Good compatible laptop to edit

Video and Photo Editing
1

Hi, i am new to the world of droning, however so far i am really enjoying it, can i please ask for some advice on what lap top would you suggest to do editing on (pics+vids) as i have found out since buying my drone (DJI mini 4 pro) my computer being 10 year old and operating windows 7 is not up to the job, i can however do a bit of editing on my iphone and ipad, but i feel that there is more potential to be had if i had a better set up.
Any help would the greatly appreciated.

Regards
Simon

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2

Hi @Novice1 , it looks as though you’re quite new here :wave:t2:

Why not nip over to the Introductions page, and say hello properly and tell us a bit about yourself. :+1:t2:

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3

Thanks, i will nip over now thanks. :+1:

4

Try the search function top right

https://greyarro.ws/search?q=laptop

The first question would be how much do you want to spend :moneybag:

5

Cheers for the reply Sparkyws,

Cost wise, i would like to spend as little as possible but get great results, my use is just recreational but would like to see how good the clarity is on screen, and then by getting pics developed and being able to see the detail.

I really am not sure of what prices start from for what i want, however i can imagine for the top end stuff you could spend grands, as a starting point for me i would like to be in the range of (prepare not to laugh) ÂŁ500-ÂŁ1000

Any helpfull advice will be much appreciated.

Regards
Simon

6

Hi Simon,

I am using a 4 year old Dell laptop, which originally had 8GB of RAM, but now has 24GB of RAM and is only just coping with video editing using DaVinci Resolve(free version), so do your best to get something with as much RAM as possible, or that you can easily and relatively cheaply upgrade the RAM. I am not a computer expert, so will leave everyone else to comment, some very knowledgeable folks in here and lots of helpful ones too :slight_smile:

7

Imagine asking “A good car to drive … for £60k” … the options are pretty endless. How big’s the family? Do you drive off-road? SUV or sports car? Short journeys or long? Track days? Sound of a loud gurgling V8, or EV? etc, etc.

Same with a laptop for editing.

Key things

  • As fast a CPU as you can afford, along with
  • As much RAM as you can afford, not overlooking
  • A really excellent GPU.

After that - it’s all rather subjective.

8

Thankyou :+1:

9

Much appreciated :+1:

10

Hi OzoneVibe,

Can you advise if this seems up to the job, obviously it would be my decision and responsibility if i bought it though. The chap i spoke to seemed genuine and has said this would work well, it will come with windows 11 pro.

Regards
Simon

11

As with my car analogy - they will all get you from A to B, and if “the chap you spoke to” was answering with that in mind, then “would work well” is probably accurate.

The level of individual requirement would either render that correct or not.

Eg -

  • are you going to be processing 1080p, 4k, 8k video?
  • which software are you going to use? (they can have dramatically different minimum specs)
  • the extent to which you want to use features found in editing software can dramatically increase the demands on CPU/GPU.
  • will you be starting simple but want to go on to more demanding software? … so do you need to future-proof? … and for how long?

Some of these you may not really know yourself - which makes it impossible to advise.

However …

You mentioned …

… and I included lots of …

… so I’d suggest that something that’s only £470 isn’t really going to cut it.

Will it cut and edit some 2k clips, let you perform some simple colour tweaking, add some transitions, titles and music … quite probably.

BUT …

  • It’s a 6th gen Intel CPU … they are now at 14th gen … so that would seriously worry me.
  • Quick Googling tells me the Nvidia Quadro M2000M GPU was released in 2015. For me, that’s scary! Very little 4k processing was done back then … even though it’s supporting a 4k screen. (“Processing” video needs a lot more than “displaying” 4k video.)

I, and quite a few others, use Davinci Resolve (it’s a hungry beast, but epically capable … other less demanding software is available) and I’d doubt it would perform at all well, even if it would actually opened up.

Is this whole thing a minefield - yes.
And will the eventual purchase be a compromise due to cost and no bottomless pockets … more than likely.

My current laptop-lust costs >£4k. Would it perform a shit-load better than my 6 year old, pretty-high-spec-at-the-time laptop? Hell yes! … Could I still throw things at it that would cause it to start to struggle, and me start to moan? More than likely. :laughing:

So - whilst I(/we) can give pointers and highlight possible shortcomings, as above … it’s very difficult for us (or “the chap you spoke to”) to give accurate and flawless advice.

12

Welcome, does it have to be a lappy?
if I had 1k to spend I’d get a desktop PC over a laptop 100%.
example for ÂŁ600 you can get an i5 with at least an RTX 3080 graphics card that would make light work of editing in 4k, many up sides to having a desktop over lappy but the only benefit with having a lappy is the mobility.

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13

I’d agree.

“Bang for bucks” is easily 2x going the desktop route, with the added benefit that you can upgrade components, as/when you have the need … particularly to a newer version/spec GPU as they evolve.

The options are endless … unlike the money. :wink:

14

Thanks for the advice on the P50, they have now got this on offer which seems to be a bit better yet still not breaking the bank, reason for laptop is to be able to edit if out and about.
I will enquire about a desktop to see what the difference in costs and spec will be.
Thanks again

Regards
Simon

15

Thanks Chip,

That has given me more to think about now, maybe a desktop could be the way forward, is the i5 as good as the i7 when it comes to editing 4k or does it not matter because of the graphics card?

Thanks again

Regards
Simon

16

You need to take the generation into account, too.

i5 12th gen is better than i7 6th gen … just to make the minefield less negotiable.

17

no, but it’s more than capable.
I have i7-3770 processor, with an RTX 2060 super & 16 gig of ram
it’s not the best & may be considered old now but I can edit 4k easily & bought it pre owned 6 years ago for only £700
but i5 is fine, if you’re on FB & are willing to buy pre owned (I would) then send us your general location & we’ll scan the market place for a decent 1 in your price range pal.

info on i5 V i7 here

18

Another important factor is the software you are going to use.

Some make seriously good use of the GPU power, other’s less so, or not at all.

19

great point I know for a fact AMD processors are better at VFX editing in after effects than Intel, but intel is better for gaming obvs, saying that if £ is a factor here I doubt he’ll be paying the stupid adobe subscription fee’s!

20

I HATE to say this … but, whilst not a cheap option, going Mac is a lot easier for video editing.

Even their now 2 to 3 year old M1 chips take a lot of beating.

Now I feel ill … :rofl:

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