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9 Best Laptops for Video Editing in 2020
Of course, a powerful desktop computer designated for video editing is a perfect tool
for filmmakers. However, if you have plenty of business trips it’s always better to keep
all your materials and projects with you. In such case, a decent laptop for video
editing is a great alternative.
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HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST LAPTOP FOR VIDEO EDITING
The choice of the best laptop for video editing can be tricky. No one wants to experience
pixilated images or get annoyed by the crashing program. We’ll try to help you select a
top-notch laptop that will make your video editing a sheer pleasure.
SCREEN
Obviously, screen quality is important. When possible, go for a 4k. Good laptop for video
editing should have a screen that is sharp enough for tasks like color correction and
shading.
MEMORY
Another important feature to take into consideration is memory. Editing or work with
motion graphics always requires space to save plenty of temporary files. Thus, if your
laptop has enough RAM you won’t have problems with storage or speed.
As 4K footage becomes more and more common, you should focus on it when choosing a laptop
for video editing. So, the best option is to pick up a laptop with no less than 8GB of
memory. Anyway, you can always upgrade it as most of the laptops allow this. Still, if
your budget isn’t restricted and you can afford something more powerful then choose a
laptop with 16GB of RAM.
STORAGE
Storage is the next thing to consider after RAM. The principle of choice is the same here
– the more storage you have the better. Start with not less than 256GB but try to get as
much as you can afford. If you have 500GB storage, for example, or higher you will be
able to edit small projects even without an external hard drive.
GRAPHICS CARD
When it comes to a graphics card there are two brands to choose from: NVIDIA and AMD
Graphics. Both of them have made quite a name and offer products of great quality. Thus,
it’s impossible to say which one is better. The choice here depends on the laptop model
and your own preferences.
Nevertheless, there are some basic points you should know about GPU of your future
laptop. It’s always important to pay attention at the recommendations from the chosen
NLE software concerning a graphics card.
Generally, you’d want to go for GTX 1050 and higher.
PROCESSOR
In most cases, the more cores your CPU has the better. Nowadays, even those processors
which are designed to use less power, such as Intel’s mobile Core U-series, have four
cores.
By the way, you can always test your processor using Cinebench benchmark, a test which
shows how fast your laptop is when rendering a 3D image. Note that all results above 700
mean that a laptop will cope with video-editing tasks.
BATTERY LIFE
It’s not a secret that video editing consumes lots of power. Thus, it’s good to have a
laptop with a long battery life. Still, it isn’t the most crucial feature you should be
looking for. There’s a high chance that you will keep your laptop plugged-in almost all
the time during the video-editing process.
WEIGHT
One of the reasons we buy a laptop instead of a desktop computer is portability. But not
every portable thing is easy to carry. Sure, an ideal laptop is lightweight and it can
be a reality. The only thing you should remember is that laptops which weigh less than 3
pounds won’t have a discrete GPU and their displays won’t be larger than 14 inches.
Another thing which should be taken into account is size. Of course, a thin laptop looks
very stylish. But don’t forget to check whether it has all the necessary ports.
COMFORT
Finally, just check whether the best laptop for video editing you have found is
comfortable in use namely for you. Does its keyboard is convenient in use? Is its
display big enough for your editing tasks? Though this may sound not as serious as
processor or GPU characteristics but it does affect the whole process of editing.