New PC/laptop for video editing

[rocknrollstar]

Hi, we are looking to get a new laptop or PC for the sole purpose of video editing. We don't really want a mac! Max cost £450 ex vat. It won't be massive video editing, but we'd like to do more than MovieMaker.

 

Can anyone recommend a good processor to go for? THere are so many choices now it's hard to know what is best for video editing. Laptop or desktop, or are they the same now in price to go for a laptop?

 

Thinking at least 2gb ram, 200gb HD, non-shared graphics card?

 

Thanks for your thoughts

[FN-GM]

how much are you wanting to spend?

[rocknrollstar]

Max cost £450 ex vat.

[kesomir]

Is that just the base or are you hoping to get a monitor for that price?

[laserblazer]

Personally, I'd go for a desktop rather than laptop. You haven't said how you will capture images but in my experience, a 5400rpm drive is not up to transferring via firewire and I wouldn't use less than 7200. The best advice also recommends a separate drive for data. You could use an external drive but there are pitfalls here as well.

 

Thirdly, video editing pushes a computer to its limits. It won't be long before you will want to be editing High Definition video and that will mean an upgrade. It's much easier to replace the mobo and processor than buy a new, more powerful laptop.

 

You say you want to move on from MovieMaker but haven't said where to. Premiere Elements would be my choice because the Education price is around £35 and it has most of the features you will need to do some great stuff. Transition to Premiere Pro is pretty straightforward as is interaction with Photoshop.

 

Finally, if you have a laptop you run the risk of it being purloined for other purposes.

[rocknrollstar]

Hi everyone, thanks for your thoughts and advice.

 

I understand about going for a desktop, but space is a real issue at oour school, so a laptop is more suited. I am interested in this laptop at ebuyer:

 

Fujitsu Siemens V5545 Laptop Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 2.00GHz 2048MB 250GB DVD-SM 15.4" WXGA Bluetooth ATI Mobility Radeon HD2400 Camera Windows Vista Premium - Ebuyer

 

Fast processor, dedicated graphics, enough ram, but will need to downgrade to XP Pro. (should be able to do that?).

 

Good price, too

 

Thanks.

[john]

Not on that Vista Licence you can't. You can only downgrade, without additonal cost, with Vista Business Edition or Ultimate edition. You will need a new Windows Licence for that Laptop to go back to XP Pro.

[rocknrollstar]

I love Microsoft

[mac_shinobi]

pickup the what laptop magazine that will give you a good idea of comparisons and what graphics cards to look for etc etc.

[alan-d]

Ask Dan at SCL to build one to your spec.

 

He did this one for a good price

 

Intel DG965SS Desktop Mainboard

2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Skt 775 1333 FSB 4MB

500Gb Seagate 7200RPM Serial ATA-300 Hard Disk Drive

4Gb DDR2 RAM

ATi Radeon HD 3870 775MHz - 512MB GDDR4 SDRAM - PCI Exp

Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1300 Hybrid Video Recorder

20x Lite-On Black Sata DVDRW Drive

3.5" Black Floppy Disk Drive

System Build & 5 Year Warranty

Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2 OEM