Expert: Bobbert - 2/25/2011

Question
IN 2008 BOUGHT A LAPTOP GATEWAY WITH 4GB RAM and in 2010 RECEIVED A $910 REFUND FROM THE WARRANTY. I DO VIDEO EDITING THE MOST AND THE 4GB RAM, I GUES WERENT ENOGHT. I LIKE TO USE THE COMP IN BED. SO, I NEED WIRELESS, BUT NOW THAT I SEE ALL IN ONE WIRELESS DESKTOP WITH STUFF I WANT LIKE... TOUCH SCREEN WITH TV TUNNER AND A/V INPUTS, HDMI, ETC I NEED YOUR ADVICE BECAUSE I WANT AT LEAST 8-12GB RAM AND I SEE THE DELL 2305 AND THE SONY L SERIES AND AM TRYING TO DECIDE WHICH IS MORE POWERFULL WITH THE 8GB. THE DELL MAX IS 8GB RAM AND IS AMD Athlon II X4(45W)Chipset RS880M + SB820M AND SAYS ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 up to 1GB DDR3.  THE SONY IS 8GB RAM, BUT MAX IS 12GB. HAS 1GB DEDICATED VRAM, DUO CORE 2 QUAD 2.66 GHZ, FRONT SIDE BUS 1333MHZ, CACHE 4MBB DDR2 800MHZ, GRAPHICS GEFORCE NVIDIA GT 330mgpu.   so, what do you reccommend?  THANKS

Answer
http://email.about.com/od/netiquettetips/qt/Writing-In-All-Caps-Is-Like-Shouting...

When you mention video editing, can you tell me more about the software application you're using to do this editing? Generally the systems you're looking at, especially laptops, are not a good choice for video editing, as they lack the compute power and cooling solutions to truly compete. Total system memory is a very small piece of the picture, depending on your workflow you need to place equal consideration on the CPU, storage system, and any co-processor solutions (this is generally only worth considering if you're doing very large projects, projects with very complicated audio mixes, or capturing from analog formats (such as Beta or Hi8)). If you can explain more about your actual needs, I can provide more directed answers. My primary suggestions will be desktop machines, as they're more appropriate for your needs (generally any high-performance demand requires a desktop, laptops sacrifice this performance for portability and "Cuteness" - they're fine for students taking notes or business types doing work on a plane, but for demanding applications they are not the best idea).

-bob