editting on laptops?

well i want to be a film editor. I'm going to college for film.

Would laptops have enough memory to able me to edit movies on them or isnt there enough?

Thanks.

Most laptops will only hold 2 gig's of ram at the most due to the fact there's only 2 memory slots, and most video cards are usually 128 or 256. If you're wanting to do serious video editing then it's time to either buy a desktop built by a major name or build one yourself for exactly what you're planning on doing. And when I say major name I'm not talking about Dell or HP or Gateway's crap they're all generic systems, you'd do better to buy something from alienware or voodoo pc or a company like them that can make true custom built video and graphics editing machines, but warning they will not be cheap to get it done the way it needs to be especially if you're planning on editing proffesionally.

^Voodoo is owned by HP and ALienware is owned by Dell...so......

Aniwho, video editing is the only time I'll say go Mac. A laptop will do you fine for most editng, you could go desktop if you want to. Depends on how much you're on the move. Don't listen about generic crap. Be like someone telling you to go to Walmart instead of Target for products but in the end everything is made in China.

Still, I will sadly promote Mac. Look into it, and check some other sites.

A laptop for video editing would be costly beyond words. You would need something in the $1,200-1,500 range to get any type of performance out of it. Stick with a desktop. Any new processor will do the job, just load up on memory and a decent video card....and hard drive space :)

thanks for all replies.

I would suggest a Mac Book pro. I've heard of a guy doing video editing/production very successfully with one that had 4gb of RAM.

I've created some wedding dvds for friends and other misc video editing on my laptop and it works just fine.

What's your budget?

My Toshiba A105 laptop was $1000 over a year ago, has a core duo 1.6ghz processor with 1gb ram and no dedicated video card.

I use Adobe Premiere Pro to edit and Sony DVD Architect for dvd creation.

If you want a laptop, get a laptop. I'd recommend Toshiba. I had one of the generic body M-Tech laptops and it was a POS that ran hot/loud and the battery crapped out a few months after I got it.

If you can afford it...a Core 2 Duo with 2gb ram and maybe a dedicated video card would do quite well for you.

My Toshiba A105 laptop was $1000 over a year ago, has a core duo 1.6ghz processor with 1gb ram and no dedicated video card.


I don't think the Core2Duo chips were out a year ago, and certainly not for $1000?!!? Are you sure?

Toshiba do make some nice laptops though.

Toshiba 13" Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, 160GB HD for a grand at my circuit city. That's all i can recall. Nice video card too if I recall right.

I don't think the Core2Duo chips were out a year ago, and certainly not for $1000?!!? Are you sure?

Toshiba do make some nice laptops though.
You're right...the Core 2 Duo weren't out. But the original "Core Duo" chip that I said my laptop has, were available. :)

I bought in October of 2006.

For movie editing you need to focus on 2 things primarily: Paralelism (think multicores) and fast I/O so a fast harddrive setup.

Well as stated before for serious work a desktop is preferable.

If your budget would hold an intel skulltrail platform would be a dream, dual quad cores combined with some striped raptors (Video tends to use large continuous files which make Raid0 shine).

A step down with be a single quad core (the q6600 seems to be the current price/perf sweetspot) with a single or dual striped raptors.

another step down a dual core (E6750 is another sweet spot) again paired with a raptor.

for a bargain build get an Athlon x2 (you can find a 3800x2 for dirt cheap nowadays) and pair it with a high transfer HD (seek rates matter less for what you need than transfer speeds)


If you absolutely have to get a laptop rather than a desktop try to get a nice fast core 2 duo and make sure its paired with a faster 7200 RPM drive rather than the more common notebook 5400rpm drives, again I/O matters a great deal in video editing. It would be even better to find a laptop with an eSATA port and slap a super fast desktop drive outside.

As far as macs go only get one if you require mac exclusive software, otherwise there is no need.

Further considerations: in a few days AMD will release its new quads (Phenom line) we still need to see final benches though to render a verdict. Also the new 45nm Intel cores should be showing up very soon with some nice improvements.

Some excellent advise there, Neutrino.

The Seagate 7200.10 range (using perpendicular technology) @ 7,200rpm is as fast or faster than Raptors due to the platter density - another contender in fast, cost effective RAID 0 setup.

Stay away from a Dell,their service sucks and their tech support cannot speak english.They say they have great support: WRONG!My father had a Dell computer for work and was on the phone for 4 hours speaking to someone in India whom could not speak any english at all.My father finally put the boots to it and threw it away