How's This for an Editing Laptop?

Looks okay.
What do you want to be able to do with it?
You'll need to check the requirements and supported GPUs of the software you'll use for crossreference.
 
Under customize, the Hard Drive can be either 2TB, 4TB, or 6TB. And, the RAM can be 16Gigs to 32Gigs. Also, HP can install additional software at greatly discounted prices.

It also comes with a built-in SD card slot for DSLR camera SD Cards.
 
I was thinking about going with a Dell laptop. I can't find any models with built-in SD Card readers. To me that's a drawback. Even though I like the fact that Dell still makes laptops with built-in optical drives, which is another plus, I find it more necessary to have a built-in SD Card reader for a portable editing computer.
 
I find it more necessary to have a built-in SD Card reader for a portable editing computer.

Don't worry too much about a built in SD card reader. Get a good quality external if you need. The same with optical drives.

For an editing machine, the most important parts is CPU, Memory, HDD, Video Card in that order. SD reader doesn't even register on the scale of importance. It's a tiny level of convenience at best.
 
Don't worry too much about a built in SD card reader. Get a good quality external if you need. The same with optical drives.

For an editing machine, the most important parts is CPU, Memory, HDD, Video Card in that order. SD reader doesn't even register on the scale of importance. It's a tiny level of convenience at best.

Which is why I am looking at "gaming computers" over business computers. Game computers have better video cards, processors, memory, and bigger hard drives than business computers.

My Sony Viao VGN-AR830E is a tough act to follow having all the above plus the built-in SD Card slot and internal Blu-ray drive. But, five years later it is outdated with faster computers with more memory and bigger hard drives.

I am also looking at the fact it has three built-in USB 3 ports for high speed external devices.
 
bigger hard drives
Bigger isn't necessarily better. Throughput can also be an factor depending on your requirements.

That's what you need to determine. What are your requirements.

If you don't know your requirements, you may be wise to get a better machine.

five years later
I remember when 2 years meant your hardware was kaput.
 
These days, all hard drives are SATA. Some are solid state. But, they are too small for video editing.

Problem is new PCs and laptops are being made cheaper for larger company profits. Thus, they are cutting down on what used to be standard accessories.
 
all hard drives are SATA
There's a large difference between SATA1, 2 and 3.

I have many 3.5 SATA3 (I really don't know why they bother with SATA3 for mechanical) mechanical drives. Some drives have a sustained throughput at about 40MB/s where others sit at 120-130MB/s. Failing to do your research may mean getting a slow drive.

You'd have to check but aren't most 2.5 drives 5000 rpm? Generally speaking, they don't get the performance that a 7200 rpm drive will get.

If you have the operating system, software and the media on the same drive, it may be prudent to ensure it will handle it.

Some are solid state. But, they are too small for video editing.
Weren't you looking at a 2tb drive before? I was looking at a 4tb SSD today, more than enough for most editing uses. If that's too small, insanity may make you take a look at Data Center grade SSD's. They're as dear as poison but Seagate released a 60tb SSD version last year... or look for a solution somewhere in the middle.

It's why I say, determine what specs you need to do what you want to do, then make your decision of what hardware to purchase. Buying right the first time will save you money. 40MB/s may be enough, then again, you may find yourself in that unlikely circumstance where you need more than the 500MB/s SSD's push out. The only way you can do that is first determine what you're going to do, then work out what you need to accomplish that.

Odds on, you're only going to need a run of the mill machine, though, you haven't described much about your requirements, so all we can do is point you in the wrong direction.
 
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Actually, the hard drive speeds are 5400 rpm and 7200 rpm.

In my area the largest solid state drives are 512 Gigs and the largest SATA and external USB 3 hard drives are 6TB.

Hands down, USB 3 is faster than SATA. For future editing in 4K, a 4TB or 6TB would be better, as well as for storage of royalty free media for productions such as greenscreen backgrounds, special effects libraries, sound effects, and so on.
 
USB 3 connection is fast, but it is only as fast as the disks are.
Just lik any connection.
There are no disks that can keep up with USB3 or SATA, so the bottleneck are always the disks write and read speed.
 
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In my area

I feel for you. Unlike you, my local shops are free to sell gear that is newer than 2 years old.

Hands down, USB 3 is faster than SATA.
When you say faster, if you mean slower, you'd be right.

Sata III = 6Gb/s
USB 3 = 5Gb/s

I'm not sure who's feeding you this information, you should do yourself a favor and stop trusting them. I hope it's not your local computer store.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_device_bit_rates

Don't take everything on that list as literal speeds you'll get. Lists like these are good place to start learning maximum outputs to help working out potential bottle necks in networks and systems when designing workflows and how to increase performance for machines in post production.
 
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