What Laptop Should I Buy For Video Editing
You'll need one of the best video editing laptops to work with raw HD or 4K video or to create special effects. While you can trim small clips with a cheap laptop, they won't boast a fast processor, strong discrete graphics or a high-resolution display.
what laptop should i buy for video editing
For it to be the best video editing laptop, you'll want something with a discrete graphics card. The cheapest on our list, which boasts Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3060 GPU, starts at around $1,099. For something with a more powerful card like a high-end Quadro or RTX 3070+, as well as features like a high-end 4K display, you may pay around $2,500 or more. See our latest Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 review.
If you're wondering if one of the best gaming laptops (opens in new tab) can edit video, it probably can, but a dedicated media creation system is more likely to get perfect renders every time. The best video editing laptops are often among the best workstations (opens in new tab), so if you need a great laptop for handling more graphics-intensive apps beyond video editing, you may want to go with the stronger alternative.
The next chapter in Apple computing continues, and the company's bet on custom silicon continues to hit the jackpot. According to Apple, the M2 Pro and Max boost performance by over 30% more powerful than its ancestor. Although Apple has made the laptop chipsets more powerful, Apple remains power efficient, claiming to have 18 hours of battery life. We will know more in a few weeks when we get our review units, but if we've learned anything from history, Apple battery life is usually a significant win for the company.
The Surface Book 3 is the only product where you get a full tablet and laptop in a single package. For that reason, the Surface Book 3 ($2,299 starting, reviewed at $2,799) is a compelling device, even though not much has changed in the 2.5 years since the release of the Surface Book 2.
But if budget isn't an issue and you want a laptop and tablet in one, then the Surface Book 3 is unrivaled. It's a capable machine with a gorgeous display, premium design and very comfortable keyboard. Battery life is also a bright spot as long as you're in laptop mode. And while it isn't the quickest, the Surface Book 3's discrete Nvidia GPU gives a boost to content creators and gamers.
This salacious attention grabber comes with an 11th Gen Intel Core i9 processor, 32GB of RAM, 2TB of SSD storage, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 GPU that will more than handle all your Adobe Creative Suite power-hungry needs and then some. It's easily one of the best video editing laptops that we've tested, even if it's priced at a whopping $4,727 as reviewed.
The ZenBook Duo Pro 15 UX582L brings a lot to the table with powerful specs for those who need them, and a second screen not only adds a wow factor but functionality. Some may not be fond of the keyboard and touchpad location, and the price is a serious deterrent, but the ZenBook Duo Pro 15 should be considered by content creators who need more screen real estate while on the go. While it's not technically a workstation, its performance and utility has earned its way on our best workstation laptops page.
Is the HP ZBook Fury 17 G8 the best workstation on the market? I suppose that depends on your budget and configuration, but if your pockets are deep enough for an Intel Xeon processor and Nvidia RTX A5000 graphics (boy howdy!), this is about as future-proof as laptops get right now.
Whether you're a professional video editor working for a company or an amateur editing videos for social media, having a laptop with good performance is crucial, as video editing is a demanding task that requires a lot of processing power. A powerful laptop will provide a smoother experience when manipulating footage, play high-resolution videos smoothly with fewer frame drops, and render videos faster, saving you precious time. To help you with your buying decision, we've put together a list of laptops suitable for video editing. This list includes mobile workstations and gaming laptops (yes, gaming laptops are just as good for video editing). However, it won't contain any Chromebooks because most video editing applications don't work on Chrome OS, and Chromebooks usually lack a dedicated GPU. The list is short for now, but it'll grow as we review more laptops.
We've bought and tested over 65 laptops. Below you'll find our recommendations for the best video editing laptops you can buy. You can also see our recommendations for the best laptops, the best business laptops, and the best laptops for college.
The best laptop for editing videos we've tested is the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021). This 2021 model has a sleek design, an incredibly sturdy build, and plenty of processing power to handle even the most difficult tasks. It sports a sharp Mini LED display with full sRGB and DCI P3 coverage, and its factory calibration is superb. The battery life will vary depending on what you do; you can get through a full day if you only perform light tasks, but for demanding video editing tasks, you'll likely get a little over two hours. Its excellent port selection includes three USB-C/Thunderbolt 4s, an HDMI, an SD card reader, and a high-output headphone jack for hard-to-drive headphones.
If portability is more important than screen size, the smaller Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2021) is pretty much the same laptop, just more compact. The main differences have to do with the battery life and speakers; the battery lasts slightly shorter, and the speakers don't sound quite as good. The last thing to know is that Apple has released the M2 MacBook Pro 14 and 16. They're identical to the M1 models in design; you just get slightly more processing power, HDMI 2.1, and increased memory support (up to 96GB). At this point, it's better to get an M2 model since Apple no longer sells the M1 models on their website. You can still find the M1 MacBook Pros through third-party sellers or online marketplaces, but they usually only offer the base configuration.
If you don't want to spend too much on a premium laptop like the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021), check out the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2022). Yes, gaming laptops are excellent for video editing because there are many similarities in hardware requirements. It's particularly true with the G14, as it sports a sharp 16:10 QHD panel with full DCI P3 coverage. Its factory calibration is good, but you might want to fine-tune it before you do any color work. It has a powerful 8-core AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS CPU, and you can choose between an AMD Radeon RX 6700S or 6800S GPU, both of which have enough horsepower to handle video editing.
There are a few downsides to know. First, this laptop gets hot and loud under load; you can change the fan settings if it bothers you, but at the cost of some performance loss. Second, the USB-C ports support USB 3.2 Gen 2 data transfer speed, which is much slower than USB4 or Thunderbolt 4. ASUS promised an update that will add USB4 support, but there's no word yet. Lastly, you can only get this laptop with 1TB of storage, but you can always add more yourself since the SSD is user-replaceable.
Our best budget laptop for video editing pick is the ASUS TUF Dash F15 (2022). This 15.6-inch gaming laptop is available with an Intel 12th Gen. Core i5 or i7 CPU and various discrete NVIDIA GPUs, ranging from an RTX 3050 to 3070. It has a QHD display option with full DCI P3 coverage, so you don't have to rely on an external monitor for color work. You can only get up to 16GB of memory and 1TB of storage; however, these components are user-replaceable. You get a nice, spacious keyboard, a large and responsive touchpad, as well as plenty of ports, including a full-size HDMI and a USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 port. Unfortunately, the battery life is very short, even if you only perform light tasks, so you'll have to bring a charger.
One thing you might have noticed is that this laptop is very close in price to the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2021) above. Choosing between these two laptops depends on what you care about most. The ROG Zephyrus G14 provides a better user experience; it has a brighter display to combat glare, longer battery life, and a fingerprint sensor for quick logins. It's also more portable since it's a smaller device. However, the Dash F15 gives you Thunderbolt 4 support and better CPU performance. You'll also want to consider the applications you use, as some programs, like Adobe Premiere, tend to work better on Intel/NVIDIA systems.
If you need something cheap to get the job done, consider the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 (2021). You can configure this 15.6-inch laptop with an AMD Ryzen 5 5600H or Ryzen 7 5800H CPU, both of which have enough processing power to handle video editing. There are various NVIDIA dedicated GPU options, from an entry-level GeForce GTX 1650 to a mid-range RTX 3060. You can only get up to 16GB of memory, but the RAM is user-upgradeable, meaning you can add more later on.
Again, the downside is that all the display options are only suitable for sRGB content. It also gets hot and loud under load, and the battery lasts less than an hour when performing demanding tasks, so you'll need to carry the power adapter if you want to work on the go. The USB-C port doesn't support video output, but you get an HDMI 2.0 port. Although it isn't a particularly premium-feeling laptop, it'll get the job done and is wallet-friendly.
Our recommendations above are what we think are currently the best video editing laptops to buy. We factor in the price (a cheaper laptop wins over a pricier one if the difference isn't worth it), feedback from our visitors, and availability (no laptops that are difficult to find or almost out of stock everywhere).
If you prefer to make your own decision, here's the list of all of our laptop reviews, sorted by price from low to high. Keep in mind that most laptops are available in various configurations, and the table only shows the results of the model we tested, so it's best to see the full review for information about other variants. 041b061a72