new high spec laptop

[jimmyogenic]

I need to get a laptop for a job i'm doing and don't see the reason for buying a macbook when i guess a pc lappy will do the same job but cheaper (although prove me wrong if you can!).

All the lappy is going to do is run resolume and a few peripheral progs. Its never going to be used as an everyday laptop, so its purely for visual sets. I'm out of touch with lappys as i've used macbooks for a while, so have no idea on good brands or custom build co's. I guess i'm looking at a top spec or 1 down with spec of something like below, I don't have any idea which are the best gfx cards either so any advice would be cool...

i7 processor (sandy? or is an ivy bridge overkill and overpriced?)
ssd drive
min 8gb ram pref 16gb
2gb gfx
15" non glossy screen
DVI/vga out

anything else should look out for?

with a
blackmagic usb3 capture dongle

cheers

[sleepytom]

Almost no laptops work with the USB3 Blackmagic stuff.

people have reported success with a MSI GE620DX so you might want to try one of them.

personally i'd get a mac.

[vanakaru]

Originally Posted by jimmyogenic

I need to get a laptop for a job i'm doing and don't see the reason for buying a macbook when i guess a pc lappy will do the same job but cheaper (although prove me wrong if you can!).

Why would you tempt people to start another stupid discussion mac versus win? Or you really want mac but can not afford it and seek for comfort and justification? Could you, please edit your first statement.

[jimmyogenic]

this isn't a mac vs pc debate, its a 'i used to use pc's then switched to primarily using macs about 5 years ago so i'm behind on the latest spec's/decent lappys'

We spec the right kit for the right job, in this case why spend more on something when i can get a pc laptop which has basically the same spec's for a decent amount less. As i'm using resolume its not going to make any difference whether it has an apple or a windows logo on the front, the output will be the same.

so therefore i won't change my initial statement as your reading into it what you want to see.

"Or you really want mac but can not afford it and seek for comfort and justification?"

nope not the case at all. if i wanted a macbook then i'd get one as budget isn't a problem. I've bought in the last year 3 x macs and 2 x very high spec rackmounted pc's. depends on whats right for the job, but there's no point in spend money unnecessarily as we're living in austere times!

[PCProject]

Originally Posted by sleepytom

Almost no laptops work with the USB3 Blackmagic

We have a Samsung RF711 i7 laptop USB3 2 drives etc - it works quite happily with the USB3 BM Intensity shuttle.

[visualove]

If you search for Intel roadmap, you will find publicly released information on processor and chipset upgrades, and closer to the release date, the processor prices. Would assume the same for AMD/ATI and Nvidia. After the chips are released, there will be benchmarks. Unfortunately we suffer from benchmarkship - some benchmarks are designed to play on the strengths of one chip and the weakness of competitors.

I believe Resolume makes use of the GPU, so it might be best to invest in the most powerful mobile GPU with the largest and fastest GPU memory supported. The laptop makers may not put the top GPU with a lesser CPU. But you could do that with a Shuttle or like. Intel has chosen not to compete in the performance GPU marketplace, that leaves ATI and Nvidia. Also a good idea to look at the speeds and feeds of the chipset that connects the CPU, GPU, and IO. With a Shuttle or equivalent, you can start optimizing multiple display solutions and 3d even. Expect to spend more on a high spec GPU than the entire rest of the box

An SSD will improve your life at a price. You might ask Avenue developers about the impact of CPU main memory size and performance, as well as the CPU cache. They have their own forums.

Laptops will always be limited by cooling over a Shuttle or similar small form factor chassis, and price too.