You need a budget laptop for video editing if you find yourself working with video editing tools all the time. Any budget laptop for video editing will help you get the job done regardless of the work’s nature. Are you looking to edit video snippets of your last birthday for your family and friends, or you want to make original video content for your YouTube Channel, you need something good enough that will give you the professional edge?
Product | Brand | Name | Price |
---|---|---|---|
ASUS | ASUS C302CA-DHM4 Chromebook Flip 12.5-inch | Check Price on Amazon | |
Microsoft | Microsoft Surface Book 2 (Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 1TB) - 13.5" | Check Price on Amazon | |
Razer | Razer Blade Stealth 12.5 inch Ultrabook | Check Price on Amazon | |
Dell | Dell XPS9560-5000SLV-PUS 15.6\" Ultra Thin and Light Laptop | Check Price on Amazon | |
Apple | Apple 13.3" MacBook Air ( Silver) | Check Price on Amazon |
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However, it should be noted that several of these PCs are quite costly. In this case, you can easily justify the price since low hardware will never offer you the quality you hope to get. A system with low hardware may not give you the desired outcome. Furthermore, you will not end up with the picture you expect or take very long to complete.
Some important things to consider when picking the best budget laptop
A strong CPU: Most video editing tasks and encoding activities force laptops to perform highly demanding jobs. Except you like to wait forever touch and command to register in a system to register. The best laptop for editing videos come with a robust multi-core processor like the Intel core i5 or the i7.
Basically, the Intel core i5 or i7 processor is a basic factor for the best laptops for editing videos. The best laptop editing video features are covered by the core i5 or core i7 processor.
Sufficient RAM: RAM is a good factor when choosing video editing PCs. If you find yourself always playing with a 1080p video, you will need to get an editing laptop with 16 GB of RAM. Find yourself playing with 4K videos then you need a bigger RAM. The 32GB of RAM will be sufficient to provide lots of available resources, the 8GB RAM is useful for different background tasks as well as proofing your editing laptop against future damages.
With that mentioned, we do not expect you to purchase a budget editing laptop with an average RAM to use for the editing of 4K videos. Except you plan to edit the 4K footage once rarely, you should never buy a budget RAM editing laptop to edit 4k videos. The RAM is just as important as the Intel core i5 or i7.
Ample storage space: If you were going to be editing high-definition videos, you should know that you will need ample storage space. Many budget laptops do not come with fast and large storage devices. If you were going to get one that will suit your profession, you would need a slow hard drive and a small SSD required by the operating system. One ideal solution is getting an external drive connected through the USB 3.0, 3.1, SD card or the Thunderbolt.
A dedicated GPU: Graphics is everything for a video editing PC. you can never go wrong with a good graphics. Software used for Video editing is equipped with GPU acceleration. Which is needed to increase the speed of video processing. If it comes with a dedicated GPU, you can considerably reduce your total video footage rendering time. Furthermore, the GPU will also enhance the general responsiveness of your video editing suite.
High-resolution display: If you want your video editing sessions to proceed comfortably, you have to put several toolbar tools together and make the window for video preview be on one screen. We are talking of the display here. You can only do this with an editing laptop display with a high-resolution. This means that you should not opt for laptops whose resolution is below 1920 x 1080 pixels.
The 1920 x 1080 resolution is just the right display resolution for a high end video editing laptop. The brilliant color-accuracy of the device is an excellent bonus; however, an external display needed for post-production will help solve the inaccurate display’s problems.
The Ports: For those PC users who are keen on creating content, pretty soon, they will want to take their editing tasks on a pretty big monitor, which has a colossal keyboard as well as a comfortable trackball and a mouse. With a docking connector, you can quickly transform your editing laptop into a desktop. However, the HDMI video output and multiple USB ports used in connecting peripherals in many cases are enough.
The Best Budget Laptop for Video Editing
1). The Asus Chromebook Flip C302
Do not be misled by the false fact that video editing and the Chromebook are worlds apart. Since users can now get apps from the Play Store working on their Chromebook, there are lots of brilliant video editors that can offer rapid professional results. However, please do not take our word for it. Just move over to the Play Store to see the number of free and user-liked video editors you can get.
However, one single setback here is that most of these video editors from the Play Store do not have the same number of features and functions compared to sophisticated video editing suites like the Final Cut Pro and the Adobe Premiere. It is one of the best laptops to edit videos.
For users looking to understand how to make visual effects or if they plan to edit long hours of video clips daily, a high-performing laptop like a MacBook or a Windows-based PC will be highly recommended for this exercise. However, if you have modest video editing demands, you can never go wrong with the Chromebook’s simplicity and reliability.
Speaking of Chromebooks, it is a great idea to state that our most preferred Chromebook is the ASUS Chromebook Flip C302. it is the best laptop for editing video clips. With the Chromebook, users are provided with a Full HD 12.5-inch screen display with a 1920 x 1080 resolution to provide quality display images. The device also has a 360-degree joint, which allows the laptop to be easily convertible to different modes.
The device can easily be transformed into a tablet for easy use of its features. Other features of this excellent device are its reliable Intel Core i7 processor, good graphics card, Full HD display, Nvidia GeForce and more. It comes with a modest storage space of 64GB. Users get ample short-term memory with a RAM of 4GB. The high end display graphics is powered by the Nvidia GeForce technology. It has a great battery life and good SD card connectivity. The RAM makes it one of the best laptops for video editing.
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2). Microsoft Surface Book 2
The Microsoft Surface Book 2 is one of the best laptops for video editing. One other excellent alternative of a good laptop for your editing tasks is the Microsoft Surface Book 2. The super portable device comes with the brilliant Full HD 15-inch PixelSense display technology. this is enabled by an efficient graphics card to give the best graphics. Which is a proprietary technology from Microsoft. The Full HD PixelSense display is a tool that offers the needed professional screen clarity.
This lucid screen quality will help you maintain your precision and accuracy when retouching your video files. The Microsoft Surface Book 2 gives you lots of space to trim your video file. It also helps you to view your storyboard while helping you achieve more with little. We love Surface book 2 so much due to its resemblance to Apple’s MacBook Pro with its battery life. As one of the most reliable gaming laptops, the battery life of the video editing Surface Book is unrivalled.
However, one demerit of the device is that this battery life tends to deplete with increasing film retouching activities. However, this does not discredit the video editing Surface Book 2, which Microsoft has developed to be among the best budget laptops for video editing tasks. The device is equipped with a stylus. The stylus is detachable from the laptop’s keyboard. This allows film retouching tasks to be completed while on the move.
Then again, since the Surface Book’s battery life depletes with increasing film improving activities, you will want to make sure that you have your charger close to you to replenish the battery if it depletes completely. Moreover, Surface Book 2 comes with a substantial storage capacity, which is a massive feature for such a portable device. Since the model has a storage capacity of 1TB, this gives you lots of space to save your raw video and rendered files regardless of the files’ sizes.
The video editing Surface Book 2 also comes with numerous other features and functions that will specifically simplify your audiovisual improving tasks and generally enhance your PC activities since it is an advanced device. It is one of the best laptops for video editing with its Full HD graphics and processing core features.
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3). Razer Blade Stealth
We know what you are thinking each time you see the Razer Blade Stealth ultra-mobile PC: this is a gaming laptop. Of course, the Razer Blade Stealth is a laptop designed by gamers for gamers. A straightforward look at the Razer Blade Stealth and you would think that it is another mobile PC with average battery life, noisy fans, and RGB lights.
In terms of its specifications, you could be forgiven to say that the Razer Blade Stealth is the budget MacBook pro, which fans of the Apple franchise could never afford. Even though the Razer Blade Stealth display is just a mere 12.5 inches in size, the mobile PC comes with a screen resolution of 2560 x 1440 and offers wide viewing angles closer to 170°.
The Razer Blade Stealth is also equipped with an Intel Core i5-7200U dual-core processor that can handle any video editing job even though it is more targeted at gamers. With the Razer Blade Stealth, users are blessed with a 16GB of RAM. Furthermore, the device has the Intel HD Graphics 62o integrated graphics card that performs graphical tasks without compromising performance.
As mentioned earlier, these specifications are sufficient to make the Razer Blade Stealth a good purchase in terms of the cost of the device. However, the Razer Blade Stealth is extraordinary in the Razer Core graphics feature that accompanies the device. It is a ready-to-use feature that is connected through the Thunderbolt 3 technology.
This enables the possibility of the device’s visual performance to be upgraded using just a graphics card. The Razer Blade Stealth is the device that offers a brilliant battery life and low temperatures, which accompanies the Ultrabook. It quickly provides a much bigger laptop’s versatility and performance with a dedicated system graphics card.
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4). Dell XPS 15
This Dell XPS 15 is such a massive laptop that comes with everything that the average content creator will like. It is equipped with the newly-launched Intel Quad-Core processor along with the GeForce GTX 1050 graphics card. The device is fitted with a dedicated memory of 4 GB. A basic configuration of the Dell XPS 15 will offer about 8 GB of RAM plus a 256 GB SSD storage capacity.
However, if budget laptops are not your thing, you could opt for the 1 TB SSD and 16 GB of the RAM model. Optionally, you could choose to go with the primary PC model, which has additional RAM that you need since the Dell XPS 15 comes with one more memory slot. This allows you to boost up the total RAM size of about 32 GB.
With the Dell XPS 15, users are exposed to video editing the best whether you choose the model with low specifications and upgrade or choose higher specification models. The system is blessed with an impressive 15.6-inch InfinityEdge display plus a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels. The device’s display comes with 100% of the RGB color spectrum from Adobe; this ensures both vivid and accurate colors.
The IPS display function allows the system to be viewed from any angle without losing any visual quality. It also supports touch input. This Dell XPS 15 system comes with the multifunctional Thunderbolt 3 connectivity, which allows for fast transfer of data, external display capability, and charging. The Dell XPS 15 is one of the best budget devices for performing some of the most resource-intensive video editing jobs.
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5). MacBook Air
Video editing just got a lot easier with the MacBook Air. Without wasting any time drooling over this machine’s features, we would state our reasons why people may not want to opt for the MacBook Air for their editing tasks. However, this reason is also related to why we were hoping you could pick up this gentle beast for all your editing tasks.
Users who fancy a video editing laptop suite from Adobe, like the Adobe After Effects and the Adobe Premier, instead of the Final Cut Pro from Apple, you could either decide to opt for the Windows video editing laptop, or you could choose the more robust MacBook. If we have to state one truth here, it is the fact that the MacBook Air of 2015 is not all that powerful.
However, we can attest to the fact that it is quite a capable device with great graphics and SD card reading abilities. The Intel Core i5 processor is such good advantage of the device. However, what holds back the MacBook Air is Intel HD Graphics 6000 and 8GB of RAM. Here is that users may not notice how old the video editing laptop is when they use the Final Cut Pro software on it.
Only Final Cut Pro works well with this PC. As developers, Apple did excellently well in optimizing this stock editing suite to use the processing power of the MacBook Air down to the very last megahertz. This has enabled them to get rid of lags while enhancing the incredibly smooth feel of the software.
Alternatively, if you decide to use the Adobe After Effects or the Premiere, encountering your first system lag is just a matter of time, as you will not have to wait long for this. Due to the device’s intelligent optimization, the MacBook Air comes as an excellent alternative for both prospective content creators and casual users.
It is recommended for these users because they may not need ample storage spaces and high resolutions as priorities. At times, it is most advisable to opt for a video editing laptop with a lesser power, which will not give any problems when working on the move. The battery life, the graphics card and the processing core of the device is topnotch. It is one of the best laptops for video editing.
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6). Asus ZenBook Pro
Speaking of budget laptops for video editing tasks, nothing beats the Asus ZenBook Pro capabilities. The Asus ZenBook Pro laptop is complete and well-designed. The system is perfect for audiovisual improving tasks, most office work, it is a good laptop for video gaming, and entertainment activities on the laptop. It is among the best gaming laptops.
This Asus ZenBook Pro comes with a professionally developed metal chassis, which comes along with it a robust Intel Core i7 processor. The Asus ZenBook Pro is also fitted with a graphics card that is graded for games. This means that the device offers a massive engine capable of withstanding some of the most extreme gaming conditions.
You can choose to stream games online with the Asus ZenBook Pro while defeating enemies with the game set to the highest gaming quality. The Asus ZenBook Pro is fitted with the Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M technology to help offer gaming more efficiently.
By efficiency, we mean that the Asus ZenBook Pro uses the Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M graphics technology to bring you some of the best immersive gaming experience you will ever see. Furthermore, the Asus ZenBook Pro comes with a discrete memory of 2GB. This is one more feature that makes the device offer games in crisp and clear images.
The device comes with an excellent 4K and full HD 15.6-inch display screen, which comes with a complete color gamut with 72% NTSC, 100% sRGB, 74% Adobe RGB, and consistent colors over wide viewing angles that extends close to 178 degrees. This Asus ZenBook Pro has a display that has a precise touch layer. This function supports close to ten simultaneous touchpoints.
The manufacturers use the Asus ZenBook Pro series of laptops as a symbol of modern technological craftsmanship and the doggedness not to compromise quality. Moreover, the Asus ZenBook Pro is a delight for sound lovers who like to accompany their gaming or movie watching with high-resolution sounds. Sound lovers will enjoy the Asus ZenBook Pro for its Sonic Master Premium sound-boosting technology.
This technology is used to produce sonically-enhanced sounds through double high-fidelity PC speakers. The award-winning Bang and Olufsen produce the speakers of the Asus ZenBook Pro. The double speakers help consolidate the Asus ZenBook Pro as a system that delivers on excellence and performance. If you were going to be improving videos, you might as well do this in the present high fidelity and premium speakers.
The Asus ZenBook Pro comes with a double threat of enhanced display and crispy-clear sound quality. Apart from its sound and entertainment features, the Asus ZenBook Pro is also a monster for its connectivity abilities. It is equipped with the 802.11ac Wi-Fi for wireless connectivity. This function allows you to work on the move as you can walk into any area with full Wi-Fi coverage and plug in your system for the best connectivity experience efficiently.
Speaking of connectivity, the Asus ZenBook Pro offers an efficient Bluetooth 4.0 feature that allows your Asus ZenBook Pro to connect seamlessly with other devices within a reasonable Bluetooth range. Additionally, the Asus ZenBook Pro is blessed with a USB 3.1 Type C port to connect with different devices and card readers.
Still, on the connectivity capability of the Asus ZenBook Pro, the device comes with the Thunderbolt 2.0 technology. This Thunderbolt 2.0 tool comes with dual 20 Gbps bi-directional channels to provide more streamlined connectivity. It is one of the best laptops for video editing.
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7). MacBook Pro 15
If you are seriously considering getting a video editing laptop, the newly-released MacBook Pro 15-inch model is such a brilliant alternative. However, if you are looking for a budget device to retouch your videos, the MacBook Pro 15 is certainly something you do not want to try. This is a new base model from globally-renowned device manufacturers like Apple. It is one of the best laptops for video editing.
The video editing laptop 15 is one top-notch device that comes fully packed with some of the best features and functionalities. Speaking of features, the MacBook Pro 15 comes with some of the best specifications anyone will need to help retouch their audiovisual files to the required quality. The device is fitted with a brilliant hardware component to help deliver the best performances. The laptop for video editing contains a discrete visual card that allows it to perform at high standards.
The MacBook Pro 15 has a decent battery life to help you achieve your aims for regular use of the system. With this device’s battery life, we are talking between 8 and 10 hours of uninterrupted work. But, pretty much like every other previously mentioned device, the battery of the laptop for video editing depletes significantly if you are actively editing your audiovisual files. We have tried out the MacBook Pro 15, and we can testify that the display of the device is some of the best you will get for your audiovisual editing tasks.
The device is equipped with a 15-inch Retina technology, which provides a screen with unsurpassed graphics. This improves the capabilities of the MacBook Pro 15 as a brilliant device to help monitor the quality of your videos. Furthermore, the screen size gives you lots of space to edit your audiovisual files without having to maximize or minimize your screen. The MacBook Pro 15 is just among the many available laptops for video editing that provide brilliant capabilities.
Granted that the Windows come as a close rival for such tasks, in our opinion (trust us, we have been there), nothing beats the innovative graphics and immersive features of the MacBook Pro 15. Apple built this system to beat the competition thoroughly. One drawback of the video editing laptop is the fact that it is not a super budget device.
But you can never underestimate its brilliant audiovisual improving qualities. While budget laptops for challenging tasks can be quite tricky for improving videos, the MacBook Pro 15 begs to differ. Unlike its low budget competitors, the MacBook Pro 15 can match the hardware demands and resource requirements that comes with improving your films. This simple ability dramatically impacts the processing and rendering times of the entire video editing process. It is a good laptop for video editing.
Buy it Now: Amazon
Product | Brand | Name | Price |
---|---|---|---|
ASUS | ASUS C302CA-DHM4 Chromebook Flip 12.5-inch | Check Price on Amazon | |
Microsoft | Microsoft Surface Book 2 (Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 1TB) - 13.5" | Check Price on Amazon | |
Razer | Razer Blade Stealth 12.5 inch Ultrabook | Check Price on Amazon | |
Dell | Dell XPS9560-5000SLV-PUS 15.6\" Ultra Thin and Light Laptop | Check Price on Amazon | |
Apple | Apple 13.3" MacBook Air ( Silver) | 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.