Z, SR or FW for hd video editing???

Can anyone help with this? I'm torn between deciding whether to get a high end cto of a z, sr or fw series laptop for video editing. I am familiar with the fw series. It's very good but weighs a ton and only has ddr2 memory available for it. I'd like to get a high end cto of a z or sr. I see they both go up to 2.8 ghs core 2 duo and use ddr3 memory and have dedicated video cards. While the builit in screen is not 1080p, it seems big enough for video editing. My concern is performance. Any thoughts?

Much thanks,

Steve

 

Vaio SR actually uses DDR2 RAM. The performance on either the Z or the SR is roughly the same CPU-wise. However, the SR's video performance beat the Z by miles.

 

Ok. But the newer z uses ddr3 ram and apparently has a good dedicated video card. So, what best to decide then?

 

Isn't Vaio Z still using Geforce 9300GS, which is an integrated graphic ?

 

The difference in "speed" between DDR2 and DDR3 is unnoticeable (you'll never see anyone at hardforums recommend a 790i mobo vs a 780i mobo, where the difference is the former uses DDR3).

SR [can] have an ATI 4570, which is not even close to an integrated solution (aka. it's superior to the Z).

9300 is not an integrated card, it's switchable with a 4500HD which is integrated.

And if you're using it for video editing, well I'm pretty sure screen real estate is the biggest factor.

 

ATI card may help with video encoding (when using ATI encoder specifically) and DVD watching. But video editing is strictly CPU bound. There is a bit of GPU work for preview but it's not demanding by any means and even builtin Intel will do. That's for cutting video. Effects work may benefit from a decent GPU when application in question can utilize it (After Effects, Boris can do it from what I am familiar with). But there again it's not demanding: it does not require high texturing speeds or shader effects, just basic 3D stuff.

Things to consider: comfortable keyboard, good connectivity: you'll definitely use external disk (and maybe more than one), camera, perhaps some control device like Shuttle Pro), good cooling if you're going to encode video, ability to have more RAM (especially if you are going to work with HiDef video).

For casual video editing like cutting with cross-fades, adding a music bed and titles, either SR or Z would work fine.

What software are you planning to use? Are you going to work with HDV, AVCHD?

 

Depends on what video editing software you use. A lot of people keep bringing up how the Radeon 4500 on the SR outperforms the 9300GS on the Z, but that's only concerning gaming performance.

If you're using new Adobe Creative Suite 4, it now features CUDA-enabled enhancements which will offload some processing to the GPU -- especially the new CS4 video encoder. CUDA only works on nVidia GPUs, so in this case it will only work on the Z (both the SR and FW use Radeon GPUs). Since the 9300GS is still a relatively weak GPU it won't be incredibly fast, but at least your CPU will be freed up for other tasks during encoding.

If you are using some other software, it is up to you to find out what hardware it works best with. However most other encoders (eg: x264) are software-based and run entirely on the CPU, so it wouldn't really matter what GPU you have if Adobe CS4 is not part of your toolkit.

In general, when it comes to encoding, the CPU is the bottleneck. When it comes to editing, there are all sorts of bottlenecks, but the extra headroom in DDR3 over DDR2 doesn't hurt. That said, you're better off with 8GB of DDR2 than 4GB or even 6GB of DDR3, if they cost the same.

 

FW or AW, you cant really do much serious work on 13 display, just in emergency ( as I do sometimes). SR for video editing? Bad joke.
SZ and Z are great for people like myself who can mostly get away (my audio work) with Intel card but if needed the nVidia is there as option. AW is definitely the best for any visual work but bit bulky so FW with top specs can be the best solution. I am myself not sure which will be my next Vaio buy FW or AW, each has its own plus points but the newest FW release seem to be winner.