Looking to help my sister buy a laptop

[fommis]

Budget is around £1000.

She needs it for video editing, photo editing, with a large amount of storage.

Any recommendations?

[KenB]

Hi fommis and welcome to ExTS

 

We don't really like making specific suggestions when members are parting with their hard-earned cash.

I will, however, try to point you in the right direction - although I am not into video editing myself.

 

If your sister is video / photo editing then the most important thing to consider is processing power.

This is linked with the CPU [ Central Processing Unit ] RAM and Video Card [ often on a laptop this is a dedicated chip ]

 

I would also suggest that you look for a 64 bit Operating System [ there are 32 bit systems ]

A 64 bit system will allow more RAM - a 32 bit system is limited to 4GB which for your purposes is not enough.

 

CPUs come in various speeds.

If your sister is seriously into video editing then she needs the fastest CPU she can get for the money.

Intel [ common CPU ] produce 3 basic packages.

Intel i3 - i5 - i7

i3 CPUs tend to be used in budget machines.

For your purposes an i5 and if you can get it in your price range - an i7 are what you should be looking for.

They also come with "Dual" "Quad" etc cores.

Quad core is generally faster that dual core.

 

I did read somewhere that the software you use for editing needs to be compatible with quad core otherwise you lose the benefit.

Not sure on this one. It may be worth reading through the software manual just to be sure.

 

There are other CPUs - AMD - just to confuse the issue.

AMD are equally as good but you would need to do a comparison with Intel.

 

You now need to look at Graphics [ Video ] Cards

GeForce are a common card.

There are, as always, various options. There is the GeForce GT and the GeForce GTX.

The GTX is a better option. However, they come in various builds. Generally the higher the number associated with the card the faster it is.

 

The Hard-Drive should be at least 1TB - 2TB if you can get it.

 

So, to conclude:

CPU first and foremost - the fastest you can afford.

RAM - at least 8GB - 16GB would be better

Graphics - again a GeForce GTX or equivalent

Hard Drive - 2TB ideally - depends on what level of video editing

 

Your sister may wish to consider using a large-screen HD monitor too. Obviously this adds to the expense.

 

For comparison [ NOT a recommendation ] I did find this - click here

You could read the customer reviews to see if anybody had anything useful to say.

 

I hope this helps?

You need to do a bit of reading and research to find the right system for you.