Which is best laptop for video editing?

[Tales 68]

I have returned my HP zd8290 notebook and am now looking for the best available notebook for video editing on the market. My budget is around £1500 (or do I need to spend more) - Can I get something to handle mid range software or do I need to look at custom built? I would greatly appreciate any advice as this search is proving fruitless at the mo. A lot of the advice given in relevant mags often seems contradictory.

[azzo]

I am biased, but I dabble a little in video editing and have found that the stability and problem free sofware on the MAC is far better than any PC I have ever used.
So my advice would be to get a powerbook! Even the basic imovie is excellent for novice stuff. Final Cut express and pro are apparantly much more professional.
I think the question you should answer is what software will I be using and find a notebook to match!
azzo

The only way to successfully edit using a notebook is to run the video data through an external firewire 7200rpm hard drive, some powerbooks give you 2x firewire ports which is a real boon

[azzo]

Not entirely true, I am editing without drop frames on a mac mini (less powerful than the current powerbooks) with a 4200 drive. This may not be true on a windows machine however.

by happy coincidence I use a mac mini as well, (1.4ghz, 1gb Ram version) and found real-time playback impossible at anything other than the lowest quality setting.

By the time the drive runs your system, the application and the video data files then it really does struggle. It is on this basis that I bought, and would advise anybody else to buy an external hard drive, you may not agree with me but that doesn't make me wrong.

[azzo]

Hi Rob, just a small difference in opinion then, I was just pointing out that laptop drives are a viable option for video editing. Although not the speediest when editing it is possible without too much pain and you certainly don't get any dropped frames whilst doing input and output to a camcorder. I also agree that you would see a benefit from an external drive. In fact I am looking at that possiblity right now. Which external drive did you opt for? What software are you using? I am using imovie. I must admit that I haven't changed any quality settings, but have not seen any problems with playback.
knd rgds
azzo

[TheDoctor]

I would agree with the above. Windows based laptops are poorly designed for serious video editting (they can't handle the heat production) - if it is a laptop then go for a Mac.

I use Windows based desktop, that doesn't have such problems.

Doc

[rcmarple]

Get the fastest 15" Apple Powerbook you can afford and make sure you have enough money left over to buy Final Cut Express.