I have a friend who wants to get into video editing and needs to purchase a laptop.
He has a decent budget but wants to keep the cost down to a reasonable figure.
I'd really appreciate some recommendations on processor, ram, graphics card etc.
Thanks.
😁😁 just tell your friend buying that one that his eyes do really like and his wallet will pay. 😎😎
1, a laptop can expand limited for the future, the price has already determined its ability and there's not much difference between big manufactures under that price.
2, no matter wich HW inside it, VEGAS deals well with them, AMD, Intel, Nvidia...the one is better in this point and the other one that point.
3, don't follow recommendations of service personal or Ex-perto; you wanna listen because you have zero knowledge about it, so follow your eyes and banknotes.
If your friend is considering Vegas Pro 19, it is reasonably important to take into account the minimum specifications recommended for Vegas Pro 19: https://www.vegascreativesoftware.com/us/specifications/#productMenu
Please note that the minimum specs for 4K (UHD - ultra-high definition) is higher than for HD (high definition) video, so your friend is advised to also take the video media to be used into account.
A modern but lower spec'd laptop will likely still be okay but there could be compromises with performance. But steer clear of an i3 processor IMO - it's an economy CPU fine for basic computer work like email, browsing, word processing; but more is needed for video editing.
Vegas Pro 20 is soon to be released. Whether or not it's minimum specs remain the same won't be known until its release.
The biggest issue with laptops in my opinion is heat management- if they can't do this effectively you can't edit for long before it starts to throttle and performance plummets.
Vegas also prefers Intel processors with iGPUs for decoding compatibility.
I've been looking at laptops myself and the ones I found worth considering (powerful without heat issues) are gaming-style laptops.
https://rog.asus.com/laptops/rog-zephyrus/rog-zephyrus-m16-2022-series/spec/ and Alienware x15 or x14 with Intel 12th generation processor.
I might get one after Intel 13th generation is launched later this year as I expect there will be some good sales.
For other specs I'd go 32GB ram or higher (esp. if it's soldered in) and 1 or 2TB SSD. For a 14 or 15 inch laptop I think HD or 1440p is high enough resolution (too high and text becomes small) and high refresh rates have no value for video editing so no need to pay more for that.
Thanks for the replies everyone!
With regards to graphic cards, is there anything specific that he should look for?