Laptop advice?
 

I currently have a Toshiba laptop with 2GB RAM, which has served me well, but is starting to lose it. My local guru says Toshiba is the best these days, but I wonder. In previous threads here you guys speak highly of IBMs. There's a local outfit, CHEM USA, which I've heard builds laptops with top quality components. I'm not computer savvy, but need to find something to replace my Toshiba, preferably on the cheap. I don't care about gaming on it, but use it for photo editing and possibly video editing sometime soon with the output from my Nikon D300s. Good battery life would be a plus, as would faster processing and HDMI input. Anybody know of any screaming deals or want to sell one in good shape?

I only recommend Dell desktops and laptops.

What level if video editing?

Home stuff?

Makes a difference.

Yeah, it would be home stuff. Probably just the stuff that would come out of my DSLR. I do have a remote hard drive from when I edited camcorder stuff with Avid. And I may not actually get around to the home stuff, anyway. But it would be nice to be able to.

They had a smoking deal advertised recently for a portable camcorder I was trying to buy as a gift for my niece. They only take orders over the phone (at least on this item) and my god, what a frickin nightmare. On hold for extended periods, to India I think. Confusion, transfers, hang-ups. At first there were five available and how many do I want, and then the item turned out to be unavailable. Then it was supposedly available on their corporate side, which I couldn't buy from. I swore I would never ever try to do business with that POS company ever again.

Sorry for the rant, but thanks for the opportunity to vent!

I only use and recommend Toshiba. But a friend who does video editing for his wife's theater group recently, gasp, gulp, bought a high end Apple and said it does video editing WAY better.

Get a Mac book pro

that's what I would do... especially if you are using it for "creative" stuff

I want to stick with PC. I may not even get creative with video and I already have some PC-based photo editing software.

Get the extended warranty....

I used to like Toshiba, but they've been going downhill recently and the same thing with the new ThinkPads (now made under the Lenovo name). I'd suggest taking a long look at the MacBook Pro.

I have a MacBook Air and can't think of a better laptop that fits what I want to do.

I'll always recommend the Apple. If the editing SW is cross platform you may be able to convert the license.

Whatever you get the general rule of thumb is buy as much as you can afford.

Some basics for comparison, what's the max RAM that it will take. Option for 7200 RPM hard drive is a must for any swap intensive apps like photo/video editing. Firewire is a must have option for me. Avoid glossy screens, you want a matte screen. Video card though they are near impossible to compare. No integrated graphics card or one that shares main RAM. I'd look at 17 in screens.

Dell man here. Rather upgrade every year or two than buy a laptop at twice the price and keep it longer. Also, if there is the coffee in the keyboard accident or theft, it will be easier to shrug off at $500.

G

Get a low end Dell Laptop, then with the money saved, put together a Screaming desktop. I priced one up for the PARFessor on the Monitor thread for $1150. The Dell version was $2650. Add a $1K laptop.

Or go with a lower end machine: I just bought an ACER 17" HD, Dual Core Laptop for my Brother-in-law for $505. The Laptop keyboard even had a number pad!