Buying a new laptop for editing?

[AimoAio]

So yeah,thought it was about time I got a new computer for editing and this time I'm looking for a laptop.I'm not really good with technical stuff..actually I'm pretty much a dunce at it so I kinda need some help when it comes to the product specs I know about RAM and Hard Disk space and a little bit about processors but the rest are totally alien to me

Basically I just want to know what you guys would recommend since I have no idea where to start.I'm not looking for anything complicated,something simple would be good,however I'd like to be able run After Effects and I'm also looking to do some 3D animation work on it.

Budget wise,I only have about £300-£400 to spend(about $470-$630) although I'm willing to spend a bit more if the laptop is worth it.I know there might be PCs with better specs and cheaper too but since I'm off to university next year,a laptop would come in more handy.

Oh yeah and sorry if I sound a like total newb But truthfully speaking I am one when it comes to techy stuff like this.So I'd be eternally grateful if anyone is willing to help me out here!

P.S.If you're interested in knowing,my current PC specs are:

AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2600+
2.07 GHz, 448MB of RAM
111 GB of Hard Drive Space

[Kariudo]

You'll probably want to look for a laptop with a Core2Duo processor, 2 or more Gigs of ram, and a dedicated graphics card...but that'l put you about £500.

You can probably deal with integrated graphics (especially if you have 4GB of ram), in which case the price comes down to about £430
something like this

everything else is pretty much to your taste.
DDR3 is better than DDR2 but you probably wouldn't notice the difference
a 7200rpm drive is better than a 5400rpm hard drive but will decrease battery life (and 7200rpm drives are kinda hard to find on laptops)
Larger screen is nice and will (generally) make the keyboard feel less cramped but will weigh more and decrease battery life
Faster cpu will make a little difference and decrease battery life (there's more of a difference between a Pentium 4 and a Core2Duo)

[AimoAio]

Uh what's the difference between integrated graphics and a dedicated graphics card?

I had a look at that laptop from the link and it seems good, but I've never heard of Asus before...is it trustworthy?I don't want the laptop breaking down as soon as I lay my hands on it

Um I also saw this one here and I was wondering...the Asus has Windows Vista Home Premium as it's operating system and the Toshiba has Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit. Is that better or worse?Also what's the 64-bit all about? Since they both have the same RAM and Hard Disk space 'cept the Toshiba's about $30 cheaper.

[Kariudo]

integrated graphics usually use some of your system's RAM (so if you had 2GB you would only be able to use 1.75GB of it because the graphics is taking 256MB or so to do its thing.)

dedicated graphics have their own memory (so if you had 2GB you would see all 2GB)

Asus has long been a manufacturer of motherboards (among the best imo.) I haven't heard anything good or bad about their notebooks though. You don't have to get that Asus one, it was just an example of things you should look for.

As for the OS, they're both Vista home premium...so neither one is better than the other. The 64-bit stuff has to do with the instructions sent to the cpu, and the main advantage is that 64-bit OSes can use more than 4GB of ram (32-bit OSes are limited to 4GB ram).
In the past, however, other companies were generally not in a hurry to write 64-bit drivers (you need 64 bit drivers for stuff if you have a 64 bit OS). I think this isn't really an issue anymore...but since I still use 32-bit XP Pro I couldn't really say for sure

The Toshiba is probably cheaper because it has a pentium dual core instead of a core2duo (the Core2Duo will perform better, but it won't be earth shattering...so go for the pentium dual core if you need to save a few quid)

[AimoAio]

Ah so if I was looking at a laptop with integrated graphics,that means the actual amount of RAM I can use would be less than what it originally has?

Okay since newegg doesn't seem to do international shipping I tried searching for that laptop on other UK websites,even on the Asus website but no luck. So I ran another search for other Asus laptops with similar specs and came across this

4096MB (2048x2) DDRII 800 RAM

4096MB I know is 4GB of RAM,but why does it say (2048x2)? Is there a particular reason for that?Or is it just there to be confusing? Also what is the 800 for?

Oh and

Embedded Intel GMA X4500M (What is this?)

[Kariudo]

Yep, that's the gist of it

Sucks that newegg doesn't ship outside of the states (I think they do deliver to Canada now.)

2x2048 = 4096
says that you have 2 sticks of 2GB ddr2 800 in total residing inside the computer
the 800 is the frequency that the ram is operating at (it's actually 400MHz, but the way ddr works means it's essentially working at 800MHz)

The Intel GMA X4500M is the video card (embedded is synonymous with integrated here)

[AimoAio]

the 800 is the frequency that the ram is operating at (it's actually 400MHz, but the way ddr works means it's essentially working at 800MHz)

Does this affect the performance at all?

Another thing was I'm planning on buying the Sims 3 to install on this laptop too and so I had a look at the specs and some parts I couldn't quite understand

FOR WINDOWS VISTA
2.4 GHz P4 processor or equivalent

P4 I found out was Pentium 4 but does this mean I need a p4 processor?Or are the dual core ones the same?

Also,are dual-cores and core2duo's the same?

128 MB Video Card with support for Pixel Shader 2.0

How do I find out if the video card(is this different or the same as a graphics card?) is 128MB or not?

--

For computers using built-in graphics chipsets under Windows, the game requires at least:

Intel Integrated Chipset, GMA 3-Series or above
2.6 GHz Pentium D CPU, or 1.8 GHz Core 2 Duo, or equivalent
0.5 GB additional RAM

^ Totally lost here.What are built-in graphic chipsets?They the same as integrated graphics?

[Kariudo]

the 800 is the frequency that the ram is operating at (it's actually 400MHz, but the way ddr works means it's essentially working at 800MHz)

Does this affect the performance at all?

Nope, just a technical aspect of ddr ram is all (though everything else constant, ddr2 1066 will outperform ddr2 800)

For the specs:
You don't need a P4, you just need something equivalent or better (core2duo can definitely be considered better)

Core2Duos are dual-core cpus, but not all dual-core cpus are Core2Duos.
Core2duo is just the name of some of intel's dual core cpus. Intel also has Pentium, Celeron and Core cpus that are available as dual-core.

The amount of memory a graphics card has (as well as which things like Pixel Shader 2.0 support) are usually listed on the product box or company website...but you're going to be looking at the computers with built-in graphics chipsets specs.
built-in = intergrated = embedded
The laptop you linked to in your previous post has a GMA-4 series graphics chipset

I'm not sure about how taxing sims3 is, but usually if you want to do gaming you should look at a dedicated graphics card (especially if you're doing any fps gaming)

[AimoAio]

Am I right in assuming Intel Pentium,Celeron and Cores are just processor names?Is there a significant difference between them?

The laptop you linked to in your previous post has a GMA-4 series graphics chipset

The one on the asuslaptop.co.uk website?

I'm not sure about how taxing sims3 is, but usually if you want to do gaming you should look at a dedicated graphics card (especially if you're doing any fps gaming)

Fps gaming?

About the dedicated graphics card...if I wanted one with a laptop that had already had integrated graphics ,does it mean I would have to buy the graphic card seperately and install it manually myself?

Btw thanks for helping me out and answering all my previous questions! You're awesome!

Although I'll probably have more later since I always seem to have some kind of problem popping up...

[Kariudo]

Am I right in assuming Intel Pentium,Celeron and Cores are just processor names?Is there a significant difference between them?

The simple answer is yes, but that's a rather technical subject. Suffice it to say that Core i7/i5 > Core2 > Core > Pentium > Celeron (generally speaking)

The laptop you linked to in your previous post has a GMA-4 series graphics chipset

The one on the asuslaptop.co.uk website?

Yep, that Asus one

I'm not sure about how taxing sims3 is, but usually if you want to do gaming you should look at a dedicated graphics card (especially if you're doing any fps gaming)

Fps gaming?

first-person shooters. Crysis, F.E.A.R., Call of Duty and the like

About the dedicated graphics card...if I wanted one with a laptop that had already had integrated graphics ,does it mean I would have to buy the graphic card seperately and install it manually myself?

That's one of the limitations with laptops, you can't really upgrade/replace any of the parts (save for ram, Hard drive and the cd/dvd/blu-ray drive). Whatever graphics chip you get is the one you're stuck with (if you have integrated, you can't get a dedicated card...and vice versa)

Btw thanks for helping me out and answering all my previous questions! You're awesome!

Although I'll probably have more later since I always seem to have some kind of problem popping up...

No problem, I like this kind of thing