Looking for a good video editing laptop

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epolice

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Hey all, adobe premiere pro runs not as well as I'd like it to on my current laptop. It is a personal laptop so it does have a lot of other stuff going on there. I want to purchase a laptop solely for video editing.

While specific laptop suggestions are welcome, I am more looking to understand what components I should be looking for in a CPU, GPU, RAM and HD while making my decision. Yes, I do shoot and edit in 4k most of the time.

Thanks,
Adam
 
Use this :) Predator 21 X
acer-predator-header-1.jpg


Without jokes - you have to use SSD for video cache, instead HDD. And you will have huge speed increase.
It is most important. Others - just depending on your money :) More money - more speed.
 
SSD is your friend. One for cache, one for data/programs. Spinning rust for archive with failover (NAS). Are you a Mac user or Windows? Do you have a preference or experience with both? Are you planning on staying with Adobe? Acer have a nice line with the Predators, but MBP's (Mac Book Pro's) are nice, but $$$. Dell XPS are also nice. I would also look at the Surface Book and the Lenovo Yoga line.
 
I`m desktop user :) Main PC is Windows based, kitchen PC (internet and movies) - Linux Mint based.
I use not Adobe, but other products (but requiremets is the same) for non-linear editing. But principles is the same.
Just one notice - if possible - try to find MLC SSD - it has longer lifetime, than TLC. More write cycles.
I`d use MAC when it was Apple computer :) we used it with QuarkXpress to prepare documents for Risograph. Many years ago.
Does not matter, what kind of OS or software you are using. Just your adaptation to the menu placement, and instruments knowledge is important. When you know about all required instruments, and WHERE it is - you feel comfort with the editing program :)
I`m not video editing specialist, it was just my small hobbie. I just have "relation" to IT industry :)
 
What does Adobe Premeire recommend for RAM and CPU? RAM is usually cheap so no harm in overestimating. Programs require more disk space as they evolve and photo/video resolution grows so this needs to be considered. Do you need a laptop or will a desktop suffice. They are generally less expensive and easier to upgrade.
 
SSD Hard Drive minimum 500GB, I-7 processor and 16 GB Ram.

You can get a good used Dell that comes with a good graphics card for under $500 that meets those requirements.
 
Thanks all. Definitely a laptop guy, I like the mobility. I had never heard of this SSD suggestion. Didn't even know SSD was a thing, I am not super technical. Will look into it and maybe that will solve everything. Definitely staying with Adobe. No need in learning how to operate a different program when Adobe handles everything I require.
 
SSD= Solid state drive. Newer technology, less likely to fail, and FAST. Windows boots in less than 30 seconds on a clean install.
 
Mobility is a double-edged sword. For video editing you really need to separate drives, both being SSD. One is set up as video cache, the other is where your OS, programs and data live. An external drive is your first backup, cloud your other (protects against theft as well as catastrophic failure (fire) or malware corruption). There are a few types of SSD now, the 2.5" that fits where a 'normal' laptop drive would have been, and the M.2. What this means for you is that you should easily be able to find a laptop that can handle both. My recommendation would be to source a laptop that has the 2.5" SSD in a size appropriate for your needs, and the capacity to add your own M.2. The M.2 often will fit where the WAN card (Verizon/AT&T data network card) sits. This is simply a matter of opening the case and inserting a memory-looking type card. This may rule out some laptops that are difficult to open or customize. The flip side is that this type of laptop is generally going to be bigger, and therefore heavier. Also, decided ahead of time if you want a touchscreen. Unlike a desktop, you're not really upgrading a laptop screen ever, other than adding a 2nd optional screen for home/office.

Note that you don't want to have your SSD drive usage over 75% full, if so, get a bigger drive. Memory, as has been mentioned, is cheap. 32GB is a good start. You may get away with a little less depending on the video card capabilities.

Desktop video cards have more options, but there are plenty of laptops with high-end cards. Just know that you will pay more for the equivalent laptop than a desktop.

The i7 processor is pretty much a requirement for video editing. Not sure on the AMD equivalent.

MLC drives are enterprise level and very expensive, especially in the larger sizes. I use them in servers. For workstations I use Samsung Pro, some Intel and the occasional Crucial, all depending on end usage.

Newegg is a good place to keep an eye on deals. Some high-end gaming laptops will fit the bill too, so while looking at the brands already mentioned, don't rule out MSI or Alienware (latter made by Dell). The Alienware m17 fits the bill, but will put you out $1700+. Cheaper than many MBP's, but not as cheap as some refurbs on Newegg etc.
 
1. There's something missing from the SSD advice above. You want an M.2 drive that does "NVME". That will be around 10x faster than a traditional SSD. The Samsung 970 Pro is currently the best consumer NVME ssd you can get but any NVME ssd will be excellent. Personally I would not get any SSD that lacked NVME right now. Caution: There are M.2 drives that are not NVME capable, and those aren't any better than a normal SATA SSD. Therefore, the "buzz word" you want to look for is NVME. Some NVME are faster than others, but even the slowest NVME is so blazing fast compared to anything else. NVME is kind of a "game changer" making SLC vs MLC flash mostly irrelevant. The technical detail here is that the CPU gets 4 direct pci express lanes between the CPU and the NVME device. Even the cheapest NVME devices can read or write nearly 1GB/second. That rivals the $20,000.00 FusionIO storage that I use at work (for a couple hundred bucks).

2. Make sure your laptop has an NVIDIA GPU and at least 2GB dedicated video ram (not shared). This will allow you to enable the "mercury playback engine" in Adobe Premiere. It makes any computationally intensive task significantly faster in Premiere. Effects that might take an hour to apply, may only take a minute or two. Many special effects that require calculation normally can be previewed in real time. Here's a youtube video where some guy compares the two so that you can see the performance difference: This is not a dig against Intel or AMD GPU's, but I don't believe Adobe supports GPU acceleration with anything other than nVidia. Therefore you must get nVidia. It doesn't really matter much which nVidia GPU you get as long as the laptop has at least 2GB video ram and an nVidia GPU of some kind. You do not have to spend a lot on the latest and greatest. Any nVidia GPU (if it was made in the last 5 years) will do.

3. Ram. As much as you can afford. Consider 8GB the bare minimum, 16GB would be better, 32GB would be better still. RAM is fairly inexpensive these days for desktops, I've got 96GB in the system I use for Adobe CS, but that's not a laptop. Getting laptops with lots of memory capacity can often be difficult and expensive.

4. Thunderbolt 3 port. If you can get a laptop with this kind of port, your laptop will be as up-gradable as any desktop. You can attach external graphics adapters, external storage etc all at very high speed. This is something you might not necessarily use right now but it could keep you from having to replace the laptop in a few years when you want an upgrade. This isn't a must have, but it's a very good idea to have.

5. Colorimiter. This is an external device that plugs into a USB port. It allows you to tune monitors (and televisions). If you have a colorimiter, you could connect a 4k TV to your machine and adjust the color on it. You wind up with a very inexpensive high quality display since most 4k tv's also support wide color gamut. You can get a colorimeter for around $100 and no mater what kind of display you use (even the built-in laptop display) this thing will be your best friend. I use this one (it's discontinued) https://www.amazon.com/ColorVision-...er+datacolor&qid=1553709528&s=gateway&sr=8-12 . Under $100 on Amazon. Even a colorimeter this old will work very well. The newer ones are generally better but the old ones get the job done nicely and won't break the bank

Edit: Whoops.. I'm out of date. Premiere supports OpenCL now in addition to CUDA. That means you should be able to use just about any nVidia, AMD, or Intel graphics adapter for HW acceleration.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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