I need a new computer...

[CHRIS7891011]

Ok people... I need a new computer. Mine has crapped the bed for the last time and I think this time it's for good. At least my warrantee is up and I don't feel like shelling out more cash to Dell for them to tell me I'm screwed. Anyway I'm going to be buying a HD video editing workstation and I need some advice.


Here's what I need: (from avid.com)


Qualified platforms
Windows

* Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP3 (32 bit)
* Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2 (32 bit)
* Microsoft Windows Vista Business SP1 (32 bit)
* Microsoft Windows Vista Business SP1 (64 bit)
* Apple Mac OSX 10.5.5 (Leopard)

Minimum system requirements for Media Composer Software - Windows
Processors:

* Intel Core 2 Duo 2.33 GHz

System Memory:

* 2GB of RAM
o Note 1: If working with complex sequences, (multiple effects/streams) or compressed HD resolutions 4 GB of RAM is recommended.
o Note 2: Vista requires 4 GB of RAM

Graphics Card:

* NVidia Quadro FX 560 or higher
o Note 1: Only Nvidia cards are supported
o Note 2: Full Screen play feature requires a minimum of 128MB of graphics memory

Internal Hard Drive:

* 40GB minimum hard disk drive
o Note 1: Any media drives need to be 7200RPM or greater

Optical Drive:

* DVD capable drive required for product installation

Minimum system requirements for Media Composer Software - Mac
Processors:

* Intel dual, dual core 2.66 GHz Xeon
* Intel Core 2 Duo 2.33 GHz (laptops)

System Memory:

* 2GB of RAM
o Note 1: If working with complex sequences, (multiple effects/streams) or compressed HD resolutions 4 GB of RAM is recommended.

Graphics Card:

* NVidia GeForce family
o Note 1: Full Screen play feature requires a minimum of 128MB of graphics memory

Internal Hard Drive:

* 40GB minimum hard disk drive
o Note 1: Any media drives need to be 7200RPM or greater

Optical Drive:

* DVD capable drive required for product installation


Anyone have any suggestions on a turnkey system with these specs or do you know a good place that I can buy the parts and build it myself?

[Diana]

WOW Chris you said alot there! I wish I could help you. I'll tell Daniel he built a computer before so he has some experience. I'll let him know maybe he can offer some info when he has some time.

[CHRIS7891011]

Thanks Diana. Any help would be great.

[sodomanaz-cl]

Are we talking PC or laptop? If you go with a laptop, I suggest the XPS M1530 from Dell. I do a lot of design work for school, and this thing is light enough and powerful enough to do just about anything I toss at it.

Here are the specs:
223-5877 1 XPS M1530, Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T9300 (2.5GHz/800MHzFSB, 6M L2 Cache)
311-7823 1 4GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 Dimm, for XPS M1530
320-6693 1 15.4 inch Wide Screen WXGA+ TrueLife LED LCD with Camera for XPS M1530
320-6082 1 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT
341-5632 1 250GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive for XPS M1530
420-8566 1 Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 Home Premium Edition, English
313-5820 1 8X DVD+/-RW Slot Load Drive for XPSM1530
313-4783 1 Integrated High Definition Audio 2.0
430-2449 1 Intel 4965AGN Wireless-N Mini-card
410-1184 1 McAfee SecurityCenter 15-month
312-0638 1 56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion P Primary Battery, for XPS M1530
950-3339 1 3 Year Limited Warranty
960-3652 1 Warranty Support,2 Year Extended
960-8710 1 Warranty Support,Initial Year
988-5618 1 Dell Hardware Warranty PlusOnsite Service, Extended Year(s)
983-5942 1 Type 15- Third Party At HomeService with Nights and Weekends, 24x7 Technical Support,2 Year Extended
412-0358 1 Soft Contracts - Consumer Complete Care
991-1159 1 Bund. LoJack Theft Recovery - 3 Year DHS
430-2566 1 Dell Wirless 355 Bluetooth Module (2.0+EDR)
467-2337 1 Finger Print Reader XPS M1530
420-7715 1 Camera Software XPS M1530 2.0MP

With any laptop, I suggest getting the full warranty including accident coverage. I purchased mine through the University's EPP to get this down to about $1300 shipped. You can probably do better now that it has been a month.

For desktop, I would take a look at Slickdeals and techbargains.com, etc. Considering the amount of financial hurt these companies are in, you're bound to find a bargain this quarter.

Hope this helped! I have an OEM copy of Vista Business lying around if you absolutely need it, but you will have to call to activate it. Got annoyed with that aspect and just kept the version this came with rather than bother using it again.

[CHRIS7891011]

I'll probably be investing in a PC but that laptop seems pretty good. My warranty on my last dell just ran out in October and i def. used the service plan on it multiple times. I wouldn't even consider buying another dell w/o the 5 year plan!

Thanks for the info brother.

[sodomanaz-cl]

Originally Posted by CHRIS7891011

I'll probably be investing in a PC but that laptop seems pretty good. My warranty on my last dell just ran out in October and i def. used the service plan on it multiple times. I wouldn't even consider buying another dell w/o the 5 year plan!

Thanks for the info brother.

It isn't just Dell that is like that. I switched to HP after my last Dell, and man... after the crap service I got from HP, Dell seemed to be a slight hair better. It's hard to cut out the two companies that control the market share of the business.

Anyway, there have been a ton of deals on the Inspiron desktop line, just check out slickdeals. I came away with a damn nice quad core with 19" widescreen last month for ~$500.

[pv1191-cl]

I bought on of these at Best Buy last month. It just came out and was an ad special for $899. Even at the regular price it's well worth it.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1218012612475

[Itsme-Speedy-G]

Look around www.tigerdirect.com

[Bear-cl]

Go with a Mac. I've been a PC fan for years. I've built my own desktop and had several laptops, but i just bought my first Mac a couple of weeks ago and love it. Unless Microsoft makes some major improvement to Windows I won't go back. I hate Vista.

[sodomanaz-cl]

Originally Posted by Bear

Go with a Mac. I've been a PC fan for years. I've built my own desktop and had several laptops, but i just bought my first Mac a couple of weeks ago and love it. Unless Microsoft makes some major improvement to Windows I won't go back. I hate Vista.

Macs are great... until you get into the technical side and need a program that will require you to forego whatever you liked about OSX and force you to dualboot XP/Vista.

On top of that, the price is still not really competitive when doing a hardware side-by-side with a similar Dell desktop (after discounts of course) . Plus I still believe you can choose XP from Dell, and if you want to get geeky, Ubuntu and Freedos are options as well.

[BigBuddha76]

Originally Posted by sodomanaz

Plus I still believe you can choose XP from Dell, and if you want to get geeky, Ubuntu and Freedos are options as well.

LINUX BABY!!!

[sboyajian]

The biggest question is how much do you want to spend?

I got mind 11 months ago for $1749 (probably about 1299 now).

It has the Quad Core Q6700 (4x2.67ghz), 4 GB ram, 2x500gb HD (1TB), 512 MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT, Vista Ultimate 64..

If you are going to spend the money.. do it right..

I do a lot of freelance web development.. so I also broke down and got two 22" Widescreen Acers.. I found for the price, Acer was the best cheap one (I think I paid $179 each and the contrast rate is like 2000:1) with a 5ms refresh (newegg has this now for 169).

For the price, I'd pick this up: http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/HP-Pa...il.do#proddesc

It's a QuadCore (Q6600), with 6GB Ram and 640 GB HD.. the video is integrated, but for only $799.. pick up a new NVIDIA card for $200 and you just reach $1,000 for a powerhouse.

[Mr. Mojo Risin]

I just bought a Macbook and am happy with it. It takes some getting used to and they aren't cheap, but I really like the portability, LED screen, backlit keyboard (for summertime evening cigar smoking/net surfing) and great battery life.
Previously I've only used PC's, but the switch hasn't been too difficult. So far I've resisted installing XP.

[DBCcigar]

I have 3 letters for you:

[SIZE="7"]MAC[/SIZE]

[Stogie]

Originally Posted by CHRIS7891011

Anyone have any suggestions on a turnkey system with these specs or do you know a good place that I can buy the parts and build it myself?

Hey Chris,

I went with Mac Pro and what I am finding is that after you render files they are huge. Invest in the biggest hard drive you can afford. Also you may want to at least go with 4 Gig of Ram as it will help with Rendering as well.

The terabite of USB hard drives are easier since you can just plug them up but unless you are going to be transfering with firewire instead of USB you might want to go with internal drives to save time.

You are using Avid but I think it would be similar to the workstation components I use for FCP.

I found out at 6:00am this morning during a render of a video I just finished that I was out of Hard drive space already. I cleaned up the system and I will be picking up a couple more internal hard drives for the Mac Pro on the way home. This HD stuff take massive amounts of space.

I hope this helps a bit, also if you decide to build one yourself be sure to keep the boxes the components came in because they can be very usefull 2 years out when you are trying to replace parts.