So, I'm Ready

I apologize, this may be a long post.

Decided to fork out for a Sager. Coming from an ancient laptop of the HP variety, I was happy to hear about the mod-ability and other perks of the Clevo/Sager chassis. Anyways, I'm having two issues, and I was wondering if you guys could help me out.

My first issue is a general technical inquiry; I'm building system for video editing. I primarily work with Premiere and Adobe After Effects CS5.5, and would like a system that can comfortably handle HDSLR footage on these editing platforms. Comfortably handle; this laptop should be quick, but not necessarily top of the line. Would the specs below satisfy this?

2630QM Processor
GTX 560m
12/16gb 1600mhz RAM
500gb 7200rpm HDD

Also, would I get a noticeable performance upgrade with a 570m or 485m? Can't really afford a 580m, but also cannot find a reseller that equips Sagers with these other cards.

I also wanted to know if an SSD would give a noticeable performance upgrade when editing with Premiere or AE; can't really spring for a large SSD, but just wanted to know for future reference, or if I could get by with a small SSD as a program/boot drive and use an external 5400 RPM drive I have at home to store my footage.

My second issue, and perhaps the more important of the two, lies with identifying an appropriate reseller.

I am located in Vancouver, BC Canada. I cannot decide whether it would be cheaper to buy from an American reseller (Malibal, Xotic PC) or a Canadian reseller (Reflexnotebook).

My main priority with finding a reseller concerns the initial cost. I would like to, taxes/brokerage/shipping/etc. inclusive, keep my costs around or below $1500.

Reflexnotebook seems like a good choice since they do not, from my understanding, charge shipping or brokerage. Is this true?

Anyways, thank you very much for any assistance you can throw my way. Would love to have a reseller chime in if they have a solution that may work.

Thanks,
Brandon

 

Welcome to the forums, it would be great if you read this thread :

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...-0-faq-reseller-info-read-before-posting.html

This has all the reseller informations you might need.

I have some questions though with your configuration.

1. Which model are you looking at that has the 2600k processor?

2. Is your sole purpose video editing? Because if you don't game, the 560m should be more than enough for your needs.

3. SSD gives noticeable speed gains in loading, saving, etc. But it is perfectly fine and common for people to get a small SSD for OS and some apps and get a HDD for storage purposes. How much are you willing to spend on an SSD?

 

Thank you for the link.

1) An embarrassing mistake, I actually meant the 2630QM. Let me update my original post.
2) I game here and there, but it is by no means a priority. This thing will spend most of its time video editing.
3) Main thing I'm looking for is render speed performance. Although speed gains within saving/loading would be nice, they are not a priority. What's the deal with a hybrid drive?

Thanks for your quick response!

 

For video editing, cpu and ram are the main focus. Currently 2630qm has been replaced by the 2670qm which is 10% more performance than the 2630qm, so you wont be seeing the 2630 any time soon; especially ivy is soon to come. 12gb ram should be ideal for your need.

560m should be more than enough for casual gaming.

Another awesome addition to your system would be the 95% color gamut display, if you had not already opt it.

 

Your build does look good for what your main goals are. Stick with Nvidia as their CUDA cores will make video editing better especially in PP where it will work with the mercury engine making it work much faster.

Adding an SSD is one of the most noticeable upgrades you can do for performance. While it wont help in the actual program it does help with boot up times and program start times. It will make your new computer feel much more responsive and snappier.

When ordering from a US reseller we only collect for the price of the computer and shipping costs. Any taxes etc are due at the time of delivery. For brokerage fees just dont use UPS ground as they will collect for these when they deliver. If you go with UPS Express they will not collect for brokerage fees at the time of deliveyr.

 

Impale, thank you for your response. I will have to do some more research into the 95% gamut display. Looks interesting! Never heard of them until I started researching Clevo/Sager computers.

Hutsady, if that is the case, perhaps I'll pass on the SSD. However, thanks for confirming that CUDA is the way to go for Premiere.

I'll do a bit more research, but thanks for everyones responses.

 

Specs look good, i'd recommend upgrading to the 2670 instead of 2630.

You can get an SSD down the line when it's in your budget, but i highly recommend it.

 

With intel's QuickSync technology built into the second gen i7 line, the processor is where you want to spend the money. In some cases you'll see a 150% speed increase with video trans-coding.

Upgrade to the 2670!

You wont regret it.