looking for a cheap laptop to run DR

Alright, I know what most of you are thinking, that this is impossible. But hear me out.

My dad gifted me a Dell Precision 6600 laptop because he saw how much I was struggling with my youtube videos. This laptop worked really well when using DR 15 free version. The only choppiness I got was when I had more than one video playing at the same time, or text, or a picture accompanying the video, but it was tolerable.

I got the blue screen of death, took it into the shop and the motherboard is fried. The techs there told me it most likely is not worth replacing because of its cost.

I have no idea what my dad paid for this computer, but I can imagine it might have been refurbished? All I remember was that the graphics card was a 3000 something or another. I know GPU is really important for running smooth videos in real time (as is CPU). I'm not dealing with 4k, I'm not using fusion, I'm content with DR 15 and am looking for something cheap to run it. I work with videos that are created with a canon vixia HF R800 video camera using 1920x1080 footage

Can I get a laptop for $600 or less to run DR 15? Or will I have to go the refurbished/used route?

If it's just HD and you're not doing any noise reduction or complex effects, almost any recent laptop should be usable. If your source media is H.264 (like on your Vixia) you will increase performance greatly by getting the Studio version of Resolve as it will then be able to decode the files using hardware acceleration (available in Intels CPUs for example, but also in dedicated GPUs).

Which would drive the cost up another 300.
does it need to be a laptop? Do you have a decent screen standing around?
There might be a better solution.

Unfortunately Resolve is a resource hog, and while the later versions are more stable they also breathe easier when more computing resources are available to it. There really is no "cheap" way to have DR run smoothly.

However I'd try adding as much RAM as possible to your laptop can handle, that's the "cheapest" most logical route to go. Outside of that I'd do what you're already doing, stay away from complexities like Fusion, high-functioning filters that require a ton of background processing and things "should" be ok.

Buona Fortuna

thanks for the replies which then brings up a few other questions:

I read that GPU is most important and CPU is 2nd. If any new computer should be fine, (considering I'm not using too much complex functions) what is it about new computers that make it fine with DR? and wouldn't it be easier to run older versions of DR that are stripped of newer functions, as opposed to 17 which probably has a whole slew of new and CPU hogging functions in it?

Richard Lackey gives a 2GB video card is an miminum for working with video in DR. Is that a barometer I should be shooting for? or does the CPU play into it?

also, all things being equal, what is more beneficial: a $300 laptop + DR studio = $600?
OR a $600 laptop + DR (free)= $600


oh, and yes, unfortunately it does have to be laptop

Hi.

In Resolve the CPU is used to run the app, disk I/O, fusion, compression and decompression of codecs.
Resolve does all its image processing in the GPU on the graphics card. More CUDA/OpenCL Cores are better.

Yes, The minimum vRam for Resolve is 2 GB. But there is an another limit at 3.5 GB of vRam, where you can't use some functions, if you have less than 3.5 GB vRam. I am not sure, but I thing using hardware acceleration, is one of them.

So for 1920x1080 footage, will I recommend a Graphics Card with min 4 GB of vRam.

Regards Carsten.

The 3.5GB VRAM limit to enable hardware acceleration of H.264 only applies to dedicated GPUs I think. GPUs that are integrated into Intel CPUs shouldn't have that limitation. It works fine on an old Intel NUC I have and it only has a low-end integrated GPU.

So I saw this computer at my local computer shop

dell g3 15-3500 and the tech told me I should have no problem running DR on this and he believes the RAM is upgradeable to 32? Right now it is at 8 gb.

It is for $750. I was looking for something a little cheaper or am I just dreaming? Is this a good price for this kind of laptop and do you think DR will (in the way that I use it) run fine on it?

You need to understand the difference between RAM and VRAM. General RAM will suffice at 16 GB, you won't need more if Fusion doesn't matter for you. What others referred to above is VRAM, which you didn't report for that machine you're looking at.

Generally, it will be difficult to find a new laptop that can run Resolve smoothly at that price point, refurb or second-hand might be the way to go. Gamers tend to sell their 'old' hardware pretty often…

What you could do to avoid spending another 300 for Studio is transcoding any H.264/265 source footage into something smoother, like Cineform or DNxHR with free software like Shutter Encoder. It'll take more space, but drives are cheap these days (other than strong GPUs).

thanks I have thought about transcoding to something smoother.

The VRAM for this card is 4 gB which I guess is some what sufficient for running a no-frills version of DR?

Yes, 4 GB VRAM is definitely fine for HD. And it normally means that the GPU is not too weak either.
Which one is it?
One of my machines has an i5 at 3.8 GHz too, and while it's no a powerhouse it get's the work done.

I’m sorry, which one is what?

OK, I looked it up. I suppose it's the NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1650 Ti 4GB GDDR6, which is OK for DR in HD.
You may even get along with the 8 GB RAM for a start if there is a slot left to add another 8 GB if things get too tight.