Which is the best budget laptop for basic HD video editing?

Kamahoi S

Keywords being BEST BUDGET...I know Mac is where its at because its dedicated graphics and Final Cut, Alienware has good stuff at 8 million bucks a pop, and all in all laptops can't really handle HD or standard video editing (and down the road I'm planning on a laptop/desktop combo, the desktop most likely being an imac), but for now I need the flexibility of editing and capturing video outside the house. I'm looking for dedicated graphics, and with all the video processors out there I don't know which is best but that's part of the search too, also RAM, resolution and screen size are a somewhat lesser concern, firewire is of the utmost importance since I guess USB is dead as a means of video capturing, and a lot of these laptops are either cheaply made or worth WAY less than they're price--call me cheap (I am) and I don't want to be a bargain demon but I desperately want to make the right decision and at the right cost. People working at Best Buy don't know what the hell they're talking about, online reviews are often conflicting, many laptops sacrifice performance for battery life and ergonomics for performance, and what good is a laptop that can edit in HD but can't capture any video and doesn't have firewire? I know, I know, it's idealistic and unrealistic to expect there to be a perfect laptop for what I'm asking, but given all that I've written maybe you guys out there can help (leave the attitude out, please--I'm aware I'm asking a lot but I'm feeling very boxed in by new Mac vs. Windows 7, Macbook Pro vs. Macbook Pro, Macmini vs. iMac, Dell laptop vs. Sony Vaio vs. HP, buying out of the classifieds vs. buying new--all these choices! I just want to make the right one. I'm willing to pay as much as the new 21 inch iMacs and basic Macbook Pros cost, but Macs to me aren't what they're cracked up to be as far as the new ones are concerned, and compatibility with my external hard drives and dvd burner is a problem, and though macs have a small learning curve i'm more comfortable with windows. But windows 7 isn't that great, either. It seems like all the new software and hardware out there is in its initial 1st gen suck phase that new technologies seem to go through. Anyway, I have unrealistic expectations and am probably needing something that I can't get, but f*ck, man, its almost 2010, we should have laptops that can remotely kill people and make toast while burning blu-ray without the power cord plugged in! Anyway before I write a book here, thanks in advance and here's hoping your advice can be of help!!
I have a miniDv Canon HV20, so that's the camcorder I'm working with, my plan is to use the comp. for short to midsize projects (HD) and the flexibility of hdmi or hooking up to an external monitor is good. I'm also open to any suggestions (desktop suggestions included) and if i can't great the best for what i want i'll settle for the best there is. It'd be great if the laptop for me was available at bestbuy or a reputable online dealer, so there's that. Thanks again in advance, answers community!

Answer
Alienware puts together laptops with these higher end hardware needs.
Though Alienware is one of the best, it is also the most expensive.
Hewlett-Packard makes a quality machine that can be built exactly to your specifications.
sure to get quality graphics and audio cards.
nVIDIA makes great graphics cards while Audigy sound cards are best for real-time editing.

PC to Mac convergence?

minminki

My family has run on PCâs for years. I particularly have become really frustrated with my HP laptop in recent years. When I first bought it, it was around $1,100 (this includes Norton and Microsoft being installed with it). However I have had it for almost three years now and Iâve had to take it to Geek Squad three times. The first two times I lost all my files. By the third try I invested in an external hard drive, thank god I did cause it crashed again later on. Now itâs starting to act up again. I donât know what it is thatâs making it crash completely. Iâve had all my files, music, pictures, etc scanned for everything, and no virus or Trojan is detected, so it must be the laptop itself.

Iâve looked at Dell and wasnât impressed with their laptops and they have a sketchy history, especially their batteries (bursting in flames). Also my roommate has one itâs worse than my HP. Also Iâve looked at Toshiba, heard theyâre better than HP but not by that much.
Anyways, I am considering a Mac because of the praise itâs been getting, the only thing thatâs stopping me is the price, Iâll by it if I have to though, and also the converging of my pc files to mac files. So here are my questions:

1.Will my files (Word, Powerpoint, Music, Pictures, Videos, etc.) transfer over into the Mac and still work like it did on the PC or will it not work at all? (This is my biggest concern of all cause than there is no point of getting a Mac than for me.)
2.If I later wanted to convert a Mac file, letâs say a Powerpoint of Word document, to a PC for work sake, will it work?

Answer
You shouldn't have a problem as long as your mac is equipped with Office for Mac. I have used both PC and Mac side by side for about 5 years now and never had a problem using Office for Mac with Office on windows.

Microsoft releases a mac version of their Office Suite shortly after a new version of Office comes out for the PC. For mac equivalents, look for the version that's one year above the PC version (example: 2003 on PC is 2004 on mac, 2007 on PC is 2008 on mac, 2010 on PC is 2011 on mac).

The only thing you can't get on the mac is the Office professional extras such as Publisher or Access. Office for Mac will give you the basic Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Outlook (Entourage in versions previous to 2011). In addition you'll also get Windows Live Messenger for mac on the installation.

EDIT: as for other files (Music, Video, etc). File formats are pretty much standard. Mac won't play windows media format, but that is easy to fix by downloading Flip4Mac. It'll expand quicktime to support Windows Media. For transfer between mac and pc, I recommend using standard cross platform formats such as mp3 and avi.

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