3 Commando Brigade

Sorry if that sounded weird, upon re-reading it comes across really badly.
I was thinking of the 'Are my triple titan blacks fast enough?' kind of video editing, which is certainly something 70 year olds do (the founders of Pixar are 69 and 71, respectively), but if you're into comparing triple-titans with dual 295X's, you're not the target audience for amateur internet advice on PC-building. 

About windows 7 vs windows 8(.1). I switched from 7 to windows 8 as of yesterday and it's mostly ok. I did however have to install start is back (commercial software, but cheap).
Since the full-screen start screen doesn't show you what's behind, the loss-of-context got too annoying for me. I use the start screen on my surface pro tablet, but on my 1440p non-touch screen it doesn't work quite as well  

Thanks Ronin, those are handy links, just what I was looking for.

I need particular advice as to which processor to choose, as I haven't kept up with what the latest best performance/price point is for this sort of thing.
I'm also unclear on whether a graphics card is needed for video editing. I know CPU is important, but can on-board graphics handle the load?

The last few laptop purchases I've advised friends on have come pre-installed with Win7 or 8 but with no OS installation disks. As Goodson says, there's usually some sort of recovery partition, but that's not much use in a real emergency to my eyes. I like the security of holding a shiny disk in my hands. Not sure how to install a new HDD/SSD holding Windows without one.


I'll have to disagree with you here Cat, based on my personal experience. When I installed my first SSD, everything about the PC felt 100% faster and more responsive. Not just boot up time, but speed of opening programs, multiple windows, saving files, everything. I could never go back. Out of interest, do you have an SSD in your PC and if so, did it not make much difference?

I'll kill the Win 7 / Win 8 discussion dead here, although thanks for the input. It will be Win 8.1 with some sort of classic shell as this will suit the situation best.

Alexander, no problem, I probably mis-read too, sorry.

Thanks Mikk.

Three questions if I may:

1) RAM
32Gb sounds like a lot - I'm just wondering how necessary this is, as it's quite a high percentage of the cost?
My current Win7 PC I use for ArmA and video editing has 8GB and seems to do ok.

I know 'more RAM is better' in general, but what does the performance curve look like?

2) CPU cooler
Have you suggested a 3rd party cooler because you think the Intel stock cooler will be too noisy? Or don't CPU's have fans included these days?

3) CPU
People seem to be suggesting everything from i3's to i7's. What reason do you have for selecting an i7 for this application?

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For reference, this will replace: Core2Duo @1.86GHz, 2GB Ram, 500GB, GeForce 7600GT (256Mb)
So it just needs to feel significantly faster, but doesn't need to beat Serjames rig.

Yes an SSD makes programs load faster and everything which is fantastic. I have one and yes I agree it is a nice touch to your PC. But is it really needed for someone who is 70 years old and just wants to do a some video editing? I'm sure I'd rather wait 10 more seconds for my PC to boot than sit there for an extra 30 minutes waiting for a video to render. I personally wouldn't buy one unless in future you really needed one. For now a standard 1TB drive would do since most of the files will be stored there. So apart from loading up programs it will not help in that department to have an SSD at all. It is far too small to use for any sort of video rendering or storage drive. I would personally spend the extra money on better CPU since that matters a lot.

Also I have no idea how advanced this person wants their PC to be, so it is personal preference and how much they are willing to spend.

Thanks Mikk and Cat.

Any thoughts on whether a graphics card is required for video rendering these days?
Or even just playing youtube vids?

If you get a graphics cards depending on what one it might greatly improve rendering times. If the program is like Sony Vegas Pro you can use GPU acceleration, it can take a bit of the weight off the CPU and help perform faster. Might be worth looking in to as well.

Bear in mind that Intel has been working pretty hard to integrate built-in graphics on their CPUs. I would say that, for what your fathers wants, an Intel CPU with Integrated HD Graphics (more recently called Iris Graphics in higher-end CPUs) will be enough. However, if you think he will be doing heavy video editing/rendering quite frequently, then it may be worth getting a dedicated GPU.


More info on Intel HD Graphics here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_HD_and_Iris_Graphics

List of CPUs that include Intel HD Graphics here:
Intel® Core™ i7 Desktop Processors that include Intel HD Graphics
Intel® Core™ i5 Desktop Processors that include Intel HD Graphics
Intel® Core™ i3 Desktop Processors that include Intel HD Graphics

Before I forget - one more option to keep in mind (bear with me on this one) is an Apple Mac Mini.

They're relatively inexpensive, are really easy to setup, and come with excellent (and really user-friendly) video & photo editing software (iMovieand iPhoto) - just what your father needs. We bought a MacBook for my Grandma around 8 years ago and she loves it (before that, the last thing she had used was a typewriter!). She uses it for email, Skype, storing all her photos & videos, playing Mahjong (and she's good at it too haha) etc.


I await the legion of hatred at the mention of an Apple product

hahahahahahah ah a hahahahaha ahaha ahahahhahahhahhahahaha hahahahahah haahahhahah hahahahahahahha hahahahahahaaaa

Well, I tried.... I tried....