Re: Decisions, decisions!

Both digital video and digital (still) photography are NOT demanding applications for video ... both are "2D" rather than "3D" applications. The video card won't matter much.

In fact, digital still photography is not particularly demanding of CPU or memory either, but encoding digital video is EXTREMELY demanding of CPU (although not so much memory), and also digital video is extremely demanding of hard drive space (but not so much speed).

I haven't gone through the exercise with Dell since December, but at that time for $1,400, you could configure almost any Dell hardware that you wanted for about $1,499, and the coupon would take it down to $999. I think that's still the case, although I admit that I have not tried it lately.


Deborah wrote:
Hi Barry,

Thanks for the response!

I checked out the site you recommended, but even using the coupon code, the total was more than the Gateway. I built a Dell (E1705)system as close to the Gateway as possible. With the $500 coupon, the total cost was close to $1400 including tax and shipping. (I live in Hawai`i.) So it didn't seem worth the extra cost.

After reviewing and doing a little more research, the only true sticking point for me with the Gateway is the graphics card. However, I did find (online) that the processor and RAM are the two key components with photo editing, which is the primary computer activity I will be pursuing that is the most demanding of computer resources. That doesn't include the video editing, which is something I see myself doing in the future, so again, it's back to the video card for that. But (thinking out loud here) would "home movie" type videos be too much of a stretch for the graphics card the Gateway has? Gaming and CAD applications aren't even a consideration for me.

Actually the 17" screen isn't an absolute for me. It just worked out that the Gateway encompassed most of what I was looking for and just happened to be a 17" too. But I have to say I'm kind of attached to the idea of having a Core 2 Duo. It's what changed my mind from an 15.4" HP with an AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-52 (and marginally superior graphic card NVIDIA GeoForce Go 6150 - still integrated) that I was set to buy for $899 (plus tax).

You make a good point with the ExpressCard/PC Card issue and the 7200 rpm hard drive. The truth of it is, if I had the type of laptop I really want, I'd be looking at spending close to $2K and at that price, I might as well buy a Mac! :D

Deb
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