Finally bought a PC capable of learning DaVinci Resolve 18 on.

[Bob in Savannah]

Finally, was able to come up with a great deal on a VERY average but capable rig to learn DaVinci Resolve on.

It only has a Quad-core Intel 11th Gen Intel Core H35 i7-11370H and 32GB LPDDR4x and a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti laptop GPU with 4GB GDDR6 GPU memory and 1T of storage but seems to handle my needs perfectly in a great form factor and an awesome price. I have additional storage in the cloud on Google Drive and OneDrive that I pay for. I have an external Samsung 1T ssd as well which seems as quick and responsive as the pc itself.

I paid $1500 for this brand new MS Surface laptop Studio that (originally) was overpriced at $2800. I'm curious if you guys think it's worth the value I paid..? It seems to run DaVinci Resolve just fine with zero hiccups or stuttering...of course I haven't spent much time with it other than the last week but I haven't had any issues..

It really appears to be a "sleeper." I ran Lightroom and Photoshop like nobody's business on my old rig and on this one it's all in the blink of an eye. At this price point, it was something I couldn't turn down. The Surface Pen 2 was part of the package, too.

 

[Tufargon]

Not to bad of a deal. I check slickdeals.net daily and bought this last month with the 8 core i7-11800H processor for 1350 after taxes shipped.

https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/Legion/Lenovo_Legion_5_17ITH6H/Lenovo_Legion_5_17ITH6H_Spec.pdf

 

[Bob in Savannah]

Not to bad of a deal. I check slickdeals.net daily and bought this last month with the 8 core i7-11800H processor for 1350 after taxes shipped.

https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/Legion/Lenovo_Legion_5_17ITH6H/Lenovo_Legion_5_17ITH6H_Spec.pdf

Yep that's a better deal, lol. No doubt you're happy with that! +1
I'm happy with the quality I'm getting, though. I know its far from the "optimum" of what I could have gotten but as a beginner, its just fine for me. In a couple years Ill know more of what I'm looking for. I needed something right NOW. I cant enough of my M3. lol

 

[Tufargon]

Yep that's a better deal, lol. No doubt you're happy with that! +1
I'm happy with the quality I'm getting, though. I know its far from the "optimum" of what I could have gotten but as a beginner, its just fine for me. In a couple years Ill know more of what I'm looking for. I needed something right NOW. I cant enough of my M3. lol

It's got great specs and should do you good. I was kind of in the same situation where my GTX 1060 GPU on my last laptop failed leaving me the onboard intel graphics and no more hdmi port and I was just very lucky to stumble upon that deal when I needed it.
Congrats on it!! I'm sure you'll appreciate the laptop very much!!

 

[Hands Down]

Finally, was able to come up with a great deal on a VERY average but capable rig to learn DaVinci Resolve on.

It only has a Quad-core Intel 11th Gen Intel Core H35 i7-11370H and 32GB LPDDR4x and a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti laptop GPU with 4GB GDDR6 GPU memory and 1T of storage but seems to handle my needs perfectly in a great form factor and an awesome price. I have additional storage in the cloud on Google Drive and OneDrive that I pay for. I have an external Samsung 1T ssd as well which seems as quick and responsive as the pc itself.

I paid $1500 for this brand new MS Surface laptop Studio that (originally) was overpriced at $2800. I'm curious if you guys think it's worth the value I paid..? It seems to run DaVinci Resolve just fine with zero hiccups or stuttering...of course I haven't spent much time with it other than the last week but I haven't had any issues..

It really appears to be a "sleeper." I ran Lightroom and Photoshop like nobody's business on my old rig and on this one it's all in the blink of an eye. At this price point, it was something I couldn't turn down. The Surface Pen 2 was part of the package, too.

Congrats! I’m not really up on prices for 2022 to tell you if you got a good deal or not. But the NVIDIA RTX cards really make a huge difference for graphics work. You go from being frustrated about how difficult it can be to even preview an idea you have, to marveling at how quickly it can render things out. I think you’ll be very happy with it.

 

[Bob in Savannah]

Congrats! I’m not really up on prices for 2022 to tell you if you got a good deal or not. But the NVIDIA RTX cards really make a huge difference for graphics work. You go from being frustrated about how difficult it can be to even preview an idea you have, to marveling at how quickly it can render things out. I think you’ll be very happy with it.

Thanks, guys. You can't imagine the relief I have to hear it validated as a capable tool to learn on!!!! Thank you, again.

 

[Cymruflyer]

You might think about getting that specialized editing keyboard that DaVinci offers for editing. It makes the job so much easier and quicker. Can't remember the name but look on their site and you'll see what I mean, and it is wireless too.

 

[JoelP]

For those who haven’t upgraded to a machine with a better processor or Nvidia GPU it is possible to edit your video at a reduced resolution then render at full resolution later. Of course it is better to have a more powerful PC, but it is one work around.

 

[Bob in Savannah]

You might think about getting that specialized editing keyboard that DaVinci offers for editing. It makes the job so much easier and quicker. Can't remember the name but look on their site and you'll see what I mean, and it is wireless too.

Yea those DaVinci keyboards look AMAZING. But at $400 and $600 respectively, I dont think I fill their demographic. lol. Not yet, at least. Heres the link. They ARE cool, though!

DaVinci Resolve 18 – Keyboard | Blackmagic Design

Professional video editing, color correction, visual effects and audio post production all in a single application. Free and paid versions for Mac, Windows and Linux.

www.blackmagicdesign.com

 

[Lister]

You might think about getting that specialized editing keyboard that DaVinci offers for editing. It makes the job so much easier and quicker. Can't remember the name but look on their site and you'll see what I mean, and it is wireless too.

It's called the Blackmagic "Speed Editor". Not essential, but very convenient. You can scroll through the timeline with a big knob. Mark ins and outs with big buttons. Make difficult edits easily. Plenty of YT tutorials on its use. Its price used to include the full version of Resolve. Not sure if it still does or not.

I love mine.

 

[LensMagic]

You might think about getting that specialized editing keyboard that DaVinci offers for editing. It makes the job so much easier and quicker. Can't remember the name but look on their site and you'll see what I mean, and it is wireless too.

Not sure if the deal is still on but if you bought the "Speed Editor" keyboard for $300, you would get a license for the Studio version of Resolve 18 for free (a $300 value). I have the Speed Editor keyboard and it greatly improves my workflow.

 

[retiredNH]

Not sure if the deal is still on but if you bought the "Speed Editor" keyboard for $300, you would get a license for the Studio version of Resolve 18 for free (a $300 value). I have the Speed Editor keyboard and it greatly improves my workflow.

$400 now at B&H Photo for the package of speed editor and full Resolve. Still a great deal, IMHO, because the full version enables hardware (GPU) decoding, and in my experience, much faster (at least 5x) rendering. The speed editor, as others have said, makes editing a breeze and is easy to learn, much easier than Resolve itself.

 

[moldorf]

$400 now at B&H Photo for the package of speed editor and full Resolve. Still a great deal, IMHO, because the full version enables hardware (GPU) decoding, and in my experience, much faster (at least 5x) rendering. The speed editor, as others have said, makes editing a breeze and is easy to learn, much easier than Resolve itself.

oh....my....god

I retired and I thought "hey me, why not try a drone as a cheap and fun hobby"

well, it is fun....but LOL at the idea that it's cheap. I now have both a Mini 2 and a Mini 3. And of course extra batteries for both; and quality micro-sd cards; and power banks; and hard cases for both drones; and landing gear; and a landing pad; and lots of extra cables; and an 800 dollar Tripltek 8; and lanyard; and ND filters for both; and a 500 dollar new GPU for my PC so I can edit video; and a 800 dollar new Samsung 43" QLed TV because why capture & edit 4K video if you can't watch it on your TV......

so there I am....approaching 5000 dollars for my new cheap hobby

and now I learn that DJI might be selling a Mavic 3 for as low as 1300 dollars (which means $2000 for the FMC). And that Resolve, which I use, makes a keyboard/full-version-Resolve for 400 dollars

my wife thinks I'm nuts and has used the leverage of what I've spent to plan a 3 week trip to Europe with her sister. If you count that trip, my cheap hobby could be up to $15,000 by Christmas

 

[retiredNH]

oh....my....god

I retired and I thought "hey me, why not try a drone as a cheap and fun hobby"

well, it is fun....but LOL at the idea that it's cheap. I now have both a Mini 2 and a Mini 3. And of course extra batteries for both; and quality micro-sd cards; and power banks; and hard cases for both drones; and landing gear; and a landing pad; and lots of extra cables; and an 800 dollar Tripltek 8; and lanyard; and ND filters for both; and a 500 dollar new GPU for my PC so I can edit video; and a 800 dollar new Samsung 43" QLed TV because why capture & edit 4K video if you can't watch it on your TV......

so there I am....approaching 5000 dollars for my new cheap hobby

and now I learn that DJI might be selling a Mavic 3 for as low as 1300 dollars (which means $2000 for the FMC). And that Resolve, which I use, makes a keyboard/full-version-Resolve for 400 dollars

my wife thinks I'm nuts and has used the leverage of what I've spent to plan a 3 week trip to Europe with her sister. If you count that trip, my cheap hobby could be up to $15,000 by Christmas

A lot more fun than a cruise, though, isn't it? Or an expensive luxury car, or...

 

[Lister]

WAY more fun than a cruise. Trust me on that.