Alienware - current thoughts or experience to share?

[Natalie Rosella]

Hi everyone,

I searched the forum and can't find recent answers on Alienware laptops. They have an online sale happening so I am interested in getting one for Premiere Pro.

These are specs:

- Intel Core i7-8750H (6-core, 9MB Cache, up to 4.1GHz w/ turbo boost

- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 OC with 8GB GDDR5

- 17.3" QHD (2560x1440)

- 23GB DDR4-2666MHz

- 256GB PCIe M.2 SSD + 1TB 7200RPM HDD

1. Though I understand these are for gaming, are Alienware laptops considered good for video editing?

2. Does anyone in the forum have experience with their products, with respect to video editing?

3. I am still a beginner and barely shoot 4K. I plan to export 1080 footage - does it sound reasonable to NOT opt for the 4K screen?

I understand this might be overkill, but I am comparing this sale price to what I'd pay for an iMac, which is slightly more expensive, with less impressive specs. I would appreciate any advice.

Thanks,

Natalie

[excited_Genie16B8]

are Alienware laptops considered good for video editing?

I don't think any laptop is good for video editing.  The keyboards generally suck, their screens are too small, and you can't install enough internal hard drives to do the job well.

Build your own desktop.  It's usually cheaper than buying.

Computer Parts, Laptops, Electronics, and More - Newegg.com

[Peru Bob]

Moved to the Hardware forum.

[RjL190365 · Accepted solution]

Here's the deal with ALL laptops, including your planned one:

1) The laptop MUST be plugged into an AC wall outlet to minimize the risk of the CPU clock speed throttling down in the middle of rendering.

2) You will need additional disks in order for the Adobe content creation apps to work properly. Since the second disk is a hard drive that can't achieve any higher than 130-ish MB/s in sequential writes even with a 7200 RPM spindle speed, I'd actually recommend an external USB 3.1 Gen 2 SSD for those additional disks to put your projects and video files onto.

3) Although the CPU and GPU  in that planned laptop are relatively good performers for mobile configurations, laptops as a rule deliver poorer value than desktops, especially since a laptop must be plugged in to the wall in order to perform at its best anyway. As such, if you merely want a transportable PC for editing work, you may be better off with a mini-ITX desktop build than a laptop.

[Natalie Rosella]

Thank you so much for this information.

I am looking into a build now.

*For the sake of my knowledge: hypothetically, would the above laptop be almost passable if the main SSD was larger and faster (M.2 Class 50), and if an extra two external USB 3.1 Gen 2 SSDs were incorporated?  

*My main worry is the jumpiness at timeline editing stage after incorporation of adjustment layer and transitions (I don't mind waiting a little extra for final exporting). Having said this, I will keep looking into a PC build.

Thank you so much again for the information - so happy to learn.