laptops

Top 8 Best Laptops for Video Editing

by Sohaib Arif

The best laptops for video editing are those that are both powerful and light enough to carry all day, with a bright and accurate screen that allows you to perform your best work. It’s also beneficial to have enough battery life that you don’t need to carry a charger with you. Owning a laptop like this can bring you a lot of joy if you’re a video editor, a film student, or someone interested in A/V.

It’s all well and good to tell yourself that whatever video editing you require can be completed on a standard laptop; after all, it’s simply a matter of combining short clips, right?

If you plan to work in 4K or edit video files with high bitrates, you’ll need a powerful laptop with a powerful CPU, fast hard drive, plenty of RAM, and a discrete graphics card.

Continue reading for our hand-picked list of the best laptops for video editing, which should make your selection a bit easier.

At A Glance:

Best pick

Alienware Area-51m

Alienware Area-51m

Alienware Area-51m

The beauty of a space station is magnificent.

The graphics and entire functionality are outstanding.

SSDs are blazingly fast.

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Staff Pick

16-inch MacBook Pro 2021

16-inch MacBook Pro 2021

16-inch MacBook Pro 2021

XDR display with Liquid Retina.

An outstanding performance outperforms the rivals.

The battery life is exceptional.

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Budget Pick

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme

Fantastic 4K HDR display.

Exceptionally quick processing.

Design with opulence.

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Our Recommendations

Award Modal Design Retailer
Alienware Area-51m Alienware Area-51m Alienware Area-51m View on amazon
16-inch MacBook Pro 2021 16-inch MacBook Pro 2021 16-inch MacBook Pro 2021 View on amazon
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme View on amazon
Dell XPS 17 (2021) Dell XPS 17 (2021) Dell XPS 17 (2021) View on amazon
Dell XPS 15 (2020) Dell XPS 15 (2020) Dell XPS 15 (2020) View on amazon
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 View on amazon
Razer Blade 15 Razer Blade 15 Razer Blade 15 View on amazon
HP Envy 17 HP Envy 17 HP Envy 17 View on amazon

Alienware Area-51m

Best pick Alienware Area-51m View on amazon

CPU: Intel Core i7/Core i9 8th Gen/Core i9 9th Gen. GPU: Nvidia RTX 2060/2070/2080 graphics card. RAM: 8GB/16GB/32GB/64GB. Memory: 1TB HDD or 512GB/1TB/2TB SSD. Display: 17.3-inch (1080p/4K). Dimensions: 16.1 x 15.9 x 1.11.7 in. Mass: 8.5 pound.

This laptop is equipped with an overclock able 9th Generation Core i9 desktop processor and the latest RTX 2080 GPU. It smashed the Handbrake standard, converting a 4K video to 1080p in less than 6 minutes. You receive the device’s stunning look and an SSD with a 1,272 MBps transfer rate, in addition to its enormous, upgradeable power.

On a 17.3-inch 1920 x 1080 monitor, warfare Games has rarely seemed so magnificent. Battlefield V was breathtakingly gorgeous, from the brown, sun-scorched plains to the immaculate snowy white dunes bathed by the beautiful greenish glimmer of the northern Polaris. The Area-51m has a strong set of speakers disguised beneath a pair of black glossy vents.

The Pros

The beauty of a space station is magnificent.

The graphics and entire functionality are outstanding.

SSDs are blazingly fast.

The Cons

Exorbitantly priced.

MicroSD card slot is not available

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16-inch MacBook Pro 2021

Staff Pick 16-inch MacBook Pro 2021 View on amazon

Display: 16.2 inches; 3456x2244 pixels. CPU: M1 Pro (10-core CPU) | M1 Max (10-core CPU). GPU: Embedded GPU with 16 to 32 cores. RAM: ranges from 16GB to 64GB. Storage: 512GB - 8TB. Mass: 4.7 pound (M1 Pro) | 4.8 pound (M1 Max).

16-inch MacBook Pro 2021 is designed for video editing and comes with either M1 Pro or M1 Max processors that give incredible efficiency. This generation, which replaces the previous Intel-based model, has reduced bezels to allow more area for the stunning mini-LED Liquid Retina XDR screens. You’ll be stunned by its clarity and fluidity once you look over the tier, particularly with its 120Hz refresh rate.

Furthermore, you will receive the ports that professionals require. Not only is there a MagSafe 3 recharging port for added safety, but there’s also an HDMI-out for linking to screens and an SD storage for attaching memory cards for real-world cameras. The MacBook Pro’s Thunderbolt 4/USB4 connectors use electricity as well.

The Pros

XDR display with Liquid Retina.

An outstanding performance outperforms the rivals.

The battery life is exceptional.

The Cons

The resolution is still not 4K.

For M1 Max, it's pricey.

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Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme

Budget Pick Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme View on amazon

CPU: Intel Core i5/Core i7 processor. GPU: Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti. RAM: 8GB/16GB/32GB/64GB. Memory: SSD storage options include 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB. Screen: 15.6-inch (1080p/4K). Dimensions: 14.2 x 9.7 x 0.7 in. Mass: 4 pound.

Lenovo’s X-series range was driven into a new height when it announced the ThinkPad X1 Extreme, the company’s first 15-inch laptop with a dedicated graphics card. It has an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB GPU and can be configured with an Intel Core i9 8th Gen CPU and 64GB of RAM, making it a video production beast. On the Handbrake measurement, transcoding a 4K movie to 1080p took only 10 minutes, which is double as quick as the 20:30 category average.

The ThinkPad X1 Harsh passed 12 MIL-STD-810G tests, indicating that it can withstand humidity levels, grit and sand contact, high heat, and multiple drops. It also has dTPM encryption, Intel vPro, a biometric scanner, and a Smart Card reader as an option, making it excellent for commercial usage. It also features an optional IR camera, allowing you to use Windows Hello face detection to login onto your laptop.

The Pros

Fantastic 4K HDR display.

Exceptionally quick processing.

Design with opulence.

The Cons

Battery life is below par.

It's a hot one.

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Dell XPS 17 (2021)

Dell XPS 17 (2021) View on amazon

CPU: Intel Core i9-11980HK (up to 11th Generation). Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 6GB GDDR6 graphics card. RAM: DDR4-3200MHz RAM up to 64GB. Display: 17.0” screen “FHD+ (High Definition Plus) (1920 x 1200) Non-Touch Anti-Glare InfinityEdge 500-Nit – 17.0 “UHD+ (Ultra High Definition Plus) (3840 x 2400) 500-Nit InfinityEdge Contact Anti-Reflective.

The Dell XPS 17 (2021) is a brand-new Dell laptop designed specifically for video editing. It has some of the finest contemporary equipment money can get currently, including an Intel Core i9 processor and up to 64GB of RAM in various models. It may also be equipped with a specialized Nvidia RTX GeForce 3060 graphics processor. It’s a fantastic contemporary GPU that will easily enable you to create 4K recordings, and that UHD material will look stunning on the Dell XPS 17’s high-resolution 17-inch display.

Despite its enormous screen, the Dell XPS 17 maintains the elegant form that the XPS series is renowned for, so you won’t have to tote about a cumbersome laptop only to edit films on a bigger display.

The Pros

Excellent performance.

The design is stunning.

Functionality is top-tier.

The Cons

There aren't enough ports.

Upgrading options are not that much significant in it.

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Dell XPS 15 (2020)

Dell XPS 15 (2020) View on amazon

CPU: Intel Core i5 – i7 processors from the 10th generation. Visuals: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Ti - Intel Iris Plus Graphic elements. RAM: 8GB – 64GB. Display: 15.6” FHD+ (1920 x 1200) IPS - UHD+ screen (3840 x 2400). Memory: 256GB – 1TB SSD

For those who prefer Windows to macOS, the Dell XPS 15 (2020) is another excellent laptop for video editing. It’s powered by Intel’s 10th gen CPUs, and it can be customized to include a separate graphics card, which is great for video processing. The XPS 15, like nearly all of Dell’s laptops, can be customized when purchased, allowing you to add features like a 4K display and a huge (and speedy) 1TB SSD. As a result, you may customize a Dell XPS 15 to meet both your demands and your finances.

If you can afford it, we recommend getting the 4K option and the largest SSD possible. You can preview your 4K footage natively on the super high-resolution screen, and the greater the storage, the more room you’ll have to keep your recordings and projects. Believe us when we say that if you’re a video editor, your hard disk will quickly fill up.

Sure, it’s pricey, and the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Ti graphics card may suffer from super-high-quality video processing, but irrespective of if you intend to practice filming or not, this is one of the best laptops for video editing you can purchase in 2021.

The Pros

Optimal Quality.

The design is eye-catching.

4K display quality.

The Cons

4K video production may be difficult.

For some people, a 15-inch screen may be too big.

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Asus ROG Zephyrus G14

Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 View on amazon

Screen: 14-inch display with 1920 x 1080 resolutions. CPU: AMD Ryzen 9-4900HS processor. GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060. RAM: 16 GB of RAM. Storage: 1TB SSD memory. Mass: 3.5-pound weight. 4K-1080p Handbrake Time it took to encode the video: 6:53.

The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is a unique gaming laptop that combines power and portability without compromising battery life. This is made possible with the AMD Ryzen 9 processor, a powerful intel core that uses AMD’s newest technology to perform without exhausting your power in a couple of hours. When you add in the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Max-Q GPU, you’ve got yourself a pretty capable 14-inch laptop.

This laptop is robust enough to do major edit work while being compact enough to pack in a bag and forgotten about, but its true strength is its outstanding 11-hour battery capacity. Sure, there’s no webcam and the keypad backlighting isn’t perfect.

The Pros

Excellent performance.

With 11-hour battery life, this device is extremely portable.

Excellent audio and visuals.

The Cons

There isn't a webcam.

The backlighting on the keyboard is not working properly.

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Razer Blade 15

Razer Blade 15 View on amazon

CPU: Intel Core i7 (up to octa-core). Visuals: GeForce RTX 3080 or above. 16 GB of RAM. Display: 15.6-inch OLED/LCD screen with a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels. SSD storage up to 1TB. Yes, there is an SD card adapter (Advanced model only). Thunderbolt: Version 4 is correct.

The Razer Blade 15 is unique in that it has an optional OLED screen instead of a standard LCD. It looks amazing, with deep, inky blackness and bold, brilliant colors, and its 4K quality equates to a pixel density of 282 ppi, making it super-sharp – ideal for modifying your UHD videos.

With a powerful Nvidia GeForce GPU card underneath the mask, it’s capable of handling even the biggest challenging tasks and with so many connectors — three USB-A ports, two Thunderbolt/USB-C ports, one HDMI 2.1 port, and a headset jack – it’s also adaptable.

The Pros

The 4K OLED screen is breath-taking.

Metal design with a matte finish.

Sleek touch.

The Cons

Extremely costly.

For video production, a high-end GPU is not required.

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HP Envy 17

HP Envy 17 View on amazon

11th-generation quad-core processor Intel Core i7 processor. Visuals: Intel Iris XeRAM: 32GB. Display: 17-inch IPS display (3840 x 2160). 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD Memory. SD card slot: Yes. Thunderbolt 4: Yes.

The HP Envy 17 offers significantly more visible real-time for media snippets and timeline, as well as productivity, thanks to its bigger than a typical 17-inch screen. The Envy 17 comes in a variety of models, but we think the ‘17-ch0020na’ version is best for professional video production, and it’s also reasonably affordable for the power it provides.

Because of the larger screen, there’s more room in front for a full-size keyboard, and you also have a built-in SD card reader, which is uncommon on today’s devices. Because of the newest 11th-gen quad-core Intel Core i7 CPUs and a generous 32GB RAM, even 4K editing ought to be a breeze.

The Pros

The screen size is huge and inviting.

4K resolution with complete Adobe RGB coverage.

Robust CPU options.

The Cons

In terms of size it is quite big.

Not for pro gamers

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A Buying Guide to the Best Laptops for Video Editing:

To find the best laptops for video editing, you must look at the following features:

CPU and Memory

The CPU and memory are the two most significant laptop elements for video editors. The majority of apps are designed to make use of modern multi-core CPUs, thus the more cores you have, the better. When it comes to primary memory space, a decent rule of thumb is to get a laptop with 16GB of RAM. This is the maximum for many consumer ultraportables, while creator-class laptops with 32GB or more are already available. However, because the cost is often prohibitive, and we believe that the money would be better spent on a speedier CPU, we’ve designated 16GB as the sweet spot.

Connectivity

The last thing you want to do is add weight to your bag when you’re already hauling dozens of pounds of camera and lighting gear. Fortunately, many powerful computers now weigh less than 3 pounds. However, if you’re trying to lose weight, don’t drop too many ports. A full-size SD card slot is also essential for instantly downloading a film from your camera to your laptop, and all computers should include an audio jack for connecting headphones to use when editing on the aircraft or in a cafe.

Display

With most mainstream laptops now having at least full HD (1,920-by-1,080-pixel) resolution, the size of the screen, not the pixel count, should be your primary consideration. A 15-inch or 17-inch monitor will allow you to see more of your project schedule, but it will add weight and heft to your computer. Meanwhile, a 12-inch screen may cause you to squint. If you need to travel with your editing machine, the sweet spot is 13 or 14 inches. Many laptops narrow down the bezel, or border, around the screen to fit a 13-inch or 14-inch screen into a chassis that would otherwise carry a smaller display.

Hard drive or an SSD (or both)?

You’ll need a fast boot drive to complete the trifecta of main characteristics. In almost all cases these days, this means installing a solid-state drive (SSD), which is far faster than previous spinning drives at accessing data. Because an SSD’s major ability is minimizing boot times and making apps load faster, the speed gap between an SSD and a spinning platter hard drive is huge for ordinary computing use. These factors are important for video editing (loading editing software can take a long time if you edit under duress), but an SSD can still provide significant speed improvements for specific jobs like playing back numerous clips at once or dealing with 4K footage.

Performance

If you want to edit video quickly, you’ll need a laptop with at least a Core i5 processor, 8 to 16GB of RAM, and a 256GB to 512GB SSD. For most 1080p projects, that will suffice, but if you’re working in 4K or on a large project, you’ll need at least a Core i7 CPU, 16 to 32 GB of RAM, and a 1 TB SSD.

Summary

Award Modal Design Retailer
Alienware Area-51m Alienware Area-51m Alienware Area-51m View on amazon
16-inch MacBook Pro 2021 16-inch MacBook Pro 2021 16-inch MacBook Pro 2021 View on amazon
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme View on amazon
Dell XPS 17 (2021) Dell XPS 17 (2021) Dell XPS 17 (2021) View on amazon
Dell XPS 15 (2020) Dell XPS 15 (2020) Dell XPS 15 (2020) View on amazon
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 View on amazon
Razer Blade 15 Razer Blade 15 Razer Blade 15 View on amazon
HP Envy 17 HP Envy 17 HP Envy 17 View on amazon

Conclusion

It’s all about equilibrium when it regards to choosing the finest laptops for video processing. It’s a mistake to have a decent hard disk but only a little amount of RAM. A large screen with poor performance or greater storage with poor battery lifespan does not equal a nice encounter; properly research the qualities of a laptop before making a purchase. Read a lot of reviews, including the negative ones, to have a good idea of what to anticipate and what may go wrong so you’re ready. Some of our suggestions have been chosen after being whittled down.

Frequently Asked Questions

For video editing, should you get a MacBook or a Windows laptop?

One of the most important decisions you'll have to consider when buying the best laptop for video editing is either to obtain a MacBook or a pc that operates Windows 10. Much of this is down to personal preference. If you're accustomed to Windows, you might find macOS, which runs on MacBooks, a little strange in terms of how everything is done - and likewise.

Can you afford a Power at a Price video editing laptop?

The majority of the best laptops for video editing are also rather pricey due to their mix of strong technology and thin designs. Nevertheless, because high-end technology is becoming more accessible, you may get a fantastic video editing laptop without blowing your budget.

How Much RAM Do You Need for 4K Video Editing?

For editing 4k or higher videos, you'll need at least 16 GB of storage.

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