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jgillphotography
Known Participant
January 3, 2017
Question

Please let me know if this laptop is overkill

  • January 3, 2017
  • 4 replies
  • 9103 views

Hi all.

I'm a hobbyist photographer and use Lightroom and Photoshop heavily.  My HP HDX16 is tired and needs to be replaced.  I'm looking to get into editing all my home movies that no one can watch because they aren't organized and lots of short clips so I am dipping my feet into Premiere Pro and some After Effects.  I don't have 4k video yet, but I'm sure it will come in the future.  I was considering this machine:

Acer Predator 17 G5-793-72AU 17.3" Gaming Laptop Computer - Black; Intel Core i7-6700HQ Processor 2.6GHz; NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB GDDR5 VR Ready; 16GB RAM; 1TB HDD + 256GB SSD  Full HD IPS LED-backlit LCD 1920 x 1080

this machine can be upgraded to 64 gb or Ramm if needed for the future.

I also just found something a few hundred cheaper:

HP ENVY 17-s143cl 17t Touchscreen Laptop - Intel® Core™ i7-7500U (2.7 GHz, up to 3.5 GHz with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology, 4 MB cache, 2 cores) -

NVIDIA GeForce 940M 4GB Graphics - 1080p; 16 GB DDR3L-1600 SDRAM (2 x 8 GB)

i'm leaning toward the Predator for future proofing but what would you do?

Thanks in advance.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    4 replies

    R
    RjL190365
    Legend
    January 4, 2017

    For your particular budget I would eliminate the Kaby Lake-based HP that's in your initial list (unless you're never going to edit anything higher than 720p resolution) because all laptop Kaby Lake CPUs that has been released so far have only two physical CPU cores, and from my testing even a 3.7 GHz dual-core i3-6100 (Skylake) CPU is significantly slower in Premiere than a 3.3 GHz (Turbo-boosted) quad-core i5-6500 (same CPU generation and architecture as the i3-6100).

    As for the other HP that's in your new list, the GPU in that system is a bit weak: That GeForce 940M/MX is not even a second-generation Maxwell (GM2##) GPU, but a older first-generation one (GM107) that's clocked slightly lower than a desktop GTX 750 Ti (based on the same GM107 GPU). And although the display is a true 4k display, the GPU is simply too weak to handle 4k.

    J
    jgillphotographyAuthor
    Known Participant
    January 4, 2017

    RjK thank you, but I believe the second HP is a 960M with 4GB.  does that change your feeling at all?  Also the display probably doesn't matter to me since you can edit 4k without a 4k display right?  I don't watch anything on my laptop, it is just a tool to do work.  I think my focus should be on hardware and the ability to upgrade some things like RAM.  Am I thinking this through correctly.  If I get heavy into video editing I will probably build a desktop for that purpose when I finish my basement.  Right now everything needs to be portable.

    Thanks

    R
    RjL190365
    Legend
    January 4, 2017

    I stand corrected on the 17-inch HP with the 960M. The 960M is still not even a second-generation Maxwell GPU - but a first-generation GM107 GPU that's clocked slightly lower than the desktop GTX 750 Ti that it is based on. As such, it is still too weak for 4k editing.

    You see, NVidia has had a history of rebadging old-generation GPUs with new names at the lower end. In fact, one of the versions of the desktop GT 730 that's still sold at retail is based on the exact same GPU as the lousy GT 430 from 2010!

    And no matter which laptop you choose, you do have to know that you will need to have that laptop plugged into an AC wall outlet just to even edit at all. This is because all laptops will throttle down the clocks seriously when on battery power (often to the point where the laptop's performance capability falls below the minimum performance capability that's required for Premiere to run at all) no matter what, and the power that's required of a powerful video editor will cause the battery to have a woefully insufficient battery run time between charges. In fact, the battery might run down to completely empty from a full charge in a matter of minutes with the power that's required of a good "portable" editing rig!

    RoninEdits
    RoninEdits
    Inspiring
    January 3, 2017

    new laptops should be coming out any time now, with the new cpu i7-7700HQ and new gpu gtx 1050. they should be closer to $1k since the gtx 1050 won't be as expensive as the gtx 1060. if you don't want to wait, you might find a laptop on discount/close-out for close to $1k with a gtx 970m. i would skip any with the gtx 960m or lower.

    sandking150
    sandking150
    Participant
    January 4, 2017

    Thank you so is the GTX 1050 better than the GTX 1060?

    Peru Bob
    Community Expert
    Peru BobCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 4, 2017

    The GTX 1060 is a better card than the GTX 1050, but requires more power and is more expensive.

    Bill Gehrke
    Bill Gehrke
    Inspiring
    January 3, 2017

    Go with the Predator because you do not want a 2-core CPU for editing.  Also the GPU is far superior with the GTX 1060

    J
    jgillphotographyAuthor
    Known Participant
    January 3, 2017

    Thank you Bill,

    Here are three more to consider slightly less money, as the Predator is $1499. I would love to get something under $1k but not sure if it's possible.  I know anyone of these would handle Lightroom and Photoshop just fine, and since I'm only editing home movies not sure if the Predator is overkill (I am new to Premiere Pro).  Thank you in advance:

    ASUS ROG GL752VW Laptop - $999

    Intel® Core™ i7-6700HQ Processor 2.6GHz - 16GB DDR4 RAM

    17.3" FHD (1920 x 1080) matte Display

    4GB NVIDIA GTX 960M Graphics

    1TB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive + 128GB Solid State Drive

    Lenovo Ideapad Y700 Laptop - $1299

    Intel® Core™ i7-6700HQ Processor 2.6GHz

    16GB DDR4 RAM

    1TB Hard Drive + 256GB Solid State Drive

    17.3" IPS LED-Backlit FHD (1920 x 1080) Anti-Glare Display

    4GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M Graphics

    HP Performance Pavilion 17t Laptop - $1299

    Windows 10 Professional 641

    16 GB DDR4-2133 SDRAM (2 x 8 GB)

    16 GB memory; 2 TB HDD storage6; 128 GB SSD storage7

    Storage type: HDD; SSD

    Hard drive description: 2 TB 5400 rpm SATA6

    Solid-state drive description: 128 GB M.2 SSD7

    Processor speed: 2.6 GHz

    Processor family: 6th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 processor

    Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-6700HQ with NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 960M (2.6 GHz, up to 3.5 GHz, 6 MB cache, 4 cores)2 4 8 9

    Display: 17.3" diagonal UHD IPS UWVA anti-glare WLED-backlit (3840 x 2160)5

    Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 960M (4 GB GDDR5 dedicated)

    Peru Bob
    Community Expert
    Peru BobCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 3, 2017

    You want 7200 RPM HDDs, not 5400 RPM HDDs.

    Peru Bob
    Community Expert
    Peru BobCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 3, 2017

    I've moved this to the Hardware Forum where the hardware experts are more likely to read and respond.

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