I had the same book man

<-my response

you deserve something for that

I'm sorry one more question .. does the specific brand of laptop matter or is it all in the customization?

Brand loyalty just depends on the person. If there was clearly a winner in the battle of brands, then it would have been known by now. :P

Typically if the specs are the same the performance is the same. However the things I notice with brands is durability. Mind you this is just my personal opinion...but I find Sony and HP to be the best made. Less chance of breaking if dropped, etc.

Thanks a bunch man, you're a huge help

No problem. :) You will probably be able to find a nice computer under a grand with a Ivy Bridge i5 or i7 processor with a nice mobile dedicated graphics card and over 4GB of RAM by then.

thanks man... what do you thinks more important (i dont know much about computer specs) the memory or the processor or the hard drive

Out of those three, you should really be looking for a good balance. Make sure the hard drive is a good size, probably 320GB or better. The memory is a big factor, but it should be fine whether you have 4GB, 8GB, or more. Just don't buy under 4GB of RAM. The most important factor out of those three is the processor. Make sure that you at least have a 2.8GHz dual core, but if you can, look for a quad core with 3.1 GHz.

One thing you didn't mention is graphics. In my opinion, graphics are the absolute most important component for gaming. Historically, Intel integrated graphics chipsets have been awful. GMA integrated with the northbridge was one of the worst possible integrated setups. I don't know, however, that this is still true. With newer generations, intel graphics are included on the cpu, and they may or may not be as awful as they have been in the past. Just make sure that you research your specs, and that the graphics on the laptop are good enough for the job you want. I would normally recommend getting Nvidia or AMD graphics, but they have surprised me with some pretty awful chips in the past so I don't know.

To Recap, levels of importance are basically graphics, processor, ram, then hard drive for gaming and rendering. They are all very important, so definitely don't skip out on anything and get a computer that only has 3 of the 4 components at a quality level. It might take some searching to find the perfect one, but don't just settle on some overrrated overpriced piece of crap. Make sure you get the computer that's right for you.

Thanks for taking the time.to write that all out.. it'll def help me out..

Memory is pretty cheap today. 4GB is about the standard for most users, however having more than 4GB is helpful for rendering. Either way it does not change the price too much.

The CPU is the heart of your computer. I really do feel it is the most important part. Especially for gaming and rendering. Also is the biggest factor for price.

Hard drive space just depends on the person. However large and fast 7200 RPM drives are preferable for video editing. SSDs are super fast but extremely expensive at the moment.

What is going to define whether or not your laptop is going to run games well even if with a good processor is having a dedicated graphics card though.

I'm sorry one more question .. does the specific brand of laptop matter or is it all in the customization?

Brand loyalty just depends on the person. If there was clearly a winner in the battle of brands, then it would have been known by now. :P

Typically if the specs are the same the performance is the same. However the things I notice with brands is durability. Mind you this is just my personal opinion...but I find Sony and HP to be the best made. Less chance of breaking if dropped, etc.

Thanks a bunch man, you're a huge help

No problem. :) You will probably be able to find a nice computer under a grand with a Ivy Bridge i5 or i7 processor with a nice mobile dedicated graphics card and over 4GB of RAM by then.