Laptop for video editing - recommendations?

[Splinterdog]

I'm looking for a laptop for my stepson who works in video editing with Adobe Premiere, Adobe After Effects and DaVinci Resolve.
From what I can gather, the CPU does most of the work, with GPU acceleration helping significantly. But would Intel HD integrated do the job?
Is 8GB RAM enough or should I look at 16GB?
There are more Intel laptops that AMD where I am, with both i7 8750H (6/12) or i5 9300H (4/8) being available. Lenovo has several, paired with an Nvidia GTX1050 for example.
In fact, I recently acquired a Lenovo for a client who works in CAD and she's delighted with it. (the less expensive one in the link)
SSD obviously, or NVMe if it's not too expensive. I don't think storage size is such an issue because he already has a couple of external hard drives anyway.
Price range is around US$1200.
Thanks for any input, people.

 

[spectatorx]

The most important question here is: does it really have to be a laptop?

 

[Splinterdog]

Yes, it does since I already built him a gaming PC for his bedroom and he needs a laptop for freelance, on-site work.
Without it, he loses work.

 

[newtekie1]

But would Intel HD integrated do the job?

Short Answer: No.
Long Answer: Technically, the Intel iGPU will work, but it will slow down the process greatly. If he wants to do anything serious, you're going to want to get a decent mid-range nVidia GPU. The minimum would probably be a 1650 or 1660.

Is 8GB RAM enough or should I look at 16GB?

Put as much RAM in it as possible. I'd say 16GB is a minimum, but even then I've seen Premiere using well over 16GB on my system so 32GB is even better.

There are more Intel laptops that AMD where I am, with both i7 8750H (6/12) or i5 9300H (4/8) being available. Lenovo has several, paired with an Nvidia GTX1050 for example.

The GTX1050 isn't officially supported by Adobe for Premiere even. It's too weak. However, you can hack Premiere to get it to work(I've done it my laptop with a GTX1050 with mixed results). Here is a list of officially supported GPUs. Not a lot of consumer AMD cards on the list. So Intel+nVidia is the way to go. And more cores/threads is better as well. The 8750H would be a better option than the 9300H.

The more expensive Lenovo that you linked to would be a good start for 1080p work. But Adobe recommend 6GB of VRAM for anything over 1080p video. So you'd need a 1660 or 1660Ti.

 

[R0H1T]

There's the upcoming 4800H(S) based Zen 2 laptops coming, I'm not sure when they'll hit retail but they're your best bet for video editing & any other multi core workload in a non furnace potable computer. And I say this with great respect for the dumpster fire i9's in Macbook pro.

 

[btarunr]

You probably need something powered by i9-9980HK, with RAM maxed out to 32 GB and maybe RTX 2070 Max-Q. Look for system integrators like Eurocom to avoid getting ripped off by big OEMs like HP/Dell.

Eurocom Crams 16TB of Solid-state Storage Into a 2.5kg Laptop

With the launch of 4 TB M.2 NVMe SSDs now being available in all Eurocom models, Eurocom has once again altered the laptop storage landscape. Eurocom uses blazing-fast Sabrent Rocket 4 TB M.2 NVMe SSDs (sized 22 mm x 80 mm), that are small enough to fully meet the size and heat requirements of...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[Splinterdog]

Since we live in Argentina, we have to acquire what's available and Zen 2 would be out of our price range, not to mention the wait.
Thanks for the great advice @newtekie1 , I had no idea about Adobe compatibility.
I've found a few quad cores with GTX1650, so I'll update here.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Maybe wait for the Ryzen 4000 series on mobile that should be available this month? So far all indications are pointing at laptops with these new CPUs being more affordable than equivalent Intel machines.
As others have said, get as much RAM as he can afford, as there's no such thing as too much RAM when you're editing video.
Other obvious things would be a fast/large SSD.

 

[Splinterdog]

Ryzen 4000 laptops won't arrive in Argentina for months (at a premium at the very least) and I need to buy it within a couple of weeks.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Ryzen 4000 laptops won't arrive in Argentina for months (at a premium at the very least) and I need to buy it within a couple of weeks.

Fair enough. Then you want an Intel CPU with H suffix, as that's their high-TDP parts that should have more compute power than their other mobile parts.

 

[Splinterdog]

I found one that may fit the bill, Asus ROG G531GT, the version with the following:
Core i7 (9th Gen) 9750H 6 core
8GB RAM upgradeable
512Gb SSD (Asus site says NVMe)
GTX 1650 4GB
15.6 60Hz screen (1080)

This also falls within the price range.

 

[TheLostSwede]

I found one that may fit the bill, Asus ROG G531GT, the version with the following:
Core i7 (9th Gen) 9750H 6 core
8GB RAM upgradeable
512Gb SSD (Asus site says NVMe)
GTX 1650 4GB
15.6 60Hz screen (1080)

This also falls within the price range.

Review here

https://laptopmedia.com/review/asus-rog-strix-g531-review-budget-gaming-laptop-swimming-in-rgb/

Personally I'm not a fan of the screen hinge and design. 11 screws to open it up. Seems to have space for a secondary 2.5" drive, so good for a cheap SSD to dump files on.
Should be ok imho, although the screen might not be very good, at least not if he does stuff that needs to colour accurate. The reviewed model has a different panel though, so maybe the 60Hz screen is better in that regard.

 

[Splinterdog]

That's one hell of a detailed review, so thanks for that @TheLostSwede !

 

[TheLostSwede]

That's one hell of a detailed review, so thanks for that @TheLostSwede !

Note that there apparently are a few mistakes, based on the comments. Still, it gives you a good look at what can be done internally with regards to upgrades if nothing else.

 

[newtekie1]

I found one that may fit the bill, Asus ROG G531GT, the version with the following:
Core i7 (9th Gen) 9750H 6 core
8GB RAM upgradeable
512Gb SSD (Asus site says NVMe)
GTX 1650 4GB
15.6 60Hz screen (1080)

This also falls within the price range.

The weak points there are going to be the RAM, which is easily and cheaply upgraded, and the GTX1650 4GB, which can't be upgraded at all. It will be fine for 1080p, but if he intends to do anything with 4k, it's going to chug.

But, honestly, doing anything with 4K in the field is going to suck. He should be taking the footage back to his main computer and editing it there, and any customer that knows anything about video editing should expect and be fine with this.

 

[Splinterdog]

The weak points there are going to be the RAM, which is easily and cheaply upgraded, and the GTX1650 4GB, which can't be upgraded at all. It will be fine for 1080p, but if he intends to do anything with 4k, it's going to chug.

But, honestly, doing anything with 4K in the field is going to suck. He should be taking the footage back to his main computer and editing it there, and any customer that knows anything about video editing should expect and be fine with this.

In the end, one has to work within one's budget and this spec is the best I can find in a country that's very difficult to deal in. We can't order from Amazon and we can't import due to the horrendous bureaucracy and import taxes. Not to mention the customs' habit of theft.
With regard to editing, he has to do it there and then, on-site. Otherwise, he doesn't get the work.
Personally, I don't like laptops for numerous reasons, but that's what he requires. Having said that, I enjoy doing the research and seeing what's available.

 

[John Naylor]

1. First off... not a single laptop vendor mentioned here actually "makes" a laptop. many competing products are made in the same factory, from the same parts by the same workers so arguing which one is better will often be an exercise in futility

The vast majority of laptops on the market are manufactured by a small handful of Taiwan-based original design manufacturers (ODM), although their production bases are located mostly in mainland China.

Major relationships include:

Quanta sells to (among others) HP, Lenovo, Apple, Acer, Dell, NEC, and Fujitsu
Compal sells to (among others) Acer, Dell, Lenovo and HP
Wistron (former manufacturing & design division of Acer) sells to Dell, Acer, Lenovo and HP
Inventec sells to HP, Dell and Lenovo;
Pegatron sells to Asus, Apple, Dell, Acer and Microsoft
Foxconn sells to Asus, Dell, HP and Apple
Flextronics (former Arima Computer Corporation notebook division) sells to HP

2. If ya look at any TPU review on this site, Intel does better on Adobe Premier than AMD.

3. Just like the best desktop is the one you built yourselt, the best laptops are the ones built to your specifications. Despite perceptions, 2D and 3D CAD works best on Intel CPUs and GTX GFX cards... Cores don't help you aat ball... and neiither do workstation type cards. However if you want to render those vector drawings, you will want to go for the cores and a workstation card. I own an engineering firm and have been building our CAD boxes for my own firm and others for over 25 years. Adobe products go hand and hand with CAD

Great resource here:

Adobe Premiere CC 2015 CC 2014 CC CS6 CS5.5 CS5 Video Cards with CUDA Mercury Playback Unlock MPE Hack David Knarr

Unlock Adobe Premiere CC 2015, CC 2014, CC, CS6, CS5.5 and CS5 to use an NVIDIA video card with CUDA acceleration. Unlock Mercury Playback MPE Hack Written by David Knarr

www.studio1productions.com

Lot of the stuff is outdated but the information holds true today

4. We have been buying laptops from Clevo distributors going on 20 years, and if ya bother to check... you will find that the old adage "laptops are way behind desktops in performance", no longer holds true ... differences are far less than one would expect from reading old forum posts... we have been doing just fine and this is how we make our living. And yes, even in gaming the numbers (Notebookcheck.com) are very close

Pos

Model

Architecture

Pixel Shaders

Vertex Shaders

Core speed

Boost / Turbo

Memory Speed

Memory Bus

Memory Type

Perf. Rating

3DMark Ice Storm GPU

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

3DMark11 P GPU

20

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (Desktop)

Turing

2304

1410

1620

14000

256

GDDR6

91.8

424385n4

126874n5

23373n5

31427.5n6

23*

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Mobile

Turing

2304

1215

1440

14000

256

GDDR6

82

425550n3

116232n13

20036.5n14

25503.5

5. If you can find a Clevo distributor in your area, that would be your best bet. I'm typing this post from a Clevo Laptop that I am still using for CAD Running AutoCAD 2021) field work ... was purchased in 2012.

TechnologyGuide

Thank you for visiting the TechnologyGuide network. Unfortunately, these forums are no longer active. We extend a heartfelt thank you to the entire community for their steadfast support—it is really you, our readers, that drove

forum.notebookreview.com

CLEVO

is a large Taiwanese computer company specializing in laptops. While the Clevo brand name is perhaps not widely known, their products are re-branded and sold by known boutique brand OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) notably Sager, VoodooPC, Falcon Northwest, Eurocom, etc.
They are also considered (by whoever knows about notebooks) to design and manufacturer the best of the best notebooks in terms of superior build quality and innovative designs.

Alienware was a Clevo distributor until Dell bought and kiled them

I find that Clevo is always cheaper than the mass market brands ... but be aware that clevo sets a basement level price under which distributrs are not allowed to **advertise** ... once you on the phone, you can try and negotiate a lower price ($50 for low cost lappie - $200 at hi end)

A 17" 9900k system w/ 2080 would start at Bout $2,600 ... with a 17" 9750H and 1660 Ti, 32 GB 2666 / 3000 about $1150 US ... drop to $15 inch and save $100

We use LPCDigital for about the last 16 years ... they do international shiping and they have a 10.0 rating at resellerratings.com Larry was a 2 person show when we 1st formed a business relation hip and all these years later, as often as note, he'll answer the phone.

FAQ - LPCDIGITAL

Credit Card and PayPal payments? We gladly accept PayPal and Credit Cards for payment. However, for security reason we won’t allow products to be shipped to an address other than your billing address unless that shipping information is registered with your credit card company. If you need to...

lpc-digital.com

STOP READING if not in the market .... but I have pasted in a sample build page for a high end lappie to give ya an idea of the options ...Most options are available (within common sense limits) on entore product line.

9th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-9900K Processor (3.70GHz Base / 4.60GHz Max), 6 Core, 9MB Smart Cache
Intel® Z370 Express Chipset

17.3" Full HD 144Hz Wide View Angle 72% NTSC Matte with G-SYNC Technology ... or
or 17.3" 4K QFHD (3840x2860) 99.5% of Adobe RGB color Matte with G-Sync Technolog

Guaranteed no dead or partially-lit pixels for first 30 days of purchasing ... or
Add Screen Calibration or add 90 days No Dead Pixel Guarantee and Screen Calibration

NVIDIA® GeForce™ RTX™ 2060 GPU with 6GB GDDR6 ... or
NVIDIA® GeForce™ RTX™ 2070 GPU with 8GB GDDR6 ... or
NVIDIA® GeForce™ RTX™ 2080 GPU with 8GB GDDR6

16GB DDR4 2400MHz (PC4 19200) (1 x 16GB) ... or
16GB DDR4 SDRAM 3000MHz (PC4 24000) - 1 X 16GB ... or
32GB Dual Channel DDR4 2400MHz (PC4 19200) (2 x 16GB) ... or
32GB Dual Channel DDR4 3000MHz (PC4 24000) - 2 X 16GB ... or
64GB Dual Channel DDR4 2400MHz (PC4 19200) (4 x 16GB) ... or
64GB Dual Channel DDR4 3000MHz (PC4 24000) - 4 X 16GB

No OS - Drivers & Utility Software Only ... or
Windows® 10 Home 64-Bit Edition Preinstalled, (without Recovery Media) ... or
Windows® 10 Home 64-Bit Edition Preinstalled, (with 64-Bit USB Recovery Media) ... or
Windows® 10 Pro 64-Bit Edition Preinstalled, (without Recovery Media) ... or
Windows® 10 Pro 64-Bit Edition Preinstalled, (with 64-Bit USB Recovery Media)

Standard Clevo Thermal Compound ... or
IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU ... or
Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU


SSD RAID Optons
No RAID ... or
RAID-0 Storage (Data Strip - Requires 2 or more identical drives) ... or
RAID-1 Storage (Data Mirror - Requires 2 identical drives)

SSD RAID Optons
No RAID ... or
RAID-0 Storage (Data Strip - Requires 2 or more identical drives) ... or
RAID-1 Storage (Data Mirror - Requires 2 identical drives)

M.2 SSD Slot 1 Options
500GB WD® Blue SN500 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (OS DRIVE)
250GB WD® BLACK SN750 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (OS DRIVE)
500GB WD® BLACK SN750 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (OS DRIVE)
1TB WD® BLACK SN750 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (OS DRIVE)
WD® Blue™ M.2 1TB SSD SATA 6Gb/s (OS DRIVE)
WD® Blue™ M.2 2TB SSD SATA 6Gb/s (OS DRIVE)
Samsung® 860 EVO™ M.2 1TB SSD - (OS DRIVE)
Samsung® 860 EVO™ M.2 2TB SSD - (OS DRIVE)
250GB SAMSUNG® 970 EVO™ M.2 PCIe NVMe V-NAND SSD (OS DRIVE)
500GB SAMSUNG® 970 EVO™ M.2 PCIe NVMe V-NAND SSD (OS DRIVE)
1TB SAMSUNG® 970 EVO™ M.2 PCIe NVMe V-NAND SSD (OS DRIVE)
2TB SAMSUNG® 970 EVO™ M.2 PCIe NVMe V-NAND SSD (OS DRIVE)
512GB SAMSUNG® 970 PRO™ M.2 PCIe NVMe V-NAND SSD (OS DRIVE)
1TB SAMSUNG® 970 PRO™ M.2 PCIe NVMe V-NAND SSD (OS DRIVE)

M.2 SSD Slot 2 Options
None
250GB WD® Blue SN500 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD - (Slot 2)
500GB WD® Blue SN500 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (Slot 2)
250GB WD® BLACK SN750 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD- Slot 2
500GB WD® BLACK SN750 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (SLOT 2)
1TB WD® BLACK SN750 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (OS DRIVE)
WD® Blue™ M.2 1TB SSD SATA 6Gb/s - (Slot 2)
WD® Blue™ M.2 2TB SSD SATA 6Gb/s - (Slot 2)
Samsung® 860 EVO™ M.2 2TB SSD - (SLOT 2)
250GB SAMSUNG® 970 EVO™ M.2 PCIe NVMe V-NAND SSD (SLOT 2)
500GB SAMSUNG® 970 EVO™ M.2 PCIe NVMe V-NAND SSD (SLOT 2)
1TB SAMSUNG® 970 EVO™ M.2 PCIe NVMe V-NAND SSD (SLOT 2)
2TB SAMSUNG® 970 EVO™ M.2 PCIe NVMe V-NAND SSD (SLOT 2)
512GB SAMSUNG® 970 PRO™ M.2 PCIe NVMe V-NAND SSD (SLOT 2)
1TB SAMSUNG® 970 PRO™ M.2 PCIe NVMe V-NAND SSD (SLOT 2)

Primary and Secondary HD Options
None - No Hard Drive/SSD
1 TB 7200 RPM SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive
Seagate® FireCuda™ Gaming SSHD 1TB SATA 6.0Gb/s
Seagate® FireCuda™ Gaming SSHD 2TB SATA 6.0Gb/s
250GB WD® Blue 3D NAND SATA III 6Gb/s SSD
500GB WD® Blue 3D NAND SATA III 6Gb/s SSD
1TB WD® Blue 3D NAND SATA III 6Gb/s SSD
2TB WD® Blue 3D NAND SATA III 6Gb/s SSD
SAMSUNG® 860 PRO™ 1TB SATA III 3-D Vertical SSD
SAMSUNG® 860 PRO™ 2TB SATA III 3-D Vertical SSD
SAMSUNG® 860 EVO™ 4TB SATA III 3-D Vertical SSD
SAMSUNG® 860 PRO™ 4TB SATA III 3-D Vertical SSD

Intel® Dual Band Ultra Wireless - AC 9260 M.2 + Bluetooth® 5 ... or
Intel® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 M.2 AX + Bluetooth® 5 Combo Card

Killer DoubleShot Pro with Smart Teaming

Thunderbolt 3 connectivity

Color illuminated keyboard

Built-in Area Fingerprint Reader

ESS SABRE HiFi audio DAC

 

[Splinterdog]

I bought the Asus ROG Strix G531 on Tuesday in the end and I'm very impressed with the quality and speed of the machine.
We upgraded to 16GB RAM for the video editing, too.
It's actually for my wife's son who returns from Spain today, so he'll be in isolation for 15 days and have plenty of time to play with it. And I couldn't resist running a few tests and seeing how Tomb Raider DOX (Dagger Of Xian) demo ran on it. Smooth as silk, as it happens.
A very nice keyboard which feels solid and not clicky, excellent sound and RGB lighting which can easily be turned off. In fact, it's probably the fastest laptop I've ever played with and it should handle the lad's video editing requirements quite easily, when he's finally allowed to go on-site.

 

[Asemy]

I happened to see a review of NVIDIA RTX Studio. Should fit your needs.

• Display: 15.6" | 3840 x 2160 (Ultra HD)
• GPU: GeForce RTX 2080
• CPU: Intel Core i7-9750H
• Memory: 32 GB Memory 1TB Static Drive
• Dimensions: 14.1" x 10.0" x 0.7"

Sorry, new there, I miss the information of budget.

 

[Caring1]

I happened to see a review of NVIDIA RTX Studio. Should fit your needs.

The OP said in the post just prior to yours that he had bought a Laptop already.

 

[Splinterdog]

I'm pleased to say that my stepson, the lucky recipient of the laptop, is well impressed with the fast rendering in video editing, so it looks like I made the right choice.

 

[yotano211]

I'm pleased to say that my stepson, the lucky recipient of the laptop, is well impressed with the fast rendering in video editing, so it looks like I made the right choice.

Dad can you also buy me a laptop.