http://www.pchardwarehelp.com/guides/lcd-panel-types.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TFT_LCD

Most of this "reviews" are paid reviews, as this is high marginal product. So be very warned. You need ones with actual measurements, not words.

but I very well may need a laptop in the near future

Why you will need large laptop? Do you have some specific task?

Also if you search really portable stuff with good screen, check Lenovo X230 convertible tablets. You can get refurbished ones with Ivy Bridge i7 processors on ebay (check my link above) for less then $1000.

I use a laptop for editing because I can also work when I´m abroad and have always all with me. I have a VAIO with i7 720QM, NVIDIA 330M, 8GB RAM, I changed the HDD with a SSD. The display is very bad, the blacks have less shades as when I look the Video on TV; but it is know that the display of my Sony is bad. I think today´s notebook have enough power for edit AVCHD without to be impatient. Most editing software use the power of the graphic card that is a big advantage. I also plan to change my notebook. I whys a good 17" or 18" display (I also have a tablet) don´t know if glare or matt, a triple RAM slot, a i7 series 3 a powerfull Graphic card and don´t give away 1500 € like for my last notebook, I saw interesting machines for less of 1000€, better less and change more often for me. One question why you don´t wait less than a month for Windows 8?

The lenovo W20(not sure of the 10's) screens though it does not technically have an ips it is not crappy screen by any means. The w series screens are great(read the reviews)! They are specifically made for this kind of work(DCC,video,CAD). They are not that big either. It is also light compared to other the other big brand "mobile workstations" and they also seem to always be cheaper. I use mine to render rugged architectural renderings in a production enviorment(far far more intensive than most video editing as anyone with knowledge will attest). Other than the battery's size on the w series they are my type of laptop with so many cool features. The w series is almost the anti apple in design philosophy. Just get an ssd and lots of ram and your set!

for editing purposes it makes almost zero reason to wait for Windows 8.

That´s absoltely right however you will have a longer supported operating system, with more value when you sell it.

I recently needed a solution for a fast mobile workstation, that could also handle 4k image sequences. I chose the current retina MacBook Pro (cuda support) with 16GB ram and SSD drive. As storage solution I got a Thunderbolt Lacie Little Big Disk and replaced the two hard disk with ssd's. This got me 1TB with sustained 450MB/sec read/write (non compressible data). Very fast, very compact but expensive ...

@josangel

No need to post huge specifications.

You wanted to spend such money and get pure gaming notebook, you got it.

I'm hitting the road for a few months and need a basic affordable laptop. Basic editing with Vegas 10 and CF files. Opinions on this?

This Asus X54C-BBK19 laptop features a double-layer DVD±RW/CD-RW drive for creating customized DVDs, CDs and Power4Gear technology for quiet, efficient cooling. The built-in high-speed wireless LAN allows an easy connection to the Internet. Operating system: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64-bit Display: 15.6" LCD (1366 x 768) Webcam: 0.3 megapixels Processor: 2.3GHz Intel Core i3 i3-2350M Cache: 3MB L3 Memory: 4GB DDR3 Hard drive: 320GB SATA (5400 rpm) Optical drive: DVD+/-RW/CD-RW (DL) Graphics: UMA graphics Networking: Wi-Fi 802.11n, 10/100/1000 Ethernet Ports: 1 x HDMI, 1 x USB 3.0, 1 x USB 2.0, 1 x Ethernet (RJ-45) Model: X54C-BBK19 Dimensions: 15.2 x 9.9 x 1.4 Weight: 5.8 lbs

@lenuisible The screen x230t seems to be really bad.. wonder if they tested the version with outdoor screen or the normal one.

@kavadni

I'm not sure if you can change RAM, even after warranty is over.

But you should be fine with Resolve, since it has Nvidia graphics again. if yours is the GPU with 512 MB you might run into some limitations, though.

Don't forget to switch to the faster graphics (under Energy Saving) or Resolve won't start.

You'll be fine with Resolve then, and Premiere too.

I hope this is appropriate topic for this.

I'm trying to choose a reliable and long-lasting PC laptop for DAW work, video and photo editing. It should be able to handle 8+ hours a day at high CPU load and be from a series that is easy to find replacement parts for.

Priority is on a 4 core i7 CPU that will not throttle, so the cooling system should be good. This is also important because of noise - for DAW use noise needs to be moderate, and preferably quieter than even Apple laptops.

I've been looking at Lenovo T and W series recently, because they are bought in big quantities by businesses, which should mean that standard replacement parts will be available for a long time. HP is another business class alternative, but I'm less sure about their offerings.

I've also considered Asus ROG series and similar gaming laptops, because they often have decent cooling and tend to be modular, thus - in theory - easy to replace parts if they fail. But AFAIK they are not sold in as high quantity as business laptops, so proprietary parts might be hard to find.

@Vitaliy_Kiselev, you appear to know much about Lenovo, what is your recommendation? For example are current W/T540 models good? What parts in Lenovo business laptops are most likely to fail?