Purchasing the best laptop for video editing is a bit tricky because you have to understand the terms used to describe the different features. If you are not a pro at all things laptop, you have come to the right place. Below are the ten best laptops for video editing and the features to look out for when buying a PC.
Product | Brand | Name | Price |
---|---|---|---|
HP | HP Pavilion 15.6 HD 2019 Newest Thin and Light Laptop Notebook Computer | Check Price on Amazon | |
Dell | Newest Dell XPS 15.6 | Check Price on Amazon | |
Razer | Razer Blade 15 Gaming Laptop 2020: Core i7-9750H 6 Core | RTX 2060 | 15.6 | Check Price on Amazon | |
HUAWEI | Huawei MateBook X Pro | Check Price on Amazon | |
Apple | Apple MacBook Pro | Check Price on Amazon |
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Features to consider when purchasing the best laptop for video editing
Screen
When you are buying a video editing laptop, you should make sure that it is comfortable for your eyes. You will have to choose a touchscreen or a non-touch screen. Also, look at the screen resolution. For video editing, choose a laptop offering 4K resolution as they offer high-end display panels although they are quite expensive but for content creators.
The high-resolution screen offers better color accuracy and provides support to a wide color gamut and HDR standards. It should have IPS (in-plane switching) technology which ensures better viewing angles and user comfort. Also, rely on reviews from other users on whether the screen will best serve your video editing needs.
Storage capacity
Picking the right hard drive for a video editing laptop is crucial. This is because when you are editing your work at a workstation, it is okay to have an external hard drive but when you are editing on the go, you do not have the luxury of carrying of dealing or carrying an external hard drive. Therefore, your machine must have a big enough storage capacity to store your files. Aim for an SSD hard drive, although they are more expensive than the standard hard drive but they are faster. For a standard hard drive, it should be 1TB or higher. When your storage capacity is high, your laptop speed is also fast.
Graphics card
It helps the laptop to transition videos into pixels. Therefore, having a fast graphics card is very important for editing your videos. Choose between NVIDIA and AMD Graphics. Do not buy graphics cards based on brand names; instead, check what other buyers are saying about the product from the recommendation page.
Processor
Processor quality is very vital because when video editing as its memory and processor intensive, most importantly, when you want to edit 4K videos. Are you one of those people who work with several applications at the same time? Then you will need a good processor with many threads. Choose a laptop with Intel Core i5 or if your budget is not tight, go with i7, i8 or i9. Also, check the processors for the specific programs you make use of most.
Memory (RAM)
When you are working on your videos, your laptop should have a place for storing the files. The more space, the more data will be stored on your computer, and your computer will be faster. For better memory, you will have to designate parts of your RAM to work with your program. You can start with 8GB and upgrade later.
Weight
Most videographers tend to work on the go; therefore, portability is another feature to consider when buying the best laptop for video editing. However, keep in mind that laptops weighing less than three pounds will be a smaller screen which is not suitable for video editing.
Battery life
A laptop with long battery life is best for videographers, especially when they are in the field. However, several factors affect the life of the battery, such as the screen resolution, screen brightness, and the number of applications running while you are working. Due to the number of applications and the number of videos being processed, your battery tends to run out faster. Thin laptops are the best but do not forget to check if they have all the necessary ports.
Connectivity
The type of ports the laptop has determined the kind of devices that can be connected to it and the speed of transferring files to other drives. The numbers of ports have to be more than two. Most laptops have two USB-C, USB 3.0, USB 3.1, Thunderbolt, HDMI, Jack for headsets, SD card slots. Thunderbolts can transfer a file at a speed of 40Gbps while USB 3.1 can read and write at a rate of 10Gbps.
Comfort
To ensure that the laptop is best for video editing, check whether the keyboard is comfortable to use and if the screen convenient for your eyes.
The list below will help you choose the best laptop for video editing.
Best Laptop for Video Editing
1. HP Pavilion 15
The PC has an Intel Core of i7, and 7500U processor. HP Pavilion 15 has 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD capacity and 1TB spinning hard drive. It also has a webcam, WiFi and windows 10. It a midlevel GPU that improves the performance of graphics. The laptop’s features make it best for video editing. Even though it has a short battery life, a dim display, and slow transfer speed.
The laptop is made of a matte plastic which has a smooth finish and a dark grey chrome HP logo. The keyboard is made of a black desk that has a green glow when turned on. The laptop weighs 5.1 pounds and measures 15.1 by 10.4 by 1.2. The computer has better colour reproduction abilities as it beats the 7.3 average defeating laptops such as Alienware.
The HP Pavilion gives HP users the experience of Coolsense technology as it has an inbuilt accelerometer that detects when the laptop is on a flat surface or jostling around on your lap. It adjusts its fan speed to prevent scorched legs when the laptop is placed on your lap. The laptop has enough ports to connect other devices such as external hard drives and a few gaming tools.
The downside to the PC is that it takes blurry pictures. The HP Pavillion display colors are faded as they are at 176-nit, which is way below the average 252-nit. Despite it having Bang and Olufsen speakers, its audio quality is poor. The keyboard and touchpad offer you a comfortable typing experience. The keys are a bit mushy with a standard 1.3 mm essential travel and 60 grams of actuation.
2. Apple MacBook Pro 15.4 Inch Laptop
It is a 15-inch laptop best suited for graphic designing, video editing, and cinematography. It has an Intel Core i9 which guarantees faster performance. It is also fitted with a 2.3GHz processor and 16gb RAM. It has 512GB SSD capacity and Radeon Pro 555X graphics. Compared to a gaming laptop; Apple MacBook Pro has a lower quality GPU which is considered as the laptop’s weak point. However, video producers should not sweat this minor setback as it does not affect the graphics. The computer is designed for work rather than play. However, you can still play low-quality games on the computer.
The laptop is packed with advanced technology. It has an inbuilt touch bar which makes it easy for videographers to control the cursor and taptic engines for haptic feedback such as fingerprint identification. It also has a retina screen 16:10 whose resolution 2560*1600 looks exceptional when watching your edits. Its True Tone color technology ensures that the reproduced colors are vibrant. It has four USB-C port meaning you can hook it up to other devices such as an external hard drive for extra storage. The laptop has a battery life off 10 hours.
3. Dell XPS 15
The laptop costs quite a penny; however, it is one of the best machines for video editing. It has a 15.6-inch 4k screen with a resolution of 3840*2160 pixels and ten-finger multi-touch support. Due to the high resolution, you will be in a position to pinpoint the minor issues as well as see even those minute details when editing videos or high-resolution images.
The machine has an Intel Core i5-8300H processor which is designed to prioritize balance above all else. It also has 8GB RAM, 1TB SSD, and GeForce GTX 1050 Ti graphics. More so an XPS can keep the machine for 20 hours of the charger, but, it has to operate in low brightness and nearly idle condition.
In terms of ports, the laptop has two super-speed USB 3.1, USB-A ports, Thunderbolt 3 port, HDMI 2.0, a Kensington lock slot, and power and headset jacks. To prevent the laptop from overheating, DellXPS 15 has ventilation vents located in front of the hinges and at the bottom of the machine, which makes it comfortable to use on your lap. The laptop has one of the best webcams in the market.
The benefits of buying Dell XPS 15 is its fantastic touchpad, fingerprint reader, fast processor, and high-resolution display which is OLED UHD. The machine also has several ports available for connectivity, SD card slot, and relatively good storage. The only con to this laptop is the cost of buying one.
4. RAZER Blade 15
It is a high-end machine meant for gaming and video editing; thus, the best laptop for videographers looking to edit their video and images. Several configurations are available in the market, but you should go for RTX 2060 and 144Hz. The laptop has the NVIDIA RTX 2060 graphics card, 8GB of GDDR6, 16GB RAM and 512GB solid-state drive. It is also fitted with a vapor chamber cooling system that keeps the machine running smoothly as you attend to your video editing tasks.
The laptop’s 15.6-inch panel is capped at FHD, and it is color calibrated from the manufacturer. Editors look for color accuracy when purchasing a computer. The screen refreshes at a rate of 144Hz. RAZER Blade 15 has an Intel Core i7-9750 processor. The laptop has USB 3.1 ports, miniDP, HDMI, and Thunderbolt 3. The keyboard pad has chroma, full-sized cursor keys. It has a low battery life os 3-4 hours. Moreover, it is easily portable.
The pros of buying this machine are the excellent build quality, 16GB RAM, NVIDIA RTX 2060, and the snappy solid-state of the hard drive. While the cons of the laptop are that the F keys do not light up, no Windows Hello, low battery life of the computer and the high cost.
5. Huawei MateBook X Pro
It is an 8th generation laptop with a 13.9-inch 3k screen with 3000*2080 pixels and ranges between Intel Core i7-8550 processor with 16GGB RAM and 256GB SSD. The computer also has Intel UHD graphics 620, GeForce MX150 Space Gray, and 512GB SSD which makes it the best laptop for video editing.
It is 4.9mm wide and 14.6 mm thick and weighs 1. 33kg making it lighter than MacBook Air which weighs 1.35kg. Hence, very portable. It comes in two colors which gorgeous to look at, apace gray and mystic silver. The keyboard is backlit and water-resistant. The laptop has fingerprint sensors as a security feature and works well with Windows Hello.
The benefits of purchasing this laptop are the beautiful design, a fantastic display of videos, long battery life. The two cons of Huawei Matebook are that it does not have an SD card slot and the webcam takes blurry pictures.
6. ASUS ROG Zephyrus S Ultra Slim
It’s best for gaming and video editing due to its high-performance features. ASUS ROG Zephyrus has 15.6-inch with an FHD IPS touchscreen Intel Core i7 -8750 processor, 16GB DDR4, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 8GB graphics, Windows 10, and 512GB PCle NMVe solid-state hard drive. The laptop has a perforated panel that allows fresh air through the top.
In terms of connectivity, ASUS ROG Zephyrus has an HDMI slot, headset jack, Type-A USB 3.1 GEN 2 port, two USB 2.0 ports, and two USB-C ports.
7. Lenovo Legion Y740
It is a gaming laptop, but its powerful hardware makes it suitable for video editing. It fetches a pretty penny and has a 17.3-inch screen. The model is loaded with full HD 1080 pixels IPS display along with G-SYNC technology. It has an Intel Core i7-8750 processor, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 GPU, which edits video in the shortest amount of time possible.
Lenovo Legion Y740 has a 16GB RAM AND 512GB NVMe SSD which provides users with high gaming performance and excellent video editing capabilities.
The benefits of buying Lenovo Legion Y740 are its high-resolution screen, a variety of right ports, snappy keyboard, battery life, great to work with and play games and hexa-core i7. The only disadvantage to this laptop is that it is not easy to carry around.
8. MSI GS65 Stealth-002 15.6
MSI GS65 Stealth has an Intel Core i7-8750H, NVIDIA RTX 2070, 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM, 32B of DDR4 memory and a 512GB VVMe solid-state drive. The most significant features of this laptop are the large glass touchpad, thunderbolt three-port, and SteelSeries RGB keyboard. The computer also has a colling system that is comprised of three fans and six copper heat pipes. MSI GS65 has a screen o 15.6-inch FHD panel. It the most expensive laptop and its graphics capabilities are the best. With this machine, you do not need an upgrade.
The pros of buying this machine are; the excellent cooling system, 32GB RAM, GeForce RTX 2070, and SteelSeries RGB Keyboard. While the cons are the expensive nature of the computer and it can be noisy due to its cooling system.
9. Microsoft Surface Book 2
It is designed to be a half laptop and a half tablet. The computer is made of a solid magnesium frame that is both lightweight and durable. It has an Intel Core i7 processor that guarantees fast performance and a 512GB storage capacity for storing video files and high-resolution images. It has a 15-inch screen, 16GB RAM, GeForce GTX 1060 graphics. Due to its detachable nature, it is easy to change the laptop into a tablet.
When you look at the connectivity of the laptop, you will find that it has two USB-A 3.1 port, headset jack, two surfaces connect ports, and SD card reader slot. The laptops battery lasts for 17hours when watching but when you are working this equates to 7 hours.
The pros of purchasing Microsoft Surface Book 2 is its versatility, great touchscreen, a powerful GPU, comfortable keyboard, fast performance, and long battery life while the cons are no Thunderbolt port, poor multimonitor support, and wobbling of the screen in laptop mode.
10. ASUS Zenbook Pro Duo UX581GV
ASUS ZenBook Pro is among the best high performing laptop brands in the market which targets power users. The most significant feature in this laptop is the 15.6-inch 4k touchscreen which is coupled with state of the art 9th generation Intel Core i9-8750HK processor, NVIDIA RTX 2060 graphics, 512 GB solid-state drive and a native resolution of 3840*1100 pixel. ZenBook Pro has 16GB of DDR4, which allows you to multitask efficiently. More so, an IR camera and 5.0 Bluetooth as well as a keyboard that helps you type with ease with any lighting conditions since the keypad is LED illuminated.
In terms of connectivity, the laptop has an HDMI port, two USB-A ports, a MicroSD card reader, and two USB-C port. External hard drive having Thunderbolt can be connected to the computer using USB-C port and can transfer data at a speed of 40Gbps. ZenBook Pro has a storage capacity of up to 1TB which, together with the fast processor, allows the user an easer and smooth experience when editing videos.
ZenBook Pro isMIL-STD-810G certified, which means that the machine can withstand rain, vibrations, sand, and falls that would see other laptops damaged beyond repair. ZenBook Pro is best suited for video editing. The 15.6-inch screen is an IPS-level panel that gives the user superb viewing angles while the screen to body ratio makes it easy to drag and drop video files.
The native resolution of the machine gives you a high definition display which maintains the integrity of the colors on the screen without morphing them — thus instilling originality in the quality of video being displayed. The screen makes the colors subtle and clear, and this is soothing to the eyes. The laptop’s processor guarantees a seamless experience to the users. ZenBook Pro is installed with the latest graphics, which makes playing heavy duty games seem like a piece of cake.
For security purposes, the laptop has a face unlock feature. It also has inbuilt Alexa for delivering instructions and getting work done without confusion.
The pros of purchasing ASUS ZenBook is the long battery life, military-grade protection, and 16GB of DDR4 RAM.
11. Alienware Area-51m
It is swift and ridiculously expensive. The laptop has an Intel Core i9-9900k processor, GeForce RTX graphics, and 32GB RAM. The computer also has a 1TB SSD RAID which is set up along with a 1TB and 8GB solid-state hybrid drives separately. Alienware Area -51m has a 17.3-inch screen.
The laptop is fitted with an overwhelming high-speed processor which, together with the RAM, allows you to perform your tasks such as video editing at lightning speed. More so the way the hard drive is set up to ensure the safety of your data and files. Alienware Area-51m, large storage capacity, assures that there is no need to buy an external hard drive.
The con of purchasing this laptop is that it is heavy and bulky, meaning that it is not easily portable. the laptop’s battery can sustain it for five hours when it is in idle mode. Because it is not portable, you can use it as a desktop. It is expensive and can serve you for many years to come.
Best Laptop for Video Editing Conclusion
When buying a laptop for video editing purposes, you will have to focus more on the features of the computer such as processor, storage, screen resolution, memory, connectivity. Also, ensure that it has the latest GTX series or NVIDIA GeForce RTX for faster processing and editing. Choose the laptop that will give you a smooth and responsive editing experience from the list above.
Product | Brand | Name | Price |
---|---|---|---|
HP | HP Pavilion 15.6 HD 2019 Newest Thin and Light Laptop Notebook Computer | Check Price on Amazon | |
Dell | Newest Dell XPS 15.6 | Check Price on Amazon | |
Razer | Razer Blade 15 Gaming Laptop 2020: Core i7-9750H 6 Core | RTX 2060 | 15.6 | Check Price on Amazon | |
HUAWEI | Huawei MateBook X Pro | Check Price on Amazon | |
Apple | Apple MacBook Pro | Check Price on Amazon |
* If you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. For more details, please visit our Privacy policy page.