Budget 90k+ Laptop for video & photo editing, extensive multitasking & 2-3 years futureproof

A

Animesh

Disciple
Hi guys. I am a amateur film maker, and in the market for a powerful laptop.

What's your Budget?
Around 1.1 lakh.

What will be your primary usage for the notebook be?
Video editing, photo editing which means lots of Photoshop, Premiere, After Effects, Illustrator and CorelDraw. Would require fast render times, and also the ability to multi-task extensively. Some sound editing programs such as FL Studio and Reason. Other than this web surfing, music, HD movies and a little casual gaming like COD.

What size and weight considerations do you have?
A desktop replacement in between 15" and 16". As light and thin as possible, but performance is king.

Any brand that you prefer, or any brand that you detest?
Dell, HP and Asus are the favoured brands. No Acer, Sony or Apple. Don't know much about MSI.

Any other considerations?
Full HD resolution, 7200 RPM HDD, minimum 8 GB RAM, i7 Quad-Core preferably Ivy Bridge, battery life of around 2-3 hours will do, Blue-Ray is not required. Being future-proof for at least 2-3 years is very important and should be available in India.

Some laptops I have looked over:
Dell Precision M4600 (i7-2760QM 2.4 GHz, 8GB RAM expandable to 32GB, 750GB 7200 RPM HDD, Nvidia Quadro 1000M 2GB DDR3, 15.6" FHD 1920x1080, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, 6 Cell Battery) - Rs. 1.22 lakh
HP EliteBook 8560W (i7-2760QM 2.4 GHz, 8GB RAM expandable to 32GB, 500GB 7200 RPM HDD, Nvidia Quadro 1000M 2GB DDR3, 15.6" 1600x900, MS Win 7 Pro 64 Bit, 6 Cell Battery) - Rs. 1.05 lakh
ASUS-Automobili Lamborghini VX7SX (i7-2670QM 2.2 GHz, 16 GB RAM, 1.5TB 7200 HDD, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M 3GB DDR5, 15.6" FHD 1920x1080, MS Win 7 Pro 64 Bit, 8 Cell Battery, Blue-ray reader) - Rs. 1.3 lakh

I would be extremely glad for any recommendations or suggestions from the TechEnclave community regarding the above machines and any other model too.
 
I'd like to ask you one question @Animesh, do you really believe a Quadro would help you in more for your purpose ? A non-quadro would blow them IMHO, as you won't be using Maya or likes which mainly use of Quadros. And why no Sony?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi JuGGa,
Quadro is not a necessity at all. Most probably if I go for the Dell Precision M4600 I would get the AMD FirePro M5950. The HP machine is not up for configuration, and will only come with the Quadro.
As for Sony, I have some bad experiences with Sony Vaio laptops. After that I tend to avoid those. But if there is something good out there, I can always take a look :)
 
Have a look at Asus N56VZ, its about to be launched to in India, priced around 80-100k.

An alternative option would be, IVB iteration of S or E series, which are touted to have 640M. Asus will be the ultimate performer though.
 
The Asus N56VZ looks sweet! I hope its released this month. Will also help me save some of my hard-earned dough. But the thing that's giving me the creeps is the possibility of it shipping with a 5400 RPM HDD. That's a real downer in video editing :(
 
Why are you not looking at the Lenovo ThinkPad W520? Promo link here Lenovo - Laptops - ThinkPad - W Series (IN)

And since it's your lucky day, here is a sealed piece for you: LENOVO THINKPAD W520 i7-2760QM 1920 x 1080 FHD 16GB RAM (Rs. 115556)
He is giving additional 8 GB RAM which you can install yourself if you don't want the box to be opened. It has 3 years international warranty. The Lenovo W series comes with 4 RAM slots. So, you know it's worth it.

Here is another one with 160GB SSD:http://orders.ebay.in/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ImportHubViewItem&itemid=270997672020

If you have somebody coming form US, you can get it for almost 900USD there. So, it l be half the price. The prices above are including customs n shipping. I bought a Samsung Galaxy S, a sealed Alienware M11x, and a sealed ThinkPad T410 from eBay Global Easy Buy. Everything was as described. The only issue is shipping which takes around 15-20 days because it has to go through customs clearance.
 
Thanks a lot for your suggestions gauSs. But the thing is that I read a lot of good reviews both about the Dell and the HP, and I have to say that I adore Dell after sales service. The Lenovo completely loses it in the looks department too (not that it matters much).

A good discussion on the same topic is here: M4600 vs. W520 vs. 8560w
 
To all,
After hearing some bad press about Asus after-sales service, I am leaning towards the Dell Precision M4600 since its configurable too.
 
I second the Thinkpad W series. The Thinkpads have the best build quality and are the most reliable laptops around. The thinkpads somehow offer higher performance figures when compared to HP/Dell laptops with similar configurations. The Thinkpads sold in India come with standard 3 year warranty and the after sales service is brilliant because its still handled by IBM.
 
Went with the Dell Precision M4600. Haggled a lot with the Dell reps. Will post a review once I get it.
Reasons - I could get the config of my choice, competitive pricing by the Dell rep, longer warranty and Dell after-sales support.
The config I ordered:
Dell Precision M4600 (i7-2760QM 2.4 GHz with Intel vPro, 8GB RAM expandable to 32GB, 750GB 7200 RPM HDD, ATI FirePro M5950 1GB DDR5, 15.6" FHD 1920x1080, MS Win 7 Pro 64 Bit, 9 Cell Battery) with 4 years warranty. The battery comes with 3 years warranty.
 
Well, its strange that nobody suggested the Dell, and for good reasons. You still went with it, hopefully it works out for you.Anyways,Congrats on the buy, and could you tell me how much it costed you?

I am looking for something similar, so was just curious. As for Dell After Sales Support, no doubt it's good. But the point people don't see is the Dell breaks down ever so often as compared to other laptops. I have been using a Sony for 3 years, never needed to hit the Service Center. Same for my friend.
 
Lenovo just released the Ivy bridge update. The W series now has a new model, the W530. I am not sure about India availability. but you can always check eBay Global Easy Buy for imports. Also check eBay.com
Some sellers do ship internationally.
 
Back
Top