Seeking Laptop Recommendations For Video Editing On-The-Go (Around $1,000)

Hi there,
I am seeking recommendations for a laptop great for video editing. I am a YouTuber with an on-the-go lifestyle.
Budget is $1,000ish.
I need to be able to physically lock the laptop with one of those holes on the side.
I want to be able to multi-task well by having a variety of programs open at once.
Thanks for the help.

Well that is a tall request Take a look at this factory refurbished starter unit. I acquired a similar refurbished unit just a year ago and upgraded it with more RAM and SSD drives. The upgrade process is extremely simple. You could start with the unmodified unit and as you run into performance problems upgrade gradually. My laptop is now editing three camera timelines of AVCHD 1920 x 1080 with ease. I now have 24 GB of RAM and got rid of the 1 TB 5400 rpm by cloning it to a 128 GB SSD drive and adding a second very good SSD in the available port. Removing one screw gives you full access to do this. Here is a picture of the bottom of my laptop.
Edit, I just checked and it does have a Kensington security slot
You do realize that the only way to do video editing is to have the laptop AC powered.

Similar Messages

For video editing, is the new 13" MBP enough? Or should I go for 15"?

For video editing, I will be using both Final Cut Pro 7, and Adobe CS5.
Is the new 13" Macbook Pro enough? I'm asking both for the lower-end and higher-end 13". Or should I just go with the 15"?
I'm just seeking for opinions from more experienced mac users, since this is my first transfer from Windows to Mac. Also, I'm taking into consideration in the price difference among these different models.
Thank you very much

It will render much faster on the new quad cores then any other MBP ever made. This new release is really a pretty major deal in the laptop world to my thinking. If I didn't just get a new iMac, I would be probably getting one. I don't do a lot of video and I use FCE not Pro so my need isn't as great, but I do a lot of photography and with several things open at once so the power matched with sufficient ram is pretty amazing. But is it absolutely a must? I had a friend who just until this year was a film music editor and he was using Pro Tools on a G4 Power Book though he had to start working around the machine limitations at the end of the day, but it is possible. Still for the money, the new machines are a great deal at pretty much the same price as what they are replacing. I know I'm advocating here, but I'm just a user not and employee:)

My Laptop Config for video editing...is it right for me?

hello all,
greetings to all of you. this is my first post. i want to know can i edit sd video on the laptop that i have decieded to purchase? i have decieded to go for dell inspiron with following specs:
dell studio S541036IN8
Intel® Core™ i5-540M Processor (2.53GHz, 4 Thread, turbo boost up to 3.06GHz, 3M cache)
Windows 7
4GB (2GBx2) 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM (Work at 1066MHz for Intel Arrandale CPU)
320GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5470 - 1GB
i will be editing mostly sd videos, captured from my video camera by firewire. i will be working on softwares like premiere pro 2, adobe after effects cs2, 3ds max, photoshop and edius. Currently i work on my old desktop which has following config.
Intel Pentium 4 ---- 3 Ghz.
2 GB RAM
500 GB HDD.
i am ok working with my old desktop.
My question:
the laptop that i have decieded to buy is more advanced than my old desktop.
- Will i get better performance from my laptop than my old desktop?
- Will i be able to edit avi captured by firewire in Premier Pro 2 on my laptop?
- is the laptop i have selected strong enough to edit premiere pro?
kindly enlighten
regards,
thanks in advance

Will this suffice for sd video editing on laptop?
this is what i am thinking over....buying an dell i3 laptop and the following card:
SIIG FireWire 800 CardBus DV Kit
specs of the card are as follows:
Chip set: TI TSB81BA3 (PHY) and TSB82AA2 (LYNX)
OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394b Host Controller
Regulatory approval(s): FCC Class B (DoC) & CE
Port type: Two FireWire 800 (1394b) 9-pin and one 1394a (6-pin) ports
Supports IEEE P1394b and backwards compatible with 1394a-2000 and 1394-1995 standards
Fully interoperable with FireWire, iLINK™ and SB1394™ implementation of IEEE 1394 standards
Supports both Isochronous and asynchronous data transfer modes
Deluxe DV editing software and 1394a 6-pin to 4-pin DV cable included
Package Includes:
(1) FireWire 800 3-port (2b+1a) CardBus
(1) 1394a 6-pin to 4-pin DV cable (3ft)
(1) Ulead VideoStudio 7.0 SE DVD software
(1) Driver software
(1) User’s manual
Instead of going for i5 processor i wud go for i3 (by which i can save some money) and use the money to buy the above mentioned card and following firewire 800 hard disk:
The Iomega® UltraMax™ Plus Hard Drive has three USB ports and three FireWire® ports (2 FireWire 400 & 1 FireWire 800) for secure, high-capacity storage.
Specifications
Formatted HFS+
Compatible with PC and Mac®
8MB Cache Buffer or greater
Available connections (depends on model selected)
One eSATA Port
Three USB 2.0 Ports
Two 1394a (FireWire 400) Ports
One 1394b (FireWire 800) Port
Includes EMC® Retrospect® and MozyHome Online backup software
with SIIG FireWire 800 CardBus DV Kit in my laptop i can connect two firewire 800 hard drives and use it as two physical hard disk.
i just want to say is this what i am planning to do viable for sd video editing on laptop? no wonder i will have to carry all this but its ok with me.
kindly enlighten,
ur suggestions and advice will be helpful
regards
Payal

Need help choosing the best laptop or desktop for video editing.

Hi guys. I'm a videographer and am in need of upgrading my current Dell Dimension 8300 desktop to either another desktop or a laptop. My current Dell is just too slow. It takes forever to render a video.
Anyhow, what do you guys recommend for video editing? I'd like something with plenty of hard drive space, plenty of memory, and a powerful video card. There are just too many to choose from and was hoping to get some feedback.
Thank you,
Brian

You can find a fairly cheap quad core desktop with a nice video card. So if you need something that will last a while and not cost too much I would go this route.
If you want a laptop, put yourself in one of these categories: someone who needs high mobility/battery life (14 in screen or smaller), someone who needs high mobility with a big screen (15.4in), or someone who needs a powerful computer with a big screen (17-18.4 in).
Don't worry too much about laptop brands, only a handful of them actually make their own laptops, most of the big brands use the same two or three laptop manufacturers.
Get the most powerful intel processor you can afford, and put either a 9 series nvidia, or an ati radeon 4800 series in, four gb of ram, and a 7200 rpm hard disk.
After that it really comes down to price and personal style, I would stay away from the hp laptops, the brand that they use doesn't do so well making the internal components.
Here are some good picks.
1) ASUS G Series G50VT-X3 (15.4in)
2) Sager 5793 (17in)
3)ASUS N80 Series N80Vn-X5 (14.1in)
Asus actually manufactures their own laptops, and my experience with them has been spectacular. The Sager is a rebranded Clevo, which is one of the brands alienware, falcon northwest, and other high end companies use.

Which do you think; Windows 7: 32-bit / 64-bit, (plus unused RAM issues) is best for video editing?

Hi there!
Just received delivery of a Lenovo G550 with the following spec:
2.2Ghz Core 2 Duo,
4GB (DDR3 - 1066Hz) RAM,
500GB HDD
NVIDIA GeForce G210M (512MB)
Windows 7
The entire purpose for buying this laptop, was for video editing and it is the best spec I could find for my needs and budget.
So what's the problem?
1) Windows 7 is installed as 32-bit, not 64 bit. Why is this? I was given no choice in this decision.
2) Only 2.96GB of that juicey RAM is being used by Windows 7. I need as much RAM as possible for video editing.
3) Lenovo sent NO install disc. - When I eventually get a virus or my HDD fails, I have NO WAY to clean install the very product I have just purchased! (A laptop with Windows 7 OS).
Considerations:
As I understand it (please comment if there are alternative views on this); The 64-bit architecture is only useful for compatible software which has been designed to run 64-bit.
The video editing software I use is "Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD 9.0"
The suggested problems with Windows 7 run as 64-bit include:
* Possible lack of driver compatibility support.
* Possibility of 32-bit programs running SLOWER in 64-bit environment, than their native 32-bit environment.
* Higher running temperatures & processor cooling issues.
* No performance gains for all other programs running as 32-bit (email, internet browser, etc).
The suggested advantages with Windows 7 run as 64-bit could be:
* Full utilisation of the 4GB RAM. (Presently limited to 2.96GB)
* Faster rendering and video editing tasks in 64-bit environment.
Questions:
4) How can I get an install disc for Windows 7? Shouldn't this come with the computer?
5) Do you think the potential hassle and architecture conflicts are worth suffering, to get the reported performance gains of 64-bit architecture and the remaining unused RAM?
Thank you for any help and advice!

contact lenovo support line for windows 7 dvds, but make sure if they send recovery dvds instead of windows 7 dvd.
most of people are having trouble with installing windows and drivers, so companies has found as this as solution to send recovery dvd -if asked- or using hidden partition to recovery system - like one key recover - instead of.
but if you ask me, they need to send dvds.
i'll contact the mods and admins about this issue, please stay connected to this post.
anyp wrote:
the member should contact lenovo, as of recently users are entitled to request media for 32 / 64 bit if they purchased one and want the other.

Multiple Hard Drives for Video Editing with Premiere Elements 8?

I'm using Premiere Elements 8 for video editing. These are the specs I'm using:
The camcorder I used to shoot the footage is a Sony Handycam with model number HDR-SR12. It's a digital HD video camera recorder that shoots in NTSC 1920x1080i HD recording. The footage was shot with AVC HD 9M (HQ), which records in higher image quality mode. The video camera is connected to my computer through a USB cable.
The computer itself is a Windows 7 desktop computer. The CPU is an HP Pavilion Elite HPE-150f PC with Intel Core i7-860 processor. I imported the video into Premiere by selecting "File" --> "Get Media From" and then choosing the third option from the top.
My import option is NTSC/AVCHD/Full HD 1080i 30 5.1 channel, which matches the specs of the camera I shot the footage with.
Even with the patch 8.0.1 that should be preventing crashing, the program keeps crashing upon startup with one specific video project. Using the exact same video files for that project, I recreated the video, with Elements, and never ran into the problem. Both times, I had the patch installed.
At the moment, I am using only the single internal hard drive for everything (software, OS, video editing, etc.). It is 1 TB in size. However, I am informed that one hard drive is not recommended for video editing, and that I need at least two hard drives, one for OS and one specifically for video editing. I was also informed of FireWire 800 and eSata; however, it does not appear that my computer supports eSata.
Can this problem be resolved if I have an external hard drive and connect it to my computer with FireWire 800 (which the computer supports)? If not, what can be done so this problem doesn't arise in the future?
Thanks for the help.

staring-into-space wrote: My import option is NTSC/AVCHD/Full HD 1080i 30 5.1 channel, which matches the specs of the camera I shot the footage with.
When you import the footage is there a red line across the whole of the timeline?
staring-into-space wrote:
I recreated the video, with Elements, and never ran into the problem.
As you have the recreated project working fine I'd be inclined to put this down as a one-off glitch. If it happens again on a different project then it may be more worrying. You may want to consider using save-as to create multiple versions of your project (note this does NOT duplicate the source clips - so you won't be eating up much extra disk space). You could for example use save-as to create a daily version - ProjectName-Mon, ProjectName-Tue etc....
Cheers,
Neale
Insanity is hereditary, you get it from your children

Which Macbook Pro for Video Editing

I'd like to buy a macbook pro for video editing on the go and with all the available features, I can't tell which is best.
I use final cut pro 7 and all footage is HD.
RAM?
7200rpm vs. 5400 ?
DUAL CORE vs. QUAD
INTEL GRAPHICS?
RETINA?
It's all very confusing, especially since I haven't looked into buying another mac since I purchased an iMac in '07 (which still rocks).

- Get either a 7200 or SSD internal drive
*You'll need an external hard drive that runs at least 7200rpm for your media (scratch disk)
- If you can affor it, go with a Quad Core
- For graphics, I believe all the new MacBook Pros come with Intel HD Graphics 4000
- As for CPU speed and RAM, they really go hand in hand with video editing.
- CPU speed doesn't help if you do not have sufficient RAM cover all of needed video/audio/effect editing and rendering processes.
- Slower CPU with more RAM means that procesess get covered by the additonal RAM, but will take longer to render and preview during editing.
*So when choosing CPU and RAM, do not sacrifice one for the other.
You can always upgrade RAM later if you can't afford it now.
- Retina? Doesn't make much of a difference for you. You're not editing 4k video so chose what you like better, or can afford.
Here a post that goes over some basics

Advice on Pc build for video editing with Premier Pro

I have recently managed to save up £1500 for a new PC for video editing. The following are the specs I am considering for the build:
Intel Core i7 3770K,1155, Ivy Bridge, Quad Core, 3.5GHz, 5 GT/s DMI, 650MHz GPU, 8MB Smart Cache, 35x Ratio, 77W,Retail
256GB Samsung 840 Pro Series Basic, 2.5" SSD 7mm 3-core MDX, 21nm Toggle NAND, Read 540MB/s, Write 520MB/s
850W Corsair Professional Series Gold 850AX, Modular, 90%Eff', 80 PLUS Gold, SLI/CrossFire, EPS 12V, Quiet Fan, ATX, PSU
16GB (2x8GB) Corsair DDR3 Vengeance Jet Black, PC3-17066 (2133), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 10-11-11-31, XMP, 1.5V
2TB WD WD2002FAEX Caviar Black, SATA 6Gb/s, 7200rpm, 64MB Cache OEM
Pioneer BDR-207EBK Blu-ray Writer Quad Layer 12x BD-R, x8 DVD±DL x16 DVD±R Up to 128GB Retail
Antec 902 Nine Hundred Two V3 Mid Tower ATX Case, USB3, With Side Window w/o PSU
Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D PCI-E Soundcard 5.1Ch THX/Dolby Optical In/Out OEM
Asus P8Z77-V, Intel Z77, S 1155, DDR3, SATA III - 6Gb/s, SATA RAID, PCIe 3.0 (x16), DisplayPort/ DVI-D/ HDMI, ATX
2GB EVGA GTX 670, 28nm, PCIe 3.0 (x16), 6008MHz GDDR5, GPU 915MHz, Boost 980MHz, Cores 1344 +Free to Play Bundle
Edimax EW-7722PnD N600 Wireless Dual-Band PCI Express Adapter Dual 300N
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit SP1, Operating System, Single, - OEM
I have been advised to get a full size case rather than a midi. Any other advice would be greatly appreciated!

The advice to get a bigger case is correct. That GTX 670 will be a very tight squeeze inside that Antec 902 case due to the way the interior of that case itself was designed: The hard drives will interfere with the motherboard's expansion slots, restricting the length of those cards that will fit to only 9.5 inches long. Unfortunately, although a reference GTX 670 is about 9 inches long, higher-end GPUs will not fit if the PCI-e x16 slot is inline with an installed hard drive.
Speaking of the GTX 670, it is clearly overkill on any system that's equipped with only 16GB of RAM total. Plus, you will need a third-party CPU cooler in order to perform any overckocking whatsoever of the CPU. Unfortunately, the Corsair Vengeance heat spreaders are extremely tall (over 50mm high!) that they will prevent proper installation of any decent tower-style CPU air cooler, especially if all four DIMM slots on the motherboard are being used. You will need 32GB of RAM plus at least a good third-party CPU air cooler such as a Cooler master Hyper 212 EVO (and overclock the CPU to over 4.0GHz) in order for that system to utilize anywhere near the performance capability of the GTX 670.
Third, you do not need that particular Sound Blaster card at all: Its sound quality is surprisingly poor for a such a pricey discrete add-on sound card (or put it this way, it does not sound anywhere close to sufficiently better than on-motherboard audio to justify its cost).

I would like to build a desk top computer for video editing, business management and online learning and also have a small compatible laptop or tablet or ipad to take to university, Can someone please advise me of the best set up for this?

I would like to build a desktop computer for video editing, business management and online learning and also have a small laptop, tablet or ipad to take to university, Can someone please advise me of the best set up for this?

Let's see if I understand this... You're asking for advice on building a desktop computer, in the Apple developer's forum? Why not just buy a Mac?

Suitable laptop for video editing

Hello,
for months now I am looking for a suitable laptop for video editing of my footage captured by Canon 60D (and also GoPro). Since it is in a HD quality and h.264 format it puts a great strain on the CPU. I already had to return an ASUS U30J and Dell XPS14 both with i7 processors because of their terribly slow performance :(. So now, I really want to be 100% sure that the laptop will be able to smoothly handle my footage. I am using Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 for video editing and I do need a laptop (preferably 15'') as I travel all the time.
Here are the specifications of the Force 16F2 laptop built on MSI 16F2 (from the xoticpc.com), which I have chosen so far:
FORCE 16F2 / MSI 16F2
- 15.6” FHD 16:9 LED Backlit Wide screen (1920x1080) Super Clear Glare Type Screen
- 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-2720QM, 2.2-3.3GHz, (32nm, 6MB L3 cache)
- IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU (Cools better than all Compounds)
- nVidia GeForce GTX 560M 1,536MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11
- 12,288MB (12GB) DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (2x4GB 2x2GB)-
- Standard Finish
- - 500GB (w/ 4GB SSD Memory) Seagate XT 7200RPM NCQ Hybrid 32MB Cache (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s)- or 750GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Buffer (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s)--
- 750GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Buffer (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s)-
- Raid 0 Stripe Enabled (Requires 2 or 3 Hard Drives. Combines Hard Drives for performance)
- 500GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Buffer (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s) in ODD Bay
- 3 Year Complete Care Warranty - 3 Year Parts with Ground Shipping, 24/7 Telephone Tech Support & Lifetime Labor Warranty
I would like to ask you what do you think about this configuration regarding my requirements? Will this system be powerful enough to handle the h.264 footage? I would like to use both the SLR camera and the laptop as long as possible and don't have to change the laptop in one year time or so. That's why I would like the system to be powerful enough to withstand even future demands of the software, etc.
I was also not sure about the 500GB (w/ 4GB SSD Memory) Seagate XT 7200RPM NCQ Hybrid 32MB Cache (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s. Do you think it is a smart choice? Is the 4GB SSD memory of any use? Or should I rather go with the 750GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Buffer (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s)?
I don't have any previous experience with the raid system, do you think that the Raid 0 Stripe Enabled (Requires 2 or 3 Hard Drives. Combines Hard Drives for performance) is the right choice for smooth video editing? I know that I have to use at least 2 hard drives so that's why I'd rather order 3 HDD to get the best performance..
This configuration is worth 1800USD, I would obviously like to save some money as I will need to pay also the shipping costs, tax and duty (I currently live in New Delhi)... So if you think that something from the system might be downgraded and I would still get good video editing results, please let me know.
Do you think that the 3 Year Complete Care Warranty - 3 Year Parts with Ground Shipping, 24/7 Telephone Tech Support & Lifetime Labor Warranty is of any use when I am not from the US? Should I rather go with the 1 Year warranty?
I would very much appreciate any feedback from you!
Misha

Frederick, I will firstly answer your questions, I am in no way a pro video editor, my projects are up to 10MB of size although I wasn't yet able to edit the h.264 footage properly ... I mostly do events and quite simple projects, effects, two to three timelines... I use only h.264, my older projects are in DV quality thought. I usually have to rush to finish a project since I have limited time during the travels.. I usually work at one, maximum two projects at the same time
Now, I have been trying to figure out what would be the best configuration for me and ended up with these two options, which are touching (maybe even overflowing) my budget... Both are worth around USD2100 (without shipping, etc.). Either I will be going for one SSD disk for the OS or for maximum CPU and RAM. Which configuration would you recommend me? Do you think that the second configuration is an overkill when taken into account the size and scope of my projects?
With SSD disk:
FORCE 16F2 / MSI 16F2
- 15.6” FHD 16:9 LED Backlit Wide screen (1920x1080) Super Clear Matte Type Screen
- 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-2720QM, 2.2-3.3GHz, (32nm, 6MB L3 cache)
- IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU (Cools better than all Compounds)
- nVidia GeForce GTX 560M 1,536MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11
- 10,240MB (10GB) DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (1x4GB 3x2GB)
- Standard Finish
- - 120GB OCZ Vertex 3 MAX IOPS Sandforce Solid State Drive (Up to Sequential Read 550MB/s - Write 500MB/s SSD Serial-ATA III)
- - 750GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Buffer (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s)-
- HDD Raid Settings - OFF
- 320GB 7200RPM WD or Seagate (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s) in ODD Bay
- 3 Year Complete Care Warranty - 3 Year Parts with Ground Shipping, 24/7 Telephone Tech Support & Lifetime Labor Warranty
With better CPU and RAM:
FORCE 16F2 / MSI 16F2
- 15.6” FHD 16:9 LED Backlit Wide screen (1920x1080) Super Clear Matte Type Screen
- 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-2820QM, 2.3-3.4GHz, (32nm, 8MB L3 cache)
- IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU (Cools better than all Compounds)
- nVidia GeForce GTX 560M 1,536MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11
- 16,384MB (16GB) DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (4x4GB)-SPECIAL
- Standard Finish
- - 750GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Buffer (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s)-
- - 750GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Buffer (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s)-
- HDD Raid Settings - OFF
- 320GB 7200RPM WD or Seagate (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s) in ODD Bay
- Stock OEM Thermal Compound ( IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU Provided FREE with Processor Upgrade!)
- Internal 7-in-1 Card Reader (MS/MS Pro/MS Duo/MS Pro Duo/SD/Mini-SD/MMC/RS)
- Internal Bluetooth + EDR
- Built-in 802.11 Wireless B/G/N - Stock Wireless Card
- Integrated Digital Video Camera
- Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio - Included
- Smart Li-ion Battery (9-Cell)
- 3 Year Complete Care Warranty - 3 Year Parts with Ground Shipping, 24/7 Telephone Tech Support & Lifetime Labor Warranty
Frederick, regarding the RAM I checked the 8GB option and it comes in 2GBx4 so I won't be able to save those slots. Plus I have been searching for prices of the RAM, HDD and SSD in the US and they don't seem to be that great for me to even consider them... I would simply have to pay more and would end up with unused parts from the basic configuration. I think that the Xoticpc have quite reasonable prices of the upgrades they offer... Plus I can count on higher prices of the components here in India so all in all I think that it would cost me too much energy and save me minimum bucks... That's why I thought I might go for the 16GB RAM straight away if it isn't an overkill for me. As I said before, I would love to save money (after all I am a woman who controls the common budget) so please let me know, if I am just wasting money for high end technology which I won't be able to use . I rather think that in the future once I will finally be able to make some money when I will have a machine to work on, I might upgrade to better hard drives (SSD possibly). But right now I need a laptop on which I would be able to smoothly edit the HD h.264 footage.
Thank you very much for your help!

Laptop for video editing

Hello People
I am seeking for medium price, new laptop with firewire , and efficient in compression of video material. I can spend 600$ for it .

krakers wrote:
Hello People
I am seeking for medium price, new laptop with firewire , and efficient in compression of video material. I can spend 600$ for it .
Look for a laptop with the fastest CPU and largest amount of hard drive space you can find. Also, if you're editing HD video, look for one that has a 1920x1080 display - but you won't likely find that at a $600 price point. However since you mention Firewire I assume you're still editing standard definition MiniDV video, which fortunately isn't too CPU-intensive to work with. (I guess some HDV cameras combine high-def and Firewire, but these are fairly rare - AVCHD is far more common.)
Graphics chipset doesn't matter much for video editing. These days, the only thing differentiating GPUs is 3D rendering performance. For 2D work, every chipset out there is more than sufficient.
*disclaimer* I am not now, nor have I ever been, an employee of Best Buy, Geek Squad, nor of any of their affiliate, parent, or subsidiary companies.

Which of these would be the best iMac for video editing?

Hello, pretty simple question, which of these 2 iMac configurations would be best suited for video editing? I want to use Final Cut Pro X and Adobe After Effects (not cutting edge effects just simple stuff).
Option 1 - 21.5 inch
3.1GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz
16GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2X8GB
1TB Fusion Drive
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 1GB GDDR5
Option 2 - 27 inch
3.4GHz Quad-core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 3.8GHz
8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2X4GB
1TB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 775M 2GB GDDR5
For some reason Apple don't offer more than 1GB of dedicated video ram in anything but the maxed out 27inch. Personally, I’m not fussed about the bigger screen and I would say that having the faster processor, double the ram and a fusion drive would be more beneficial than the extra gig in the video card but I’m not 100% sure, what do you guys think?
Thanks.

If you do a significant amount of video editing the larger display is nice but not absolutely necessary. I’d also recommend an SSD or Fusion drive rather than the stock mechanical drive which really is dog slow. If you choose an SSD 8GB will be plenty though 16GB is better if you go with the smaller model.

What is the best Apple notebook for video editing and pro music creation?

What is the best Apple notebook for video editing and pro music creation?
I know I could opt for the most expensive and probably get what I want that way, but I´m not made of money, so what are your suggestions for minimum criteria and which would you recommend?

MacBooks Pro are great Macs with a good hardware, so all of them will work for the use you want, but I think that you want the biggest display possible because of your uses. In this case, it has to be a 15-inch non-Retina MacBook Pro, with the settings you want. Note that, after buying the Mac, you can upgrade the HDD and memory without voiding the warranty, so you are free to install as much memory and the HDD size you want after buying it. It's my opinion, but you are free to do whatever you think it's better

Powerful laptop for video editing?

Sometimes people ask what laptop to buy for video editing. My laptop has the following specification.
1 gigabyte graphics memory (NVIDIA GeForce GT 620M)
Intel core i7 3632qm CPU (quad core, 2.2 GHz with maximum 3.2 GHz).
5400 RPM hard drive in two partions C: and D:
6 gigabytes with RAM
I use Windows 8.1, with Windows settings for maximum performance.
I have spent more than 200 hours editing a project which is about 110 minutes long.
RAM, graphics card respectively CPU have been no limitation. But my hard drive must often work hard.
Partition C: became full with media cache files since my project is so big. So in the future I will put the media cache files on partition D: For this project I solved the problem by deleting those media cache files which were no longer needed.
Alright, I have been forced to split up my long project into smaller pieces. So I have projects which each contains a few hours with raw material, out of which there is about 10 minutes on the timeline. For each project I export a video file. These files I import into another project where I join them into one video file which is 110 minutes long.
I find it inconvenient when PE 12 needs more than one minute to load a particular project. This is the reason why I split up my long project into smaller pieces.
To avoid confusion, I never use video transitions. And I only use video effects when I am forced to correct poor footage. So in each project there is at most about a minute of footage to be rendered. I mean, even though I don't render, PE 12 works well.
I hope this will help those who need to buy a laptop for editing.

Thanks for the comments.
Sorry for this delay in answering. I didn't check if there was any comment because I didn't expect any.
a.
I should had expressed myself differently.
No, I have not monitored CPU usage because it is the hard drive which limits how fast my laptop works.
There is one advantage with having a track for video expanded rather than collapsed. One can see what one has already put on the timeline without moving the cursor. If one waits until the computer has generated pictures on the timeline.
But I realized that with my laptop one has to wait uncomfortably long for those pictures to be created. So it is faster to move the cursor to that position where I have guessed that I have already put the footage I want to find.
b.
I have not tested multiple monitors. Neither would I bother if CPU usage increased because it is the hard drive, not the CPU, which limits how fast my laptop works.
c.
I have not used Premiere CC so I have not checked the hardware requirements.
Unless I have misunderstood something, Premiere CC has somewhat higher hardware requirements than Premiere Elements. Understandable since professional camcorders use higher bit rate (more information per second) than cheaper camcorders.
So presumably I would be forced to split up my projects in even smaller parts to make everything manageable. On the other hand, using footage which is intra frame compressed rather than inter frame compressed would mean that the hardware needs to work less hard, so perhaps it would be possible to edit long projects.
At the same time, some professional programs can work with proxy files, and in that case the high bit rate for professional footage would be no problem.
Besides, unless something is wrong with my memory, Edius has somewhat lower hardware requirements than Premiere CC, so possibly that program would be more relevant for usage on my laptop.
Higher bitrate means that there is room for fewer hours with raw material on my single hard drive. So with 100 Mbps I would in practice be limited to creating movies which are at most about 40 minutes long.
One advantage with professional video editing software is that it can edit video with higher resolution than 1920*1080. But I doubt that would work on my laptop.
Thanks for your congratulations.
Yes it works. And after posting in another forum in my native language, another film maker commented that he had edited on a laptop with even less powerful CPU. For him it was also the speed of the hard drive which limited how fast his laptop worked.

Recommend me a External HD for Video editing + backing up.

I just purchased a 1 TB seagate freeagent pro and the thing will not mount, disk utility does not see it and it's a bit annoying.
1. Can you guys recommend me a good 1tb external HD with firewire 800 for under $250? I've only only seen the firewire 400 at this price.
2. Can I use the same drive I use for video editing for Time Machine as well? Sorry for the noob question but I'm a noob.
Thanks.

Hello again Dave
I forgot to address your second question re Time Machine.
Time machine sets up a folder on your external drive called Backups.backupdb. This is where all the backups that Time Machine makes are stored. On one of my OWC Mercury drives I have a partition the same size as my internal drive set up for this folder and that partition is what Time Machine uses. The rest of that drive is used for a bootable backup of my internal drive which was made using SuperDuper. So I have two distinct partitions, one of which is exclusively for TM. I've seen posts elsewhere on these forums that state that as long as you don't disturb the Backups.backupdb folder on your external drive you can put other things on it, such as your video editing files, without making separate partitions. That's assuming that your drive has plenty of room available for both. I personally think it's safer to have separate partitions for these purposes.
Rick

Seeking Laptop Recommendations For Video Editing On-The-Go (Around $1,000)

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for