HP dv6-7010us Review

In my last post, I briefly mentioned that I would be getting a new computer "soon."  At the time I wrote that post I had already ordered the computer, and it arrived a few days ago.  I feel that I now have enough information about it to make a review, so lets get started.



The process of choosing a computer to get was difficult.  I had been wanting one for a while, but it wasn't until my 4-year-old laptop's battery warped and the track pad stopped working that I decided I was in need of something more modern.  So I began to do some research.  Since I was on a pretty tight budget, I had originally wanted to build my own computer.  However, by the time I had assembled a fairly decent parts list, I discovered that for the same price that my build was going to run me, I could get a laptop with even better specs.

The first laptop I looked at was the Dell Inspiron.  There are many different models of the Inspiron, but there were two in particular that I liked: The 15R, of which one model was 550 dollars and had 500GB storage, 4GB RAM, and an Intel i3 processor.  The other one was also a 15R, but it was 800 dollars and had 1TB storage, 8GB RAM, and an i7 processor.

I was just about to buy the 550 dollar model when I discovered that HP, a brand which, due it's mixed reputation, I had not considered, made a computer for the same price as the 15R, but with better specs.  The computer, which was a dv6-7010us, had 750GB of storage, 6GB of RAM, and an AMD A8-4500M CPU.  While this may seem like the obvious choice, it took me a while to settle on whether the dv6 or the 15R would be a better buy.

The main thing about the dv6 that I was concerned about was the processor.  While the A8-4500M is roughly equivalent in performance to an Intel i5 processor, I had had little to no prior experience with AMD processors and had heard mixed reviews of them.  However, I eventually decided that it would be worth it to get the dv6, because the A8 CPU, regardless of whether or not it performed as well as the i5, was still better than the i3, which was the processor that the 15R came with.

And there you have it.  I am very pleased with my dv6-7010us.  I have also been monitoring my CPU usage, and taking that into account, it looks to me like AMD is just as good as Intel.

Until next time.

Capturing the Fall

This week's blog post is about the "Capturing the Fall" independent video project.

I filmed it with a Fujifilm s400 and edited it in Premiere.  The shots are as follows:

1. Intro shot of feet walking through the leaves
2. Title slide
3.  Tree with yellow leaves
4. Slow dramatic zoom pan of a tree with red leaves
5. Walking through a rock outcropping
6. Dramatic zoom in on a cat staring at me
7. Panning shot of a small creek
8. Walking down the street
9. Gnome in a tree
10. Panning shot of a dead tree
11. Chopped wood
12. Man walking his dog down the street
13. Credits

I used the music I did because I wanted my film to have a melancholy tone.  Autumn signifies the end of summer and the approaching winter.  Overall, I am pretty happy with it, but I do regret that I wasn't able to upload it in HD.  It's because my current computer is slowly falling apart.  But I will be getting a new one next weekend, so my next project will be available in high resolution.

This Week's Showdown: Mac vs PC (Mid-Level Editing Software)

Last week was originally going to be a comparison between Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere, but once I started writing it, it quickly turned into Mac vs PC, and I figured that if I was going to start a Mac vs PC series of blog posts, I might as well start with the basics.  So i did Windows Live Movie Maker vs iMovie.  This week I'm doing Premiere vs FCP.

Now before I start, I'd just like to clarify that Adobe Premiere works just as well on Mac as it does on PC, and that Adobe is not affiliated with Microsoft.  The only reason I'm calling this "Mac vs PC" is because people tend to associate Premiere and the other programs in the Adobe Creative Suite with PC, probably because far fewer people use them with Mac.  Also keep in mind that I edit with Premiere at home, and I use Final Cut Pro at school, so I am fairly experienced with both programs.  With that out of the way, let's begin.

The first thing any frugal American will notice when comparing these two editing programs is the price.  Final Cut Pro 7, the most recent and widely-used version, costs 1,000 dollars.  Final Cut Pro X, the budget version, only costs 300.  On the other hand, Adobe Premiere Pro CS 5.5, the version that I edit with, is 800 dollars.  I know that it's not the most recent version, but I would guess that it's still the version that most people use because the newest one hasn't had enough time to catch on yet.

The next thing to look at is how well both programs live up to their intended uses.  Since they are both top-of-the line mid-level editing programs, it is safe to assume that the people who will be using them are mainly advanced amateurs, in some cases professionals, meaning that the standards that they have to live up to are much higher than those of Windows Live Movie Maker and iMovie.  In this category, Final Cut Pro has the best track record.  More big-budget professional movies have been edited in Final Cut Pro than in Premiere.  However, since the release of FCP X, which sacrificed several features to cater more to film makers on a tighter budget, Adobe Premiere has been considered more proffessional than FCP.  In a way, this is not fair to Apple, because the full version is just as professional as Premiere, but as they seem to have no intention of making a FCP 8 and instead plan to focus on FCP X, Premiere has the upper hand.

Until next time.