Running vegas on a laptop
 

I wanted to know if any of the sony laptop computer are able to run vegas smoothly. I was thinking of getting the core 2 dou 2Gh, but I think that won't have the power I was thinking of the core 2 dou 2.24Gh I believe it is. So is anybody runnning vegas on this systems and how are they. If not is anybody running vegas on a laptop and runing it smoothly. Most of my editing will be in hd for the long awaited HC7 Or HC5. Are any good points about buying the HC7 instead of the HC5 keeping in mind that I have no plans on buying a microphone.

Vegas is pretty much processor-based, so if you want anything like real-time playback, especially after you've added effects, etc., you want as fast a processor as you can get. It is the very last thing you want to skimp on if you're trying to keep the budget low.

Is not that I'm trying to save on money because I have a pretty good budget. I have around 3000 to spent on a good hd edting laptop, but if the a top of the line laptop won't cut it want options to I have with a desktop what are the best desktops that I can buy. On what should I focus my budget. And if anybody is running vegas on a laptop please reply. I basically want a laptop just cause of the space saver.

I am also shopping for a laptop for video editing. I think I will settle with a Core 2 DUO T7200 processor (2.0Ghz), 2GB PC5300RAM, a 160GB 5.400RPM harddisk (7.200RPM might be faster but 100GB is a bit close when editing HDV), also I plan to do the rendering etc. on my workstation. I want to use the laptop for doing the editing but not rendering. I also want it for looking at the dailies at the set. So I believe 5.400RPM will do. The laptop I have in mind is the Asus G2PC or the V1JP. Both look good. The 17" G2PC has a 1440x900 pixels screen resolution. The V1JP a 15,4" with a 1650x1050 resolution. But I am not sure if fonts will get too small then. So I have to think about this a little bit more before I make a decision.

what is rendering??? and if you are not going to be "rendering" on this computer that must mean that you have another one right. So I'm realizing that there isn't a laptop out there to do everything that can do everything in vegas so what are my options in desktops. Dell,Hp,ect.

i run vegas all day long on a dell inspiron Core duo 1.63 with a gig of ram and a 7200rpm drive. It is quick.

Bumping up to a 2gHz+ processor will be fine.

and a 15.4 screen running at 1680x1050 is very nice. The fonts are fine to read and it allows vegas to spread out nicely.

Mobile Systems...
 

I run Vegas 6 on an Alienware mj12-7700 which is a P4 HT @ 3GHz with 2.5GB RAM and a 160GB RAID0. This system does almost anything you want. I routinely have 4-8 video tracks (ususally only 1 or 2 are source video, the rest are text overlays) and ~10 audio tracks (only 2-4 active at a time). My edits have all been SD footage (16:9) with an AC3 5.1 mix. This system does just fine. Occasionally I'll have to bumb the preview window down to "preview" or "Draft" quality to get smooth viewing (usually only after hours of editing so that could just be a windows problem).

For HD which (and someone correct me if i am wrong) is more highly compressed than SD-DV footage, you will probably do well with a Core 2 duo system above 2GHz. Remember that a core 2 cuo is actually two processor cores so you are getting to true processing cores @ 2GHz each. my P4 Hyper Thread system only tries to mimic having two cores so it won't be near as good as a true dual core system.

To put that into perspective, I built a render server FIVE years ago using 2 AMD Athlon MP cpus at 1.5GHz each on a server motherboard with 512MB of ECC RAM and a 64bit PCI RAID 0 system. I rendered the same veg file in vegas from the source HD to the same HD and I timed each one. The brand new $3300 Alienware (now 1 year old) was only 3% faster than the 5 year old dual CPU Athlon system. That 3% is almost negligible. The only noticable difference is taht older system takes several minutes to open a complicated veg file (due to limited RAM) and it cannot preview at anything over draft (again due to RAM).

So hopefully this highlights the power of a true dual CPU system. The Core 2 Duo will be a great chip for rendering. Don't skimp on it. Everything in Vegas depend on that CPU to RAM bus.

Multiple HD streams being played at the same time (PiP) might stress the standard laptop hard disk. I recommend nothing but a 7200RPM HD and a RAID if at all possible. Raid 0 (stripe) or 1 (mirror) will work well. Mirror might be the best option for data redundancy. Each scene transition / crossfade using HD footage might also stress the 5400 or 4200 RPM had disks. Avoid those if possible.... besides.... Anyone considering a mobile render system has no intention of sitting this system on their lap (it'll burn you!) or needing long battery life (ie greater than 1hr while rendering). Just sit it on a table, prop it up for air flow, and plug it in.

jason
ask me about the raid levels and i can explain more

I have a 5.400RPM harddisk in the notebook I just ordered. The 7.200RPM laptops only go up to 100GB and with all programs installed, I am already at like 40GB so that leaves little room for the HDV files. Therefore, I have chosen for a 5.400RPM harddisk with a size of 160GB. Whenever possible, I will use my external firewire harddisk that I can use for scratch. Whenever possible, I will work on my workstation which has 10.000RPM raptors and more power.

display
 

I forgot to mention the display. If you are doing HD, then you would probably like to play the footage back at native resolution. I don't know if there are any systems that actually support 1920x1080 resolutions. the 720p footage shouldn't be a problem, but i don't know of any cameras that capture to that format (haven't looked into it at all). All the systems I see at the biggest resolutions only do 1680x1050. that is close, very close.

jason

Only Dell (and maybe Alienware) offer 1920x1200 screens in laptops. But I have only heard bad stories about them. Which is logical, because they are just cramming too much pixels on a 17" surface.

I have had an older Sony Vaio PCG-GRT390ZP with Vegas installed. It gave me a lot of troubles. I recently bought a Dell Inspiron Dual Core(not core 2 duo), 7200RPM HDD and 2Gb RAM. While it came absolutely choked with superfluous software, which I had to remove, it runs Vegas without a hiccup. The vaio has proprietary chipset drivers that seem to get funky with video processes. This is a common problem for vendors like Dell and Sony. They buy third party hardware with reduced capabilities from the free market hardware. You can't update the firmware or drivers from the third party vendor, updates come only from the end product vendor.

All about the money
 

There is a system that can do everything including rendering (which is turning your project file with cuts, etids, fades, effects, etc into a finished MPEG2 for DVD architect), but you will pay money for it. my alienware does it all, but it cost $3200 a year ago. Check out this one.

it runs:

Core 2 duo T7600 @ 2.33GHz
XP Pro (extra $100 over home)
17" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 (FULL HD RESOLUTION!) Extra $200 from the 17" 1440 x 900
512MB Ram (get ram at crucial.com for 1/2 the price as alienware this system has extra slot if not 3 extra slots)
160GB RAID 0 - 2x80GB ATA 1.5Gb/s 7,200 RPM 8MB cache
8X Dual Layer DVD+/-RW (extra $50)
256MB NVidia® GeForce™ Go 7600
Intel Wireless 3945 a/b/g internal mini-card
gigabit network (must have gigabit for transfering 80GB of video) need gigabit switch and card on other system)
Respawn OS image DVD (MUST HAVE) extra $30 yes they charge for it, so does HP
DVI out for external monitor (don't know if graphics card can do additional display 1920x1080 but i suspect it can)
S-video for TV (vegas can use both external out as the entire preview device)

TOTAL 2,639

The best part of alienware systems is no extra crappy software preinstalled (like with HP, Dell, Gateway, etc). so they are clean out of the box and you don't have to spend ~3 hrs uninstalling the "ET-phone home" apps that the rest have.

NOTE: I don't work for alienware, i don't get commissions (wish i could). I just think their systems are worth it for high end video.

jason

sony also offers a 1900 x 1200 screen, no problems at all, other than the size. I don't carry it often.

sony
 

just checked the big Sony's and they clock in around same performance (minus RAID it is just two discs from what i read) same display, better price on RAM, and price is about same as alienware. BUT you get a HD Blue-Ray reader...... NOT burner, but reader.

odd... sony doesn't even package their vegas software with their premium video package, they sell Premiere.

jason

First of all I just want to say WOW I didn't know I could get all of this info in a forum, you guys are great is greatly appreciated.

Jason---that system that you have look incredible the only thing I'm concern is about the graphic card is the one that you have good enought for vegas.

I was also considering extended warraty, what do u guys think about those.

The only thing that sony is a little bit better is because of the HDMI output ont he Ar systems, but they don't have a 7,200 RPM 8MB cache which is a big concern when running high demand programs like vegas.

I was also planning on buying a 32 inch LCD samsung so the display on the computer is not a concern. Jason you said that I can output my display through DVI right and do all the editing on my 32 inch TV.

Another thing will vegas run windows media center, the reason that I want windows media center is because of the TV tuner. Should I wait for Vista since is right around the corner and will vegas run on vista home premium.

My only complaints with my Alienware laptop (MJ12m 7700) are the weight, which makes it a desktop replacement NOT a conveniently portable laptop; the size, which means it won't fit into most off the shelf laptop cases (and the one it comes with is poor); the heat that blasts out of it is pretty intense and again means it ain't going on your lap for very long; the battery life is not great (it's got a lot of system to power!) and pretty much ties you to the mains; and finally the noise from the fan makes it a challenge to use in a quiet recording environment (I use it with DV-Rack when shooting interviews but I have to have it WAY back from the audio source because it sounds like air conditioning!)

Sounds like I have a ton of complaints - in fact my only real complaint is the noise from the fans. The other issues kinda go with the territory of having a BEAST of a machine that allows me to edit multiple tracks, with colour correction, sometimes even a chromakey going on, all in real time at preview or better quality. I wouldn't change it . . .

Ian . . .

graphics for vegas
 

because vegas is all software based, it doesn't matter how beefy of a graphics card you have. it won't help render any faster, it won't preview any faster, etc. Vegas is ALL based on CPU and software. Now they may change that with the next version of vegas (8), but until then, the graphics card just needs to be able to give you lots of 2D desktop pixels.

With a DVI-D output you can (assuming you can get DVI to HDMI converter or assuming your TV has DVI input) use your big TV as a display. With HDMI output you can go straight to your display, but i don't know of any systems that have HDMI out yet (speaking only of computer systems). I would edit on BOTH the big 32" display and the system screen so that you have even more real estate. I love using 2 displays and won't go back to single display editing unless I am on the road or doing a client demo.

as far as the HD is concerned, I have a RAID 0 (stripe) of two 7200RPM HDs and they are IDLE when rendering. All the bottle neck is the CPU. I would not worry about putting 5400RPM drives in a RAID. It if were just a single 5400RPM drive then I might be a bit more concerned. a small upgrade and you have 7200RPM drive. the capacity will be lower on 7200RPM drives than on 5400rpm drives (relatively new in the notebook form factor) or they will be significantly more expensive (up to $100 added to the price depending on storage size).

in my life before being a video editor I build custom computers, so this is my back yard. :-)

hope all that helps.

noise
 

Oh yeah. that mj12-7700 is a noise bugger and heavy and hot. I mean... it has a P4 in it and two HDs... so I don't ever expect to put in on my lap. Especially with all the fans under it, i'm a little surprised that you try that. as far as the recording studio noise, i can completely agree. not the best for a studio environment (at least where it is in the same room).

jason

How about vista. Is right around the corner should I wait for it on not. If I buy a windows xp sp2 can add a tv tuner. I just would love to have a tv tuner.


Yes the sony AR systems have DHMI output.

Ha! No, I don't ever try that! I was kidding! Still, it's great for keeping a cup of coffee hot - just leave it six inches to the left of the laptop and it's good for a couple of hours . . .

Wich one should I get
 

Wich one is better for HD video editing.

Sony---------------------------

17" WUXGA TFT with XBRITE Technology and NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 GT
240GB (120GB x 2) SATA 5400rpm
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center 2005 with NTSC TV Tuner(will this work with vegas)
WIRELESS LAN 802.11 a/b/g w/ BT
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7600 / ICD 2.33 GHz
2 GB DDR-SDRAM (DDR2-533, 1 GBx2) Windows Vista Premium Ready

Price as configured: $3119.98

Alienware--------------------------

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7600 2.33GHz 4MB Cache 667MHz FSB
Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition with Service Pack 2
Alienware® m5790 17" WideXGA+ 1440 x 900 LCD - Saucer Silver
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz - 2 x 1024MB
200GB (100GB x 2) Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ NCQ & 8MB Cache
8X Dual Layer DVD+/-RW / 24X CD-RW Combo w/ Software
256MB ATI Mobility™ Radeon® X1800

Price----$2,809.00

Windows Media Center?
 

First off, I would NEVER use Windows XP Home on a system that had anything to do with income, or a network (despite it being capable at both). It is just too hard to work with in a multi computer environment. If this system will not need to share files securely (and not just by a share level, i'm talking about on a user level), then XP Home might be OK. As a tech support person (I just spent 3 hours this morning installing a Router and network for a business) i have to fight with XP Home to get it to do what I want it to do.

After some quick research, it looks like Alienware is providing a free upgrade to Vista (when it comes out) if you upgrade to WinXp Pro (+$100).That might be something to consider.

Here are a few questions to answer regarding the hardware. Do you expect to be able to hold an entire project of HD footage (with out needing an intermediate render like cineform) on this system? IF so, you need at least 120GB of drive space (doesn't have to be RAID). If you intend to use an external storage device for most of your HD-DV storage, then you might be just find putting the extra $120 Alienware charges for RAID configuration into an external HD. Seagate (and others) have very good external 1394/USB2 storage systems that have 300+GB of space for the same cost as a 160GB RAID in the system.

CPU, the price upgrade difference is AMAZING..... they want $400 to go from 1.6GHz core 2 duo to 2.1GHz.... that is not a lot of CPU gain for a lot of $$$. And the want another $300 to go from 2.1GHz to 2.3GHz.... That (in my opinion) is a waste of $300. That will buy you 500GB of 1394/USB2 connected storage

Regarding the memory, I would not get your memory from Alienware. They charge an arm and a leg for it. 2GB of RAM costs you $270 over the 1GB that comes by default. Keep in mind that WindowsXP will ALWAYS reserve 1/2 of your ram for itself and then Vegas gets what is left. So even a system like mine with 2.5GB of RAM, I still have 1GB of RAM that sits unused unless I have 2 instances of Vegas open and DVDA open and Cinescore. Then I might have 256MB free. Go over to crucial.com and get your RAM. It is made 20 minutes away from me :-). a single 1GB stick of RAM from crucial costs 170 or a 1GB kit (2x512) is 160. Depending on the motherboard of your system (look up or fire off the sales group an email) you will have 2 or 4 SO-DIMM slots. The stock configuration is 2x512 so another 2x512 would MAX you out at 2GB.

As far as the display goes, if this system will be used for HD editing, then it wouldn't make sense to get a display that can only display 1440 x 900. You need at least 1920x1080 just in order to see all of the HD footage (unless you plan to use an external HD LCD display). That might be a good way to save some money on the laptop. BUT if this system will be the only system capable of displaying the HD footage, then go for the 1920 x 1200. It runs an extra $150.

As far as the Sony goes, I don't know what the resolution of that system is (full 1900x1200? or just x900?). I am not sure what good the Media Center OS will do if the machine is supposed to be for editing HD, but it might be a handy combination system.

And don't forget that Dell has some good 17" displays on their high end mobile workstations. Prices will be lower than Alienware / Sony but you won't get a RAID (not too big a deal).

I think either one would be good. Here is what would push me one way or the other..... software annoyances. That is why I went Alienware. No anoying bundles of loads of useless trial software and other crap. Just a clean OS install with no extras. Download OpenOffice.org 2.0.0.1 (the latest one). It is free and can read any MS Office Doc except the 2007 / vista versions.

In the end, what matters is how much is financially responsible to push towards a single system. Neither of those prices included any extended warranty. I put an extra ~$300 into the 2 year warranty and have used the warranty (in the first year) twice. Once when my backlight LED driver board fizzled out and once when the DVD drive quit reading DVDs. So don't forget to add that into the cost of ownership. I added this system specifically on to my homeowners policy and that cost me $30 / yr but is well worth it.

Have fun drooling over the hardware, but remember it is just a tool to get the job done. Don't go too crazy. :-)

jason

Wow jason Great Help thanks A lot. I just got a few more question

1. You tell me to get WinXp Pro but don't I need xp sp2 to edit HD thats what the recommendations says.

2. You are telling me to purchase ram from another place. I'm a novice to hardware is it hard to put ram into a laptop, will this void the warranty.

3. Pleased talk to me in a novice level because I did'nt understood a thing u said in the first paragraph about "multi computer environment" Basically this computer will be used for extreme hd video editing like 60 minutes of HD video at a time and transfer back to DV since blue ray is too expensive right now.

4. If I record HD video with an HD camcorder and edit in hd with vegas into a DV an I able to transfer that back into DV in HD quality. (Was that clear)

5. You say that alienware charge too much for the 2.3Ghz core, but don't I need that to get the best performance in vegas, what is the lowest Ghz that I can get and still be able to run vegas fluently with out a glitch.

6. What do you mean by this "Do you expect to be able to hold an entire project of HD footage (with out needing an intermediate render like cineform) on this system?" (What is render.)

7. About the ram alienware tells me that is I get 1GB they will put 2 512 ram and the system only has 2 slots so all of them will be use. So if I want more like 2 GB I will have to buy two 1 GB pieces of ram remove the ones that allready come in the system and replace them right.

8. The reason I wanted a media center edition was because of the integrated tv tuner. Because if I buy xp pro I would have to buy an external tuner. Anyways this in not a big concern because my priority is HD video editing

9. This is what the computer be in use for---- most of the time for surfing the net,e-mail,multitasking like being on the web and listening to music at the same time, and of course for the purpose that I'm buying the system in the first place to edit HD videos

10. I know alienware has an option to buy the system overclocked to 2.6Gh is this a good idea. What are the negative effects that overclocking have.

Finally I thing right now I'm going towards the alienware because of the clean OS. Can anybody configure a system for me that will do what I want. Does not necessary have to be an alienware please confired one that u feel that will work the best for me.

Man I did'nt know this was going to be so complicated.

WinXP Pro has SP2 on it as well. SP2 is just a service pack that is applied to both WinXP Home and WinXP Pro. If this system will not be used networked with other computers, then WinXP Home would probably be just fine. That is more of a personal preference on my part.

RAM replacement / upgrade is possibly the easiest upgrade, but if the system only has 2 slots, and if you haven't done it before, then i'd get it straight from the company. It will cost about ~$100 to go that route, but will save you the trouble.

the performance difference between 2.1GHz and 2.6 is pretty small. I doubt you would notice the speed difference. Render times over 5 hours might be noticable but only different by a few minutes.

Good idea. It should work well for that.

I'm out of time today (have to get to working on a photo montage for wedding next weekend). Don't buy it just yet (if you can wait). I'll get back with you on Monday.

jason

Yes I can wait till monday.

Dude you have been a great help Thank you So much. I would of done so many mistakes if it werent for you.

Here is some more info: most likely I'll be buying an external hard drive so I don't need a huge one inside the computer as long as it runs on 7200 rpms. Right now alienware comes with a 256MB NVidia® GeForce™ Go 7600 graphics card is it a smart move to upgrade to 256MB ATI Mobility™ Radeon® X1800 for 150 more. I need vegas doesnt depend on graphic cards right now, but for future prove.

You have said this before "gigabit network (must have gigabit for transfering 80GB of video) need gigabit switch and card on other system)" What is that? HOw do I get it?

am I correct on this I was checking the alienware website and is I buy the three year insurance the OS dvd is included is that correct.

I was doing some major research online and I can across this.

Format ---- Data rate (Mbps) ---- GB per hour of video Uncompressed 10-bit formats

1280 x 720/24p 4:2:0 -- 332 -- 146
1280 x 720/60p 4:2:0 -- 818 --- 364

Thats a lot most of the time I will be editing about 1 or 2 hours of hd video at max. Even though I will be buying a 750GB external hard drive (I got it cheap at compusa for 315.00) can I edit the video if it's store on the external hard drive and vegas is install on the internal hard drive if not how many GB of storage do I need as internal hard drive to edit about an hour to 2 hours of hd video.

I don't know that vegas has any plans to ever switch from their software only model. An entirely SW driven program makes it easier to program, instead of relying on hardware functionality (which means the driver version might mess up the software).

I don't think the extra $150 is all that important. Go hit up TomsHardware or some of the other sites if you want to see functionality comparison's between the two graphics chip sets.

This only matters if you will be using several different computers to render your final output. Since you will only have one system, don't worry about this at all.

I haven't looked at their site for that info, but in any case the $20 for the respawn CD is worth its weight in GOLD as far as saving frustrations. A MUST have in my book.

The external HD will be a great asset for your work and since you won't be holding more than an hr or so of raw footage an internal HD of about 100GB should be plenty.

jason

little more research
 

>>I basically want a laptop just cause of the space saver.

I just noticed this comment you made a while ago in this thread. If you don't expect to need to move your system to different locations, then you will definantly be able to get more performance for less money out of a desktop.

I have to move me system to client locations for demos, etc so I needed a mobile system. But if you will be editing from a fixed location (like most people) then consider simplifying your system (and don't get an alienware desktop, they are horribly overpriced)

If you have your heart set on a mobile system, then go for it. I did and enjoyed it. But I could have gotten better performance for abut $1000 less if I went with a desktop tower solution. I probably would have built my own system using Dual Core 2 Duos (yes that means 4 processor cores) 4GB of RAM and a Matrox graphics card so I could do quad monitors.

But like i mentioned before, i'm not hesitant to buy a computer piece by piece and you mentioned that you haven't done that. That being the case, something like this might be a good option. Dual Core Xeon (4MB cache instead of the Core 2 Duo which has 2MB cache).

Customize it to the specs you like and see if the trade off in size vs a laptop is what you would like.

jason

worksatation
 

For example, I just went to HP.com and configured an xw6400. These are NICE systems. An of HP workstations are going to last a long time. I worked at HP for 4 years and we were still using the first generation Dual PII systems with Win2K because they are still powerful and well built.

Just another piece of food for thought.

jason

CPU comparison
 

Here is a good processor comparison chart from Toms Hardware.

The executive summary:
the shorter the time needed to turn raw footage into encoded HDV, the better. Core 2 Extreme wins by a nose, but Core 2 duo is next followed closely by athlon FX-62 (10 seconds behind). but the Quad core intel (Core 2 QX6700) is a full minute faster than anything else. But you will need about $500 to buy just the CPU.

in almost all the graphics encoding, converting, rendering, etc benchmarks, the quad core is first or second (Divx, Xvid, MPEG, Mp3, WMV, etc etc).

Essentially, buy a core 2 duo for best performance with out going crazy. If you want to go crazy, get the new quad core for the absolute fastest video rendering.

jason

How about using a laptop as a field monitor? What attributes should be considered? I have a 720p camera.

video in
 

any system with a large enough screen and 1394 input could be used BUT.... you have to worry about color calibration. I wouldn't try it if that was the ONLY reason to get the laptop. Also, you have to get a HUGE system (>$2K) to get a monitor that can even display all those pixels for a HD signal (1920x1080). 720p is less and most mobile systems can view it.... but again, color calibration would be problematic.

field monitors are sturdy and calibrated for NTSC colors so that you get the best representation possible. Now I know they are expensive, so if you need an alternative that can view DV footage via 1394 and can ALSO be an editing system, then that is a good use of money (in my opinion).

Having said that, I have never actually used Vegas as a monitor out in the field. I edit in the field after capturing. so you use may vary.

jason

I used edius once as a field monitor. I didn't really know what the hell i was doing but it seemed doable. Also, I was told 1280x720 is all the rez you need in a lap top to edit 720p. Why should the lcd have a higher spec than the format?


Thanks for all your help. We should rename this thread in your honor to:
JASON! JASON! JASON!

hehehe
 

You are correct, I forgot that you mentioned 720p HD instead of 1080i/p HD.

I figure that I hadn't contributed to a discussion i na while, other than as snide remarks at photographers (hehehe) so when I have some experience with something, i should speak up.

jason

Alienware

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7400 2.16GHz 4MB Cache 667MHz FSB
Genuine Windows® XP Professional - Free Upgrade to Windows Vista Business!
Alienware® m5790 17" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD - Saucer Silver
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz - 2 x 1024MB
200GB (100GB x 2) Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ NCQ & 8MB Cache
8X Dual Layer DVD+/-RW / 24X CD-RW Combo w/ Software
256MB NVidia® GeForce™ Go 7600
Bluetooth™ USB Adapter
3-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service / AlienAutopsy / Respawn

Order Total-------$3,254.44

Alienware

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7600 2.33GHz 4MB Cache 667MHz FSB
Genuine Windows® XP Professional - Free Upgrade to Windows Vista Business!
Alienware® m5790 17" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD - Saucer Silver
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz - 2 x 1024MB
200GB (100GB x 2) Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ NCQ & 8MB Cache
8X Dual Layer DVD+/-RW / 24X CD-RW Combo w/ Software
256MB ATI Mobility™ Radeon® X1800
Bluetooth™ USB Adapter
3-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service / AlienAutopsy / Respawn

Order Total---$3,704.44

I'm thinking of going witht he second choice because I'm also going to be editing 1080i video. That should be good enought right. What do u think.

So after 3 pages of stuff about laptops I just had to mention this to you. Sager. http://www.sagernotebook.com/

I used one for a couple of years and it was truly amazing for Vegas. You can order it with 2 7200 rpm 200gb hard drives in raid configuration. You can get a 20 in screen. It's heavy as a horse, but with all this power, it still costs $ 3369. depending on the configuration. The SAGER is a small company that supplies notebook computers for lots of folks. They really care about you. and the prices are excellent. THEY ARE HEAVY. But you can use them like crazy. Vegas generally will run on just about anything, so I never think that's a concern. But just wanted to let you know about this.

Milt Lee

Sager
 

That was their name... thanks for the note. i looked at them when i was in the market and they were pretty much spec for spec with alienware and are considered every bit their equal.

it comes down to a few specifics and things like their web site is horrible! Ok, not terrible, but it is not easy to just find a list of their products. It is easy enough to find their best one, because it is on the front page. but anything else is harder to find.

So once you ca get through their lack of site navigation, the customizations are all their. Still can't find the way to get a system with a RAID.....

jason