TechJunkie Expert Recommendations
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Finding the perfect laptop is no easy task. In fact, most would agree it can be a downright impossible task regardless of the amount of money you’re willing to spend. Whether you’re interested in the latest Chromebook or the latest MacBook Pro, there are simply too many variables to consider and too many potential tasks that your new laptop needs to be able to carry out. However, if you work primarily in a creative field, your life can be made at least a bit easier. Thanks to increasingly-powerful processors and memory allocations, it’s now possible to find a laptop that can carry out a wide range of specific creative tasks at the pro level. Before, these types of workloads were reserved for desktop computers that would break the bank. There are even fewer laptops to choose from for those who happen to work in the world of video editing (or anything that has to do with high-level graphics rendering), but this doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. This kind of narrowing down can make it much easier to pick a machine that allows you to get your work done on the go without any delays. Most high-end laptops that fall under this category offer a wide range of customizations that will enable you to fine-tune your new computer to fit your creative needs and budget. We know going through the specs of various laptops can get confusing, but we’re here today to let you know which are the best laptops for video editing in 2022.
The Dell XPS 15 might not be the cheapest laptop out there, but its specs guarantee that it will be a worthwhile investment for your video editing career. The laptop features a 15.6-inch 3.5K OLED InfinityEdge touch display with a 500-nit peak brightness and 60Hz refresh rate. All your programs will run smoothly because of its powerful 12th Generation Intel Core i7-12700H processor. You can also expect spectacular visuals from your display because of its NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card. The laptop comes with 16GB DDR5 memory and 512GB of SSD storage. Dell offers customers the option to customize the components of their laptop, so you can get up to 64GB RAM or 2TB SSD storage. The Dell XPS 15 has a backlit keyboard, and it comes with a fingerprint reader that allows users to quickly and conveniently log in. You can use the laptop for Zoom calls because of its built-in camera, but its 720p resolution and 30 fps frame rate might not be enough for some. The laptop has an SD card slot, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port, two Thunderbolt 4 (USB Type-C ports, and one 3.5mm headphone/microphone combo jack. You can expect almost 9 hours of usage per charge on this laptop, and it will take about 2 to 2.5 hours to get the battery back to full capacity. The Dell XPS 15 runs on Windows 11 Home and comes with a year’s worth of premium support.
If you prefer to edit videos on a laptop running on macOS, you can opt for the MacBook Pro 16-inch (2021). You will quickly love viewing your footage on the laptop’s 16.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display. It has a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and 1,600-nit peak brightness. The display produces one billion colors and has True Tone technology. Thanks to its ProMotion technology, you can expect a refresh rate of up to 120Hz. This means that all your content will look smooth and detailed with fantastic motion handling. Having a high refresh rate also makes your laptop great for playing games. The Apple M1 Pro chip powers the MacBook Pro 16-inch, and it comes with 16GB RAM, which is configurable up to 32GB. The base model has a 512GB SSD, but if this isn’t enough, you can spend extra cash for a 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, or 8TB variant. The laptop’s connectivity has improved compared to its predecessor because aside from three Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack, you now get an HDMI port and SDXC card slot. Apple took out the touch bar from this laptop, but you still get the comfortable backlit magic keyboard with Touch ID and a Force Touch trackpad. The laptop supports Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 wireless technology. Hopping on conference calls will be better with this laptop because of its 1080p FaceTime HD camera with an advanced image signal processor. When editing on this laptop, you might not need a Bluetooth speaker because you get a superb audio experience from its high-fidelity six-speaker sound system with force-canceling woofers. The speakers support wide stereo sound, spatial audio, and Dolby Atmos. The MacBook Pro 16-inch uses a 100-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery, and you can expect up to 14 hours of web browsing per charge. Upon purchase, customers will receive a USB-C to MagSafe 3 cable and 140W USB-C power adapter.
For those who have the money to buy the best of the best, you won’t be disappointed with the Razer Blade 15. This is a gaming laptop, but that just means that it has the necessary power and features that will guarantee a smooth video editing experience. The laptop is perfect for editors who regularly edit 4K content because it has a 15.6-inch 4K OLED touch display with a 60Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time, wide color gamut, and HDR 400 True Black. It features an 8-Core 10th Gen Intel Core i7-10875H processor that promises a maximum CPU speed of 5.1 GHz. You will experience spectacular visuals with the laptop because of its NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super GPU with Max-Q Design. The laptop has 16GB RAM, and you’ll have enough space for all your footage because of its 1TB SSD. We know editing for hours can use up a ton of power from your laptop, but the Razer Blade 15 comes with a Vapor Chamber that does a fantastic job with its heat management. Users won’t only be impressed with the laptop’s internal components because its CNC aluminum unibody frame makes it look aesthetically pleasing too. The laptop has an ultra-slim design that makes it easy to carry around. Its keyboard is spacious and comfortable, and it comes with per-key RGB lighting that you can easily customize. On the sides of the laptop, you will find three USB 3.2 Gen 2, an SD card reader, an HDMI port, a Thunderbolt 3 port, a USB-C port, and an audio jack.
The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G15 is another gaming laptop with top-notch specs suitable for video editors. The laptop has a stunning 15.6-inch 2K Quad HD IPS display with a refresh rate of 165Hz. Its AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS processor packs a punch because it has a maximum speed of 4.6 GHz. You can rest assured that you can finish rendering your projects in a speedy manner. The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G15 features an NVIDIA RTX 3060 6GB GDDR6 GPU, which will ensure that all your content will look smooth, detailed, and vibrant. The base model of the laptop comes with 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD, but you can choose variants with up to 40GB RAM and 8TB of SSD storage. Users also have the option to pick if they want the laptop to get delivered with Windows 10 Home, Windows 10 Pro, Windows 11 Home, or Windows 11 Pro pre-installed. The laptop doesn’t come with a webcam, so it isn’t the best option if you have to take Zoom calls regularly. You can expect a magnificent sound experience with this laptop because of its 6-speaker system with dual force-canceling woofers and Dolby Atmos technology. Users can get up to almost 9 hours of usage because of the laptop’s 4-Cell 90 WHr battery, and its fast-charging technology can get you up to 50% in only 30 minutes. The laptop has two USB 3.2 Type-C Gen2 ports, one HDMI port, a microSD card reader, and a headphone/mic combo jack.
The HP OMEN 15 would be an excellent choice for those looking for a video editing laptop without a price tag that’s too crazy. You can expect to spend around $1,400 for the model with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD storage. For an extra $50, you can upgrade to the variant with 1TB SSD storage. The laptop’s 15.6-inch QHD display ensures that you enjoy watching your high-quality content as you edit. You can expect the laptop to have superb motion handling because of its 165Hz refresh rate. Inside the laptop, an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H 8 Core with a maximum CPU speed of 4.4 GHz is responsible for making all your programs have a snappy performance. All the details and colors of whatever flashes on your screen will look realistic and dynamic because of the laptop’s NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 graphics card. The ports you can find on the laptop are an HDMI 2.1 port, one mini DisplayPort, three SuperSpeed USB Type-A ports, one SuperSpeed USB Type-C port, and a headphone/microphone combo jack. The laptop can last about 8 hours on a single charge in terms of battery life. The HP OMEN 15 comes with an HP Wide Vision 720p HD camera, and all your friends and family will hear you clearly during video calls because of its integrated dual array digital microphones. When you want to play music out loud, you will love the quality you get from the laptop’s Bang & Olufsen speakers with HP Audio Boost and DTS:X Ultra support.
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