You have two options. Download the free trial and see if it works BUT the trial has some limited capability. Buy PD 10 and try it (especially for the HD video). You have a 30 day $$ back warranty.

It is too hard to make a judgment on how well the i3 will run the program because of so many other factors -- your video for instance. Others may have a different input. .
.
BoilerPlate: To posters who ask for help -- it is nice to thank the volunteers who try to answer your questions !
Anything I post unless stated with a reference is my personal opinion.

Quote: Hi forum. Wanting to make short movies with pics and photos of holidays the Kids dogs etc. 1080i avchd mainly from Sony camera. Will my current laptop do this without dropouts or would an i5-2540m 8GB with Intel hd3000 be better?
Has to be a laptop not desktop only other I've seen is i7-3610qm 8gb +and 7670 2gb but would rather stickeirh amnesty or get the i5 (cost) and battery life. Oh, and i had pd7 as part of Samsung package and it crashes in less than 30 seconds so is pd10 any better? Ta!
Jim

Hi Jim

Welcome to the volunteer forum

As Steve has suggested, download the trial version first and test it out.

My laptop specs are on my signature and I have no problems running PD10.

Happy editing Happing editing

Best Regards

Neil
CubbyHouseFilms
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Thanks for the reply's guys!.

Hmmm, looking at your sig Neil, looks like quad core i7 is the way for PD10 then. My i3 struggles with PD7!. Was hoping an i5 might be an ok upgrade but doesn't' appear anyone tries this with integrated graphics! Strangely though, i have a useage monitor and other than the odd game, NOTHING uses my GT330m at all! seems like a waste!.

Not worried about rendering times as such, but quality of output is important, can take all night as far as I'm concerned as long as it's smooth afterwards when playing back!

I guess I'll stick with what I have and trial PD10 ultra free (running a 64 bit pro OS) to see if dropouts/crashing occur in 1080 output from 1080 input and stay using Windows Movie Maker 12 for now (which works, incredibly enough, albeit not as flashily!)

Looks like I'll wait for the i7-3610QM/8GB/7670M2GB, by which time, PD11 will probably be out!

have to say, much as i'm not a fanboy type, my old 'non windows machine' was brilliant if restrictive, rock solid stability and good output. Total bob for work productivity though which is why I'm back with windows and powerdirector etc.!

Ref Neil's pc spec ...
PD10 Ultra v1703. Computer: HP Pavilion dv7, Intel, i7 2630 2.00 GHz, 8GB RAM, ATI Mob. Radeon HD 6770 2GB, Windows 7 Pre. 64

I also use a similar spec HP dv6 set up without major problems. I accept an occasional programme glitch but in fairness to PD10, when it 'crashes' its mostly 'down to me' ... trying to speed things up during editing. Some patience is useful, allowing the programme to act on your wishes
Ron CYa Ron (W10/i5gen8/Nvidia)
Someone famous once said: "We only have the 4th dimension of 'time' so that everything does not all happen at once"

Was hoping an i5 might be an ok upgrade but doesn't' appear anyone tries this with integrated graphics! Strangely though, i have a useage monitor and other than the odd game, NOTHING uses my GT330m at all! seems like a waste!.

These threads may assist??
http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/22732.page
http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/22967.page

Cheers
Adrian Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. (see below)
Confucius
AMD Phenom IIX6 1055T, win10, 5 internal drives, 7 usb drives, struggling power supply.