High spec laptop with firewire port

[murrayr63]

Im having a hard time finding a laptop to my specification..

I need 6-8gb ram
i5-i7 or equivalent
15" screen
also a good graphics card would be nice.

But most importantly it must have firewire or the ability to connect to firewire through a adapter.

its for editing HD underwater video whilst im out on a shoot. Currently im using a dell xps and its great but no firewire so i have to carry a old sony vaio with a ilink port to transfer it onto first, then i can save it to a external hard drive and then get it to the dell... far to much work when your on a boat in the middle of nowhere!

They must exist, can you guys help

 

[EndlessWaves]

Virtually all 15" laptops are going to be able to connect to firewire via an ExpressCard adapter.

If you want a dedicated firewire port then Sony and Apple were always the big supporters and both still offer it, have a look at the Sony F-series or Apple MacBookPro 15"

 

[murrayr63]

Could you send me a link to one with my spec. The guy in pc world/currys couldnt find one (not that means anything). I could see for myself in the shop display that none of the newer models had expansion slots.

I will check out Sony.

Dont want a mac really, means a complete change of software.

Thanks,

 

[maf1970]

http://www.sony.co.uk/product/vn-f-series

F-Series is the only one in Sony Vaio range that comes with Firewire built in.

 

[EndlessWaves]

Could you send me a link to one with my spec. The guy in pc world/currys couldnt find one (not that means anything). I could see for myself in the shop display that none of the newer models had expansion slots.

How odd, I've just looked around and they do seem to be getting rid of them, I guess USB3 is now fast enough for most uses and many people don't care whether something's external or tucked away inside the machine.

Still, most of the business laptops from the like of Dell, Lenovo, Toshiba etc. will still have one.

The Dell Precision M4500, and presumably the others in the range, has a firewire port.

Dont want a mac really, means a complete change of software.

'Macs' stopped using separate hardware several years ago, these days it's just the name for apple's range of PCs, no different from Lenovo 'Thinkpad' or Dell 'Inspiron'. They do ship with a different OS of course, so you'll need to buy your own copy of windows but an extra £70 on a £1000 laptop isn't that big a deal and installing windows on an empty machine is pretty easy.

 

[murrayr63]

Thanks for pointing me in the direction of that line of dell laptops. I'm looking at a m6600. It says it has a IEEE 1394 port, is that the real old style IEEE 1394 port or the 1394a port the same as sonys Ilink?

 

[maf1970]

IEEE 1394 - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[murrayr63]

I did look there before I posted. It says the original FireWire port is ancient and the more recent version is the 1394a that's found on the sonys and macs. So do you think it's the old style or new(ish) port?

 

[EndlessWaves]

The specs say the 15" ones have a 4-pin port (sony iLink style) while the 17" ones have a 6-pin port. They're the same data signal so you can plug a 4-pin device into a 6-pin port and vice versa with no problem with the appropriate cable, the only difference is that the 6-pin port provides power as well.

Dell Precision Laptops & Dell Mobile Workstations | Dell UK