Video/Photo Editing Laptop

[ronbo613]

I'm entering the market for a laptop that will be able to edit 1080 video and photos using Adobe Premiere and Photoshop CS6. I've got a pretty good idea what is required and beginning to get an idea of what's available, but I'm always interested in other opinions and insight, especially if you have first hand experience. The computer needs to be portable, but not necessarily super light. It will be used "in the field", and I mean a real field.

Quad core i7 and 16G RAM are pretty much required. I figure I can upgrade hard drives and SSDs as needed if I can't get a good deal with a stock configuration. A discreet GPU appears to be standard equipment for laptops in the price range I'm looking at so I'll take the best one I can get so I can do a little gaming. IPS display would be nice. I have external hard drives for my current laptop(an outdated Sony VAIO), but I would take all the onboard storage I can get. An m2 SSD would certainly be acceptable.

Asus, Acer, Lenovo and MSI all have "gaming" computers that would appear to do the job. This Dell Inspiron 15 7000 looks pretty good. The cheap bastard in me would even consider an old workhorse like this Dell Precision M4700. A step up to workstation type laptops that are in the $1500 and up range would be overkill. I'm just starting the process so any helpful information or advice would be appreciated.

 

[Elixer]

Just some ramblings...

Storage is going to be a huge issue. Even if you have a M.2 SSD in the laptop, the spinners are going to be very slow.
If you find laptops that have dual M.2 slots, then heat becomes a bigger issue.
That means you want something external that is going to be fast. USB 3.1 SSDs would be nice, but, they are still really expensive compared to a HD for large amounts of storage.
I assume this is pro work, so you are also going to need some kind of active backups, and if you are backing up to a wireless device, you are going to want something that isn't stuck with g or n, it would take ages for that to get done.

You do want the max amount of memory you can get, and also a fast processor with at least 4 cores / 8 threads IMO.

You mentioned video & photo editing as well, and lots of laptops have crap screens for that kind of work, if colors are important to you.
Kinda hard to recommend anything since this is a very picky field, and what looks good to someone, you might hate it.

Not sure how accurate a trackpad is on some laptops, you might consider getting a drawing tablet, and or a mouse that you can take with you.

Good luck.

 

[ronbo613]

Just some ramblings...

Storage is going to be a huge issue. Even if you have a M.2 SSD in the laptop, the spinners are going to be very slow.
If you find laptops that have dual M.2 slots, then heat becomes a bigger issue.
That means you want something external that is going to be fast. USB 3.1 SSDs would be nice, but, they are still really expensive compared to a HD for large amounts of storage.
I assume this is pro work, so you are also going to need some kind of active backups, and if you are backing up to a wireless device, you are going to want something that isn't stuck with g or n, it would take ages for that to get done.

You do want the max amount of memory you can get, and also a fast processor with at least 4 cores / 8 threads IMO.

You mentioned video & photo editing as well, and lots of laptops have crap screens for that kind of work, if colors are important to you.
Kinda hard to recommend anything since this is a very picky field, and what looks good to someone, you might hate it.

Not sure how accurate a trackpad is on some laptops, you might consider getting a drawing tablet, and or a mouse that you can take with you.

Good luck.

Storage is always an issue with video editing, I'm kind of used to it. Speed is something I already know I'm likely not going to have with any laptop and external storage, I can work around that by working on projects in segments, then backing them up to external drives while I'm busy doing other things like sleeping or drinking beer. As long as I'm working with 1080 video, I think it won't be too much of a problem. If I have to go to 4K, it will be a lot tougher. The computer will be used mainly outside or in the back of a van, downloading and reviewing content, if there is power, then actual editing can be done. If not, will probably spend days at the nearest town library with an electric socket. WiFi would be great, but believe it or not, there are still parts of the United States without WiFi or cell coverage.

I've got a wireless mouse, a tablet would be a good idea. You're right about the mish-mosh of available computers with the specs and price I'm looking for. At least shopping around doesn't cost me anything.

 

[ronbo613]

I bought a Eluktronics N850HK1. It's basically a Clevo N850HK1. Most of the other vendors selling this computer use an LP156WF6-SPK3; a 45% NTSC, 250 cd/m² brightness display panel. The Eluktronics N850HK1 uses the LP156WF6-SP1, a 72% NTSC, 300 cd/m² brightness panel, that was a huge factor. The N850HK1 comes with Crucial memory and a 256G Samsung PM961 Polaris M.2-2280 PCI-e 3.0 x 4 NVMe Single-Sided Solid State Drive along with a 2TB hard drive. I never heard of Eluktronics until a couple days ago but they were quick to respond to any of the questions I had. I checked around and they seem to have a pretty good reputation, so I feel pretty good about the purchase and am looking forward to the new computer.