AV News Magazine | Page 46

AV News 192 - May 2013 A laptop will always be a compromise re editing/replay, although a lot of professionals use them on location shoots. The main reason for dual graphics cards in laptops is power conservation. My wife's HP constantly switches between the two according to usage. I have not checked to see if that alters when it's working either on battery or mains supply. Most laptops will have a 'Battery Options' icon somewhere. If you go into that there should be two options, Balanced and High Performance. Select the latter. However it will shorten your battery's supply time. Some laptops will do this automatically I'm told. Also a thought that it might switch from HP to Balanced as the battery runs down, and the graphics cards then switch!! Fundamentally the most important components as I understand it, is a large and fast hard drive, at least 760 Gb running at 7,200 rpm and a quad core processor and at least 8Gb RAM because it's all about transfer rates. The graphics card is apparently not the principle problem although the fastest available will of course help. The conclusion I would come to is that you definitely need a high end laptop such as the ASUS N53SM-ES72 15'6 inch screen to cope with video. The following link might also be of help. http://www.anandtech.com/show/2934/nvidia-optimus-trulyseamless-switchable-graphics-and-asus-ul50vf/1 I'm in no way an expert IT wise but simply send you these observations in the event that something to your advantage may be gleaned from it. Audio Visual Dayschool On Saturday 19th October, Howard & Suzanne Gregory will be running another full day AV workshop at Wilmslow Guild. The content will largely be based on the wishes of the students expressed on the booking form and on problem areas identified on the day. We will, however, make sure we include something for complete newcomers and something for more experienced workers wishing to lift their work above the average. More details, background information and booking forms will appear on the 'Dayschools' page of www.wilmslowguildav.org.uk in due course. The day is open to all, but, as numbers are limited, advance booking is essential. Queries to chairman@wilmslowguildav.org.uk Page 46