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knockstar
knockstar
Participating Frequently
May 20, 2017
Question

The age old question from a complete newb. Are these specs okay?

  • May 20, 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 1361 views

Hello,  Been tearing my hair out for over a week now trying to select a laptop for the purposes of video editing. Been researching countless forums and youtube best of list and still unsure of what to pull the trigger on in regards to a decent machine. As of last Monday, I knew zero in regards to hardware so I have given myself a crash course in processors, video cards and while I have learned a lot, but apparently I have a lot left to learn. lol I have recently purchased a Mavic Pro drone and one of the many formats it shoots in is 4k. I have ruled out the obvious more logical choice of a desktop because I need the portability. I also would like a 17-inch screen to work with and to ensure correct color judgment, a 4k screen.  To that end, after much searching, I think I found the machine for me, but I would like to ask the experts your opinion. I have been using Lightworks on my severely underpowered 4 year old laptop and was considering Davinci Resolve for the new one, but it is my understanding that iDavinci is extremely resource intensive and even with these specs I am listing, it would probably be wheezing badly with that program.  I would like to try the Adobe line of editing programs, but want to make sure I have something that will keep up before I make the financial investment. I would be most grateful for your valued & honest opinions of the following. Thank you

HP Pavilion 17-ab202na 4K

Operating system

Windows 10 Home 64

Processor

Chipset

Intel® HM175

Processor speed

  1. 2.8 GHz

Processor family

7th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 processor

Processor

Intel® Core™ i7-7700HQ (2.8 GHz, up to 3.8 GHz with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology, 6 MB cache, 4 cores)

Drives

Hard drive description

1 TB 7200 rpm SATA

Hard drive (2nd)

256 GB PCIe® NVMe™ M.2 SSD

Optical drive

DVD-Writer

Cloud service

Dropbox

Storage type

HDD
SSD

Graphic Subsystem

Graphics

NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1050 (4 GB GDDR5 dedicated)

Graphics

Discrete

Memory

Memory, standard

16 GB DDR4-2400 SDRAM (2 x 8 GB)

Standard memory note

Transfer rates up to 2400 MT/s

Memory and storage

16 GB memory
1 TB HDD storage
256 GB SSD storage

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    1 reply

    Bill Gehrke
    Bill Gehrke
    Inspiring
    May 20, 2017

    If I had that system the first thing I would do is clone the OS/Applications to a SATA III SSD and install it where the hard disk drive is installed.  That can be done by getting a temporary external USB 3 enclosure for the cloning operation and then later installing the hard disk drive in it for backup usage.  Use the super speed M.2 SSD for all your project files.

    An alternative would be to use a portable USB 3 SSD like the Samsung T3 series for your project files like I do on my laptop.

      knockstar
      knockstarAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      May 20, 2017

      Thank you so much for your response Bill.  Taking from what you said the listed specs would be okay, apart from what you mentioned about the hard drive. I read in numerous places, people recommending the same and the external SSD sounds good to me. I'm only in the early learning process of editing, but from what I've read this one seemed pretty good, though some have mentioned a 1070 or /80 Nvidia graphic card. Does everything else sound okay? I suppose I could upgrade the graphics card if I find it is not up to snuff.  I think the processor should be fine. I know I could spec out some mega-Godzilla super editing machine, or go Macbook Pro, but I don't want to have sell the kids for medical experiments to pay for it, that's why I was going with this as it about 1400 UK money. Been reading up on 4k editing and apparently, there are workarounds such as downgrading and proxy workflows, which is the study matter for today. Again thank you ever so much for your expertise and response.

      Bill Gehrke
      Bill Gehrke
      Inspiring
      May 20, 2017

      I do hope that for editing on any laptop that you need to have it plugged into AC power/  When they design laptops they build default power-down settings on everything to give "bragging rights" on battery life.

      Your CPU is a little better than my three-year old CPU but I have been able to comfortably edit my son's 4K GoPro footage.

      As far as the GPU my laptop has a GTX 765M which does have a few more CUDA cores (768), and your newer GTX 1050 has 640 CUDA Cores but it is two generation newer which probably makes it probably equal to mine. What you want to do when you get your laptop is download a GPU tool to increase the memory clock on that GPU and find out how far you can increase it without overheating excessively..  GPU-Z is the tool I use to check the memory clock speed and operating temperature.  Most laptops have soldered in GPU's that are not upgradable.

      When you get Premiere and your laptop you might want to run my Adobe Premiere Pro BenchMark and submit the results to me for comment

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