Hey guys.
Well, with getting some work, as well as the Youtube Partnership for Brain Scratch Comms, I'm looking to get a new computer that'll let me do some more things. My Mac works fine for what it does, but for personal use, it's rather limited. (Looking for preferably Laptop)
I'm going to be getting a Hauppage to help with my game recordings, what with it getting HD and being a bit more direct than Dazzle, which I currently use.
Ultimately, I'll probably be going back to Windows (just does more for personal use). Probably Windows 7. Looking for something with a nice screen, but can handle editing stuff (probably either Premiere or Vegas), recording game footage (either via Hauppage or Emulation), and has good memory to handle all the footage and so on. (Likely getting some extra HDD for help but obviously it needs SOME memory). Aside from editing/recording, the computer doesn't need to do THAT much. (Usual web surfing, video playing, skype, etc. Stuff every computer can do.)
Not exactly looking to get it IMMEDIATELY, but probably by the middle of fall I plan to be getting this stuff. So money isn't totally strict, but I'm not asking for like a super awesome Alienware gaming rig or something.
So, I'm not THAT big on the hardware stuff in terms of knowledge, so what brand or kind of computer should I be going for? Just looking for a bit of advice. Also, I'm sure a 360 controller works fine for USB/computer stuff for emulation or whatever. But if anyone knows a better gamepad, that'd be great too. Mostly for either Steam or Emulation purposes.
Thanks a bunch guys!
If you can deal with the so-called power "failures" of the Dell XPS, then it's a pretty good laptop. I got a basic XPS 15 last month and it's been great. It was only $700 I think.
Yeah, the Dell XPS series is good. I'll admit after using laptops for years that it is incredibly nice to have a desktop computer now. I don't think I could ever go back.
By power failures you mean?
And I kind of need the laptop for recording purposes.
Quote from: Nayrman on June 13, 2012, 10:56:33 AM
By power failures you mean?
And I kind of need the laptop for recording purposes.
The battery has supposed failures. I don't believe it though.
Hauppage does work with it.
Thanks for the advice, I've been looking at the computers and the XPS 17 Laptop with the 1TB HDD and faster processor (1300 bucks) seems like a great fit, if you would recommend such a thing. That would leave me a good 700 dollars to get the Hauppage, some spare HDD's, a gamepad, headset, and Premiere and my rig should be good to go. Of course, I'll be waiting a few months to save up some money, but it seems like a good plan. To me anyway.
Also, I have to laugh at the highest option. Spend an extra two hundred bucks so you can look at your computer in 3D! How utterly stupid. no thanks.
Quote from: Nayrman on June 13, 2012, 02:37:46 PM
Thanks for the advice, I've been looking at the computers and the XPS 17 Laptop with the 1TB HDD and faster processor (1300 bucks) seems like a great fit, if you would recommend such a thing. That would leave me a good 700 dollars to get the Hauppage, some spare HDD's, a gamepad, headset, and Premiere and my rig should be good to go. Of course, I'll be waiting a few months to save up some money, but it seems like a good plan. To me anyway.
Also, I have to laugh at the highest option. Spend an extra two hundred bucks so you can look at your computer in 3D! How utterly stupid. no thanks.
Sounds like a decent deal. Just make sure the specs match up with everything that you are planning on getting. :P
They should. The Hauppage just says it needs Windows 7, as does Premiere. So the OS shouldn't be a problem, so I think the computer in question should be fine.
Make sure to get at least 4GB of RAM, as if that weren't obvious. Stay away from Dell, their build quality is lacking. Obviously, don't go Apple. Unless you have $2000 to get a nice Macbook Pro. Asus makes good laptops. Lenovo is so-so. Compaq is hilariously bad.
Uh, never heard of Asus. Checking them out but what would you recommend? I'm not big an hardware, and to be honest all these little differences between each model and then different models on top of that is confusing me on their site.
Never heard of Asus? They've gotten pretty big, I have a tablet and a motherboard from them and both are pretty awesome. I don't know a specific one to recommend, but you should probably stick with Asus because of their decent build quality.
Quote from: Silverhawk79 on June 14, 2012, 10:09:39 AM
Make sure to get at least 4GB of RAM, as if that weren't obvious. Stay away from Dell, their build quality is lacking. Obviously, don't go Apple. Unless you have $2000 to get a nice Macbook Pro. Asus makes good laptops. Lenovo is so-so. Compaq is hilariously bad.
To each his own. I pretty much only got this Dell because of the great price (and the fact I'm 16 and don't need a great laptop). If it wasn't, I prolly would have gotten this: http://www.amazon.com/N53SM-ES72-15-6-Inch-Laptop-Silver-Aluminum/dp/B007BY57Y2/ref=amb_link_361431082_3?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=hero-quick-promo&pf_rd_r=1EXSHF3C0382H7S74FEF&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=1355625642&pf_rd_i=B005Q5FGTO
Edit: wrong link oops. fix'd
If you're good with computer hardware or know someone who is, build it yourself / with some help. My father and I put together a computer as my Christmas present. Cost less than $1500:
Intel i5 2500k processor
Some GIGABYTE motherboard (something like this? (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1355286&CatId=6982))
64GB Solid State Disk
1TB Hard Drive Disk
8GB RAM
EVGA GeForce GTX 560 (I think?)
Power Supply
Nice cooling fan
Nice case (http://pcwizkidstechtalk.com/images/stories/pcwizkid/coolermaster_sniper-10.jpg)
Quote from: Silverhawk79 on June 14, 2012, 10:09:39 AM
Unless you have $2000 to get a nice Macbook Pro.
In their usual infinite wisdom, Apple put the Retina display in the MBP and didn't give it a beefy enough GPU to power its insanely high res. Heard reports of people getting 20 FPS when
browsing Facebook.
Recommendations:-Video editing is one of the few areas where Intel's constant moaning about getting a good processor actually has some truth to it. I hate recommending their poop, but get an i5 or i7. Mobile i5s are dual-cores with hyperthreading, making them quasi-quad cores. i7s are quads with HT, making them quasi-octas.
Sandy Bridge-generation (2xxx) i5s/i7s have the horribad HD 3000 integrated graphics 'solution' as is Intel tradition. Ivy Bridge (3xxx) has HD 4000 graphics; while not great, they are surprisingly pretty satisfactory and should be fine provided you're going to be sticking to desktop productivity/editing and avoiding gaming.
-Buy a cheap 128 GB SSD separately and install it on your own. Prices are really starting to drop on them ,and if you wait for fall, they may consistently be under 80 cents/GB, which is generally considered the "good deal" mark for SSDs these days. Samsung 830 and Crucial m4 are both good SSDs. Store your big vid files on an external.
-If you insist on going with a large HDD directly onboard your laptop, make sure it's 7200 RPM unless you want your machine running like a slug.
-4 GB of RAM is generally good enough for most applications these days, still. Battlefield 3, Adobe, Maya, and a few more demanding apps can make use of 8. RAM's dirt-cheap, it's an easy self-upgrade, and the OEMs normally give you poop-quality stuff, so it's best just to stick with the base amount of mem. that they offer you and upgrade on your own later.
One potential option; has a lower-end discrete Nvidia Kepler card so you can do some light gaming. (http://amzn.to/MfCWnG)