# What should I know about buying a laptop..... **URL:** \ **Category:** PittSpeed Off Topic\ **Created:** [May 25, 2005, 6:14am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/what-should-i-know-about-buying-a-laptop/174538 "2005-05-25T06:14:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ninjenn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c67d28/32.png) [@ninjenn](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ninjenn)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 6:14am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/what-should-i-know-about-buying-a-laptop/174538/1 "2005-05-25T06:14:34Z")
What should I know about buying a laptop for media-type purposes? We are going to be taking it on-road for downloading vids and pics from our cameras, stuff like that. Anything I should know GRAPHICS wise? Right now these are the specs: - 1.5Ghz Pentium M Processor - 80GB hard drive - 512 DDR RAM - DVD-R/CD-R Combo Drive - XP Home Doesn’t mention anything about video or graphics… :dunno: I asked whitey, but I think I will have to place the order before he gets back to me. ---
**Author:** ![BlkP42E](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/blkp42e/32/5938_2.png) [@BlkP42E](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/BlkP42E)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 6:26am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/what-should-i-know-about-buying-a-laptop/174538/2 "2005-05-25T06:26:11Z")
ifyou are dealing strictly media and want some baseline software. you should look into media edition XP ---
**Author:** ![ninjenn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c67d28/32.png) [@ninjenn](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ninjenn)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 7:00am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/what-should-i-know-about-buying-a-laptop/174538/3 "2005-05-25T07:00:05Z")
It may not be strictly media, but I don’t know exactly how much we are going to be doing… maybe some video editing and stuff, and I think I’m going to upgrade it to a DVD burner if the price is still OK. ---
**Author:** ![S10Blazed\_Si](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/s10blazed_si/32/5983_2.png) [@S10Blazed\_Si](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/S10Blazed_Si)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 7:12am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/what-should-i-know-about-buying-a-laptop/174538/4 "2005-05-25T07:12:56Z")
THe limiting factor on a laptop as far as video production goes will be the hard drive speed. Most of the laptop hard drives I’ve seen are rather slow. Now this won’t kill your ability to do video editing on the road, but bumping up the other specs won’t do much to help with that. I have a 1.3ghz laptop with similar specs otherwise and it works well. It’s a big difference from my desktop PC but it gets the job done. ---
**Author:** ![fshowcars](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/fshowcars/32/5937_2.png) [@fshowcars](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/fshowcars)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 7:14am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/what-should-i-know-about-buying-a-laptop/174538/5 "2005-05-25T07:14:09Z")
no true limitations… i’d suggest getting a pentium m to retain best possible battery optimization, especially if you’re going to work on the road… get ones with sd readers built in, higher speed transfer sometimes… just shop around i like my MPC transport 2200 ---
**Author:** ![ninjenn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c67d28/32.png) [@ninjenn](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ninjenn)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 7:34am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/what-should-i-know-about-buying-a-laptop/174538/6 "2005-05-25T07:34:14Z")
We are definetly sticking with the Pentium M processor… They have a “graphics Laptop” speced out with a vid card and stuff, but I don’t really like the look of it, it’s the Inspiron 6000. ![http://img.dell.com/images/global/products/inspn/6000_front_131x145_new.jpg](http://img.dell.com/images/global/products/inspn/6000_front_131x145_new.jpg) kinda ugly if you ask me, plus it’s 2 1/2 pounds heavier than the system I’ve speced out above. ---
**Author:** ![fshowcars](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/fshowcars/32/5937_2.png) [@fshowcars](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/fshowcars)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 7:35am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/what-should-i-know-about-buying-a-laptop/174538/7 "2005-05-25T07:35:44Z")
f all that ---
**Author:** ![ninjenn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c67d28/32.png) [@ninjenn](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ninjenn)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 7:39am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/what-should-i-know-about-buying-a-laptop/174538/8 "2005-05-25T07:39:16Z")
are you saying I don’t really need all the extra vid stuff? ---
**Author:** ![S10Blazed\_Si](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/s10blazed_si/32/5983_2.png) [@S10Blazed\_Si](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/S10Blazed_Si)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 7:40am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/what-should-i-know-about-buying-a-laptop/174538/9 "2005-05-25T07:40:35Z")
> [@huskysgrl](#): > > are you saying I don’t really need all the extra vid stuff? What video stuff are they offering? is it video production, video playback, or 3d video? ---
**Author:** ![fshowcars](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/fshowcars/32/5937_2.png) [@fshowcars](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/fshowcars)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 7:43am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/what-should-i-know-about-buying-a-laptop/174538/10 "2005-05-25T07:43:56Z")
> [@S10Blazed Si](#): > > What video stuff are they offering? is it video production, video playback, or 3d video? x23 usually it’s just some stupid ‘control panel’ for the video card and shit… a bunch of nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![S10Blazed\_Si](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/s10blazed_si/32/5983_2.png) [@S10Blazed\_Si](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/S10Blazed_Si)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 7:47am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/what-should-i-know-about-buying-a-laptop/174538/11 "2005-05-25T07:47:43Z")
> [@fshowcars](#): > > x23 > > usually it’s just some stupid ‘control panel’ for the video card and shit… a bunch of nonsense. or they slap a very basic 3d oriented chipset in it and claim its top dog in graphics. I ordered mine as the “graphics” model (Dell inspirion 8100) back inthe day and it was just a built in GeForce 2 MX instead of the typical Intel video chipset most desktops and laptops have built in. ---
**Author:** ![ninjenn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c67d28/32.png) [@ninjenn](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ninjenn)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 8:16am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/what-should-i-know-about-buying-a-laptop/174538/12 "2005-05-25T08:16:17Z")
well, this guy is trying to convince me into the Latitude instead… :hs: I can’t seem to price it how I want though, not without spending more than I want… ---
**Author:** ![Pewter](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/pewter/32/5936_2.png) [@Pewter](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Pewter)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 8:46am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/what-should-i-know-about-buying-a-laptop/174538/13 "2005-05-25T08:46:07Z")
just:confused:ing though ---
**Author:** ![ninjenn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c67d28/32.png) [@ninjenn](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ninjenn)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 9:54am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/what-should-i-know-about-buying-a-laptop/174538/14 "2005-05-25T09:54:41Z")
Well, here are the final specs: - Pentium M 730 1.60Ghz 15.0 XGA - 512 MB DDR @ 400Mhz - 80GB HDD - DVD-R & CD-RW combo drive (that’s most of the pertinent info, got two 6-cell batteries, modem, wireless WLAN, etc.) I’m buying the external floppy drive and USB drive separately from [newegg.com](http://newegg.com) probably. Much cheaper that way. Total: $1,238. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![bobby311](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/bobby311/32/5971_2.png) [@bobby311](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/bobby311)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 10:20am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/what-should-i-know-about-buying-a-laptop/174538/15 "2005-05-25T10:20:50Z")
no SXGA?? ---
**Author:** ![ninjenn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c67d28/32.png) [@ninjenn](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ninjenn)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 10:22am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/what-should-i-know-about-buying-a-laptop/174538/16 "2005-05-25T10:22:25Z")
Wasn’t an option. What is the difference? :dunno: ---
**Author:** ![starboy](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/starboy/32/5985_2.png) [@starboy](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/starboy)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 10:29am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/what-should-i-know-about-buying-a-laptop/174538/17 "2005-05-25T10:29:04Z")
if you looking for a laptop to do media on get a mac. no bs ---
**Author:** ![fshowcars](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/fshowcars/32/5937_2.png) [@fshowcars](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/fshowcars)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 10:29am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/what-should-i-know-about-buying-a-laptop/174538/18 "2005-05-25T10:29:47Z")
> [@starboy](#): > > if you looking for a laptop to do media on get a mac. no bs haha ---
**Author:** ![ninjenn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c67d28/32.png) [@ninjenn](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ninjenn)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 10:33am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/what-should-i-know-about-buying-a-laptop/174538/19 "2005-05-25T10:33:20Z")
None of my software works w/ a Mac. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![fshowcars](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/fshowcars/32/5937_2.png) [@fshowcars](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/fshowcars)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 10:34am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/what-should-i-know-about-buying-a-laptop/174538/20 "2005-05-25T10:34:19Z")
> [@huskysgrl](#): > > None of my software works w/ a Mac. :rolleyes: but but but they’re just as universal as a pc!!! /bullshit [Next page](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/what-should-i-know-about-buying-a-laptop/174538.md?page=2)