System performance and price - do not care about looks or brand.

fatw41

Honorable
Dec 30, 2012
20
0
10,560
Sorry, I wasn't able to say enough in the title. I'd like to get a laptop which I will mainly use for photo/video editing, probably no games, but lots of multi-tasking. I'm on a very limited budget and I don't want to spend more than 700 since I'm planning on getting a desktop for most of the work I need to do. However, until that time I need a new laptop to port me over.

Please do not recommend any apple products to me, because in terms of the hardware I do not think the price is justified. not to mention that I'm priced out of that market for now.

I really do not care about the looks of the laptop. Don't care much about the case or the build. I am very cautious and even though I need to move around a lot based on my past experience with laptops I don't see how the build quality from one laptop to the next is going to be a deciding factor for me. I just want a no-frills machine that can get the job done.

I've been looking at some Asus models recently, but still prefer to seek advice.

hope my questions make sense. So, please advise which brands or specific laptops might you recommend?

If more information is necessary I'll be happy to provide whatever else you'd like to know.

Thanks!
 


A lemon, then! :p

Photo/video editing will require something with a decent GPU due to the rendering. You might be able to slip by with an iGPU, but don't expect much if you do so. Of course, Haswell may have something to say about that.

Asus is worthy of consideration, as is Clevo I think. Not sure how their screens gamut compare (which is important in editing work), but they offer good bang for the buck.
 

fatw41

Honorable
Dec 30, 2012
20
0
10,560

Yup, what's your opinion about this deal? -->

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1661774/good-deal-3230m-nvidia-geforce-610m-2gb-8gb-ddr3-665.html

Thanks!
 


Hey,

That's not bad, especially with the dedicated GPU. But I've been reading on that 610M and the Intel graphics are actually a bit better. Depending on how serious your editing is going to be, you might be okay with an i5 or i7. If you want to do professional/heavy rendering, then look for something with maybe a GeForce 640M or better. For multi-tasking, the i7 would be better for you, but again, it all depends on how much load you intend to put on it. The i5 is a good CPU. :)

Btw, if you decide to opt out of dedicated graphics, and you're interested in Asus, you can get a K55A for about $100 cheaper with the same CPU as the model you linked me to. Then, if you want, you can use some of that to upgrade other components, or just save yourself some cash!