What is the best company to buy Desktop and laptop computers from that are great for video editing? (No macs)?

It’s whats under the hood that counts.

Everyone is posting Dells, Compaqs, HPs, Gateways, or whatever their favorite is.

The truth is you need one with good hardware when it comes to video editing since it’s so demanding. With the wrong hardware you will suffer in preformance and your machine will seem slow.

Most manufactures like those mentioned above will let you customize your PC. They will let you pick what parts you want. But before I recommend a manufacture I want to explain some things first so you can make a good decision.

Memory(RAM) – Files in video editing are very large and they will need room. The more ram you have the more space you have to work with them in. Plus you will have many programs open in video editing that also take space so it’s important to get enough ram. I recommend 4GB at the miniuim but I would go with 8GB if you don’t plan on buying another computer in a couple years.

Storeage – Storage is referring to harddisk, the place where files are stored on your PC when the power is off. So you will also need space to store these files. Video files are usually in the gigabytes and one file can take up all your space before you know it. So I recommend you get something with the most space you can for storage. I recommend 500GB but would perfer 1000TB(terabyte).

Processor(CPU), This is the compontent that thinks and does the math in the computer. Video editing programs are demanding on the processor too(example: converting video formats and running algorithms). Processors come in two brands, AMD and Intel but AMD has really fallen behind in speed so try to stick with an Intel. I recommend those new i7 chips, they are the fastest on the market. This gets techical so i’m not going indepth but cores are like little processing units on one chip(die). The more cores the more processing units you have. The problem is that not all software is designed to take advantage of cores. So I would stick with a dual core chip unless your using video editing software that takes advantage of multiple cores like Adobe Premier(it’s designed to take advantage of multiple cores). I don’t think you will find more then 4 cores but they do make them. However, you don’t need that many for video editing, 4 is the most you will need.

Video Card – Despite it’s name this doesn’t have to be the very best unless your gaming. So don’t worry about the series and features just worry about the Video Ram(not system ram). I would get a 512mb or higher.

That’s about it for the hardware you need to know about. Now I know everyone recommended Dell but I do too. However, I also recommend Alienware too. Dell has gone down in it’s tech support and I would say it’s equal with other manufactures so it’s not the best anymore. Both Alienware and Dell have good systems so I would get a computer that is customized by one of them. Expect to pay around 2k for this system.

I hope I help any more questions just email me.