Video editing is a task that requires a high-quality display and enough computing power to process large video files. Whether you’re a creative making high-quality professional videos or looking to start a YouTube channel, investing in the right laptop will make video editing a lot easier. It’s easy to get confused if you’re not familiar with performance specifications. We’ve put together some suggestions to help you find the right laptop for your video editing needs.
Best laptop for video editing : Dell XPS 15
Dell’s XPS 15 clamshell laptop has been one of our favorite portables for several years now. It’s incredibly well built, sporting a solid aluminum chassis and carbon fiber keyboard deck that makes for comfortable long work sessions. The XPS 15 also packs some serious power, supporting Intel’s 9th-generation 8-core Core i9-9980HK CPU. This super-fast, full-power (45W) processor is the ultimate CPU for demanding tasks like video encoding and real-time editing. Other laptops have this chip, but according to our tests, it’s the fastest of any Dell system. The XPS 15 can also use an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 GPU, which will greatly aid real-time editing and encoding performance.
You can configure the XPS 15 from the base model with an entry-level i5 – 9300h CPU to the aforementioned Core 19, 32GB of fast DDR4 – 2666Mhz RAM, 2TB of very fast PCI-e Solid State Drive (SSD) storage, and a nifty The 4K OLED display that offers extraordinary contrast and vibrant colors showcases your video projects, truly great. You’ll get a machine that offers plenty of high-speed connectivity, including a USB-C that supports full-speed 40gb/s Thunderbolt 3, as well as a solid keyboard and touchpad, an optional fingerprint scanner, and secure logins via Windows 10 Hello.
Best Mac Laptop for Video Editing: Macbook Pro 15
While Adobe’s video editing apps have become the industry standard, Apple’s Final Cut Pro X is on the rise again. That means the Mac still has a place in the hearts of many creative professionals, and videographers are no exception. For high-end users, that could mean the latest 15-inch Touch Bar MacBook Pro.
This laptop offers Apple’s usual exceptional design and build quality, but also offers some great features. Like Dell’s XPS 15, the just-announced high-end MacBook Pro 15 models can also be configured with Intel’s 9th-generation 8-core i9-9980HK, up to 32GB of fast RAM, and up to 4TB of high-speed PCI-e SSD storage . While not as fast as the XPS 15, the extra cores of the Core i9 still add some faster multi-threaded performance to this ultrathin notebook. Video editors should also opt for a dedicated AMD Radeon Pro Vega GPU to help with editing and encoding.
Additionally, the MacBook Pro 15 offers a high-quality 15.4-inch IPS display with a 2880 x 1800 resolution. It’s a video editor’s dream picture.
Best gaming laptop for video editing: Razer Blade
The Razer Blade is our favorite gaming laptop. It’s beautiful, and like any laptop on the market, it can be configured for very fast gaming. There’s an interesting relationship between gaming and video editing – GPUs can speed up both tasks.
That’s why we don’t care about the Razer Blade in the 9th Gen Intel Core i7-9750H, which is a fast CPU despite the lack of two extra Core i9s you can equip in the Dell XPS 15 and Apple MacBook Pro 15. The Razer Blade can be equipped with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q GPU, the fastest you can buy today. That means you’ll get the best video encoding performance, even beating the hardcore i9 MacBook Pro in a premiere video export test.
And, as if that wasn’t enough, the Razer Blade can also feature the same OLED display as the Dell XPS 15, which offers the best color and contrast you’ll find on a laptop monitor today.
Best Value Video Editing Laptop : Dell G3 15 Gaming Laptop
Not everyone has the money to buy a high-performance machine like the ones listed above. For these folks, there’s an option that probably isn’t the first that comes to mind: an inexpensive gaming laptop. Yes, manufacturers often pack some surprisingly powerful components into gaming laptops in a surprisingly low market—because not every gamer has a ton of money to spend.
Our favorite is the Dell G3 15 gaming laptop. It’s not the most powerful laptop out there, but it still packs a 6-core Intel 8th Gen Core i7-8750H CPU and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 CPU. These are the fast parts that will keep all but the most demanding video projects running at full speed.
Right now, you can store a laptop with an i7, 8GB of RAM, a 128GB PCI-e SSD OS, and a 1TB hard disk drive (HDD), all for the low price of $830. And it was within our $1,000 budget when it wasn’t discounted.
Best Video Editing Laptop for Color Accuracy: Acer Acer ConceptD 7
ConceptD 7 is a laptop designed for creators who demand a portable creation machine. It offers a 9th Gen Intel 6-core processor up to 4.5GHz, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 with 8G of dedicated VRAM. The 15.6-inch screen offers designers 4K resolution and up to 400 nits of brightness. There’s also up to 32GB of RAM and a 1TB PCI-e NVMe SSD to store all your voracious video files.
The laptop’s color quality is superior, though: it has 100 percent Adobe color gamut, color accuracy of Delta E<2, and comprehensive color correction, plus Pantone Color Verification. By the way, if you like to work in low-light environments, the soft backlighting on the keyboard won’t distract you. It’s a laptop that needs to be made in 2D and 3D, and there’s nothing better…
There’s also an advanced model, with the Concept td 7 Ezel Pro, that offers a highly portable 2-in-1 design for those who are even on the move than usual.
