[PLUG-AV] other system options

[Jason Nicholls]

Hey Guys,

I was doing some googling for "cheap firewire laptops" which wasn't
very successful but I think mostly because people aren't looking for
them.

It turns out there are some laptops that do have firewire though:

- Lenovo T420/T520 and some other models - expensive!
- Apple MacBook Pros (mentioned this one before) - mid
- Dell Vostro 1015 - cheap as

There are also plenty of laptops with ExpressCard slots and it seems
firewire cards are about $40 (in AU)!

After a bit more model research I think the best bang for buck is:

- Dell Vostro 3550, from $599 with 15" screen, USB 3.0, eSATA, and
ExpressCard. So +$40 for firewire card = $639 ea
- Dell Vostro 3350, from $699 specs as above but 13" screen (more
compact = better IMO) = $739 ea

The reason for these are because they're using the current CPU models
and offer really good expansion with USB 3.0, eSATA, and ExpressCard.

These would be fine as the capture systems but we'd still need
something more powerful for the dvswitch/encoding box. My pref here is
the Vostro 3750, same specs but with a i7 quad-core CPU and 17" screen
(1600x900) for using DV Switch for $1189 (current sale). The XPS15 has
a faster quad-core option, a bit more compact, but lacks the
ExpressCard slow (may not be needed on the DV Switch box anyway) - but
we're looking at $1917 for maxed out CPU + high-res screen.

Anyway, my scenario has us at:

- 3x 3350 + fw cards = $739 x 3
- 1x 3750 = $1189

total = $3406

(of course cameras, tripods, and audio on top of that)



Jason Nicholls
jason at mindsocket.com.au
0430 314 857