Laptop hunting: Please opine!

[beyonder]

As I tweeted, the screen on my current laptop finally gave out. It constitutes the final insult on a long list of hardware issues that I had been letting slide. It is time to put it out to pasture and get a new laptop for my VJ work and video editing

Comments

[reedybeanz]

i definitely fall into the "poorly informed" category, but i think the third list looks to be the best one, if you don't mind sacrificing a few inches of screen size. my inclination is to go with the NVIDIA graphics cards, the lighter model, and the slightly larger memory, especially if it's a lower price. but if you're working with video all the time, you might want the nicer screen; it's up to you.

[grenadier32]

I've never run 64-bit Windows, but I know on Ubuntu software compatibility is a non-issue--64-bit processors can run 32-bit software just fine. And yes, your RAM is in fact capped with 32-bit processors--since their registers can only hold so much data, they can't address RAM beyond somewhere around 3.4 GB. With 64-bit, that limit is pushed far beyond what you'll ever have available to you. And, for the record, it really is a substantial speed benefit in my experience--I/O is still by far the biggest bottleneck though, so unless you can move to SSDs (which is impractical if you need a lot of HD space) you're still capped in speed by that

[beyonder]

I have been actively researching the video cards at least - NVIDIA makes game/video geeks happier... but ATI currently has a large edge on making the technically "better" processor. It's a conundrum there.

I should have specified This is for taking to shows in place of a desktop. Lots of VJ's show up with two or more full towers just because live video mixing is really taxing on a system. I need something sturdy that can stand up to a little bit of knockaround.

My phone really fills all of my mobile needs at the moment, so I'd like to focus this laptop as a big powerhouse.

Thanks for you insight on 64 bit foo and other thoughts. I just need to pare things down in my head.

[grenadier32]

Mm, fair enough. I don't know what your RAM needs are--maybe the additional 2 GB really would give you some benefit beyond what having a really big page file would give you. I don't know the sort of tasks you'd be doing, honestly. But if raw power is the most important need, the first one does sound like a better deal.

[catalystparadox]

I've consistently been impressed with Asus... and I believe they are now making quick-boot an option on all their laptops, which is a rather incredibly nifty thing if you aren't familiar with it.

Nonetheless the Toshiba might be worthwhile for the screensize alone (and nevermind that it happens to be the prettiest design of the three).

Of the two Asus (really, of all three) the 1st is clearly the best, unless I am missing something huge. I guess that would be price. But really, it seems to me you are really going to want that extra processing power, and the extra investment will pay off in the long term.

Unfortunately I can't weigh in on what will or won't work with Win 7 - but its a pretty nice OS from everything I've seen.

[beyonder]

the 1st one (G73Jh) runs about an extra $300 or so from the next ASUS model down ($1799 vs $1599) I'm really thinking the investment might be worth it going forward. Frankly speaking $300 is not the large amount it used to seem, especially when buying something meant to last for another 5 years.

Not to mention... An alienware model customized to similar specs would run me nearly $4k This proves empirically and definitively that Dell can suck it.

[catalystparadox]

Only 300 more? Nothing. Especially compared to the total price, and to the dramatic difference in specs. Do it.