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The 4 Best Laptops For Video Editing - Summer 2023 Reviews

Updated
Best Video Editing Laptops

Whether you're a professional video editor working for a company or an amateur editing videos for social media, having a laptop with good performance is crucial, as video editing is a demanding task that requires a lot of processing power. A powerful laptop will provide a smoother experience when manipulating footage, play high-resolution videos smoothly with fewer frame drops, and render videos faster, saving you precious time. To help you with buying decisions, we've compiled a list of laptops suitable for video editing. This list includes mobile workstations and gaming laptops (yes, gaming laptops are just as good for video editing). However, it won't contain any Chromebooks because most video editing applications don't work on Chrome OS, and Chromebooks usually lack a dedicated GPU. The list is short for now but will grow as we review more laptops.

We've bought and tested over 85 laptops. Below are our recommendations for the best video editing laptops you can buy. You can also see our recommendations for the best laptops, the best business laptops, and the best laptops for graphic design.


  1. Best Laptop For Editing Videos

    The best laptop for editing videos we've tested is the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023). This mobile workstation has a sturdy all-aluminum build, provides an amazing user experience, and has more than enough processing power for video editing. It sports a Mini LED display with full DCI P3 coverage, a spacious and tactile keyboard, and a gigantic, easy-to-use haptic touchpad. Like most Apple products, the display's factory calibration is near-perfect, so you can get right to work without worrying about calibrating it. You also get plenty of ports, including three USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 ports, an HDMI, and a full-size SD card reader. If you want more screen space and don't mind paying more, you can get the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023). It's the same device but with better-sounding speakers and a slightly longer battery life.

    For Windows users, get the Dell Precision 5570 (2022), a 15.6-inch mobile workstation with Intel 12th Gen processors paired with an NVIDIA RTX A1000 or A2000 GPU. Like the MacBook Pro 14, it provides a premium user experience with a nice display and a comfortable keyboard. You only get three USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 ports, though, and its battery life is much shorter at only six to seven hours of light use. Lastly, this laptop is hard to find through third-party sellers and marketplaces, so it's best to get it directly through Dell.

    See our review

  2. Best Mid-Range Laptop For Video Editing

    If you don't want to spend too much on a premium laptop like the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021), check out the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2022). Yes, gaming laptops are excellent for video editing because there are many similarities in hardware requirements. It's particularly true with the G14, which sports a sharp 16:10 QHD panel with full DCI P3 coverage. Its factory calibration is good, but fine-tune it before you do any color work. It has a powerful 8-core AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS CPU, and you can choose between an AMD Radeon RX 6700S or 6800S GPU, both of which have enough horsepower to handle video editing.

    There are a few downsides to know about. First, this laptop gets hot and loud under load. You can change the fan settings if it bothers you but at the cost of some performance loss. Second, the USB-C ports support USB 3.2 Gen 2 data transfer speed much slower than USB4 or Thunderbolt 4. ASUS promised an update to add USB4 support, but the firmware is still developing. Lastly, you can only get this laptop with 1TB of storage. The SSD is user-replaceable, so you can always replace it with a larger capacity drive.

    If you prefer working on an Intel/NVIDIA system, the ASUS TUF Dash F15 (2022) is a good alternative. It's available with Intel 12th Gen processors and NVIDIA discrete GPUs, including the RTX 3050, 3050 Ti, 3060, and 3070. The top-end QHD display has full DCI P3 coverage, but it doesn't get as bright as the G14's, so you might have some visibility issues in well-lit rooms. There are also other tradeoffs, like its shorter battery life and lack of biometrics.

    See our review

  3. Best Budget Laptop For Video Editing

    The best budget laptop for video editing we've tested is the HP Victus 15 (2022), a 15.6-inch gaming laptop. It has fast Intel 12th Gen H-series CPUs and various NVIDIA discrete GPUs, from a GeForce GTX 1650 to an RTX 3050 Ti. The GPUs are entry-level models that can do the job, but you might experience some stutters when manipulating complex, high-resolution footage. Memory and storage max out at 16GB and 1TB, respectively; however, they're user-upgradeable, so you can add more later to suit your needs.

    The main downside of this laptop is that it's only available with 1080p displays, and only the top-end option has full sRGB coverage, so it's best suited for someone who already has an external monitor. You get a varied port selection with two USB-As, one USB-C, an HDMI 2.1, Ethernet, and an SD card reader; however, the USB-C doesn't support charging or Thunderbolt 4. Battery life sits around six hours of light use, but you can expect it to be a little more than an hour if you edit videos.

    See our review

  4. Best Ultraportable For Video Editing

    The Apple MacBook Air 13 (2022) is a great option if you only edit videos as a hobby. Its M2 chip has media encoders and decoders that significantly boost performance in tasks like video editing. There are also media engines for Apple's own ProRes format. It has a sharp and bright display with full DCI P3 coverage, and its factory calibration is superb out of the box. Port selection is its main weak point; it only has two USB-Cs and can only support one external display.

    The battery lasts around 11 hours of light use or a little less than three hours when performing intensive tasks like video editing. You can get up to 24GB of memory and 2TB of storage; just remember that these components aren't user-replaceable. Also, the base 256GB storage option has slower read and write speeds, so if you often transfer files, it's worth upgrading to one of the larger-capacity options.

    If you want a larger screen to work more comfortably, you'll love the newly-released Apple MacBook Air 15 (2023). It's the same device as the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air but with a 15.3-inch display and better speakers. Unlike its smaller sibling, you don't need to upgrade to the more expensive model to get an M2 SoC with ten GPU cores, giving you slightly better graphical performance than the base 13-inch model, which has eight GPU cores. Besides the $200 USD price increase over the 13-inch model, the other tradeoff is the battery life. It lasts around eight to nine hours of light use, about two hours shorter.

    See our review

Notable Mentions

  • Lenovo Slim Pro 7 14 (2023): The Lenovo Slim Pro 14 (2023) is a cheaper alternative to the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2022). It's more portable and supports HDMI 2.1; however, you can only get this laptop with 16GB of soldered RAM, and its NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 isn't nearly as powerful as the ASUS' AMD Radeon RX 6700S and 6800S. See our review
  • Razer Blade 14 (2022): The Razer Blade 14 (2022) is a good alternative to the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2022) if you prefer a system with an NVIDIA GPU. It has an HDMI 2.1 port, and its GPU doesn't throttle as much as the ASUS, but it's more expensive, and it gets hotter and louder under load. See our review

Recent Updates

  1. Sep 06, 2023: Replaced the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021) with the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) because the M1 models are no longer available. Added the Lenovo Slim Pro 7 14 (2023) as a Notable Mention.

  2. Aug 10, 2023: Small text changes to include the Dell Precision 5570 (2022) as an alternative to the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2022). No change in recommendations.

  3. Jul 14, 2023: Minor text changes to improve clarity and provide more information about the Apple MacBook Air 15 (2023). No change in recommendations.

  4. Jun 14, 2023: Minor text changes to provide information about the Apple MacBook Air 15 (2023). No change in recommendations.

  5. May 16, 2023: Verified that all picks are still valid and available. No change in recommendations.

All Reviews

Our recommendations above are what we think are currently the best video editing laptops to buy. We factor in the price (a cheaper laptop wins over a pricier one if the difference isn't worth it), feedback from our visitors, and availability (no laptops that are difficult to find or almost out of stock everywhere).

If you prefer to make your own decision, here's the list of all of our laptop reviews, sorted by price from low to high. Keep in mind that most laptops are available in various configurations, and the table only shows the results of the model we tested, so it's best to see the full review for information about other variants.