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Need Laptop for 4k DaVinci and Adobe Premiere Workflow

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Roy Gregorio

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Hi guys. I need to refer my boss a laptop that can edit 4k in Premiere and color correct in DaVinci. Preferably able to playback 4k in real time, but I'm so behind on computer hardware that I don't even know if that's capable in laptops. Budget is around 3k. Give or take a thousand. No desktops or all-in-ones. Okay MAYBE all-in-ones. Thanks!
 
Toshiba p50t with 4k screen would be nice, but its not available yet...
 
No laptop will do it well without any external boxes. I think people are expecting too much from laptops. For light duty and low-res proxies, they do fine.
 
The next gen Macbook Pro Retina will probably be out in a couple months, it will likely have the GTX 850M, which is almost comparable to a desktop GTX 770. The current Retina with the GTX 750M can sorta push 4k content, it can't quite edit with anything beyond 4k LT or Proxy files, but that might be enough for some people. My O.C. 4770k with a GTX 770 can barely handle 4k HD ProRes 4444 output from Resolve, but its basically at its limits in order to output at/near realtime. You'll definitely need something x6 or x8 core to handle a solid 4k workflow, with at least 3GB or 6GB of video processing.
 
Matthew Scott said:
That just ain't true.
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It's going to be a big compromise for Resolve. The monitor alone is an issue... and if you have to have an external monitor and a LUT box, you may as well get a full-blown (even modest) desktop computer. I don't have a problem using a laptop for rough-cuts, conforming or outputting, as long as it's got the GPUs. Even 1-light on-set dailies would be fine. But final color-correction? That's silly.
 
I don't think we'll ever agree on anything Marc, but hey, that's cos we think very differently, which isn't a bad thing. Point being, laptops are comparable to desktops now days, and they'll do a 4K work flow very well. If grading in resolve is required on a laptop, I doubt it's of the importance required to finish at the standard you're hinting at, but this laptop is hell capable and useful IMHO.
 
it's very easy to find a monitor just about anywhere, otherwise it's just as easy to bring one along. not always so with a huge machine.

if what you're lifting is light enough really depends on your situation and setup, but i'll say that usb3/thunderbolt raids and a pro laptop can get you a long way these days... ymmv

editing 4k material and viewing @ 4k while editing are two completely different things. i think you might be hard-pressed to get a laptop outputting realtime 4k color corrections out of resolve... atm
 
Shiblon Wixom said:
The next gen Macbook Pro Retina will probably be out in a couple months, it will likely have the GTX 850M, which is almost comparable to a desktop GTX 770. The current Retina with the GTX 750M can sorta push 4k content, it can't quite edit with anything beyond 4k LT or Proxy files, but that might be enough for some people. My O.C. 4770k with a GTX 770 can barely handle 4k HD ProRes 4444 output from Resolve, but its basically at its limits in order to output at/near realtime. You'll definitely need something x6 or x8 core to handle a solid 4k workflow, with at least 3GB or 6GB of video processing.
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The 850M does not have specs anywhere close to the 770GTX card. The specs are less than half the specs of the 770GTX. Besides this Mobile GPU's dont perform nearly as well as the Desktop GPU's.
 
Marc Wielage said:
No laptop will do it well without any external boxes. I think people are expecting too much from laptops. For light duty and low-res proxies, they do fine.
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The Clevo P570WM has socket 2011 ie 6 Core Workstation cpu's and will handle Red media and AE fine. We are trying to get them to add the Xeon Mirocode for the E5 V2's. The laptop can handle 3 drives natively an a 4th if the optical is swapped. Just go with SSD drives such as the Crucial M500 series.
 
Matthew Scott said:
I don't think we'll ever agree on anything Marc, but hey, that's cos we think very differently, which isn't a bad thing. Point being, laptops are comparable to desktops now days, and they'll do a 4K work flow very well. If grading in resolve is required on a laptop, I doubt it's of the importance required to finish at the standard you're hinting at, but this laptop is hell capable and useful IMHO.
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I haven't tried it, but I think you could use Fusion's IO Drive2's in an expansion chassis with a Rocket-X to get real time Resolve grading on a laptop: http://www.girafxmedia.com/?p=185
 
Plenty of laptops can do the work, but it's always subjective as to how well they do it. You're not going to get massive desktop performance from a laptop or all-in-one system. That said, plenty of laptops out there that can do pretty well at this stuff. The Clevo ones are currently pretty good. I like the HP Elitebook units with the DreamColor screens if you want to try and have some sort of color accuracy or wide-gamut abilities. The Macbook Pro is great as well and is often used as a benchmark for these sorts of things as it's a great balance of size and performance with exceptional build quality. However, it's just not quite there when it comes to being a mobile workstation and really plowing through serious work loads. For that sort of task, you're going to want a desktop or workstation class CPU and more RAM. Actually more RAM is the key -- 16GB maximum in a Macbook Pro is it's biggest folly, IMO.

Just keep in mind that once you cross over into using a desktop or workstation class CPU, it's no longer a "laptop". It's a "mobile workstation" and the battery is more of something to get you by if you need to move while working or something. You realistically can't do serious work on these systems while on battery power, as it will rapidly drain itself. That and they tend to be quite beastly and heavy to carry about... For a laptop.
 
Jeff Kilgroe said:
The Macbook Pro is great as well and is often used as a benchmark for these sorts of things as it's a great balance of size and performance with exceptional build quality. However, it's just not quite there when it comes to being a mobile workstation and really plowing through serious work loads.
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Very well said, Jeff.

Matthew Scott said:
I don't think we'll ever agree on anything Marc, but hey, that's cos we think very differently, which isn't a bad thing. Point being, laptops are comparable to desktops now days, and they'll do a 4K work flow very well. If grading in resolve is required on a laptop, I doubt it's of the importance required to finish at the standard you're hinting at, but this laptop is hell capable and useful IMHO.
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Would you really like to do the final color of a 4K project on a laptop? Man, I wouldn't. It's a struggle to do them on a heavy-duty desktop system with lots of peripherals and a very, very fast pipeline. I can't conceive of trying to do it all inside one laptop.

I think far too many people have unrealistic expectations on trying to accomplish too much with too little... whether it's money or time or expertise. I think in cases like this, you can do light-duty work on laptops with no problem, but real color correction in 4K? I don't think it's appropriate or productive with the technology we have right now. I do think rough cuts and one-light dailies will work, but not with 4K outputs, and certainly not in real time.
 
Eric Bowen said:
The 850M does not have specs anywhere close to the 770GTX card. The specs are less than half the specs of the 770GTX. Besides this Mobile GPU's dont perform nearly as well as the Desktop GPU's.
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There is a large degree of difference between "almost" comparable and directly comparable. My MBPR with a GTX 750M transcodes 5k at 8 fps and my GTX 770 ranges from 12 fps at 3.5GHz up to 16 fps at 4GHz. The GTX 850M will be roughly 150% faster than the 750M, which will be in the 12 fps range. So I would say 12 fps will be almost, if not directly, comparable to 16 fps.
 
I would be inclined to use a Macbook Pro. It's proven and the thunderbolt interface alone is worth the money, since it gives you access to storage and other tools.

How do you intend to do 4k DaVinci with no panel, calibrated monitor, scopes, fast storage, and GPUs? The macbook pro is the closest I can think to that, since you can add a lot of stuff via Thunderbolt (even GPUs with some massaging).

That said, the solution would not be truly portable, but then, who the heck does 4k color correction with none of the aforementioned stuff? Heck, color correction is usually done in a proper room with the monitors calibrated for that room, on which the lighting conditions are constant, so who needs portability anyway?

I don't want to be the hater here, but really, if you really want to do 4k Davinci on your lap with your finger on the trackpad running on battery power while sitting in the park, I'm sorry to burst your bubble but you'll be wasting your time (and money) on whatever you purchase.
 
ERIC PECK said:
who the heck does 4k color correction with none of the aforementioned stuff? Heck, color correction is usually done in a proper room with the monitors calibrated for that room, on which the lighting conditions are constant, so who needs portability anyway?

I don't want to be the hater here, but really, if you really want to do 4k Davinci on your lap with your finger on the trackpad running on battery power while sitting in the park, I'm sorry to burst your bubble but you'll be wasting your time (and money) on whatever you purchase.
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c'mon son! you wish you could color correct an uncalibrated cat video on the way to yo mama's house. ;)

1.jpg
 
Shiblon Wixom said:
There is a large degree of difference between "almost" comparable and directly comparable. My MBPR with a GTX 750M transcodes 5k at 8 fps and my GTX 770 ranges from 12 fps at 3.5GHz up to 16 fps at 4GHz. The GTX 850M will be roughly 150% faster than the 750M, which will be in the 12 fps range. So I would say 12 fps will be almost, if not directly, comparable to 16 fps.
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What about Dual GTX 880m (SLI) 8gb each? Better....much better. That's what I'm getting in the portable workstation (laptop) I linked to above. Also has thunderbolt.
 
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