Laptop for video editing

[paujoh]

Please comment on this spec, I want the best I can get for under £2000.
Thanks
Pauline

Product Category Product Description
Chassis & Display Vortex Series: 17.3" Glossy Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3720QM (2.60GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM) 16GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 675M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 240GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk 750GB SEAGATE MOMENTUS XT HYBRID, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200
rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive SONY BD-5750H 6x BLURAY WRITER & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE (£79)
Memory Card Reader Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card Intel 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio + SPDIF/MIC/Headphone Jack
Network Facilities GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® ADVANCED-N 6235 (300Mbps) +
BLUETOOTH
USB Options 3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Firewire & Video Editing 1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT
Battery Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor 1 x UK Power Lead & 220W AC Adaptor
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software Microsoft® Office Home & Business 2010 (Incl Disc & 1 License for 2 devices)
(£185)
Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Carry Case Belkin Black/Red 17.3" Neoprene Notebook Sleeve (£15)
Keyboard & Mouse INTEGRATED BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Mouse INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Surge Protection 6 Socket Compact 2M UFO Surge Protector (£9)
Warranty 3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year
Labour)
Insurance 1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Price Ex VAT £1665.00
Price £1998.00
Quantity 1
Total Order Price EX VAT £1665.00
Total VAT Amount £333

 

[Craigsup]

I'd upgrade the Graphics card to a 7970M and personally i'd chose a Matte screen rather than glossy, however that is personal preference.
Upgrade the Warranty for £5 as it includes 1 year collect and return.
The rest seems suitable.

 

[paujoh]

I'd upgrade the Graphics card to a 7970M and personally i'd chose a Matte screen rather than glossy, however that is personal preference.
Upgrade the Warranty for £5 as it includes 1 year collect and return.
The rest seems suitable.

Thanks, can you explain in simple terms what upgrading the graphics card will do? It adds £100 to price.

 

[Craigsup]

It will improve the graphical capabilities of your laptop; in terms of games, it will give you higher FPS and a much smoother game play. For video editing I'm not too sure what improvements you'll find. However if you wait for a reply from another user with greater knowledge than me I'm sure they'll confirm why the 7970m will be a good investment.

 

[Raptor]

 

[paujoh]

It will improve the graphical capabilities of your laptop; in terms of games, it will give you higher FPS and a much smoother game play. For video editing I'm not too sure what improvements you'll find. However if you wait for a reply from another user with greater knowledge than me I'm sure they'll confirm why the 7970m will be a good investment.

Thanks, I don't know enough to know whether to get a faster processor, increase the RAM or up the graphics.
I don't do games but I do intensive editing and PhotoShop. So I will take your word for it.

 

[Dolleeh]

If you're not playing games, the jump to the 7970m may not be worth it...
Yes, the performance increase for gaming is massive, but I'm not sure you'll get the same kind of improvement for video editing.

 

[Craigsup]

I'd possibly increase the CPU to the 3820QM if you have the budget. Other then that i'd say increase the warranty to the £5 one as you get a whole year of collect + return; rather than 1 month. Also get the Arctic MX-4 Thermal Paste for £9.

 

[paujoh]

I'd possibly increase the CPU to the 3820QM if you have the budget. Other then that i'd say increase the warranty to the £5 one as you get a whole year of collect + return; rather than 1 month. Also get the Arctic MX-4 Thermal Paste for £9.

Do you mean increase the CPU instead of the graphics or as well as?

I will certainly increase the warranty and the thermal paste, thanks

 

[Craigsup]

If your budget can stretch far enough to upgrade both, I'd say yes. However as Dolleeh said about the GPU I'm unsure what benefits you'll get for Video Editing, so wait for input from others about that.

 

[vanthus]

If the software you use for video editing supports Cuda then you would be better selecting an Nvidia card,if your not interested in gaming then any recent lowish-mid end Nvidia card should be fine.Video editing is more CPU/RAM intensive.
Your spec looks pretty good to me,personally I would consider changing the second hard drive to a 1TB WD Scorpio Blue and unless you really need any of the extra features in Windows Pro you could drop to home premium.
Also as Craigsup mentioned,upgrade the warranty & thermal paste.

 

[paujoh]

If the software you use for video editing supports Cuda then you would be better selecting an Nvidia card,if your not interested in gaming then any recent lowish-mid end Nvidia card should be fine.Video editing is more CPU/RAM intensive.
Your spec looks pretty good to me,personally I would consider changing the second hard drive to a 1TB WD Scorpio Blue and unless you really need any of the extra features in Windows Pro you could drop to home premium.
Also as Craigsup mentioned,upgrade the warranty & thermal paste.

Thanks for your help.
I use Edius6 for editing but I was using Adobe Premiere but my current laptop cannot cope with it.

I thought that Windows professional would be better for 64 bit processing?

I was planning to also buy a 2tb external drive as I generate large files, but will look at the Scorpio Blue.
If I go back to the nvidia card that will keep me in budget.

 

[Craigsup]

I don't think there is any difference between Home + Professional which would justify the price increase for you.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows7/products/compare

 

[vanthus]

With Windows professional 64 Bit you would be able to add more RAM if ever required.
The upper RAM limit for Home Premium 64 Bit is 16GB.
Other than that I would agree with Craigsup.

 

[Raptor]

Chassis & Display
Vortex Series: 17.3" Glossy Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3820QM (2.70GHz) 8MB

Memory (RAM)
16GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (4 x 4GB)

Graphics Card
AMD® Radeon® HD 7970M - 2GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11

Memory - Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW) (if you can you can upgrade it to 240, kingston ones are slightly cheaper SSDs but still good ones. with 240 in place the price rises to £1,772.00)

2nd Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)

DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)

Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)

Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)

Sound Card
Intel 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio + SPDIF/MIC/Headphone Jack

Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® ADVANCED-N 6235 (300Mbps) + BLUETOOTH

USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD



£1,681.00

 

[Dolleeh]

Again, the graphics card selected by Raptor is unnecessary, go for an Nvidia one and vanthus suggested.

 

[paujoh]

Thanks everyone for their help and advice. I think I have fairly well made up my mind now.

It's only £30 more for Win7 professional so I am going for that, the extra warranty and thermal paste.
I've gone for the faster processor with the top Nvidia card.
Now all I need to do is press the order button......................