I was curious what you guys look for in a computer for editing your footage. I'm starting to shop and I have budgeted $1,000 so the Mac book series is out. I think I want a lap top and I will be saving the footage to a external hard drive. I will also be looking at new video editing software, I've been using an older adope premier elements ( i think) Thanks for your help
A fast processor, for Intel I would suggest nothing less than an i5, but and i7 would be preferable. At least 8gb of RAM, but 16 would be better. You will also need one that has a very good graphics card. Look at some of the gaming laptops as they have good enough specs to do video editing. A true editing laptop won't be in the $1000 price range.
Agreed. If you're dead set on a laptop, you're going to be limiting yourself a bit. You will will want a mobile workstation that has a dedicated desktop GPU and the most RAM you can put in it. The Thinkpad W series (540, 530, etc.,) would get you close, but still would be over budget a bit. Ideally, it's good to have a hard drive dedicated to just your OS/Apps, one for a scratch disk (SSD), and one for working/raw footage/file storage, and that's usually a MINIMUM. What kind of drive are you thinking? USB 3.0 would be a minimum if using the drive as a working drive and not just storage.
I cannot even imagine going back to a laptop as my primary editing machine. I tried it for a while. Lack of screen real estate was a huge issue for me among other things. I do all of my editing on one of two Dell desk tops that are set up pretty identical to each other. Both are about 4 years old now but they still grind out HD edits in Premiere Pro and the full Adobe Suite pretty easily. Intel Core i7 processors, 8G ram (I'd go more in today's market), Win 7 64 bit OS, massive hard drives (each has dual internal 2 TB and I run several external 3 & 4 TB USB 3.0 drives). Both stations run dual monitors, 24" for my main screen and a 20" for viewing the footage as I edit it. Dual screens is a HUGE plus. Like I said, my two stations are around 4 years old now and they still run fine. I'd like to have some more RAM and I might dump more RAM in them in the near future. Hard drive space it what I eat up. Redundancy is key. I keep multiple copies of everything. I've had a hard drive die and that sinking feeling that you will never see that data again is horrible.
Absolutely. I don't think most people take this seriously enough (even if you're only doing this for fun). To put it in perspective, my setup is this (I built my desktop): 128GB SSD (OS/Apps) 256GB SSD (Scratch Disk for PS and Premiere Pro) 256GB SSD (Exports/Temp Storage) 2TB External USB Hard Drive (Backup/Bulk Storage) I'm STILL severely limited as I should actually be storing all final files and videos on the external which should be backed up to another drive and technically kept off site (in case of theft or fire). Just some thoughts.
As other have said... Icore 5 or 7 processor w/ a mid to highend discreet graphics. Hard drive speeds is every bit as important as RAM. RAM is cheap these days. The more the better! Also prefer a SSD over a traditional spindle hard drive. Higher sequential read / writes in combinations with higher IOPs makes a huge difference editing 1080p or better footage. I use traditional hard drives for archival / cold storage. You will be hard pressed to find a sub $1000 machine with those specifications regardless if it is a PC or Laptop.
Ok so from the responses I have seen for the most part maybe I should expand my search to include a desk top instead of just limiting myself to a lap top. I can get more bang for my buck by doing this. Maybe look at something that would be good for gaming because of the graphics card? This is basically to mess around with footage I shoot to share on YouTube with friends, but I have been having a blast shooting and putting together the footage. Keep the suggestions coming. I'm not in a hurry to buy, but I think after Christmas is a good time to buy. Eric
Here's one to look at that would probably do pretty well. It has a 120 gb SSD for your operating system and you could run your editing software. It also has a 1 TB hard drive that will let you store your files, but you will eventually need backup storage options. You can buy these later for a fairly reasonable price. Sager Custom Laptops
Mac guy here so not much help. The external drive is a good idea. WD makes some nice 1TB and 2TB drives that should be suitable for video storage and not break your bank. Z7Hunter is a guy on the forum that does a lot of video work so he may be a good resource.
Yes you will generally get much more for your dollar going with a desktop station over a laptop. If you don't need the portability in your editing, then why buy a laptop? Don't get me wrong, I have a laptop and can do editing on it, but it is a nightmare compared to my two desk top stations. Also, I can do quick dirty edits on my Nexus 10 tablet if I have to and it is much more portable. The edits are not anything that I really would want to make public, but if I needed to do a quick edit to give a client an idea of how a project will flow, it works good enough until I can get back to the desk top machines.
Since this isn't something that I make money doing its a hobby, I'm looking for something that can serve multiple purposes. I realize that the lap top may not be the best for editing video, but with a desk top I'm tied to the desk or a room away from the family. I travel a fair amount for work and I would have time to sit down and put some video together while sitting in a hotel then that is a bonus and great way to relax. On the same note I like getting the best value for my money.
I have both a custom built PC for editing and a high end laptop. I choose the laptop every time even though the rendering is a bit slower. Something about being able to sit on the couch and edit at the same time I'm watching a football game. Gives me more flexibility at the cost of a little more time to do the same work. If I were doing it for a living, then I'd probably want a PC with quad monitors
SO what laptop set up do you have? Im following this thread because I am actually looking at new laptops right now. This is what I have been leaning towards but I Dont know much about computers just know how to use them. Asus 15.6" TouchScreen Laptop Intel Core i7 8GB Memory 1TB Hard Drive N550JKDS71T - Best Buy
Yeah, well my house was actually struck by lightning and my editing PC's ethernet port on the motherboard was damaged. The insurance totaled it out so they gave me $1400 in depreciated value, and our policy allows us full replacement so an addition $700 was available for reimbursement. So, I could have bought a $1400 laptop or a $2100 laptop, either way it was going to cost me the same so I opted for the high end laptop of course. On top of that, a little later I found a USB ethernet adapter that allowed me to bypass the ethernet on the motherboard so my PC works again. As for the 4k screen, it is pretty sweet in most situations, but it has it's drawbacks as a lot of software does not compensate for the 4K screen. Biggest example of this is Photoshop. The icons and menu is so small I can't even read it, so it's pretty much useless from the laptop. I contacted Adobe and they basically told me at this time, Photoshop is not compatible with a 4K display. I voiced my displeasure. The really strange part is that Lightroom looks normal.
Well I would say that worked out to your advantage hahah. Yea right now the 4k may not be so handy until everything starts to evolve a little more. When comparing yours and the ASUS I wasnt really noticing a big difference between the two but like stated I dont know a whole lot about them just know how to use it
The one you linked is a pretty solid system. Biggest difference's would be 2 SSD's on mine. That allows your operating system to load much faster. Also allows me to install my editing software onto it to run it faster than it would be on the standard hard drive. Basically a time saver. The other two main differences would be double the RAM and a higher performing graphics card, but the computer your looking at should get the job done just fine.
Thanks for the input, I work off of my laptop all day every day so why not get something that is going to work good for when I am editing also. Right now its kinda a pain with being glitchy and what not. But this laptop also has no more room left on it so Im sure that bogs it down and doesnt help at all
