New laptop help

Lisaberry

Hi

I've been into every local computer retailer (not many nowadays) and no one seems to be able to explain to me exactly what I need. Although I'm a bit of a small gadget geek, processers, ram and what no just go over my head. I was hoping someone would be able to tell me what I need to look for and if it's possible on around a £500 budget.

I'm looking for something in white or black, with a maximum 14 inch screen that is portable (I'm not expecting ultra book just not big black bricks) that can edit my home movies (mainly just stitch together the clips and cut out a few bits) at a speed that doesn't make me think it's not worth the bother.
Ideally I'd like to edit my iPhone vids as well but I've been told that I'd probably need to convert them first, I can't be doing with losing quality so I guess I'll have to do those on my iPad.

Some have said I need an i5 processor as a minimum, others have said if it's got a ssd then the processes doesn't need to be that powerful. Others have said the ram is more important.

Who do I believe? What do I really need? And can I get something that will do what I want that is also 'pretty' for my money?

Thanks!

Cisco001

Something like this?
http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/LENOVO-U410-MAH9ZUK_1296567.html

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/laptops-netbooks/laptops/laptops/hp-pavilion-touchsmart-14-n055sa-14-touchscreen-laptop-21729449-pdt.html

Lisaberry

Thanks!

The girl in me doesn't like the HP (I'd sell my soul for a MacBook but my soul isn't worth £1000)
The Lenovo is a maybe...I'll have a closer look.

I've just seen the Asus U38N. It ticks my weight/looks boxes but I'm unsure how an AMD A8 will perform? I'm sure it will be a dream compared to my awful 4 yr old Advent but what I need is answers to questions like how easy would it be to stitch together and save 20 mins or so of home movies?

DCodd

Lisaberry wrote: »

Hi

I've been into every local computer retailer (not many nowadays) and no one seems to be able to explain to me exactly what I need. Although I'm a bit of a small gadget geek, processers, ram and what no just go over my head. I was hoping someone would be able to tell me what I need to look for and if it's possible on around a £500 budget.

I'm looking for something in white or black, with a maximum 14 inch screen that is portable (I'm not expecting ultra book just not big black bricks) that can edit my home movies (mainly just stitch together the clips and cut out a few bits) at a speed that doesn't make me think it's not worth the bother.
Ideally I'd like to edit my iPhone vids as well but I've been told that I'd probably need to convert them first, I can't be doing with losing quality so I guess I'll have to do those on my iPad.

Some have said I need an i5 processor as a minimum, others have said if it's got a ssd then the processes doesn't need to be that powerful. Others have said the ram is more important.

Who do I believe? What do I really need? And can I get something that will do what I want that is also 'pretty' for my money?

Thanks!

Ask on the techie forum. There are people on there who know exactly what you would need. Just explain what you want from the laptop and they will advise.

redcard

A £500 laptop is a £500 laptop. You won't find one that is wildly better than another. RAM and an SSD can be added later if you need to.

You ask 'how easy'. Not sure what answer you're looking for. Quite easy? Moderately easy?

Just pick the one you like the look of.

prowla

Editing video probably needs a good processor (so the i5 is a valid comment), a lot of memory (4GB minimum, but 8GB better), and also a decent sized hard disk because movies take a lot of space (500 GB minimum, or 1 TB better).

You should be able to find a machine within your budget to do that.

As far as quality goes, you can often tell by the look and feel of the machine in the shop; are the display models looking worn, do they have a cheapo feel to them.

As an aside, you may also wish to get an external USB hard disk or an online storage service (aka "Cloud") to back up your movies and stuff to, because just saving it on the laptop's hard drive means if that breaks you've lost it.

Lisaberry

redcard wrote: »

A £500 laptop is a £500 laptop. You won't find one that is wildly better than another. RAM and an SSD can be added later if you need to.

You ask 'how easy'. Not sure what answer you're looking for. Quite easy? Moderately easy?

Just pick the one you like the look of.

Sorry, I guess by easy I mean how speedy/ painless frustration wise. I've tried using my old laptop and WMM and it made me very grumpy very quickly!

Lisaberry

prowla wrote: »

Editing video probably needs a good processor (so the i5 is a valid comment), a lot of memory (4GB minimum, but 8GB better), and also a decent sized hard disk because movies take a lot of space (500 GB minimum, or 1 TB better).

You should be able to find a machine within your budget to do that.

As far as quality goes, you can often tell by the look and feel of the machine in the shop; are the display models looking worn, do they have a cheapo feel to them.

As an aside, you may also wish to get an external USB hard disk or an online storage service (aka "Cloud") to back up your movies and stuff to, because just saving it on the laptop's hard drive means if that breaks you've lost it.

Thanks, I do have an external hard drive already. I was attempting to make my old laptop last by taking everything possible off it but, it was a s**t laptop 4 years ago so it did nothing to help.

It seems to be adding the looks requirement in that causes the problems. I promised myself that if I put up with my old laptop my next me would be an Apple. Now it's time, my wallet just doesn't want to part with £1000....I just don't feel like a user of my level can justify that amount of money.

DCodd

Lisaberry wrote: »

Sorry, I guess by easy I mean how speedy/ painless frustration wise. I've tried using my old laptop and WMM and it made me very grumpy very quickly!

Lisaberry, I know little about editing movies but a bit about laptops. It is unlikely that a higher spec processor will have much effect (processors from core 2 onwards are more than powerfull). This is the reason why I suggested the techie forum, there are people on there who do edit movies so they will be able to tell you what to look for.

I would estimate that a seperate graphics card would boost performance the most but I have noticed on the Lenovo linked to above that it has not gort a full HD screen and only a 10/100 ethernet card. depending on the type, quality and size of the movies that you will be editing will depend on the laptop spec you need as will the intended useage for the movie..

redcard

Try your luck on eBay?

There's a Lenovo Thinkpad, Core i5 4th generation, 180GB SSD, 8GB RAM, 14 inch screen, 'immaculate condition', with a buy it now of £490.

Thinkpads are solid machines, not cheap and plastic like some laptops in your price range can be,

Lisaberry

DCodd wrote: »

Lisaberry, I know little about editing movies but a bit about laptops. It is unlikely that a higher spec processor will have much effect (processors from core 2 onwards are more than powerfull). This is the reason why I suggested the techie forum, there are people on there who do edit movies so they will be able to tell you what to look for.

I would estimate that a seperate graphics card would boost performance the most but I have noticed on the Lenovo linked to above that it has not gort a full HD screen and only a 10/100 ethernet card. depending on the type, quality and size of the movies that you will be editing will depend on the laptop spec you need as will the intended useage for the movie..

Thanks. I've posted a question on there. Might need to edit it now to add in some of the above info!