Pirate -

I hate to mention this but as an education poor kayaker --
will your PhD be out of date in 6 yrs? ;)

Your size/fit might affect what boats work for you too - i.e., good prices do not mean good fit et al -- sorry just a little residual footnote lingo.

good luck! - G

you can get a laptop that suits your needs for 600$ new and there are LOTS of deals always.

The Kayak maybe a better find, grab it,if its suitable for you.

I'd get the kayak (if you think you will use it often enough and it's the right fit). I prefer editing on a desktop anyway, laptop seems always a bit awkward to me. A desktop of the similar processing power is cheaper than a laptop.

After you have a PhD, you may have the money (but that's not guaranteed either, lots of PhDs who don't work in their chosen field!), but you probably won't have the time and/or you have to move somewhere where there is no water!

Another option would be to join a club with boats. UBC sailing club f.e. Takes care of the storage problem too. But boats may not be the newest and there are restrictions on where you can take them.

One more point... if the boat is such a good deal, you can probably sell it again without losing to much money.

He may be looking for an apple for the video editing, which is pretty standard.

I don't believe in spending money on parts of a computer you won't need (I only ever have the most basic built-in video card, since I don't do movies or video games), but if you just buy exactly the processing power you'll need, you'll run out of it a lot faster. I see value in buying for what you expect to need in a few years, and thus keeping it relevant longer.

My 600$ (usually 750$ plus)Toshiba (dont have model handy) will run any good complex Video program and render fairly fast, handles Photoshop and others with ease and is not a bad gamer, it will be outdated sooner than later, so IMO I would not get a top of the line laptop, as they are not ideal for upgrading. For me portabilty is important, so desktops were ruled out, but still have one as a basic workstation. Computers can be found anywhere, anytime at good prices, boats less though.

As mentioned resale value of a nearly new, already depreciated boat will be almost 100% return, way less on a computer.

Man there are some strong cases here. Laptop I'm looking at is $850. It is fairly powerful, but as some have noted, that power is not merely for luxury. To edit video, especially hi def, and render it is a very demanding process. I am not looking to a mac, though it is best for video editing, because I find them abhorrently expensive for largely kitschy reasons. Also, I run linux.

I should also stress that my current laptop is perhaps worse than some might be assuming. It's a 6 year old net book that can barely play 360p video. Frankly, half the internet doesn't work on it. At the moment I am doing a research paper that has about 8 pdfs open and it is barely holding it together.

As other people have noted, cheaper used kayaks are more common for this less shin bone endowed. The truth is I don't actually know how much I would use it as this summer (graduating out of my BA this month) will be the first summer in 6 years I actually have the time. uggghhhhh...

I have actually ridden this particular boat as a rental last year.

The PhD... well... that's the gamble isn't it? If I was truly a betting man I'd follow my heart into the poverty that is philosophy, but currently I have an interest in organizational psychology. Generally speaking, OP is a fairly good bet for reliable wages.

The demands on your computing are only going to increase in the coming years. A decent laptop purchased today won't be totally useless ((yes it will)) in 4-6 years, but your current lappy sounds pretty useless today already. As tempting as it may be to purchase the kayak, you'll certainly be better serving your education by having a more up to date computer.

I have a netbook for work emails,and some picture uploads and vacations, it has alot of limits but is quite handy for basics. Seems to travel well locally and use a Telus stick for connections on the road. Typing from a condo in Los Cabos MX right now ..;)

I think my laptop is a Toshiba 755D you can get it for under 700$ if you shop around. No problem with HD vids, as I do a ton of editing.
Of course there are much better machines out there, but value and reliabilty and performance can be found in the sub 1000$ range.

Good luck

Did you also post this question on a nerd forum? If not I think we can guess which way you want to be pushed.

Here we go again with a tangent Racholo! No way should you buy what you need in a few years!

The old axiom used to be: buy as much power as you can possibly afford, because you'll need it eventually.

I followed that back in the 90's....what a waste....and that was mainly for gaming, which is an area you are guaranteed to be able to take advantage of the power, in a predictable and quick pattern.

Here's the thing. You buy more power than you need....you are happy, and everything runs great....you have power to burn you aren't using. Your system goes obsolete as you sit there not using it's capability. Yes, in one year, two year, or as you say a "few" years, now you're using the power....yay! Guess what? That same level of power now costs less than half what you paid!

2012 buy system with power you need now for 750$ or buy super system for 1800$

2015 oh thank god I have that power! I'm using it now! Oh wait....the equivalent super system now costs 750$! I could have bought the other system, bought the super system now, have two systems, one brand new (my q and r keys don't work now, and the trackpad buttons are flakey, and the hard drive is going to crash in a few months), and saved 300$. Plus, the current version of the super system comes with some new bells and whistles....and I have a new warranty....

The same is often true of storage capacity, memory, video cards, etc...(with some possible complications due to interface changes(all the more reason to want to buy a new system, not to go for a buy-for-the-future system), and somtimes their are situations like obsolete memory going up in value but.....

I say buy as much power as you're going to use now, and in the very near future. There are of course many possible individual exceptions, but I think this should be the general rule. If you don't use that power now, it's just sitting their devaluing drastically, every single month.

Plus, all of this is assuming you actually do get around to using the power...many people don't (eg. I bought this computer because I was THINKING I might get into.....)

I had one of the first 8.9 inch netbooks that was a real trooper. Exceeded my expectations, and with the 6 cell battery, was a great road companion.

Now I have an 11.6 inch netbook with 1376 resolution, and a discrete nvidia graphics card. Love it. Makes up for the few flaws I had with my 8.9....a bigger screen, and resolution, It can play hi def video, hi resolution flash video (if the drivers support it), light gaming....

...and nobody could believe the deal I got on it...I bought it new...and made money from selling my 8.9 used.... ;)

Love "netbooks"!

PS. Cherry pirate, maybe another option for you is to look into a cheap, or even used desktop. Do you need to edit video on the go? If not, you can get quite a bit of desktop power cheaply, and do heavy-duty things at home. I had a basement system builder make me a custom desktop...mainly for things my netbook couldn't handle (not much anymore, since I don't game, and my netbook has a graphics card)....and got it really cheap...I wanted a good processor and big power supply, but skimped on other things (I wasn't going to game at the moment...so why buy a hot graphics card...can just get it later for half the price...i Just put an old copy of XP on...so no OS cost...you use linux so it's all good)...of course I already had some components....like my giant dual CRT monitors...LOL....but you can get those things for 10$ or "haul away for free" these days! :-)

DCIPHER sums up my input in a more detailed version, and I agree.
Noone has ever benefitted from buying todays best home use computer, unless $$$ is not an issue and you can get the next better one next year.. Buy what you need and use at a quality level, I doubt you will outgrow it in 2-3 years, unless your actual job is paid video edtiting. Your 850$ budget should get you a nice laptop for sure, just shop around.

I do not like purchasing warranty, but laptops do fail regularly and a 3 year term maybe a good idea, uaually ads 125$ With tax its real easy to get a 1000$ plus bill [:0]

Laptops aren't really meant for editing videos or playing games, unless you don't mind constant overheating problems and consequent breakdowns, and still slow/crappy performance for what you're looking for. Get a desktop PC, with enough RAM and good CPU, that will never make into a $850 laptop. Use your current laptop for on the go paper work. You do have a home, right?

Seems like kayak is more of a toy for you. Unless you really don't have a home and plan to sleep under it at night, and tour during the day.

So there you go, the 2 centers have put where what and what not input in and it is to bad that the kayak would waste your whole $1200.00 tax return to buy it.
If it was less you could buy a new notebook at London Drugs from $400.00 on up.
As long as you are loaded with about 8gb. of ram it should be good enough for most video and graphics editing.
It all depends on how memory intension the software you are using for editing videos and pictures and just how professional you are as other said.

If your software is a memory hog and slows the computer right down when processing then yes you have to get a bit beefier computer but also as others have said don't waste money on the so called greatest because it's not, and will most likely cause more problems then a cheap or mid priced one.

Where I work customer's buy different types of desktops and lapops and the highend computers seem to be the ones breaking down more than the others.
I mean these highend ones can be built up to a $10,000.00 machines or more yet they seem the most unstable.

These are more for so called gamers that want bragging rights and really don't run as a stable maching when all the bells and whistles are engaged and the computer is maxxed out to it's limits.