# Pc or laptop



## H-M3 (Jul 13, 2006)

Right chaps and chapettes. A young cousin of mine is trying to learn how to do video and photo editing. He is not based here in the UK and comes from a poor background. I said I will help him with a computer so he can learn the trade and try and sustain his family. He is articulate and academically very intelligent. The problem now is I have no foggy about IT apart from basic day to day stuff. This is where your expertise come to play. I myself is on a budget so don’t have plenty of dough myself. Can I purchase a second hand PC/laptop that can get him started? Or is there anyone who I can pay to build one? Thanks guys.


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## Crackfox (Mar 17, 2019)

What is your budget? You would be better off with a desktop than a laptop for editing I would imagine. A laptop with dedicated graphics would start to get expensive.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk


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## Ctreanor13 (May 1, 2019)

Definitely better value for video editing with a desktop. Alot use Macs and I believe they are very good for this but not budget friendly. Maybe Matt (who runs the YouTube channel for DW) can shed some light on this one


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## mar00 (Jun 24, 2018)

depends on budget and what level of editing, a used workstation as new as possible to fit budget but ideally one with a editing graphics card, don't worry too much about amont of RAM or hard drives fitted initialy, they have plenty of room for expansion, you can pick RAM cheap up on ebay most workstations will accept 32GB at least but usually more, don't bother with macs, 

obviously with a desktop you'll need a monitor in the budget too, if you're shipping it out of UK workstations are heavy,

laptops maybe a Lenovo ThinkPad W series


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## H-M3 (Jul 13, 2006)

Thanks guys for the feedback so far. Ideally the cheaper the better. As he is starting off it would make sense to send him a basic start up package, he can then build up gradually after experience. Yes I would agree a desk top is better as possibility of expansion is far greater. If need be I can send him further hardware later. Shipping wise I think it’s around £4-5 per kg. 

NB: I am waiting for the right person to say “here is one you can have for peanuts”


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## Max Inc (Apr 3, 2007)

Apart from initial budget, it will largely depend on what he intends to study. That will determine the optimum configuration.

Photo editing generally required more RAM, a quick CPU and a good quality display which can be satisfied with a notebook. Video editing may need fast drives and a powerful graphics card and probably best suited for a desktop configuration. How powerful it needs to be depends on the material he intends to edit. 4k has 4 times the number of pixels of HD video.

You can do pretty amazing productions these days on a smart phone or tablet. At the other extreme, colour grading raw footage will need very expensive hardware.


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## H-M3 (Jul 13, 2006)

Max Inc said:


> Apart from initial budget, it will largely depend on what he intends to study. That will determine the optimum configuration.
> 
> Photo editing generally required more RAM, a quick CPU and a good quality display which can be satisfied with a notebook. Video editing may need fast drives and a powerful graphics card and probably best suited for a desktop configuration. How powerful it needs to be depends on the material he intends to edit. 4k has 4 times the number of pixels of HD video.
> 
> You can do pretty amazing productions these days on a smart phone or tablet. At the other extreme, colour grading raw footage will need very expensive hardware.


Thanks Max. I think it will be more weddings, parties etc he will be targeting. I don't think it will be 4k yet. I was hoping that I could buy a used pc/laptop and just add some hardware if need be?


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## Max Inc (Apr 3, 2007)

H-M3 said:


> Thanks Max. I think it will be more weddings, parties etc he will be targeting.


If he keeps it to HD, I think he can get away with a laptop and some good external drives. This type of video editing is more about I/O speed, so a laptop with USB3 ports is essential if going this route. Just for learning, the above Lenovo recommendation is a great start.

Here's one off eBay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/153407746823

You can use USB3 external drives to extend storage capacity and if he starts making money, he can invest in a better desktop configuration with larger screen(s) better graphics, expandable storage etc.


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

Video/photo editing is so much easier on a decent sized IPS monitor. Especially ultrawide as it can be like using two monitors. 

Cheaper laptops with TN screen will be a nightmare getting the brightness right. A slight change of angle and the brightness changes.


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## H-M3 (Jul 13, 2006)

Shiny said:


> Video/photo editing is so much easier on a decent sized IPS monitor. Especially ultrawide as it can be like using two monitors.
> 
> Cheaper laptops with TN screen will be a nightmare getting the brightness right. A slight change of angle and the brightness changes.


What's IPS and TN? Sorry


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## Starbuck88 (Nov 12, 2013)

H-M3 said:


> What's IPS and TN? Sorry


It's the display.

IPS = In Plane Switching
TN = Twisted Nematic
VA = Vertical Alignment

IPS is nicer to look at, better colours and far far far better viewing angles.

As a techie, I would whole heartedly recommend going the PC route.

What is the budget?


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## H-M3 (Jul 13, 2006)

Starbuck88 said:


> It's the display.
> 
> IPS = In Plane Switching
> TN = Twisted Nematic
> ...


To be honest the cheapest possible.


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## Andy from Sandy (May 6, 2011)

Find the video editing software and see what specs it recommends.

For the processing of the video to create the final file it is better if it is done on a solid state drive.

I use Vegas. I have a desktop with i7 4GHz processor. Nvidia 1070 graphics card. Samsung EVO 1TB SSD. 32GB of ram. 2 x Dell U2414H monitors.

It's getting old now but at the time it was a pretty good spec.


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## H-M3 (Jul 13, 2006)

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/233522726767

What's people's view on this please?
Thanks


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## H-M3 (Jul 13, 2006)

H-M3 said:


> https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/233522726767
> 
> What's people's view on this please?
> Thanks


I know people are advised not to mingle but I am sure you can use internet! Any views guys?
Thanks


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## H-M3 (Jul 13, 2006)

Andy from Sandy said:


> Find the video editing software and see what specs it recommends.
> 
> For the processing of the video to create the final file it is better if it is done on a solid state drive.
> 
> ...


Can I ask how much that setup cost?
Cheers


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## VW STEVE. (Mar 18, 2012)

We went from a ''tower pc'' to a laptop & for us a decent quality/spec laptop is great now. Saves so much space etc.


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## Max Inc (Apr 3, 2007)

H-M3 said:


> https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/233522726767
> 
> What's people's view on this please?
> Thanks


That will do for starters although I would try to get something with 16GB of RAM, it shouldn't be much more. CPU is good, it has a Quadro fx discrete video card which is nice to have on a video editing machine, full hd 15" screen is quite decent. For that amount of money you get a lot of computing power.

You have to accept that in this line of business the sky is really the limit in terms of how much you spend. You won't find better performance / value than with a laptop like this one. Decent external monitors, even SH won't be very cheap and once you go the tower route there will be many upgrades to consider which will build up in the hundreds and thousands.

For learning and editing 1080p wedding like material, a laptop like this will do just fine. You will need external storage though, in terms of USB3 high capacity drives because video footage takes a lot of space. So that laptop + another 8GB of RAM + 2 to 4TB external drive should do for now. Resell value won't go down by much if turns out video editing is not the way forward.

In time you can add another external drive and an additional screen to increase productivity. If the business will grow, then you can spend a few thousands on a proper rig. You will also discover other money pits along the way, like cameras and lenses, tripods, lighting kits and many many more.


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## H-M3 (Jul 13, 2006)

Thanks guys. I think you are right as a starter you can’t go wrong with those specs.


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