durability of a laptop for divx encoding

[bufferzone]

i am thinking of purchasing a laptop for video (divx, mpg, realmedia, windows media) encoding and viewing. the laptop in question is a Compaq Presario Notebook with a 2400+ Mobile AMD Athlon XP Processor, 512MB 266MHz DDR SDRAM, 60.0GB enhanced-IDA EIDE hard drive, ATI Mobility RADEON 4X AGP 3D graphics; 64MB DDR SDRAM shared video memory; S-video TV-out and Windows XP Home edition. i have a good desktop system, but the wife does complain when i tie up the system for a few hours when i'm encoding video. my question is...will the laptop be as durable as the desktop?

*all things being equal, except for the processor, would a comparable pentium based laptop be a better choice?

[bilu]

I think the only component on a laptop that could be (not checked) less prepared than the same component on the desktop is the hard drive.

Laptop's hard drives are more vibration-proof, but what about constant activity during 10 or 20 hours? Will it stand the heat?


I have no answers but share your question, mate :)

[bufferzone]

well...i got my laptop today, but not the one i mentioned in my original post. i got a Hewlett-Packard Pavilion Notebook ze5375 with a 2.4GHz Pentium® 4 Processor, 512MB DDR SDRAM, 40.0GB enhanced-IDE hard drive, DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive, ATI Mobility RADEON 4X AGP graphics and 3D architecture, with 64MB DDR SDRAM shared video memory, S-video TV-out and Windows XP Home edition. the regular price of this notebook at circuit city is $1,449, but because of a price cut and rebates, i will end up paying only $1,025. seemed like a pretty good deal to me. time to do some testing. :)

[pacohaas]

you're gonna wanna add a lot more memory than that for DivX encoding, and at least another 256 for XP, i can't believe they sold you that with only 64. I generally go no less than 512 nowadays, RAM's pretty cheap, dunno bout your mobility stuff, but it shouldn't set you back much to get a 512. Personally, i'd throw out the 64 and leave the space for another 512 either now, or when you get the money.

[int 21h]

If you want a real fun notebook for DivX or any encoding for that matter, go with an Alienware.. mmmmm..... ;)

[jeremymacmull]

hey

firstly he has 512 mb of RAM all those who say he does not please read his post

Secondly

The main answer to your question can a laptop be used for encoding

The simple answer is yes and very effectively. however there are a few things uve got to check and they are important

Firstly you need to make sure that the computer does not get too hot.

Laptops have not got by and large as many cooling devices (fans)and so some models can overheat rather quickly as they are not meant to be on 24/7 at 100% cpu usage.

also u have to make sure that the hdd is not set to turn off after X mins this will be in control panel . (V IMP)


BUT other than that ive been using my p3 850 with 140 gb and 256 mb ram 32 mb 4X AGP Geforce 2 Go Win 2K for 2-3 years for encoding and it works well. shut it down after each encode and let it cool down is what i found is needed cool down for an hour or so.

Hope this helps

JEREMY

[bufferzone]

did my first divx encoding with the new laptop and gknot28 and everything seemed to run smooth. the encoding took about 3 1/2 hours and during that time the laptop appeared to be running pretty cool.

*jeremymacmull
the p4 wasn't my first choice. i wanted to try out the athlon 2400+. but the p4 might have been a wiser choice. doesn't the p4 generally run cooler than the athlon?

*int 21h
the alienware looked like cool stuff, but way out of my budget though.

*pacohaas
don't worry...i got 512mb on the laptop. 64mb of that is just shared video memory.

[pacohaas]

yes, i'm retarded :rolleyes:

[jeremymacmull]

@bufferzone

Yes Generally speaking the pentiums run a lot cooler than the equivalent athlon. The best models to buy come with the new Pentium M Centrino chips (not Pentium 4 M) but way out of my budget.

Ive got a Dell Inspiron 8000 and ive been happy with it. Its a bit slow but encodes take about 8-10 hours so i leave it overnight and its finished. But it does get rather hot.

How big is the laptop ie 2 spindle 3 spindle (normally able to tell if it 2 spindle if it is one of the really thin ones or 3 spindle if it is one of the much bigger ones where portability is not foremost.)

this is cos 3 spindle laptops are normally much better cooled than 2 spindle

JEREMY

[bufferzone]

@ jeremymacmull

the laptop is a 3 spindle. which makes it a little bulky and heavier...around 7.5lbs.

[OvERaCiD23]

I've also been using a Dell I8K (900mhz, 256mb RAM) for about 2 years of encoding. I've never had a problem with heat; I use a utility to control the fans on the computer (I8K Fan GUI, http://www.diefer.de/i8kfan/index.html). It monitors temperature and adjusts fan speed accordingly, much better than the controls in the BIOS. Using YV12, it takes about 6-8 hours to do a movie. I love being able to take my movies anywhere, especially to watch at someone else's house.

[jeremymacmull]

Overacid thanks a lot for the fan gui

i have a i8k 850mhz 256mb 32 mb geforce 2 go 140 gb hdd if you have any (and i mean any ) hints or titbits that relate with the I8k please pm me or post here cos id love to have somethings especially to change irqs of the usb firewire pcmcia soundcard and graphics card which in 2k all seem to be on irq 9 and its damn annoying

ive looked in the forums on the dell site and there is nothing there short of going to linux.

thanks for the help
JEREMY

[aleksander]

Hi!
Well..
If I can be of any help, I would suggest you buy an external harddrive.
Just got one (USB 2.0, 160GB 7200RPM 8MB cache) and the difference between the one I've got in my lappy (30GB) and the external one is HUGE!
First of all - most of the laptops HDDs are 4200rpm 2MB cache. So they're slower. Second of all - you've got 40GB - well.. after a while you will be in desparate need of a larger HDD, just like I was.
Got back from a trip a week ago and I've got 4 hours of MiniDV material which has to be edited. And 1 hour takes 15GB.... Numbers speak for themselves....
And on a side note...
I previously owned an AMD lappy which was VERY hot. Now I've got P4 and it runs much, much cooler. And one more thing - the Radeon that you've got simply su.ks :) It's the IGP340 which is terrible in terms of gaming performance.... But I don't know if it's a big deal for you - I kinda like to play sometimes so I needed something better - got Radeon 7500... Well.. of course the 9000 would be better, but it was out of my price range when I bought my lappy.
And I wouldn't go with AlienWare - they are wayyyy too expensive. Go with Sager instead - that's exactly the same lappy - there is one company manufacturing those laptops for both AlienWare and Sager. AlienWare just wants to get a lot more money out of it...

take care

aleksander

[kaitsuburi]

I have a P3-1.0 Toshiba and I've had it encode for several days in a row with no problems. I've even forgotten it on the bed a couple of times -- it gets sooo hot on the bottom -- but it hasn't crashed or anything. So to answer your original question, I think most laptops would be stable enough for hardcore encoding. As long as processors go, maybe Intel because of the temperature factor....

I like Aleksander's suggestion: you can get a high quality & fast external drive pretty easily. Firewire would probably work best -- you would need a firewire card for your laptop if you don't have a built in port. They are relatively inexpensive. Then perhaps get an external HDD case with firewire and buy a good quality (internal) drive to put in it. This way you will have more flexibility and can upgrade easily. Or just buy a ready external HDD.

Or, it might be easier to just build a budget Athlon XP system for $300-400 or so (w/o monitor) and use it solely for encoding. Or just buy a not-so-special laptop for your wife to use while you are encoding on the big machine :D :D

--kaitsuburi

[jeremymacmull]

Yeah Totally agree on the external hdd question for encoding the internal one is too slow

mine came with a 4200 rpm hitachi 30 gb drive ive also got via Firewire (my laptop has a port) (if not u can get firewire or USB 2 PCMCIA cards) one 80gb IBM 7200 rpm drive and a maxtor 5400 drive in firewire boxes as well as a CDRW philips 12 X (old i know)

and they all work rather well the 7200 is what i use for nearly all my encoding needs as the internal 30 gb is just windows games and mp3s really not much space for anything else

JEREMY