That's not a bad laptop. It rates an 8000 on PassMark's benchmark tests, which is good for editing standard high-def video.
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

Laptops are generally built for portability rather than speed though. So an 8000 rating on a laptop isn't as desirable as an 8000 on desktop -- but it should do fine, particularly if you are editing mostly AVCHD camcorder video and 1920x11080 phone video.

One thing the specs don't address is the monitor resolution. I'm not sure what the resolution of a 15.6" is, but if it's less than 1280x1024, you may find it difficult to fit the program's entire interface on the screen.

Since you are looking at a Refurb Dell, You may want to look at their refurb site. I've had good luck there.

They have a refurb Inspiron 15” 5000 (556. for about the same amount of $$.

Edit to add review. .
.
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 That's not a bad laptop. It rates an 8000 on PassMark's benchmark tests, which is good for editing standard high-def video.
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

Laptops are generally built for portability rather than speed though. So an 8000 rating on a laptop isn't as desirable as an 8000 on desktop -- but it should do fine, particularly if you are editing mostly AVCHD camcorder video and 1920x11080 phone video.

One thing the specs don't address is the monitor resolution. I'm not sure what the resolution of a 15.6" is, but if it's less than 1280x1024, you may find it difficult to fit the program's entire interface on the screen.

I would think that the screen would be no less res than the one I am using. Same model machine only from another era.
256 gb sufficient ssd though ? will render to that maybe store some other stuff. I am trying to self educate (with some help) as to how to use the hardware optimally.

Quote Since you are looking at a Refurb Dell, You may want to look at their refurb site. I've had good luck there.

They have a refurb Inspiron 15” 5000 (556. for about the same amount of $$.

Edit to add review.

Steve thanks.
Yes I saw this on their site. What I like about the old girl is the ssd and 16gb ram. Cant find that combo with an i7 anywhere at that price point ____________________________________

Dell Precision M4700 i7-3840QM 2.80 GHz
16gb ram , NVIDIA Quadro K2000M GPU
Samsung 850 EVO 1tb SSD , 500 gb HDD ,
____________________________________

Solid state drives have a number of advantages.

Unfortunately, they're so pricey that computers are being sold with pretty small ones. I think you'll find 256 gig of hard drive space fills up pretty quickly -- particularly if you're going to be doing video editing.

Quote ... I am on a tight budget looking for a laptop upgrade. I saw this refurb and it looks powerful for the price. ...

hold on there, here's cheaper and faster and comes from dell's refurb... ^^ grade B Dell Prec M4700 15.6" Laptop i7-3840QM 2.80GHz 16GB 500GB Win 7 Pro - 105147 .

grade A Dell Prec M4700 15.6" Laptop i7-3840QM 2.80GHz 16GB 500GB Win 7 Pro - 105148 .

please donate your savings to...

happy happy joy joy

PepsiMan
'garbage in garbage out'

p.s.
here's my recommendations on future pc upgrades # what is the best computer for video editing spec: . 'no bridge too far'

Yashica Electro 8 LD-6 Super 8mm
Asrock TaiChi X470, AMD R7 2700X, W7P 64, MSI GTX1060 6GB, Corsair 16GB/RAM
Dell XPS L702X i7-2860QM, W7P / W10P 64, Intel HD3000/nVidia GT 550M 1GB, Micron 16GB/RAM
Samsung Galaxy Note3/NX1

That is a great laptop.
They do have refurbished ones with the i7-3840qm cpu for about the same price: https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Precision-Quad-Core-i7-3840QM-Refurbished/dp/B07798NFRK/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&qid=1515856414&sr=8-18&keywords=dell+m4700 . The passmark for this cpu is here: https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-3840QM+%40+2.80GHz&id=900 . It is above 8800.

Wow...I have been part of this group for a year now and I realize that you gentlemen are very knowledgable....I am grateful for your responses...

Now....What I see here are nice machines priced very attractively for my needs.

However each has its own advantages and disadvantages from what I can determine.

Processors seem to be sufficiently fast and for what I do I may not even notice a difference....yes/no ?

SSD 256gb vs HDD 500 gb
I dont fully understand the relationship of internal storage and rendering other thann SSD is faster and more reliable.
When you say it will fill up fast, (other than OS, program files etc) what will it fill up with that cant be moved to an external drive once complete ? Path changes I know but is there a way to work like this that makes sense? Any help on this subject is appreciated. PM if necessary

Ram 16gb vs 8gb
More RAM is better....

However

Graphics

i7 3720QM built in Intel HD Graphics 4000
vs
NVIDIA Quadro K2000M 128mb
vs
Quadro 2000M

Does more RAM balance out any thing with regard to dedicated GPU ?

Saw some benchmarks but I may as well be Captain Kirk on a distant planet. (Peak lighting, texture detail, splatting HUH ?)

The reason I am debating is mainly the SSD of the machine I first saw but...

based on everything I can see with the selections here the "Grade A or B" machines seems like the better option/deal.

Ok my brain is getting tired.......thanks for any inputs. ____________________________________

Dell Precision M4700 i7-3840QM 2.80 GHz
16gb ram , NVIDIA Quadro K2000M GPU
Samsung 850 EVO 1tb SSD , 500 gb HDD ,
____________________________________

if w10 is your OS preference then between your pick, i'd really really recommend Tomasc recommended laptop.

SSD does load the OS much faster and is about 10% faster in rendering videos. that 256 GB SSD is less than $100 and the bigger 500GB is less than $150. Samsung 850 EVO 500GB Internal 2.5" (MZ-75E500B/AM) SSD . my personal opinion on the 256GB SSD is just little too small!

if you choose my pick then the OS is w7; however, with the savings you can buy a 500GB SSD and you still have an extra 500GB HHD and some change left over...


Processors seem to be sufficiently fast and for what I do I may not even notice a difference....yes/no ? -> yes, it does matter. i7-3840QM is much faster than i7-3720QM and a generation.

SSD 256gb vs HDD 500 gb -> see above remarks.

Ram 16gb vs 8gb More RAM is better.... -> yes.

Graphics -> nVidia Quadro K2000M(1082) is faster than Quadro 2000M(1050) is faster than Intel HD4000(500). 2x fast.

"Grade A or B" -> it's just a cosmedics. A is better looking than B is better looking than C, etc...

hope this will ease the headache some what... ^^

happy happy joy joy

PepsiMan
'garbage in garbage out' 'no bridge too far'

Yashica Electro 8 LD-6 Super 8mm
Asrock TaiChi X470, AMD R7 2700X, W7P 64, MSI GTX1060 6GB, Corsair 16GB/RAM
Dell XPS L702X i7-2860QM, W7P / W10P 64, Intel HD3000/nVidia GT 550M 1GB, Micron 16GB/RAM
Samsung Galaxy Note3/NX1

Quote if w10 is your OS preference then between your pick, i'd really really recommend Tomasc recommended laptop.

SSD does load the OS much faster and is about 10% faster in rendering videos. that 256 GB SSD is less than $100 and the bigger 500GB is less than $150. Samsung 850 EVO 500GB Internal 2.5" (MZ-75E500B/AM) SSD . my personal opinion on the 256GB SSD is just little too small!

if you choose my pick then the OS is w7; however, with the savings you can buy a 500GB SSD and you still have an extra 500GB HHD and some change left over...


Processors seem to be sufficiently fast and for what I do I may not even notice a difference....yes/no ? -> yes, it does matter. i7-3840QM is much faster than i7-3720QM and a generation.

SSD 256gb vs HDD 500 gb -> see above remarks.

Ram 16gb vs 8gb More RAM is better.... -> yes.

Graphics -> nVidia Quadro K2000M(1082) is faster than Quadro 2000M(1050) is faster than Intel HD4000(500). 2x fast.

"Grade A or B" -> it's just a cosmedics. A is better looking than B is better looking than C, etc...

hope this will ease the headache some what... ^^

happy happy joy joy

PepsiMan
'garbage in garbage out'

Thank you.....my headache has gotten smaller for sure.

Getting closer to final questions and you can all return to your normal lives free from my inquiries....


1) I can always upgrade to Win 10 if I decide to. Right now I know that PD works fairly smoothly on 7 so thats not a selling point. Unless file management changes the speed at which PD performs.

2) With regard to SSD HDD
Are you suggesting with my savings to swap out the HDD and install a SSD internally ? If so is it as simple as plug n play ?

If PD is loaded on the internal HDD (boot drive) and my file/produce settings are to import from and export to external drive....which drive is used in rendering ? And how does the internal drive get filled up and with what ?
This is where the most confusion lies for me. ____________________________________

Dell Precision M4700 i7-3840QM 2.80 GHz
16gb ram , NVIDIA Quadro K2000M GPU
Samsung 850 EVO 1tb SSD , 500 gb HDD ,
____________________________________

Quote
1) I can always upgrade to Win 10 if I decide to. Right now I know that PD works fairly smoothly on 7 so thats not a selling point. Unless file management changes the speed at which PD performs.

2) With regard to SSD HDD
Are you suggesting with my savings to swap out the HDD and install a SSD internally ? If so is it as simple as plug n play ?

If PD is loaded on the internal HDD (boot drive) and my file/produce settings are to import from and export to external drive....which drive is used in rendering ? And how does the internal drive get filled up and with what ?
This is where the most confusion lies for me.

1) yes, you have an option to upgrade... yes, you'll not face the problems that forum members who own state of the art PCs.

2) yes. the HD cady is right side of the laptop and usually it takes a screw to remove and replace at will. you can even load up wXP on M4700 with extra HD caddies.

PD will render from the C:\ drive. PD also requires 60-100GB virtual memory C:\ HD space for smooth operation(if i'm mistaken then Tomasc will correct me. ^^)... this is why i recommend minimum 500GB SATA3 SSD.
as you move along, your PD projects will take a lot a room. you can store in the usb 3.0 external drives, BUT, for faster rendering copy the projects to C:\ drive.

i also use Acronis True Image WD Edition can clone drives, backup the operating system, applications, settings and all of your data, while also securely wiping any confidential data you no longer need. . all you need is one, only one WD drive when you're using the free Acronis. ^^

my dell came with hitachi hd. i have 3TB WD my book. i have cloned to samsung evo 850 500GB ssd drive. make sure that WD drive is connected to the pc whenever you use the Acronis...

oh, happy happy joy joy

PepsiMan
'garbage in garbage out' 'no bridge too far'

Yashica Electro 8 LD-6 Super 8mm
Asrock TaiChi X470, AMD R7 2700X, W7P 64, MSI GTX1060 6GB, Corsair 16GB/RAM
Dell XPS L702X i7-2860QM, W7P / W10P 64, Intel HD3000/nVidia GT 550M 1GB, Micron 16GB/RAM
Samsung Galaxy Note3/NX1

Quote

Quote
1) I can always upgrade to Win 10 if I decide to. Right now I know that PD works fairly smoothly on 7 so thats not a selling point. Unless file management changes the speed at which PD performs.

2) With regard to SSD HDD
Are you suggesting with my savings to swap out the HDD and install a SSD internally ? If so is it as simple as plug n play ?

If PD is loaded on the internal HDD (boot drive) and my file/produce settings are to import from and export to external drive....which drive is used in rendering ? And how does the internal drive get filled up and with what ?
This is where the most confusion lies for me.

1) yes, you have an option to upgrade... yes, you'll not face the problems that forum members who own state of the art PCs.

2) yes. the HD cady is right side of the laptop and usually it takes a screw to remove and replace at will. you can even load up wXP on M4700 with extra HD caddies.

PD will render from the C:\ drive. PD also requires 60-100GB virtual memory C:\ HD space for smooth operation(if i'm mistaken then Tomasc will correct me. ^^)... this is why i recommend minimum 500GB SATA3 SSD.
as you move along, your PD projects will take a lot a room. you can store in the usb 3.0 external drives, BUT, for faster rendering copy the projects to C:\ drive.

i also use Acronis True Image WD Edition can clone drives, backup the operating system, applications, settings and all of your data, while also securely wiping any confidential data you no longer need. . all you need is one, only one WD drive when you're using the free Acronis. ^^

my dell came with hitachi hd. i have 3TB WD my book. i have cloned to samsung evo 850 500GB ssd drive. make sure that WD drive is connected to the pc whenever you use the Acronis...

oh, happy happy joy joy

PepsiMan
'garbage in garbage out'

PepsiMan..thank you. That is a lot if information. More than I can digest in one sitting. But based on this I cant go wrong with a $300 investment on either machine A grade or B. So I will get one of these...get it up and running...and refer to this post frequently until I understand it more thouroghly. Either way its a major upgrade to what I run now and should keep me happy as a pig for a while.
Thank you again....
And everyone else who replied....you are all so helpful. ____________________________________

Dell Precision M4700 i7-3840QM 2.80 GHz
16gb ram , NVIDIA Quadro K2000M GPU
Samsung 850 EVO 1tb SSD , 500 gb HDD ,
____________________________________

Mate in all honesty don't bother with laptops. Or don't bother paying a premium for laptops with good graphics cards.

PD doesn't work with laptops with onboard + dedicated graphics cards. If you get a laptop, you will have issues. When you have issues and ask for advice, there will not be much useful advice/help other than suggesting to buy a desktop PC. Apparently it is a known issue for years with no fix.

Quote Mate in all honesty don't bother with laptops. Or don't bother paying a premium for laptops with good graphics cards. PD doesn't work with laptops with onboard + dedicated graphics cards. ...

not really. remember what GGRussell said in other thread...
CacoGrande will be fine. he'll be happy happy joy joy. my 3-6years old PCs with w7 are fine. i have GPGPU rendering with dell e6530 Can't enable hardware video encoding when creating disks (DVD or BD) and GTX960 Performance Comparisons .

your i7-7700HQ(8893) is little bit faster than couple of gen behind CacoGrande's i7-3840QM(8807). plus for you is your kabylake can decode and encode hevc h.265 where ivy has to rely on h.265 to h.264 software conversion(RockyMountains Movie Converter select OS).

you're just going through what i call it a growing pain for having a killer machine with wX... ^^
PD8 days and later, our forum was filled with nVidia driver versions that enabled PD's GPGPU but currently there isn't any... . my prejudice will be GPGPU works great with PD15 & 16 on older pcs with older OS than with newer ones with wX.

old farts don't fade away, just lingers on... ^^

happy happy joy joy

PepsiMan
'garbage in garbage out' 'no bridge too far'

Yashica Electro 8 LD-6 Super 8mm
Asrock TaiChi X470, AMD R7 2700X, W7P 64, MSI GTX1060 6GB, Corsair 16GB/RAM
Dell XPS L702X i7-2860QM, W7P / W10P 64, Intel HD3000/nVidia GT 550M 1GB, Micron 16GB/RAM
Samsung Galaxy Note3/NX1

Quote

Quote Mate in all honesty don't bother with laptops. Or don't bother paying a premium for laptops with good graphics cards. PD doesn't work with laptops with onboard + dedicated graphics cards. ...

not really. remember what GGRussell said in other thread...
CacoGrande will be fine. he'll be happy happy joy joy. my 3-6years old PCs with w7 are fine. i have GPGPU rendering with dell e6530 Can't enable hardware video encoding when creating disks (DVD or BD) and GTX960 Performance Comparisons .

your i7-7700HQ(8893) is little bit faster than couple of gen behind CacoGrande's i7-3840QM(8807). plus for you is your kabylake can decode and encode hevc h.265 where ivy has to rely on h.265 to h.264 software conversion(RockyMountains Movie Converter select OS).

you're just going through what i call it a growing pain for having a killer machine with wX... ^^
PD8 days and later, our forum was filled with nVidia driver versions that enabled PD's GPGPU but currently there isn't any... . my prejudice will be GPGPU works great with PD15 & 16 on older pcs with older OS than with newer ones with wX.

old farts don't fade away, just lingers on... ^^

happy happy joy joy

PepsiMan
'garbage in garbage out'

Here is my logic.
I am a beginner (1yr) self taught.. (with help) hobbiest with regard to editing. I dont need a machine for anything else and enjoy the comfort of my recliner while editing. At this point I dont "need" state of the art. Would I like...yes of course. Look at the specs on my current machine that cost me $0.
So for $300 and the cost of PD I can upgrade significantly and get happy,happy for a long time. Then..when my skills warrant....I can upgrade to a more state of the art rig. $800-$1200 spent on silicon now ,is not going to make my videos look THAT much better.
Gotta drive a go-kart before you get to Indy. ____________________________________

Dell Precision M4700 i7-3840QM 2.80 GHz
16gb ram , NVIDIA Quadro K2000M GPU
Samsung 850 EVO 1tb SSD , 500 gb HDD ,
____________________________________

Quote

Quote Mate in all honesty don't bother with laptops. Or don't bother paying a premium for laptops with good graphics cards. PD doesn't work with laptops with onboard + dedicated graphics cards. ...

not really. remember what GGRussell said in other thread...
CacoGrande will be fine. he'll be happy happy joy joy. my 3-6years old PCs with w7 are fine.

Yes but if he's happy to keep using a 10 year old operating system rather than use the much better Windows 10 just because PD works on it better, then yes by all means go ahead.

I tried to install the older driver that you have on my w10 and it crashed with error that driver isn't for w10.

i have GPGPU rendering with dell e6530 Can't enable hardware video encoding when creating disks (DVD or BD) and GTX960 Performance Comparisons .

your i7-7700HQ(8893) is little bit faster than couple of gen behind CacoGrande's i7-3840QM(8807). plus for you is your kabylake can decode and encode hevc h.265 where ivy has to rely on h.265 to h.264 software conversion(RockyMountains Movie Converter select OS).

you're just going through what i call it a growing pain for having a killer machine with wX... ^^
PD8 days and later, our forum was filled with nVidia driver versions that enabled PD's GPGPU but currently there isn't any... . my prejudice will be GPGPU works great with PD15 & 16 on older pcs with older OS than with newer ones with wX.

I don't think so. I had an older nvidia driver and PD asked to upgrade the driver or it didn't work. So no, I think the latest PD16 requires reasonably new driver with new ish Windows.

old farts don't fade away, just lingers on... ^^

happy happy joy joy

PepsiMan
'garbage in garbage out'

Quote

Quote

Quote Mate in all honesty don't bother with laptops. Or don't bother paying a premium for laptops with good graphics cards. PD doesn't work with laptops with onboard + dedicated graphics cards. ...

not really. remember what GGRussell said in other thread...
CacoGrande will be fine. he'll be happy happy joy joy. my 3-6years old PCs with w7 are fine.

Yes but if he's happy to keep using a 10 year old operating system rather than use the much better Windows 10 just because PD works on it better, then yes by all means go ahead.

I tried to install the older driver that you have on my w10 and it crashed with error that driver isn't for w10.

i have GPGPU rendering with dell e6530 Can't enable hardware video encoding when creating disks (DVD or BD) and GTX960 Performance Comparisons .

your i7-7700HQ(8893) is little bit faster than couple of gen behind CacoGrande's i7-3840QM(8807). plus for you is your kabylake can decode and encode hevc h.265 where ivy has to rely on h.265 to h.264 software conversion(RockyMountains Movie Converter select OS).

you're just going through what i call it a growing pain for having a killer machine with wX... ^^
PD8 days and later, our forum was filled with nVidia driver versions that enabled PD's GPGPU but currently there isn't any... . my prejudice will be GPGPU works great with PD15 & 16 on older pcs with older OS than with newer ones with wX.

I don't think so. I had an older nvidia driver and PD asked to upgrade the driver or it didn't work. So no, I think the latest PD16 requires reasonably new driver with new ish Windows.

old farts don't fade away, just lingers on... ^^

happy happy joy joy

PepsiMan

'garbage in garbage out'

I will report back on this thread after Jan 24 when my "New" , generations old but generations newer than what I have, machine arrives.

Maybe it will be an inspiration to other budget minded newbies like myself

Thanks again to all that helped regardless of your position on cutting edge or or old fart technology. ____________________________________

Dell Precision M4700 i7-3840QM 2.80 GHz
16gb ram , NVIDIA Quadro K2000M GPU
Samsung 850 EVO 1tb SSD , 500 gb HDD ,
____________________________________