I’m in the market for a new laptop - in addition to the usual internet/email/document stuff, I do quite a lot of video editing, a fair bit of image editing, a little bit of animation (which I would like to do more of).
I don’t want a desktop/workstation as I have nowhere to permanently put a computer (at least not somewhere that would not often be inconvenient).
I’m fairly sure I want something with hardware GPU, as this should significantly reduce render times on video projects.
I am currently looking at this machine (which happens to completely consume my entire budget - I’ve been saving a long time - the price of 900 GBP is equivalent to about 1200 USD).
I am aware that 2-in-1 convertible tablet style laptops are a compromise in terms of size, weight and often other features, but portability outside of the home is not a major issue here - and this device seems to have a pretty well-rounded spec in terms of disk, RAM, CPU, GPU - and my hope is that the availability of a touchscreen (when supplemented by the proper stylus) will help with my intention to do more animation.
But for some reason, I can’t quite bring myself to commit. Why would this be a bad choice for that pricepoint? And if it is a bad choice, what would be better? (without compromising on features)
I meant to add: I don’t play games to any significant degree, so that kind of realtime performance is not necessary - so should I be looking at something like the AMD A12 APUs instead? Do I even need an i7?
Not entirely sure. The q&a section of a different online retailer asserts that is compatible with the Asus Pen
Its not the same as devices that have wacom tech built in, but apparently it supports differential pressure and uses the native touch function for position
According to the Asus Pen page, the model number for that Zen book - UX560UQ-FZ033T - isn’t listed as being compatible. Other models of Zen Book Flip are listed, though. In your shoes, I’d contact Asus directly and put the question to them. The Asus store has a live chat (link in the middle of the page at the bottom).
Decent machine for the pricepoint, maybe a little on the expensive side but not unreasonably so.
The problem with using laptops for compute-intensive work is that they are compact and have poor cooling systems. As the internals heat up, the processing power is automatically throttled back to prevent the system from overheating. You never really get to experience the full potential of your hardware, so just going by the raw specs doesn’t tell you a whole lot about how it will perform under real-world loads. And the 940MX is not a particularly beefy GPU to begin with.
What system are you using currently (Desktop/Laptop, CPU, RAM, GPU)?
What size/complexity of images and movies are you typically working with?
Good questions. I am currently doing most of my work on an HP Pavilion G6 laptop which has an i5-3210M CPU, 6GB RAM and Intel HD 4000 integrated graphics.
I’m working on 1080P video with an edited play length of between 5 and 20 minutes, but composed of many smaller clips and images, with text overlays and some simple transitions - it typically takes well in excess of an hour for my computer to render 15 minutes of finished video.
The agent on chat could do no more than point me at the product page, which does not explicitly state compatibility with this model, so I guess we have to assume it isn’t
…so to forge ahead with that purchase seems folly, despite the tempting spec in other areas…
So the question remains… is an AMD A12 APU going to be underpowered for what I want. Most video editing software can make use of the 8 GPU cores that come with that.
If so, there’s this - which does have pen compatibility, and is £300 cheaper.
I guess the tablet/pen functionality is my least ‘essential’ criterion. I have no need of it right now, but it does represent an area of future use I wish to exploit - and I’m not sure that you really get the same sort of experience by later adding a separate graphics tablet (I think those are superior for people already accustomed to the input method, but the immediacy of drawing directly onto the display surface seems like a better solution for entry-level)
I wouldn’t buy a refurb laptop. Actually, I wouldn’t buy a laptop at all if doesn’t leave the house. I’d buy a desktop and a Wacom and probably still have enough extra for the ice cream truck.
How do you feel about the Surface Pro? This model - i5, 8gb ram, Intel graphics 620 - would be a step up and it’s about 1100 pounds. -ish. Sorry for not knowing how to make the pound sign.
The pen would be an extra 90 pounds, about, and the keyboard cover’s separate. But if it never leaves the house, you could attach a full size keyboard, which would be a plus, imo. It has Bluetooth so any recent wireless accessories would work, too.
I have no personal opinion on the tablet vs separate wacom thing. I suspect it’s a personal preference. But the Surface was designed from the ground up to be used for art, so it’s worth considering, imo.
I don’t have anywhere that I can put a desktop (well, I do, but any available location I choose would be inconvenient for one reason or another, about half of the time).
I like it, but it’s outside of my budget and I really need something with a 15 inch screen (in fact I even looked at 17 inch laptops - screen area is fairly important for video editing - but 17 inch screens are just bigger for the same resolution, which put me off a bit)
I’m now wondering if I should split my requirements in half - that is, something like:
[ul]
[li]Get a slim device with touch and a pen and a decent display - use this for drawing and everyday computing[/li][li]Get a desktop (base unit only) with lots of grunt in the form of CPU/GPU/RAM and run my video editing on that, via remote desktop or similar.[/li][/ul]
Just to note - most of the refurbs on the sites I am searching have never been in serious use- they are generally open-box returns, surplus last-season stock, reboxed items that had their packaging lost or damaged - essentially new enough for me - the machine on which I am typing this was bought the same way - it still had the protective films on it -
and it has served me pretty well.