The best laptops for video editing offer plenty of processing power and powerful GPUs, ensuring you can turn your creative ideas into reality. Video editing laptops can be expensive, however, because of the components required to do the job well. That’s why we’ve included some decent gaming laptops that are just as good, but still offer a solid CPU and GPU combo.
TL;DR - These are the Best Laptops For Video Editing
- Gigabyte Aero 16
- Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (M3 Max)
- Dell XPS 15
- Alienware x16 R1
- Razer Blade 14
- MSI Creator Z17 HX Studio
- Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch
- Asus Zenbook Pro 14 Duo OLED
Other key factors to consider include a color-accurate display, solid battery life, and plenty of RAM to run multiple applications at once. We’ve covered the best laptops for video editing, including laptops of different sizes and budgets to make your decision easier.
1. Gigabyte Aero 16
Best Laptop For Video Editing
Pros:
- Stunning UHD+ OLED display
- Durable and portable aluminum chassis
Cons:
- Short battery life
Nothing beats powerful internals and a brilliant display for video editing on the go, and the Gigabyte Aero 16 manages both for a mid-range price. As soon as you lay eyes on the stunning 16-inch UHD+ OLED display, you’ll be hooked. You’re in for vibrant colors, rich black levels, and excellent contrast, so you won’t miss any details in your projects. It even comes X-Rite Certified and Pantone Validated for color accuracy with a 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, ensuring your edits on this rig don’t look off elsewhere.
If the screen hasn’t sold you, what's under the hood just might. There’s a 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13700H processor on top of 16GB of upgradable RAM and 1TB of storage for speedy operations and multitasking. Rendering work can even be pushed onto the graphics processor, which is a solid Nvidia RTX 4070. All this greatness rests inside a delightfully durable and portable form factor weighing a manageable 4.63 pounds with a loaded I/O for all your peripherals.
2. Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (M3 Max)
Best MacBook For Video Editing
Pros:
- Powerful M3 Max chip
- Impressive Retina XDR display with vibrant colors and an excellent contrast ratio
Cons:
- Expensive
Apple's 16-inch MacBook Pro is a machine of great power, reliability, and functionality. With its latest M3 Max processor, it’s the highest-performing MacBook you can get. This new M3 Max chip offers a combined CPU and GPU. And, by going with the M3 Max, you will be able to push this machine to the limit, as it doubles the number of GPU cores and memory bandwidth offered with the M3 Pro. It can handle a massive file load and work super fast. All of this is perfect for your video editing needs.
In addition to the excellent processor, the 16-inch MacBook Pro has a stunning Retina XDR display that provides vibrant colors and an excellent contrast ratio, so you can ensure all of your edits are looking exactly like you pictured. For anyone who lives inside Final Cut Pro X while on the go, this MacBook Pro really can handle everything you throw at it. It's one of the best MacBook models to buy right now.
3. Dell XPS 15
Best 15-inch Laptop For Video Editing
Pro:
- Brilliant 15.6-inch OLED touch panel
- Solid, portable build
Con:
- Webcam only has a 720p resolution
For a perfectly powerful and compact workstation, grabbing a 15-inch laptop is the way to go, and the Dell XPS 15 happens to be an absolute stunner. It packs all the components you need for video editing into a relatively compact form factor ready for your backpack. Inside the study chassis is a 14-core Intel i7-13700H processor paired with Nvidia RTX 4060 graphics along with 32GB RAM and 1TB of SSD NVMe for plenty of oomph to take on all your editing tasks and beyond.
Those internals are great, but they won’t do you much good in editing if the display is lacking. Luckily, that’s not the case here, as the XPS 15 model we’ve chosen comes with a brilliant 15.6-inch OLED touch panel rocking a sharp 3.5K resolution, a 400 nit brightness, and an infinity edge—so you can make use of as much space as possible. Even with such a gorgeous display, this laptop manages to sip its battery slower than others. However, you may want to grab one of the best webcams if you plan to hop on any video calls, given the one on this laptop only offers a 720p resolution.
4. Alienware x16 R1
Best Laptop for 4K Video Editing
Pros:
- Powerful GPU and CPU
- Wide port variety
Cons:
- Heavy build
Editing 4K video takes a beast of a machine, and that’s what you get from the Alienware x16 R1. It pairs a 13th Gen Intel Core i9 processor with an Nvidia RTX 4080, giving you a bunch of powerful CPU cores—14 cores in total with 20 threads—and ample graphics power for rendering. This system has no problem cruising through tasks even with multiple heavy applications open, thanks to its 32GB DDR5 RAM, while projects quickly load up from the 1TB NVMe SSD.
The Alienware x16’s 16-inch QHD+ display is a real beauty with 100% DCI-P3 color and Dolby Vision HDR. But if that screen doesn’t cut it, you'll have an easy time setting the laptop up with one of the best 4K monitors using its rear HDMI 2.1 port. You also get a mini DisplayPort and DisplayPort capabilities from the USB-C and ThunderBolt 4. When you're done editing for the day and want to game, the built-in monitor is ready, hitting a blazing 240Hz refresh rate with G-Sync support for some silky-smooth frames.
5. Razer Blade 14
Best Ultraportable Gaming Laptop for Video Editing
Pros:
- Under four pounds for better portability
- 240Hz QHD+ display
Cons:
- Expensive
For a laptop that you can take just about anywhere with loads of power to do a bit of everything, you want this model of the Razer Blade 14, an update of the 2023 model we loved. Yes, Razer is often associated with gaming, but anyone will appreciate this capable rig. A beastly AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS octa-core processor, solid Nvidia RTX 4070 graphics, and a healthy 32GB of DDR5 RAM are ready to cruise through even the most intensive tasks with ease. Somehow, all this greatness is packed into a machine that manages to weigh less than four pounds and is well under an inch thick for portability.
The Razer Blade 14 is equipped with a 14-inch QHD+ display that offers Calman-certified color accuracy to ensure your edits look great wherever you view them. When you want to take a break from the grind, you’ll welcome the 240Hz refresh rate for ultra-smooth gaming. If you’d like a bit more screen real estate, you can hook this laptop up to one of the best monitors, thanks to the HDMI 2.1 output. Plus, two USB-A and two USB-C are available for other peripherals.
6. Dell Alienware m18 R2 (2024)
Best High-End Video Editing Laptop
Pros:
- Exceptionally fast performance
- Starting price is reasonable
Cons:
- Heavy
At under $1900 with base specs that are far from basic, the Dell Alienware m18 R2 (2024) is a worthy contender as one of the best laptops for video editing. With a 14th-Gen i7 processor, RTX 4060 graphics, and plenty of RAM, you’ll find running all the apps you need a breeze. Not to mention the outstanding 18-inch display.
If you’re not on a budget, you can easily splash out on the Dell Alienware m18 R2 (2024) by selecting high-end configurations like an i9 CPU, 4090 GPU, 64GB of RAM, 8TB SSD, and so on. But then you’re looking at spending over $4,000. For video editors, though, the Dell Alienware m18 R2 (2024) is incredibly versatile. As long as you don’t mind lugging around almost 10 pounds in weight, or keeping your laptop firmly in one place, since it’s quite a beast.
7. MacBook Pro (14-inch, Late 2023)
Best Laptop for Final Cut
Pros:
- Vibrant and bright Liquid Retina XDR display
- 14-core CPU and 30-core GPU M3 Max chip
Cons:
- Display is small
Boasting Apple’s M3 Max chip, the MacBook Pro M3 Max is designed for power users who want the best machine for video editing. Thanks to its 14-core CPU, 30-core GPU, and stunning Liquid Retina XDR display, you can push productivity to the limit, allowing you to work more efficiently.
The 14.2-inch display might not be the biggest on the market, but it’s one of the most vibrant and offers over 1000 nits of brightness on HDR settings. Making accurate video edits no longer requires guesswork. The MacBook Pro M3 Max provides a premium experience. It includes all the ports you need too, like a MagSafe charging port, three Thunderbolt 4 ports, and an SDXC card slot for convenience.
8. Asus Zenbook Pro 14 Duo OLED
Best Dual Screen Laptop For Video Editing
Pro:
- Gorgeous 14.5-inch OLED display
- Secondary 12.7-inch touchscreen for additional workspace
Con:
- Poor battery life
Asus created a workaround with the Zenbook Pro 14 Duo OLED. Beyond a primary 14.5-inch display, there’s a secondary 12.7-inch tilting touchscreen to improve your workflow. That main display utilizes an HDR-capable 3K OLED panel with impressive contrast, 100% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage, and Pantone validation, ensuring brilliant details and vivid, accurate colors in all your edits. Meanwhile, the secondary screen above the keyboard provides a handy home for extra tools or your video timeline.
Of course, this video editing machine needs some might behind its impressive screens, but don’t worry, the Asus Zenbook Pro 14 Duo OLED brings it. This model comes kitted out with an Intel Core i9-13900H processor fed by 32GB of DDR5 memory. It’ll handle your biggest file downloads and task-heavy apps like a champ, while the dedicated Nvidia RTX 4060 graphics card offers capable rendering speeds for high-res editing.
What to Look for in a laptop for video editing
In many ways, there's a significant overlap between a great video editing laptop and a gaming laptop. You want something that's powerful, while still being portable. Battery life is nice to have for everyday tasks, but when it comes to processing your latest shoot, you'll want to keep your laptop plugged in.
To help with processing, you'll want a laptop with a powerful GPU. Nvidia's latest RTX 40-series GPUs are now the norm. You're going to want a computer packing this graphics processor to get solid rendering speed and work done. Luckily, all of our picks come rocking a chip in this series other than the MacBook options.
When looking at processors in a laptop, Intel's 13th and 14th generation chips are becoming commonplace, and future proof your investment, but aren't a requirement. A quick way to identify which generation is being used in a build is to look at the numbers that follow the processor name. For example, an Intel Core i7-13700H denotes a 13th-generation Raptor Lake processor. Whereas an Intel Core i7 14650HX represents a 14th generation Raptor Lake processor.
It’s easy to get caught up in looking at flashy gaming laptops, most of which will do just fine as a video editing machine. But don’t limit yourself to a gaming machine, laptops like the Gigabyte Aero 16 or MSI Creator Z17 HX Studio are proof that non-gaming laptops are just as powerful and versatile.
Laptop for Video Editing FAQ
Are gaming laptops good for video editing?
The best gaming laptops, like the Razer Blade 14, make for solid video editing options, and that’s why we even include several on this list. These devices feature top-notch hardware to play games, so you’ll find speedy CPUs, beefy RAM, and plentiful storage, all essentials for editing programs to run quickly and smoothly. A gaming laptop's signature feature is a dedicated graphics card, and though you might not need the most powerful GPUs, you’ll want one for rendering. Beyond that, gaming laptops’ often deliver larger screens, providing more workspace, and are usually equipped with ample cooling to prevent thermal throttling.
Of course, gaming laptops get a bad rap for being big and bulky, making for a less portable device. But as technology improves, these devices are getting more compact. Battery life still isn't the best—a problem plaguing any laptop performing heavy tasks. Plus, you’ll find a few redundant features for video editing, including extremely high refresh rate displays and RGB lighting, which sometimes puts a higher price tag on gaming laptops.
Jason Cipriani has covered technology full-time for the past 8 years. During that time he has freelanced for the likes of CNET, Fortune, Time, ZDNet, Macworld, Wired, and TechRadar.
Danielle Abraham is a freelance writer and unpaid music historian.
via Best Laptop for Video Editing in 2024
by Jason Cipriani
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