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page title icon The Best Laptop for Video Editing in 2024

By
| Updated on March 24, 2022

We set out to find the best laptop for video editing and after much deliberation, awarded the title to the Asus ZenBook Pro UX501VW.

The mix of speed, display and a dedicated graphics card to speed up intense rendering makes this the best choice for video editors.

The five best laptops for video editing

Here’s a list of the best laptops for video editing;

The best laptop for video editing

Asus Zenbook Pro Front Shot - Best Laptop for Video Editing

We ended up choosing the ASUS ZenBook Pro UX501VW as the best laptop for video editing. When you’re choosing a laptop for video editing, speed is critical to reduce your idle time whilst you wait for videos to render.

The Intel i7-6700HQ Quad Core processor and 16GB of RAM are more than adequate for intensive rendering and encoding tasks.

As mentioned before, having a dedicated graphics card can speed up rendering tasks tremendously. The ZenBook Pro has a Nvidia GTX960M graphics card that will aid in speeding up your video rendering.

Also important is storage and the ZenBook has a modest 512GB SSD. The fast read/write times that the SSD provides is vital when dealing with large raw video files.

Given that during video editing you will be looking at and analysing videos, it’s reasonable to expect a quality display. The ZenBook Pro has a 15.6” 4K Ultra HD display with a massive 3840 x 2160 resolution for incredible pixel density. It also has an IPS panel which has superb color reproduction.

From a portability perspective, the ZenBook Pro weighs just 5 lbs and is 0.8” thick.

ASUS ZenBook Pro UX501VW-US71 15.6-Inch...
  • 15.6" Touch IPS 4K Ultra­-HD display, 3840 x 2160 resolution
  • Powerful Intel Skylake Core i7­-6700HQ 2.6 GHz Quad­core CPU (turbo to...
  • 512GB SSD with transfer speeds of 1400MB/s and 16GB DDR4 RAM

The four other video editing laptops we tested

Apple MacBook Pro 15.4″

MacBook Pro 15.4" - Best Laptop for Video Editing

The MacBook Pro was a close contender in this closely fought contest. You should really consider a Mac if you need to use applications that are Mac specific, such as iMovie.

With an Intel 2.2Ghz Quad-Core i7 processor and 16GB of RAM, the MacBook Pro is up to the task of rendering and encoding.

One downside is that the MacBook doesn’t have a dedicated graphics card to help speed up rendering, however the Quad Core i7 should still do a great job and shouldn’t take too long.

A speedy 256GB SSD will aid with read/write speeds and make applications feel more responsive.

The 15.4” screen has Apple’s retina display that has over 5 million pixels, for incredible clarity and pixel density.

Weighing in at 4.5 lbs, you’ll have no issue carrying around the laptop with you all day and at 0.7” thick, it looks sleek.

Apple MacBook Pro (15-Inch Retina, Touch...
  • 2.6GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
  • Turbo Boost up to 3.5GHz
  • Four Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports

Lenovo Thinkpad P50

Lenovo Thinkpad P50 - Best Laptop for Video Editing

With a Nvidia Quadro graphics card and Intel Xeon processor, the Thinkpad P50 is made for video editing.

As mentioned earlier, Nvidia Quadro graphics cards are specifically made for demanding visualisation workloads which means your render times will be decreased dramatically.

The Intel Xeon processor and 16GB of RAM provide the grunt work of the laptop whilst the 256 GB SSD helps with boot times and application responsiveness.

Display wise, the P50 has a 15.6” HD display which displays videos brilliantly.

The Thinkpad is on the heavier side, weighing at 8.7 lbs and being 3.8” thick, so it’s better if you don’t have to carry the laptop around with you constantly.

Lenovo ThinkPad P50 20En 15.6" Notebook,...
  • Intel Xeon E3-1505M v5 Quad-Core Processor (4 cores, 2.8 GHz up to 3.70 GHz, 8MB...
  • Nvidia Quadro M2000M 4GB GDDR5 | 256 GB SSD M.2 Opal2 | 16GB DDR4 (MAX 32GB)
  • 15.6" FHD (1920x1080) IPS | Backlit Keys | FingerPrint Reader

Dell XPS 15

Dell XPS 15 - Best Laptop for Video Editing

The Dell XPS 15 has a speedy i7-6700HQ processor with 16GB of RAM that is more than adequate for running video editing programs.

Rendering speeds are decreased with the addition of a Nvidia GTX 960M graphics card, which helps to take the load off the CPU.
A respectable 256GB SSD is included for fast boot speeds and application responsiveness.

Helpful for seeing the finer details of your work, the XPS 15 has a 15.6” Ultra HD 4K display with a stunning 3840 x 2160 resolution that also happens to be a touchscreen.

If portability is what you’re after then you won’t be disappointed with the XPS as it weighs only 3.9 lbs and is 0.7” thick.

No products found.

Microsoft Surface Book

Microsoft Surface Book - Best Laptop for Video Editing

Like the others, the Surface Book has a speedy Intel i7 processor and comes with 16GB of RAM which should be sufficient for video editing.

It does lack a dedicated graphics card which might be a deal breaker if you are concerned with super fast rendering speeds.

A big 512GB SSD is solid for this price range and helps with boot speeds and the read/write speeds of your files.

Despite having a 13.5” screen, the Surface Book has an incredible 3000 x 2000 resolution and is also a touchscreen.

Incredibly mobile, the Surface Book weighs just 3.48 lbs and is just 1.9” thick.

No products found.

How we chose the best laptop for video editing

When we chose the best laptop for video editing, we took into account the top 5 factors that would affect video editors most critically.

  • Speed
  • Graphics Card
  • Storage
  • Display
  • Portability

We determined this final list by talking to people who are video editors, poring through hundreds of amazon reviews to get a general consensus and conducting our own research.

The most important consideration when choosing the best laptop for video editing

When you’re dealing with raw video files and trying to encode and render videos, speed is the most important consideration.

Depending on the size of the video, rendering is a process which can take hours and the last thing you want to be doing is sitting around waiting for it to finish.

By selecting a laptop with an i7 processor with multithreading technology, ensuring you have adequate RAM and a dedicated graphics card, you can cut down on rendering time immensely.

There is also two options when it comes to rendering, you can render with either the CPU or the GPU. Getting a dedicated graphics card is important because it can improve render speeds up to 6.2x.

Other considerations when choosing the best laptop for video editing

Graphics Card

Whilst a graphics card isn’t mandatory for video editing, it can speed up rendering processes tremendously.

If you’re heavily into video editing, then you should consider a graphics card that is specifically designed for it.

Nvidia’s Quadro graphics cards were tailor made for video editing and delivers up to 5x faster performance than normal graphics cards.

Storage

When you are video editing you will often have gigabytes, if not terabytes of files. You should ensure you get a laptop that has an adequate hard drive to store all of them.

Something to consider is buying larger external hard drives as they often represent better value-for-money than internal hard drives.

Display

As 4K video becomes more prevalent, 4K screens become more useful. If you often find yourself working with 4K video, you should consider a screen that is 4K ready.

As with photo editing, a screen with an IPS panel will provide better color reproduction so you can really see the finer details.

You can also consider buying an external monitor as a second screen to improve your productivity.

Portability

Let’s face it, the lighter your laptop the better. Not only does it make carrying it around easier, but lighter laptops are often thinner and ultimately look better and more stylish.

If you’re constantly moving around your house or office, then finding a laptop with great portability will be a higher priority than someone who sits at their desk all day.

The bottom line

All things considered, we had to award the title of best laptop for video editing to the Asus ZenBook Pro UX501VW.

A great processor, dedicated graphics card and stunning display all come together to make one fantastic video editing laptop.

If you’re serious about video editing, you won’t be disappointed with the Asus ZenBook Pro.

4 thoughts on “The Best Laptop for Video Editing in 2024”

  1. Hi Marcus, thank you for the review, I’ve been agonizing which laptop to purchase for a couple months! These are all on my “A” list but found the price points to be just a little high. In the case of the Mac and Surface, ridiculously high. I’m doing about an even amount of photograph retouching and editing etc with video. Given that the new Intel chip is coming out now , is it better to wait a bit longer and go that route? Not sure how much performance will be gained in the next chip version.

    Reply
    • Hey Dave,

      Have you looked at the lesser specced Mac’s and Surface’s? They might be closer to your price range!

      Intel’s new Kaby Lake chips are supposed to be more energy efficient but aren’t a huge improvement over the current generations.

      Instead of buying a laptop with the new chips which will likely be higher priced because of the new tech, i’d instead take advantage and pick up a current gen for a cheaper price 🙂

      Reply
    • Buy a second hand Asus 501 on Amazon. They give detailed descriptions of what’s wrong (often just cosmetic) and can go for up to 35% off full price. Amazon also have great refund policies.

      Reply

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