np 8150-s1 configuration question

I am going w/ the 485 because of comp. issues w/ my football video editing software. My question is, am I better off goint to the I7 2720 or would I be better off sticking w/ the 2630 and upgrading to an ssd? I use an external hdd for my football game video files. thanks

 

If you had to put the money in one or the other i would go with an SSD. The 2630 is a very capable cpu, you'll get a slight performance increase when you go to the 2720 but the performance boost going from a a platter drive to an SSD is much greater. Get the Intel 510 series since its SATA III and you'll be smoking. The SSD will help with read/write times. But if you're question is what would be more beneficial to you for your video editing the CPU upgrade is the better choice. If you want to know which upgrade you'll be happier with, i'd still say SSD.

 

I had the same thought when ordering mine. I went with the 2720 and a standard HDD because I am much more likely to upgrade my HDD to SSD in a year or two when prices/capacities/speeds are even better. But replacing the CPU is something I'd probably never do.

 

I agree with AnakiMana. A harddrive upgrade is done by most people and it is easy to do but processors are hardly ever upgraded in the lifetime of a laptop.

I would get the 2720QM (it does offer a significant boost over the 2630QM) and then get a platter drive for now.

At the moment, SSD drives are still quite expensive but new ones come out every month and prices are dropping for larger capacities and higher speeds.

 

Go for the SSD I would say. if you can afford one big enough to put at least temporary files from the video editing you will see enormous benefit from the faster read/write. A CPU upgrade is very doable (I did it for my previous laptop V6J, which was straight forward - P150HM should be piece of cake in comparison) and then you can leapfrog 2720QM and get faster/newer CPU if you need the CPU power in 1-2 years

 

I agree with you guys about upgrading the SSD in the future is easier then a CPU upgrade, there's no doubt about it.

If I had to pick one or the other right now, with no plans on upgrading anything in the future i would still go with the SSD.

I have an SSD in my computer and its a huge difference. So much more of a performance increase then upgrading my CPU.

 

I'd agree with the two sentiments in the post - it depends on whether you plan to upgrade.

An SSD will give you an immediate and noticeable speed boost over an HDD (even the 7200rpm models). Your whole system will be much more responsive and boot times will be cut dramatically.

However, if you plan to upgrade in the future, a CPU is something that is much harder (though not impossible) to do yourself. While as others have pointed out, the 2630 is more than capable- the 2720 offers a few benefits and about 20% faster overall benchmarks. An SSD is a simple do it yourself quick replacement down the road, so you could conceivably have both.

If you don't plan to upgrade though, the SSD will make a bigger difference immediately versus the small amount of time difference in video encoding on a better processor. (Especially considering you've got external storage, so the smaller internal SSD wouldn't be a big concern).

 

i dont think its a matter of whats easier to upgrade (both are on the sager fyi), but more of what benefit you will get from either.
i am a video editing enthusiast and i use the 2630m. its very capabe and fast on my 720p multi pip, effects heavy vids. although the 2720 would be better, the minor increase in performance isnt worth it imho. you really want a 2820 at least to see noticeable performance.
the ssd's snappiness on the other hand you will feel straight away especially for plugin heavy programs like ae or ppro that sometimes take a while to load. just be sure to put all your scratch disks and vid temp files on yur secondary disk, to minimize ssd writes.
however, considering your system the first upgrade i would do is get at the very least 8gig ram (16gb recommended for full hd vid edits), as this will have the most immediate effect for video editing.

 

Just read through most of this thread. Very helpful.

I also am a event videographer and use Media Composer and am looking at the 8150. This helps direct my direction! If I can afford it I think I will go with a 40-60GB SSD for the OS and then a 500-640GB for Data and apps.

Thanks,

Jeff
Created Design Video

 

Thanks guys. Putting the order in tomorrow!

Specs: np 8150-s1: 8gb ram, 120gb intel 510 ssd
485 nvidia card
screen? not sure
2630 i7 (may upgrade to 2720 before said and done)