Laptop recommendations

[stantheman1976]

I've had a Toshiba laptop for several years that recently died so I'm in the market for something new. I'd like to try a different brand this time so I could use some recommendations.

I do almost exclusively SD video projects with an occasional HDV project using a couple Canon HV40 cams. I also do some image editing and audio recording and editing. I don't need a monster machine but I do want something that is comparable to a desktop system. My budget is $1,000USD tops.

I'd like to get an i5 with a dedicated graphics card and at least 4 GB of RAM. I don't really care about 32 bit vs 64 bit. Most new systems seem to come with Win 7 64 bit which is fine. Am I right that most of the i5 processors on consumer laptops are dual core with 4 threads? How exactly does this work and compare to an actual quad core processor?

I'm not super picky about other features like webcams, bluetooth, and such. Many new systems seem to have them and that's fine. The one thing I MUST have is a firewire port for capturing video. Without that the system is useless to me.

[aedipuss]

firewire is disappearing from laptops. mostly they seem to have been replaced with an hdmi port. even apple has deleted them from the macbook, and macbook air. dell seem to have done away with them altogether. a few sonys still have them which might be a good choice.

[stantheman1976]

Why would manufacturers get rid of it completely? I know Dell had them until last year at least. My wife bought a new XPS for work last summer and it has one but it was a higher end model.

Is there an inexpensive adapter to bring firewire in through one of the other ports then? 95% of the reason I'm looking for a new system is for my video projects. If it wasn't for that it really wouldn't matter what I have.

[edDV]

The Dell Studio series laptops are ideal for video field editing. They have the IEEE-1394 port and eSATA for external disk capture, also a choice of CPU i3/i5/i7. Also a choice of display chipset.

The IEEE-1394 port is a must if you want to live stream DV or HDV from the field.

There is no adapter for IEEE-1394 to other port. The only alternative is to go to SD analog capture.

[MJA]

check this deal out.I'm not sure if you like the size though.

http://www.techbargains.com/news_displayItem.cfm/241379

Ports
2 USB 2.0
HDMI
eSATA combo, PowerShare
Headphone output (2)
Microphone input
DisplayPort
LAN (RJ-45)
IEEE 1394a (FireWire)
Express card, SIM, mini-card slots

[jman98]

Why would manufacturers get rid of it completely?

Cost? Lack of demand? The fact that firewire is useful to people here does not mean that most consumers use it or care about it.

Anyway, if you weren't married to the idea of a laptop you'd find that it's still easy to find firewire support on towers. Major motherboard manufacturers like ASUS still include it on their offerings.

[stantheman1976]

I'm stop not clear about the i3/5/7 processors. Is a dual core i5 faster than a regular dual core? What do the 4 threads mean?

[stantheman1976]

Why would manufacturers get rid of it completely?

Cost? Lack of demand? The fact that firewire is useful to people here does not mean that most consumers use it or care about it.

Anyway, if you weren't married to the idea of a laptop you'd find that it's still easy to find firewire support on towers. Major motherboard manufacturers like ASUS still include it on their offerings.

I thought about going the desktop route but a laptop is much more convenient and versatile for other projects I might do. I record live music occasionally and it can function as another recorder. I also do mobile dj work and it can be a secondary if my old dj only IBM dies.

[edDV]

For editing HDV in say Vegas Pro, the i5 is good enough but if you expect to use AVCHD, you'll wish you had the i7.

[stantheman1976]

check this deal out.I'm not sure if you like the size though.

http://www.techbargains.com/news_displayItem.cfm/241379

Ports
2 USB 2.0
HDMI
eSATA combo, PowerShare
Headphone output (2)
Microphone input
DisplayPort
LAN (RJ-45)
IEEE 1394a (FireWire)
Express card, SIM, mini-card slots

Too bad that sold out. I would have grabbed one

[edDV]

me too

[DarrellS]

My friend bought a laptop around Thanksgiving and the Toshiba P500 was the only thing he could find with the options that he wanted for right around $1000.

I5, backlit keyboard, NVidia video card. He added memory and another HDD to it after he purchased it. I was at his house yesterday getting VideoRedo installed and registered (he bought it two weeks ago) and he converted a Queensryche DVD to H264 in about an hour. I was really worried that it was going to burn up but it didn't. It was running at about 204 degrees.

[redwudz]

My guesses why FireWire may be harder to find in laptops:

Many newer camcorders are using USB for data transfer from a hard drive or SD card instead of FireWire and DV tapes.

USB 3 may become more common and have higher speeds.

eSATA is also becoming more common for external drives for laptops.

FireWire (400) is slow compared to the some of the other formats for camcorder transfers.

They removed the PCMCIA slot from newer laptops, so adding a FW card is harder.


I still have some FW cards and devices, but don't use them much any more.

[stantheman1976]

For editing HDV in say Vegas Pro, the i5 is good enough but if you expect to use AVCHD, you'll wish you had the i7.

I'll still be with SD and HDV for a long time to come so that's not a concern. When I can afford to go to AVCHD I'll get a new machine also.

[edDV]

My guesses why FireWire may be harder to find in laptops:

Many newer camcorders are using USB for data transfer from a hard drive or SD card instead of FireWire and DV tapes.

USB 3 may become more common and have higher speeds.

eSATA is also becoming more common for external drives for laptops.

FireWire (400) is slow compared to the some of the other formats for camcorder transfers.

They removed the PCMCIA slot from newer laptops, so adding a FW card is harder.


I still have some FW cards and devices, but don't use them much any more.

Yes but backwards compatibility is important for many of us. I still have 20 yr old camcorders in fine working order and several IEEE-1394 devices. There is no USB2 equivalent for encoded live streaming from a camcorder unless you spend over $6000.

Apple expects their customer to junk everything over four years old including their camcorders.

[aedipuss]

can't find the dell studio model on their site? did it bite the dust?

[edDV]

http://www.dell.com/us/p/studio-1558/pd

They have some in the outlet store. Not clear what the replacement is. Must be the XPS.

[aedipuss]

yeah xps probably but no firewire. none in the other mainstream laptops - inspiron and alienware either.

[edDV]

Lots of Studio Laptops on Ebay. Some new or factory refurbs.

[budwzr]

What is "Firewire"? I've heard of it, but never used it.

As far as new laptop goes, don't give up on Toshiba. My Qosmio i7 runs Vegas 10 Pro editing 720p AVC and barely gets warm. The 18.4" screen feels like a desktop.

Bwaaahahahaha

P.S. And the styling is a *uss magnet.

[edDV]

What is "Firewire"? I've heard of it, but never used it.

As far as new laptop goes, don't give up on Toshiba. My Qosmio i7 runs Vegas 10 Pro editing 720p AVC and barely gets warm. The 18.4" screen feels like a desktop.

Bwaaahahahaha

P.S. And the styling is a *uss magnet.

But it can't capture DV format.
http://www.adamwilt.com/DV.html

[stantheman1976]

http://www.amazon.com/Acer-AS7741G-6426-17-3-Inch-Laptop-Black/dp/B004G5ZXH0

Wondering what anyone thinks about Acer laptops. This model only has 2 reviews on Amazon. One is 5 star and one is 3. The main complaints of the 3 star is a keyboard that seems flimsy and trackpad that he says doesn't work well. I will probably never use an external mouse so that might worry me a bit.

B&H has that model on sale for $705. I has everything I wanted except firewire. With that price I can also pick up a new audio recorder and some accessories and stay right on budget.

[MJA]

17.3-inch is huge

[stantheman1976]

Which isn't a bad thing, especially for video editing. I'm just wondering if the guy who bad mouthed the track pad just did so because he was comparing it to his old Dell or if it's really difficult to use.

[MJA]

compare it to this one

Samsung RF510 Intel Core i7-720QM Quad-Core

http://www.techbargains.com/news_displayItem.cfm/242913

u may not like the screen size

[stantheman1976]

I'm not dead set on 17". I've been using a 15" Toshiba for 3 1/2 years so I'm used to that size.

How reliable is Techbargains though? I've never ordered from there and am iffy about ordering from somewhere new.

I can get that Acer from B&H along with a new Tascam DR-2D recorder, power adapter, memory card, and Pearstone shoe adapter all delivered via 2 day UPS for just over $1,000. I know B&H is trustworthy and right in budget. I know that Samsung has an i7 but I've been working on my wife's i5 (which I may have mistakenly listed as i7 earlier in the thread) and it seems to suit my purposes well.

I still want someone to explain those processors. The i5 has 2 cores @ 2.6GHz and 4 threads. The i7 has 4 cores @ 1.6GHz and 8 threads. So why is a quad core at 1GHz less than the double core supposed to be better? And how does the threading work? Does it take the 2 cores of the i5 and split it up?

[MJA]

techbargains.com is just a deals site not a store.Microsoft store is the seller

http://store.microsoft.com/microsoft/Samsung-RF510/product/FC752AEE

[edDV]

techbargains.com is just a deals site not a store.Microsoft store is the seller

http://store.microsoft.com/microsoft/Samsung-RF510/product/FC752AEE

I don't see a Firewire port in the spec.

[edDV]

I still want someone to explain those processors. The i5 has 2 cores @ 2.6GHz and 4 threads. The i7 has 4 cores @ 1.6GHz and 8 threads. So why is a quad core at 1GHz less than the double core supposed to be better? And how does the threading work? Does it take the 2 cores of the i5 and split it up?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core_i7
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core_i5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_future_Intel_microprocessors

So why is a quad core at 1GHz less than the double core supposed to be better?

When threads are combined the i7 wins on overall computation power. The lower GHz + more threads is associated with power efficiency for laptop vs. desktop use.

[MJA]

techbargains.com is just a deals site not a store.Microsoft store is the seller

http://store.microsoft.com/microsoft/Samsung-RF510/product/FC752AEE

I don't see a Firewire port in the spec.

I know. I can't find any with firewire