Sony Vaio Z For Film Editing?

I'm looking at the Sony Vaio Z (i5 2.66 ghx and 330m processor) and was wondering how it is with film editing. If I get one i'll be using programs like sony vegas and adobe after effects quite frequently. I've looked at some stuff about gaming on the Z and it seems to fit my needs in that respect (sources games, Just Cause 2, Amnesia: Dark Descent).

I'm really looking at it because I need a good protable machine to take to college (I have a desktop) and I can get the Z for about $1000 on ebay.

 

It's certainly more than capable of doing so. If you do get your hands on an SSD model (which I *don't* think the i5 model offers), the performance of video editing and production would be much better. The 7200rpm drive wouldn't be much worse either, so you can't go wrong either way

 

Wrong. You can get i5 with SSD. Every model sold in the US comes with SSD. Base processor is an i5.

 

Oh sorry then. The base model in my country sells the Z with a 500 GB 7200rpm drive. The i5 is more than capable of handling anything and the i7 is just for bragging rights really, as there is minimal difference in performance.

 

While it is a nice laptop and I have looked at purchasing one in the past. I suggest forgetting about the Vaio Z as you're not getting the most bang for your buck. Fill out a What Notebook Should I Buy thread so we can help you better

 

Not really sure what could make it a good video editing machine.... I only see reasons against that:

- small screen
- low-class GPU
- high-mid class CPU

.... If you are serious about video editing you would need bigger screen, more powerful CPU and most importantly - better GPU. If it is just a hobby - you'll be fine with pretty much any machine with dedicated GPU.

 

Well, its college level film editing so I guess its somewhere between hobby and professional. The main reason i'm considered the Z for this is becasue it has a good battery life, its portable, and I can get it pretty cheap (compared to the actual price).

 

If you plan on editing films, then I wouldn't advise running it, or any notebook, on battery!

Editing & steaming footage etc makes the hard drive & cpu work hard, so the battery will take a thrashing. Also bear in mind you would need to have the brightness up to a reasonably high level so you can view your footage properly.

Anything with a dual core CPU will be great for editing. The VAIO Z has the best screen on any notebook although I'd be comfier editing on a large screen and preferably on a desktop...

What software do you use for editing? Final Cut & a MacBook Pro would probably be your best notebook option for this specific task.

 

Well... seen this way - any laptop that is as portable as you want/need it to be and has a dedicated GPU would do...
Don't get me wrong - the Z you mention DOES have good configuration and is powerful... but I wouldn't say it has any "extra powers" making it good specifically for video editing. But it is a powerful machine

 

Gracy, MAC dont have good gfx cards (but lately) and have served pro editing/final cut for many years. The Gt330m is more than enough.

Z CAN with no doubt edit avchd. Large screen is better but most importantly, it is the résolution that matters because you need to have plenty of things on the screen (all tracks... Plus previews, menus...).

 

I probably should have clarified this before. I'm looking at this as a notebook which I would bring to class to do work so I won't have to use the schools poor computers. That includes some video editing or gaming (mostly source games) when I'm not at my desktop. I have a powerful desktop for doing that kind of work but its nice to have a laptop if I don't feel like sitting at my desk or I want to be productive while i'm out.

 

If you don't mind the small screen, I find the Z very portable...it's light and has a small footprint and very capable.

 

In terms of size, is the screen about the same as the macbook pro 13 (that was the other laptop im considering).

 

MacBook Pro 13 is 16:10 and 1280x800. I've owned two MBP13's and currently own the MBA13 with a 16:10 1440x900 screen and a VAIO Z with 1600x900 and the Z's is clearly a superior screen.

That said, the MBA is pretty exceptional too, but the glossy MBP13's low resolution is an issue.

 

The mac has a 13.3 screen so it's slightly larger than the Z's 13.1.
The mac has a 1280x800 resolution while the Z has either 1600x900 or 1920x1080.

 

I've started to use my Z for 3D video editing. I don't think I would do any editing when I was out and about on the builtin screen and battery. I have a 40" HDTV as my main display. Also if you are going to use this for Video you need an ESATA card, the USB just doesn't cut it. I am getting another 1080P TV to hook up in dual monitor configuration. 1080P by itself isn't much room to work. Why do you think the Apple Cinema display is 2560x1440? With that res you can have your program at full resolution and still have all the tools around it.

I think the Z is a fine choice for Video, but you need to have half a dozen external add ons to do it right. ESATA, RAID enclosure(for project), monitor(s), speakers, mouse etc. Once you have all that stuff it isn't very portable anymore.

 

Second that, certainly professional editing done on a well-equipped workplace allows you to get as much as possible out of the process. But on the other hand, the Z with its 1GB VRAM and GF card is perfectly equipped for cutting and preprocessing of footage on the go or visualization directly at the scene. I do a lot of DSLR time lapse and photographing and I really appreaciate my Z having enough power under the (very compact and handy) 'hood' for After Effects, Photoshop (panorama shots and HDR rendering) and Premiere CS5 (mercury hardware acceleration support with a easy patch - this is really awesome!). I usually do have a look on exposure and picture quality before starting time lapse series. Also rendering HDR images in seconds with the Z laying on my backpack in the grass gives me the creative freedom I want and really helps to improve quality of the shots.

If I got my Z connected to my Nikon with NKRemote (great tool btw), I'm also geotagging my series and images in one step with the built-in GPS module rather than with my smartphone.
I'm also fine with my std batt for this, I usually have 3.5-4 hours runtime (combined idle with screen darkened/load in Photoshop, AE and Premiere) - and a backup DC/DC charger with car lighter plug if needed. Of course if you do video encoding from your battery, you'll be run out of juice in less than an hour.

The only thing that sucks BTW is Adobe's CS5 suite that doesn't support DPI scaling, which produces VERY small UIs on my 1080p screen.

 

Yea I am about to be the proud owner of two 3D HD Hero setups. I am super psyched about it, they just released the 3D kit to put two HD heros together. I am absolutely obsessed with 3D.

check it out!
YouTube - GoPro 3D HERO System: How it Works

YouTube - GoPro 3D: Highlight Reel

I am going to take them out kayaking in whitewater with my girlfriend in a couple more weeks when the weather warms up, it is gonna be awesome!

 

I don't think they even sell that HD model of the Z in the US. They are all SSD.

 

I use a Fuji W3. Cheaper, more compact and you still get high resolution stills.

 

I never said it will not do! You can video edit on Pentium 2 as well! It is only that it is by no means "more video-editing oriented" than any other notebook based on i5 technology with dedicated GPU.

330M is a rather low class GPU - that's a fact. Whether it will be enough or not - is a matter of what you need it for and how serios you are about it. You can do a lot of stuff with integrated GPU too so... never said it will not do.

 

The Macbook shouldn't even be considered for video editing. It's not just about the spatial resolution but the color resolution. The Z is 100% NTSC. The Macbook is about 76%. Anyone who approves professonal work done on a Macbook LCD should be fired.

 

not 1080P video though, and is it waterproof? I think the gopro set up is a pretty good deal!

 

MBP resolution really bugs me, I keep wanting to like Mac hardare but they do dumb things, low res, no blu-ray, too heavy, or light but no removable battery and low cpu power.

until Apple can make something that suits my needs (best of everything, power, high res, light weight) I won't consider them a viable option.

 

Totally agree... I was willing to go MAC especially for video editing and try Final Cut but i guess i will stick with Sony Vegas and buy a Z (+ keep using my desktop computer when at home).

Reason is that no MBP suits my needs : 15" is too heavy, looks like a brick, no full HD screen, unrealistic colours (it is more the family type of laptop than a "Pro" anyway). The MBP 13" is great form factor wise but the GFX is disappointing, with this integrated chip despite all the fuzz about it, i dont trust HD3000 for the futur years. Besides, MBP 13 has no blue ray, no mate antiglare screen... and still MBP price becomes rather high when you want SSD, even though apple SSD are real garbage.

Disappointing apple... Cheers Sony !

 

No, that's your opinion ; it is a dedicated GPU with 1GB memory, class 2 according to notebookcheck... It is not that bad for such a small unit like the Z...

 

Not my opinion - the opinion of every possible website, including the manufacturer's one



You see in which category it is listed?? - The basic, lowest class.

I never said it is crappy or insufficient for light video works and light gaming - I have 310M myself which over-delivers. But don't get fooled - both are low class

 

The 330m in the Z is the GT 330M.
It's not listed in the middle section because it has been moved to legacy products at the NVIDIA site. I am guessing if it was still on the main page then it would be placed under the GT 415M.

Here is the main product page at NVIDIA:
GeForce Graphics Processors

Here is the legacy product page where the GT 330M shows up:
Legacy Products

Regarding the pic you posted...where did you see the Geforce 330M (without the GT) because I can't seem to find it at NVIDIA's site or anywhere else for that matter.

Here is the product page for the GT 330M:
The NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 330M GPU hits the sweet spot for mobile users who demand great performance and an awesome multimedia experience.

 

It is from the NVIDIA's website as you can see...

no matter if it is GT or not - it is still a low class as you can see from the list of models and categories. It is never supposed to be used for anything "professionally" ... it is just for "enhanced performance of videos, photos and light gaming" ... That was my point.

As I said I am not underestimating it for normal usage - even 310M fully covers all my needs which include intense photo editing and so on, but it should be clear (and I think it is to most of us here) that 330m is by far not meant to be used professionally and for intensive tasks. No matter whether you call it "mid/high end low class" or "low-end middle class".
But I would stick with the first of the two definitions.

 

Right column is integrated gpu with shared memory. GT330m belongs to the mid column with its 1GB dedicated memory.

The Geforce 320m would probably fit in the right column instead.

 

There is no point in discussing where the GT330m finds itself in the NVidia product portfolio. If you want to do serious professional video editing stuff, buy a 5000$ workstation with a proper, loaded quadro 5000 or 6000 or a 4kg 17" thinkpad. This is an entire different world technology-wise (driver support, reliability, software certifications) AND more importantly, portability-wise than what we are discussing about here (consumer products with community modded drivers).

If anybody calls the GT2xxM/GT3xxM series uncabable of handling "real-life" tasks and demands of consumer-semi-professional video editors (probably 95% of all NBR members covered), he is simply wrong. Even most quasi-professionals wasting their bucks on overpriced apple products (they do not offer professional-grade equipment in their MBP's either!) apparently do NOT suffer from having less computing power on the go than they would need.

In my opinion, a GT330M would be very low end on a desktop computer/gaming laptop, but on a 13" ultraportable it is simply awesome. Those silly gaming laptops usually have at least 150W AC adapters and a heavy cooling system, I'd rather game "only" on medium details and am able to carry my laptop around.

 

Video editing really doesn't need a high end gpu at all. Faster cpu will speed up encoding.

All a gpu will do is to make sure your videos won't stutter. Any modern gpu will do.

A lot of recommendations here are confusing video editing with CAD or graphics work.

 

Exactly.

I know a TON of people "in the industry" (or more pretentiously put, work in Hollywood) and even their own personal use systems for home video editing isn't remotely close to what you guys are suggesting.

Then again, look at how many people are asking if an I7 will help with Word/Web surfing on here.

Gross levels of overkill. Don't toss money away unless you're stepping up to professional grade equipment, in which case, I'm sure whatever your company is working for it already paying for it. Otherwise, even the most rudimentary MODERN dedicated card is MORE than enough to handle every bit of consumer level video editing you can throw at it.

 

So what exactly should I be looking for for video editing and some medium gaming (pretty much source games from steam). Would a macbook pro 13 fill my need if I can't aquire a sony vaio z for below $1400?

 

I'd get the vaio Z. Now that you've included gaming, the 330M is better card. The higher resolution is going to be a boon as well. Video editing on a low res screen is going to be terrible. The graphics card in a macbook pro 13 is pretty much worthless. The resolution is god awful too.

I game on medium mainly as well and my Z does just fine.

 

You can find vaio Z refurbished for good prices usually
Otherwise, if you do not mind having a large and heavier laptop, and if you plan on using this laptop as a main computer, on a tiny budget i would probably buy a Vaio F13 which seems to have a nice large 16,4" FullHD screen, and blue-ray burner that you need for burning HD movies.

I would forget about MBP 13" if you are serious about editing films because the screen resolution is really low. You need higher resolution to work comfortably with the different tracks, preview, menus ... of an editing software.

EDIT :
This being said, i used to edit HD moviles (Canon HV30) with a 7 years old (2004) Fujitsu laptop and Sony Vegas, when on the road. The fujitsu config was : pentium M @1,7 Ghz + Radeon 9700M with 128MB (dedicated) ; 2 GB RAM ; hitashi 5400tr HDD... And it worked ! Of course it was 15 minutes long films, of course it was way slower than my core i7, however, it worked ; the screen was 1280x800, same as MBP 13", and it was very annoying though.
However, this comp was very slow for the final operation (creation of the film), especially when it needed to operate effects on pictures or recompressions... I had to preview the sequences in very bad quality as well and low resolution because the laptop was not able to handle/read fast MTS files. I think this last point is partly because of the lack of recent graphic card, others are mostly due to CPU. Anyway, it is the CPU that does all the work for compressions / effects, etc.

 

I'm curious, when you say NTSC, are you taking about the "SMPTE C" primaries, or the older 1953 NTSC color primaries? I ask because the ntsc 1953 primaries are not used in the current ntsc standard, the "SMPTE C" ones are.

I think anyone who edits current NTSC video, using the 1950's NTSC primaries are the ones who are wrong. The "SMPTE C" primaries are much closer to sRGB, meaning significantly less saturated that the original NTSC 1950's primaries.

Any LCD which has a higher gamut than the required primaries will need to have their high gamut primaries conformed. Many NLE's DO NOT DO THIS.

So, If I have a Vaio Z, with a gamut that is 95% of the 1953 NTSC gamut, then I will need to conform it to the "SMPTE C" gamut, since that has been the production standard since the late 80's.

As for HD video, you'll need to get your primaries even less saturated, to match the REC709 / sRGB primaries, which are even LESS saturated than SMPTE C.

 

1600x900 i guess ?

 

Yeah. Granted, I don't play Crysis.

I play Dragon Age Awakenings, Mass Effect 2.

None of the handful of absolute bleeding edge games though.

Starcraft 2 runs like butter on Med,

 

Alright, I think i'm going to try and get one used. If I were to get one off of craigslists from someone, what kinds of things would I need to do. I.E transfer of ownership, transfer of warranty, etc.

 

Don't expect too much magic from the i7M on that front. If you want to compress 1080P video to h.264 with high quality you are going to get about 5 FPS, and that takes a while.

I plan on augmenting my Z with a custom built desktop that has a new 6 Core i7 Extreme.