Asus G550JK Laptop Questions
Andrei in Montreal Jul 30, 2014 6:52 PMHi,
I've been considering seriously whether I need a laptop and the answer is yes. I haven't updated my laptop in ages since the core duo era so I want to run this by you because I have no relative experience compared with the outdated system. I'll use this mainly for Photoshop and Lightroom but I expect to shoot short films either in the (Nikon's encoded) 1080p format or by recording with an Atomos device 10 bit uncompressed.
I am considering this laptop: Asus G550JK. I want a 15" since it's a good screen size/weight ratio for me. I chose ASUS because it was recommended by many as highly reliable.
- 2.5 GHz Intel Core i7-4710HQ (Haswell)
- 8GB of DDR3L RAM (only 1 ram stick of 8GB 1600Mhz installed according to multiple internet sources, supports up to 16GB)
- 750GB 7200 rpm Hard Drive
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M Graphics (2GB) (DDR3...)
- 15.6" Matte Full HD Display (IPS, LED)
- 1920 x 1080 Native Resolution
- SuperMulti DVD Burner
- 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0
- Built-in Webcam, Mic, & Speakers
- Windows 8.1 (64-bit)
My questions:
1) How will this one hold for editing 1080p and 10bit uncompressed? Some BH staff suggested it would run smoothly 2-3 HD streams in Premiere 5.5 and he said that editing 10 bit uncompressed is easier on the system than the DSLR footage since h264 encoding does something funny. For my regular use, Photoshop and Lightroom, I personally expect it to run very well - am I wrong to assume that?
2) What should another 8GB of ram bring to performance? I saw Harm's suggestion for 16GB. Another stick of 8GB is about 70-90 bucks - affordable imo.
3) Is it worth it to invest in an SSD for a system/applications designated drive? I use virtual drives if I (ever) need an application that requires a disc. Removing the optical drive to create a secondary hard drive bay wouldn't affect me. If you think SSD would be a dramatic change, what would improve and by how much?
I am under the impression that this is a very good bang for the buck, laptop wise, which begs an extra question. Also, if you could comment on how balanced this system is.
*** Do you know of any other laptop system that would give more for the money?
Thank you for those taking the time to answer.
Andrei



