building a custom laptop

[scott william]

Can anyone recommend a custom built laptop for my red 4k shoot/ 2k cineform 422 edit workflow?

ADK has the best price/ performance ive found so far:

core i7 920 2.66
6 gig ddr3 ram
3 internal 500gb 7200rpm harddrives

Any recommendations? i'd love some advice.

 

[John Bannister]

Hey Scott,

Couple of thoughts to get the ball rolling.

It may be hard to get those spec's in a name-brand product, the configuration your after will probably only be available through a Spec Chassis so that will certainly limit your choices. So your right, a true "custom" may be your only route.

You will probably find that the Clevo X8100 will be one of the few cases out there that will support the 3rd drive. There are several aftermarket suppliers that use this chassis. You can find configurators for that model :

HERE
&
HERE

Ram: Less is more in my opinion ( sticks I mean ). If you have the option for 8gb in two sticks ( extra $100 or so ) that is preferable to 6gb over 3 sticks. I have read many articles that have bench tested the Ram configuration for performance systems. A Matched pair is far superior to 3 sticks of ram speed wise, even though 3 sticks offer larger capacity. It's all about how the MoBo manufacture designs the channels to the ram bank and how they are accessed and in what order. Some MoBo designs are maximized for 3 channel support, but it might be worth an email to the Seller. Again just a thought.

Future Proofing: This is what I look for personally when building a new system. How long do I intend to use this system? Does it have options to upgrade? Can I upgrade the GPU or is it integrated into the MoBo? What is the largest Ram stick each slot will take? Of course you can never truly future proof this kind of technology, but some careful thought may buy you another year or so

Whistles and Bells: This is probably redundant and obvious, but make sure the Chassis/MoBo combination offers the features you are looking for. ie, external monitor l/0, Firewire or e-sata for high speed data transfer to external devices.

Remember with Computers of any type your highest speed is governed by your slowest component/Technology. What I mean by this is you may have the fastest CPU in the playground, but if your MoBo is not designed to utilize it fully then your CPU will be castrated to the speed of the Bridge. SO, my advice is to get the Mobo model from the supplier and make sure it can take everything your killer CPU can throw at it. Just because your CPU will fit into the MoBo, dosnt mean it will be the fastest combination when crunching 1's and 0's. ( I learned this one the hard way )

Sorry I couldn't give you the best Model/Maker recommendation you were looking for, but if any of the above saves you some heartache in the future, then it was worth the 5 mins it took me to write it. If your going to blow $3000 - $3500 on technology, make sure you get what you pay for

Cheers Scott and good luck with the research!

JB