Sossity Posted September 9, 2008 Share Posted September 9, 2008 I have been looking at laptops & I found a dell that has an 8x slot load dual layer DVD drive, I often use image burn & burn my material at 8x but would I be able to burn at anything above this? I found 12x worked best if I am just burning photos to a blank DVD, & 8x for photos & movie clips. Are laptop drives allright for burning backing up data discs? Sossity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LIGHTNING UK! Posted September 9, 2008 Share Posted September 9, 2008 If it's an 8x drive then 8x is all it'll do. 8x is a great speed so I shouldn't worry too much. Your main concern should be that in general, laptop drives are shit. (pardon my french) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sossity Posted September 10, 2008 Author Share Posted September 10, 2008 If it's an 8x drive then 8x is all it'll do. 8x is a great speed so I shouldn't worry too much. Your main concern should be that in general, laptop drives are shit. (pardon my french) would an external DVD burner plugged into a laptops USB port be better than the laptops built in DVD CD writer? I want to get my own computer & am torn between getting a desktop or a laptop, for a PC I will probably be getting a Dell, I like how I would be able to take a laptop from room to room for privacy, & also near my easel, I could have images on the screen to paint from; references. I am now stationed at someone else's desktop in the kitchen, & it is awkward, people are coming in & out constantly, so to be able to get out of the kitchen would be nice. Need something for artistic purposes, photo & video editing, have been told Macs are best for this but they are beyond my budget. will probably have to go with a PC. Any recommendations? for my 1st computer? sorry if I got off topic, but need some expert advice. Sossity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LIGHTNING UK! Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 Yes, an external one would be better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sossity Posted September 10, 2008 Author Share Posted September 10, 2008 (edited) Yes, an external one would be better. just curious why would an external one be better? am not trying to argue, I am sure you know what you are talking about, just seems a little odd that I would have to go & buy a separate one in addition to the one the laptop already has, would be an extra exspense. Are there any brands or types of external DVD writers that would work best with a laptop? would an external DVD writer hooked to a laptop via USB be as good as a desktop internal DVD writer drive? sorry if I am a little off topic, but what do you think is best to start with for my 1st computer? a laptop or desktop? I need something fairly powerful, responsive & reliable, for my photography & video editing, have been told that Macs are best for this but they are way beyond my budget. what are some of the better PC brands makers for what I need? thanks so far for the input Sossity Edited September 10, 2008 by Sossity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOCOENG Posted September 11, 2008 Share Posted September 11, 2008 Forget about the Mac. For power get a desktop, for portability get a laptop. Laptops are nice, but they just can't keep up with desktops unless you go ultra high end boutique style and then you have to worry about heat, dropping them etc. An external drive should be about the same as an internal drive in a desktop...in fact you can buy an external enclosure and put an internal drive in it (same difference). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sossity Posted September 11, 2008 Author Share Posted September 11, 2008 (edited) Forget about the Mac. For power get a desktop, for portability get a laptop. Laptops are nice, but they just can't keep up with desktops unless you go ultra high end boutique style and then you have to worry about heat, dropping them etc. An external drive should be about the same as an internal drive in a desktop...in fact you can buy an external enclosure and put an internal drive in it (same difference). if I go with PC what do you suggest? do you think any brand or make is better? is Dell good? I have been on someonelses for a while & I had made some DVDs with it but gradually I had problems, & no I can no longer make DVDs, something goes wrong in the encoding process & the video audio are out of sync, it seems that I have gradually lost power, memory, is there any way to avoid this when & if I get my own PC? even when I started making DVDs on this PC there were always some sort of problem; settings not being saved, slow to load etc, it felt like a miracle each time I actually got a DVD done. When I get it with a certain amount of RAM or processor, it would be nice if it retained that same amount of power without gradually getting slower & slower & having to get more RAM. I defrag the hard drive & run anti spy& adaware programs on the PC I am using now. That was something I kept hearing; that Macs are alot less prone to adaware & spyware that slow computers down. I want my system to stay as efficient & powerful down the road in time as when I 1st get it, cant afford to keep getting replacements. thanks for your input Sossity Edited September 11, 2008 by Sossity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dontasciime Posted September 11, 2008 Share Posted September 11, 2008 If you want a huge bill for hardware when mac gets dropped or fails then get a mac. Build your own PC or get a mate to build you one after buying parts. If you want a bit of power just buy a quad core 6600 the old one to save a bit money and buy a new cooler or the newer more power efficient one still buy a new cooller though as stock Intel ones are not good and will raise cpu temp by 20* Get a 775 board that has at least ICH7 on it I would actually pick ICH7 for the IDE as well as SATA it works Generally. and as long as you just want 6600 to work with it FSB from chipset on older boards will be fine. Liteon dvd writer or the LG blu ray writer dvd writer / hdd rom reader etc. SATA II Samsung 1 tb which are cheap and fast 3 year warranty, Which might be needed if they get any cheaper. and a cheap GFX card if you are not into playing games, or ati HD 3850 for budget gfx that can play games or was it 4850. and a 600-700 watt PSU with at least 30 amp on 12v line if you want it to last a while. If you buy dell one then make sure you are buying core 2 duo and not Pentium dual core. Laptop as well as desktop normally stay away from any CPU range that ends in ON (Turion being the exception) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sossity Posted September 12, 2008 Author Share Posted September 12, 2008 If you want a huge bill for hardware when mac gets dropped or fails then get a mac. Build your own PC or get a mate to build you one after buying parts. If you want a bit of power just buy a quad core 6600 the old one to save a bit money and buy a new cooler or the newer more power efficient one still buy a new cooller though as stock Intel ones are not good and will raise cpu temp by 20* do you mean the tower all the PC organs are in? Get a 775 board that has at least ICH7 on it I would actually pick ICH7 for the IDE as well as SATA it works Generally. and as long as you just want 6600 to work with it FSB from chipset on older boards will be fine. Liteon dvd writer or the LG blu ray writer dvd writer / hdd rom reader etc. SATA II Samsung 1 tb which are cheap and fast 3 year warranty, Which might be needed if they get any cheaper. and a cheap GFX card if you are not into playing games, or ati HD 3850 for budget gfx that can play games or was it 4850. and a 600-700 watt PSU with at least 30 amp on 12v line if you want it to last a while. sorry for my ignorance, what is a PSU? If you buy dell one then make sure you are buying core 2 duo and not Pentium dual core. Laptop as well as desktop normally stay away from any CPU range that ends in ON (Turion being the exception) thanks for the stats, but I will probably be getting a PC that is preconfigured, not bulding my own where I buy all parts from scratch, in my instance, a dell from their website where I pick a system, & pick different components. any suggestions for picking components from dell? Sossity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOCOENG Posted September 12, 2008 Share Posted September 12, 2008 If you buy dell one then make sure you are buying core 2 duo and not Pentium dual core. Get one with a hard drive with a capacity that you want and choose one with at least 2 gigs of ram. You can add video cards if needed down the road as well as internal burners, hard drives etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sossity Posted September 12, 2008 Author Share Posted September 12, 2008 (edited) If you buy dell one then make sure you are buying core 2 duo and not Pentium dual core. Get one with a hard drive with a capacity that you want and choose one with at least 2 gigs of ram. You can add video cards if needed down the road as well as internal burners, hard drives etc. if i get a quad core processor, what is the minimum one I should get? what about a video card? sound card? should I get what ever dell offers, included in price & upgrade later or try to get a good one then & there from dells website. will a core 2 duo & at least 2 gigs of ram be enough power to work smoothly with high definition video? if I get into that, I notice alot of camcorders these days offer high def. I have been hearing alot of bad stuff about windows vista, but I want my OS to be up to date, what version of windows vista should I get? home premium or ultimate? will be using my computer for photography, video editing, & some text for keeping business records. Thanks so far for the help Sossity Edited September 12, 2008 by Sossity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lfcrule1972 Posted September 12, 2008 Share Posted September 12, 2008 I have XP on my desktop PC and Vista on the laptop, I have had no problems with Vista at all, very pleased with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sossity Posted September 12, 2008 Author Share Posted September 12, 2008 I have XP on my desktop PC and Vista on the laptop, I have had no problems with Vista at all, very pleased with it. QUOTE (LOCOENG @ Sep 11 2008, 09:34 PM) QUOTE (donta) If you buy dell one then make sure you are buying core 2 duo and not Pentium dual core. Get one with a hard drive with a capacity that you want and choose one with at least 2 gigs of ram. You can add video cards if needed down the road as well as internal burners, hard drives etc. if i get a quad core processor, what is the minimum one I should get? what about a video card? sound card? should I get what ever dell offers, included in price & upgrade later or try to get a good one then & there from dells website. will a core 2 duo & at least 2 gigs of ram be enough power to work smoothly with high definition video? if I get into that, I notice alot of camcorders these days offer high def. I have been hearing alot of bad stuff about windows vista, but I want my OS to be up to date, what version of windows vista should I get? home premium or ultimate? will be using my computer for photography, video editing, & some text for keeping business records. Thanks so far for the help Sossity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOCOENG Posted September 12, 2008 Share Posted September 12, 2008 What is your budget? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sossity Posted September 12, 2008 Author Share Posted September 12, 2008 (edited) What is your budget? the program is an interest free loan from dell & their limit is 3,000 but have been told between 1,000 & 2,000. The less I spend the better. Sossity Edited September 12, 2008 by Sossity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOCOENG Posted September 12, 2008 Share Posted September 12, 2008 Desktop ($1000)~ http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/con...ured_dotw_dimen That should be plenty. Quad core Q6600 3 gigs of ram 640 gig HDD 22" LCD monitor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sossity Posted September 13, 2008 Author Share Posted September 13, 2008 Desktop ($1000)~ http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/con...ured_dotw_dimen That should be plenty. Quad core Q6600 3 gigs of ram 640 gig HDD 22" LCD monitor that will work if I get into high definition video in the future? because I will not be able to get another computer for a very long time if ever, so I need it to grow with me. thanks for the direct link, I notice it is divided into 4 tabs; 1 build my dell, 2 add my software & accessories, 3 protect my investment, & 4 review & continue. do I have to go to all the others or can I just get the items in the 1st tab; build my dell, or do I have to go through & buy software & accessories? should I get everything that is already highlighted? included in the price for all the items in tab 1 in build my dell? in build my dell, what version of windows vista? ultimate or home premium? or business? do I take the video card already included? what about a sound card or just take what is included; integrated? what about bluetooth? do I need that? what about a modem? there is already an older dell with windows XP home service pack 2 in my home, in the kitchen that has a DSL modem or cables hooked to the phone & phone lines that we get at&t sbc yahoo through, the new one will be in another room, I want to be able to get the internet & access my e-mail, & exchange files between the computers. should I select anything from the wireless? there is optional ports, none is selected, or a IEEE 1394a Adapter, do I need this? if I get a camcorder high def or standard def, will I need this? should I get it now or can I get it later? in the 2nd tab, add my software & accessories, what antivirus software should I get? just what is already included? do I need anything out of the networking & storage section? for office software Microsoft works 9 is included, but I have MS word documents I need to work with, & the other dell in my home has Microsoft word, could I copy that program onto my new PC? the other one has windows XP home on it? could I do this for the programs that I want that are already on the XP dell? copy them onto my newer dell? in tab 3 protect my investment, do I just get the warranty included? if I get an external hard drive, what brands or makes do you suggest? what is the most reliable? thanks for your help so far, I know I have bombarded everyone with a lot more Qs but this is a big purchase/investment & I have this one chance to get it right. Sossity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOCOENG Posted September 13, 2008 Share Posted September 13, 2008 The PC in the link is as you see it, the other tabs are for upgrading if you wish to. This is what you get standard for that price Intel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sossity Posted September 13, 2008 Author Share Posted September 13, 2008 (edited) The PC in the link is as you see it, the other tabs are for upgrading if you wish to. This is what you get standard for that price Intel Edited September 13, 2008 by Sossity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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