Laptop for video editing/gaming

thedog · Post by **thedog** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 3:28 am

Well my dad offered $1600 over 4 yrs (high school) for a laptop. I did a little bit of resaerch and I've got my mind set on the HP Pavilion zd8000.

Intel(R) Pentium(R)4 processor 540 w/HT Technology (I believe 3.2 ghtz)
17.0" WSXGA+ BrightView Wide Viewing (1680x1050)
1.0GB DDR2 SDRAM, 400MHz (2x512MB)
60 GB 7200 RPM Hard Drive
256MB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) X600
DVD+/-RW/R & CD-RW Combo w/Double Layer Support

Total with extra battery is $2,098
My questions are
1) Can it handle video editing? I'm thinking its almost overkill but you never know.... 3.2 might not be top of the line but its no scouch. should last me.

2) Gaming..... I will eventually try out Half Life 2, Doom 3, etc and I want to know if this could handle it. I dont need highest settings, but it would be nice if it could look good. x600 PCI Express is ok, pretty good for a laptop.

3) How long can this last? I.e. college is still 3-4+ yrs away and I don't want to bust out more money for a new laptop. 3.2 + x600 might last me through high school, but I'm thinking its also more than enough for college. By then I'm thinking P5 but for word processing even under 2 ghtz is more than enough so it should last, no?

4) Battery life is horrible which is why I'm getting (hopefully) another one. But even combined its still under 5 hrs, and probably closer to 3. Never having had a laptop, is this enough? I'm probably mainly going to use this as desktop replacement, but when I do take it out, will the battery life hamper me that much? In college I'm assuming I'll take laptop to the library and study. There are probably no power outlets, and I'm thinking 3-4 hrs (max) is still a bit lacking.

Please just tell me what you think of this. I'm currently using 1.4 gthz, 256 geforce 4 mx400 which is enough for word processing but I find it limited for video editing and my parents are planning to take up computing so we need a new computer. Should I go for this laptop? $1600 + ~$400 from my pockets should get me this computer. But then there goes my gmini 400.....

Straying from the topic, I also need a new hard drive. Anyone know any cheap places? I'm dirt poor so has to be cost effective (at least $1 for 2 gigs). It would be better to get an internal hard drive and put it in an enclosure no?

bum · Post by **bum** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 6:30 am

1- 3ghz is fine. I edit on an athlong 2600xp and never had any speed issues. Your only problem is the hard disk. 60GB is ok but if your going to be installing games, puting loads of music and other stuff on their, you might need to edit with high quality divx-xvid files to save on space. Editing with divx aint as bad as people say it is, long as you de-interlace and clean up the source footage.

2- Thoughs games should run fine with graphics at medium seting (mabey a bit higher) and resolution at 1024x768. Your system should be secure for gaming for the next two years. One issue you might have is with the lcd screen. Any refresh time less than 24ms is going to make things blury and may produce ghosting artefacts in fast paced games and movies. Idealy the screen should have a responce time of at least 16ms. Most games also dont support widescreen so their'l be black borders around the screen. Iether that or it'l strech and look wierd. But the former is more likely.

3- A laptop running a p2 with 32MB of ram is fine for word processing. Dont wory about it, long as you take care of he laptop, it'l last.

4- Power consumption depends on what your doing with the comp. If your just running office apps then the battery will last alot longer than if your gaming.

Most laptops use 2.5inch drives, which are alot more expensive than the more common 5.25inch and 3.5inch drives. Plus you may have space for only one drive and have to remove the 60GB. It'l probably be cheaper to get an external usb2.0/firewire drive.

This laptop is good. But look around a bit more, and if your going to do alot of gaming on it (which it seels like you are) try to find one with a screen which has a standard 4:3 aspect ratio. And shop around, you might just save yourself a bit of cash. I've heard www.newegg.com is a good online store if your in the usa.

RichLather · Post by **RichLather** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 7:15 am

Start looking at external hard drives if you plan on doing a lot of ripping into large formats like uncompressed AVIs. This will especially be helpful if you eventually carry work between the laptop and a desktop computer.

It's possible nowadays to buy an internal hard drive and an external closure with a FireWire port instead of a purpose-built external drive. It's usually cheaper too.

From what I've heard, the best laptops are made by Sager. Take a look at these--they fit nicely within the $2000 range you set with the HP example.

RichLather · Post by **RichLather** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 7:17 am

Oh, and even better: a whole page of web specials.

aznfs · Post by **aznfs** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 1:33 pm

i would really suggest getting an external hd; or just get an enclosure and buy an internal, it costs less

my specs are about the same as yours except i run 2.4 ghz; u can video edit and game on the thing

and about the battery issue, p4s take up massive amounts of energy, but if all yer goin to do is browse the internet and word process @ the library then it should last up to around 3 hours. But if u were to video edit/play games u should plug it in. u dun want the laptop to shut down as you're rendering a project

TaranT · Post by **TaranT** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 2:41 am

This is probably less than what you're looking for, but I'll mention it anyway: Dell laptop coupon, good 'til 01/26 only. People tend to look down on Dells, but practically speaking, the company I work for has hundreds of them. And the suppliers we deal with have them, too. The machines get the crap beat out of them and they keep on ticking.

BTW, that Pavilion you listed is going to be one heavy piece 'o plastic. Especially after lugging it around campus all day.

thedog · Post by **thedog** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 2:45 am

First of all thank you to everyone that responded in some way. Don't have so much time to stay and write something long so I'll just ask some questions. First is a Pentium M something I should consider? It would increase battery life but if I ever do video editing, performance would suffer right? At ~2 ghtz, it seems to slow but is it more like an Athlon, with slower clock speed but just as good performance? But then for videos I think P4 would be best. This ties in with my next question. How good are Athlons? I know the higher end (FX-55) can now outperform Intel in tasks like video editing, but for my price range, Intel is still better? And like some people mentioned, it is a pretty heavy beast. Should I go for something a bit more portable?

trythil · Post by **trythil** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 2:56 am

thedog wrote:First of all thank you to everyone that responded in some way. Don't have so much time to stay and write something long so I'll just ask some questions. First is a Pentium M something I should consider?

YES.

I'm going to write this real big so it can't be missed:

THE PENTIUM M KICKS THE FUCK OUT OF THE PENTIUM 4

If you don't believe me, go check out benchmarks. Heck, do a comparative architecture study if you want.

At ~2 ghtz, it seems to slow but is it more like an Athlon, with slower clock speed but just as good performance?

"just as good" should be better.

This brings us to 24pt size point #2:

HERTZ ISN'T PERFORMANCE

For some reason the whole instructions-per-clock aspect of performance gets lost on the general populace.

I know the higher end (FX-55) can now outperform Intel in tasks like video editing, but for my price range, Intel is still better?
And like some people mentioned, it is a pretty heavy beast. Should I go for something a bit more portable?

First off, the FX-55 won't work in a laptop just yet.

I haven't done tests of Athlon 64 laptops, but I encourage you to look around. Compare Athlon64 deals with Pentium-M laptops and see how things stack up.

The P4 Mobile is more or less total shit, and you will be wanting more if you buy into it now.

Something else to take into consideration:

The stuff you're looking to do is counter to what a laptop excels at. Laptops are not performance machines. They are inferior to contemporary desktops in just about every significant and imaginable way -- I/O performance, memory performance, CPU performance, audio quality, hard drive durability, ...

The only real advantages that you'll get with a laptop are portability and the ability to run on a battery.

aznfs · Post by **aznfs** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 3:25 am

yes;; if battery life and generally use of the portability of the laptop is what u have more in mind then go for the pentium M is more worth it

useless u want it as a second desktop, which i tend to use mine as, get the mobile processor

thedog · Post by **thedog** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 4:21 am

The thing is, in tasks like video editing, gaming, multi-tasking, can the P M keep up with the P4? Sure I know that for portability and power consumption Pentium M kicks P4's butt but if I am most likely going to keep it plugged in to an outlet all the time, wouldn't it make more sense to go with the P4?

Well I'll do some more research between Pentium M and P4 and how they compare but for now I think I will call it a day.