - but family projects don't have deadlines and I don't mind letting it percolate for a few hours. Rendering SD video is of course much faster.
Gaming also works well :)
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