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curiouspanda

New Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2011
Location
Dallas, Texas
Hello guys! I need help finding a laptop that is going to be used for heavy multimedia use like Photoshop, video editing and watching movies. I am helping my cousin of mine that has ask for my help but I have no idea where to start. I only have some knowledge about desktops but have never been a laptop fan. I have tried looking on my own but there are so many choices and I doubt myself without getting good advice from people who are more knowledgeable than me.

Criteria :D
  1. must be fast
  2. must be able to handle heavy media use
  3. must have great sound quality
  4. No budget at the moment
 
It will all depend what heavy media use is. And standard laptop will be able to play videos, heck socket M's can do that ;)

If you have no budget, I can just point you to a $>2,000 laptop that will be fast and have good sound I am sure. But unsure if that is what you mean by no budget.

But if you would like to keep it to a minimum I like to do what I call "smart shopping." Especially after buying so many new electronics, it does not take a genius to find out they loose value faster than a car.

So it entails, buying used items (might not be your thing), and getting them going with new hardware, to an extent.

I have bought probably >100 computers on cl, so I am used to know what to look for, but I find one that is almost working. Say a bad screen, or bad HDD/ needs install (won't boot, too slow, freezing, etc), and these are relativly easy cheap fixes. Then buy the parts, maybe new battery, SSD, and BAM! You got a laptop that is twice as fast as anything for the price.
 
My bad, I forgot to add in the budget. I thought I had done so but apparently not. Budget is 1200$
 
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If your fine spending the max budget, you can get some Alienware M18x-R2 online, BIN's are right above your max, but they have a quad i7, 8gb ram, dual HDD's in raid, 18" 1080 screen, etc..

Or you can get a i5 laptop for <$250 working.. Add ram, ssd, etc for $350 -$400.

I7 can be gotton for a few 100$ extra, all depends on deals. Also depends how intensive the photoshop and video editing will be.
 
Generally you want to "overbuy" your laptop. Theory is that what you buy now will last you a long time, so you don't want to buy something that isn't up to snuff now only to pay another $1000 the next year or regretting your current purchase.

For video editing and processing Photoshop elements you're going to want an i7. And not just any i7; the best you can afford with and high end graphics card. I'd say Nividia's 750M and up would be high end stuff.

In terms of sound quality, the speakers of most laptops are... fairly bad. Yes you can get good ones but you might have to trade off stuff to get it. You could go for a headset with an external sound device plugged into said laptop and get leaps and bound better audio quality than the laptop's speakers.

HOWEVER: If you need a machine that can last a decent amount of time between charges then you'll be needing to slim down a bit. You can find U series i7 that will give you better performance than some M series i5 machines. Looking at reviews on Notebookcheck.net is also a good place to find reviews of some of the laptops you're looking for be they ultrapowerful gaming machines or sleek power sipping ultrabooks.

As far as graphics goes I know there exists LP versions of some of nvidia's mobile graphics cards (i.e. LP 640M) and odds are that those will do you justice as well. Note that most laptops on battery will not engage the full use of graphics cards for the sake of maintaining battery life.

In terms of what to buy specifically, I'm going to take a leap and say no to the Alienware, but feel free to get it. They usually come with price premiums, but so is the same for almost every gaming themed laptop.

Lenovo has a 510p that has dual 750's as an option with a slimmer chassis, and it comes with an i7.

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/y-series/y510p/ (keep looking, it's in there somewhere)

for 1200 you could also get a decent custom machine from the likes of Xotic PC or others of the like. There you can find options for different processors and graphics.

If you have any more questions, ask. Buying a laptop is going to be tough and a very personal choice due to what you need it for.
 
The BEST laptop I have ever owned with the greatest customer service was from https://www.system76.com/home/

Their laptops come from the best of the manufacturers. The price may seem a bit premium and if you need windows you will need to install/purchase.

I have a seven year old lappy from them and it still performs very well. I can still play MMOS on it.
 
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