Best Budget Laptop For Video Editing

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michaelmurfy

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#3067466 24-Apr-2023 02:14

That laptop would be an absolute beast for video editing. It'll also run almost anything you chuck at it quite happily too. You won't regret it.

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MaxineN

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#3067473 24-Apr-2023 07:56

Wheelbarrow01:
MaxineN:

IMO the HP gaming laptop would be "fine" and heck because you've got the Nvidia GPU you can actually use it to encode/decode HEVC content and it wouldn't actually fall over with effects, transitions. The only thing I'd say is please upgrade it to 32GB RAM as soon as you can. Davinci likes memory. Ask me how I know.

The Vivobook would also be "okay", Okay gets a lesser grade from me simply because the aforementioned Vivobook that I own absolutely hates Windows with a passion and will occasionally BSOD where on Linux it will not fall over. Again Nvidia GPU is a big win here. The display will be a lot better for editing.

OK, how do you know? 😃

Multiple tracks with videos and transition effects. Gets pretty RAM heavy very quickly. You'll just eat through 16GB in no time.

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nzben

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#3067476 24-Apr-2023 08:21

You've already have your post dragged into the Mac/Windows debate...lol.

What I can tell you is I use Resolve to create some reasonably basic videos. Given its capabilities and that it is free it's a great option. In my experience it's also faster and more efficient than Premier. The editing functionality is secondary to the software as a whole, (Hollywood doesn't use it as a primary editor) however it gets more comprehensive each release and there's more than enough functionality there to do what you want.

For this I use my M1 MacBook Air with 8GBs of RAM, which is probably well below recommended spec for Resolve, however it flies though the work load, doesn't get hot with the fanless case. Keep in mind that I am making reasonably short clips in HD, but with FX, title overlays, etc sometimes up to 5 or 6 layers, everything happens in realtime, and the render outs are fast.

On occasion I use my MacBook Air for running Unreal engine for rendering - which shouldn't really work, but it does. Thats the only real case I find that the computer heats up.

We also have a circa 2015 HP workstation with a dedicated GPU that flies with Resolve. Take home is if you are not really pushing the software to its limits, and it's hobby jobs you probably don't need to spend massive $$ on a machine to make resolve work.

re: monitor, I would think its more important to prioritise quality over resolution. Having a 4K monitor won't necessarily give you a better idea of the colour, it will just allow you to see the full resolution. Given a choice of a high quality HD monitor vs a mediocre 4K monitor I would go HD.

The current M1/M2 MacBook Pros have reasonable screens, with the advantage of having preset calibrated options to view for HDR, SDR, Video for Web, etc, however they are still not a true calibrated monitor that can be relied on. Do you really need that for making YouTube videos given most people will watch them on a wide variety of phone and computer screens...

arcon

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#3078915 23-May-2023 11:37

Did you end up getting the M1 laptop? I don't know much about M1s but it has a sweet display. Its really a matter of whether you are comfortable with Mac or Windows OS.

I use Resolve Studio. RE the free version, it has been reported to have some performance issues. I've been editing TVCs and YouTube for many years, I used Premiere Pro & AE but switched to just Resolve Studio a few years ago. Honestly I would say Resolve is more of a resource hog in terms of VRAM and system RAM, but only once you get into using the features that need it.

Its kinda personal preference in terms of layout, Resolve was the colourists choice for grading and I just prefer the way it handles this, & it has much more advanced features like built in ACES support and some half decent compositing tools, both really useful if you work in a CGI pipeline. IMO Adobe charge a yearly subscription for Premiere because they can get away with it - its users are familiar with it and can't be bothered learning a new app, that's about it lol.

Wheelbarrow01

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#3110232 31-Jul-2023 22:30

arcon:

Did you end up getting the M1 laptop? I don't know much about M1s but it has a sweet display. Its really a matter of whether you are comfortable with Mac or Windows OS.

I use Resolve Studio. RE the free version, it has been reported to have some performance issues. I've been editing TVCs and YouTube for many years, I used Premiere Pro & AE but switched to just Resolve Studio a few years ago. Honestly I would say Resolve is more of a resource hog in terms of VRAM and system RAM, but only once you get into using the features that need it.

Its kinda personal preference in terms of layout, Resolve was the colourists choice for grading and I just prefer the way it handles this, & it has much more advanced features like built in ACES support and some half decent compositing tools, both really useful if you work in a CGI pipeline. IMO Adobe charge a yearly subscription for Premiere because they can get away with it - its users are familiar with it and can't be bothered learning a new app, that's about it lol.

So just to round this thread out, I've watched dozens of youtube videos on the topic and pretty much settled on a factory refurbished M1 Pro 14 inch with 16GB of unified memory and 512 GB SSD. The general consensus is that it's the best bang for buck for my use case. Price is $2619 which is more than I initially intended to spend, but not the $3600+ that the equivalent M2 would cost me. I also went down the route of investigating second hand stuff but found some of the adverts on Trademe to be somewhat disingenuous - eg claiming an unopened M2 came with a 24 month Apple warranty + one additional year of JB HiFi warranty even though Apple doesn't seem to offer 24 month warranties on their website (and the JB website shows nothing about extended warranties either for that matter). Or a Hawkes Bay seller stating "minor" water damage had been repaired and the Macbook is "better than new" (and priced that way despite being over 2 years old!!). In fact I found the asking prices of most 2 year old second hand models so close to the original RRP that I might as well buy a brand new one.

I think the refurbished M1 will comfortably do what I need it to do with the peace of mind of a 12 month warranty, and provides a decent level of future proofing for at least a few years. Plus I can tick it up on 24 months interest free using my GEM Creditline. Whilst the refurbished units are eligible for AppleCare+ I don't think I will opt in for that - I just don't quite see the value. I think of all the tech I have bought in the past decade and I haven't accidentally broken anything, nor have I had a single fault - with the exception of a 13 year old LG TV that finally died last year.

The 14 inch is a balance between size and portability, but if needed I can add a decent desktop monitor at a later date (the wife gets wholesale pricing on Samsung etc through her work).

eracode

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#3110241 1-Aug-2023 02:10

I saw this a few days ago and thought it might be relevant here. Maybe not within OP’s budget - not exactly a budget solution.

https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/apples-15-inch-macbook-air-is-superb-for-pro-photography-work/

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