Video editing on laptop

ebowdia

Hi guys, I am thinking about buying the following laptop from Dell:

Inspiron 6000 (N11607)
Processor - Intel® Pentium® M 740(1.73GHz 2MB L2 cache 533MHz FSB)Memory - 1024MB 400MHz DDR2 RAM (2 x512 MB)
Video Card - 128MB DDR ATI MOBILITY® RADEON® X300
Hard Drive - 100GB (5,400 rpm) Hard Drive
CD/DVD Drives - Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive with Software
Wireless - Intel® ProWireless 2200 802.11b/g Mini PCI Wireless LAN Card
LCD - 15.4" Wide Screen UltraSharpTM WSXGA+ (1680 x 1050) LCD Panel

My main use for it apart from all the usual would be video editing. Question is, is this spec good enough for that?

Any help appreciated

ebowdia

Anyone got any advice on this matter - hope to put in an order for one today if the laptop is suitable??

digitaldeath

The processor is a bit of a let down imo - especially when you're gonna be encoding video etc.

ebowdia

Thanks Digital ..... what processor would you recommend as a minimum?

digitaldeath

Well it really depends!
Seeing as you're getting a laptop I imagine you need mobility (otherwise I'd go for a desktop - especially for video editing).
From my own experience I find "mobile" CPUs slow at encoding etc. While good at being "multimedia laptops" and having the advantage of being light and compact - I find them too slow for my liking. Pentium 4 based laptops are better in my opinion - but then they are generally bigger and heavier and consume alot more battery power (a major factor).
Basically - if you're doing serious video editing - I'd invest in a desktop and put all the money into getting a nice CPU with 1Gb -2Gb of RAM.

For basic editing I'm sure the laptop you're looking at will do just fine - but under no circumstances would I rush any purchase.

What video editing software are you using?

Digi.

ebowdia

Thanks again Digital. I won't be doing any major editing really - just editing loads of digital video footage from a year of travelling - that kind of stuff. At the moment it's all just stored on DV tapes and I need to connect via firewire to work with it. I have an old desk top, but it's a bit too old to upgrade it as much as I'll need to.

As regards mobility, yes it's important to me. I don't need to be on the move everyday, but at the weekends it would be handy.

I've no idea even what software I'll be using - this will be my first time doing it. Can you recommend any particular editing software?

digitaldeath

Pinnacle Studio 10 is handy for beginners - but is sometimes slow/buggy - I used version 9 alot - quite a nice program and does the job well. Encoding can be slow with it though.

Ulead (www.ulead.com) have some products that are highly rated. Pinnacle or Ulead should be just fine - I just needed to know if you were doing things on an Adobe Premire level or what!

Anyways - best of luck - never hesitate to PM me if stuck etc.

Digi.

ebowdia

Excellent, thanks for the help Digi....

BrayHead

I just bought an Inspiron 9000. One bit of advice ... go for one piece 1024 MB ram. That will then leave you with a free memory slot. You can then go to crucial.com and get a second stick of 1024 for about €170 which is about €900 cheaper than DELL!!!

ebowdia

Thansk Bray, I've been thinking about doing just that. What processor did you get with the 9000?

BrayHead

2 GHz