Top 3 Best Laptops For Video Editing In 2023

Searching for the best laptops for video editing?

As video editing tasks become increasingly complex and demanding, finding the perfect laptop to handle those requirements can be overwhelming. 

If you’re constantly juggling 4K clips, sophisticated graphics, or just need a device that can keep up with your creative flow, the last thing you’d want is to be bogged down by lag or underwhelming specs. 

A powerful laptop for video editing is more than just a luxury—it’s a necessity. But with the sheer number of models flooding the market, which ones truly stand out? 

I’ve sifted through the options, tested the best, and narrowed them down to these top contenders.

Let’s delve into what makes each of these laptops a cut above the rest.

Our Top Picks

• ASUS ROG Strix G16 (2023) – Our Top Choice
• Apple MacBook Pro 2023 (M2 Max) – Best Premium Laptop For Video Editing
• ASUS TUF Gaming F15 (2023) – Best Budget Laptop For Video Editing

Why Should You Trust Us?

When it comes to video editing, the right laptop can make or break your workflow. Talha Zuberi, our seasoned expert, has more than a decade of hands-on experience understanding the intricate hardware demands of video editing processes. 

Over the years, he’s not only built powerful PCs but has also advised countless professionals on the best laptop configurations for optimal video editing performance. 

Trusting Talha’s insights means you’re leaning on someone who knows the difference between a machine that merely works and one that excels, ensuring that your video editing endeavors always hit the mark. 

Whether it’s a matter of seamless rendering or multitasking prowess, Talha’s recommendations stand on a foundation of expertise and genuine user-centric care.

How We Choose the Best Laptops For Video Editing

Getting the perfect laptop that suits our needs can be tricky. There are too many options to choose from and it is easy to make the wrong decision.

To pick the best laptop for video editing, I considered the following key factors:

1. CPU – The CPU does a lot of the heavy lifting during video editing. The CPU needs to have both excellent single-threaded and multi-threaded performance. My minimum requirements for the CPU in video editing laptops in 2023 are Intel 12th-gen or AMD Zen 3-based CPUs.
2. GPU – In video editing applications, the GPU does not scale as significantly as the CPU does. For purely video editing, even an RTX 3050 is sufficient. However, GPUs since then have gotten a lot better and have many video codecs and accelerators. Intel and Nvidia both have excellent video codecs in their GPUs, unlike AMD’s GPUs.
3. RAM – Video editing requires a lot of RAM and at minimum, the laptop should be equipped with 32 GB of RAM. Ideally, the laptop allows RAM upgrades for future and more intense workloads. If it is a budget laptop with only 16 GB of RAM, then it should be upgradeable because the lack of RAM becomes apparent immediately.
4. SSD – No computer for video editing should have anything less than a speedy 1 TB PCIe Gen 3.0 SSD. A lot of data is read and written on the SSD during editing and file sizes are also massive. Ideally, the laptop allows SSD upgrades for future and more intense workloads.
5. Battery – Battery life is subjective to the overall power requirements of the laptop’s CPU, GPU, and screen. Typically, Windows laptops are known to not have long battery lives. However, a laptop continuously playing a YouTube video should not last less than 4 hours on a full charge. Ideally, the battery should last at least 6 to 7 hours.
6. Screen – The screen size should be no smaller than 15.6” diagonally regardless of the aspect ratio. The screen needs to be a high-quality panel with a resolution greater than 1080p. For video editors, a 60 Hz refresh rate is completely fine, but if a laptop has more than a 60 Hz refresh rate without any compromises to the image quality, then that is a great bonus.
   The panel should be color-calibrated and have coverage for 100% sRGB or DCI-P3 color gamuts, but I personally still recommend using a dedicated external color-accurate monitor for any workflow that requires the most color accuracy.
   Ideally, the screen’s lighting panels should be OLED or Mini LED. OLED has perfect contrasts thanks to every individual pixel turning off resulting in pure blacks. But OLED rarely reaches true HDR brightness levels and usually tops out at 400 or 500 nits of maximum sustained brightness. Mini LEDs are incredibly versatile because they can get very close to OLED levels of blackness while having true HDR brightness levels of more than 1000 nits.
   Please note that budget laptops tend to compromise on displays and prioritize other specs. Budget laptops should have at least a color-accurate 1080p 60 Hz IPS display which is far better than having a standard TN or VA panel.

3 Best Laptops For Video Editing Reviews

1. ASUS ROG Strix G16 (2023) – Our Top Choice

The best video editing laptops need to offer peak performance without thermal throttling, a great display, fast storage, and a healthy battery life. It all boils down to finding the best gaming laptop because sadly workstation laptops simply are not offering a good balance of any of the aforementioned features without charging a heavy premium.

Which is why my number 1 pick for the best video editing laptop is the Asus Strix G16.

The Asus Strix G16 is paired with Intel’s fastest mobile CPU – the Core i9 13980HX which is a 24-core (8-Performance and 16-Efficiency) CPU that tops every benchmark out there.

It is equipped with 32 GB of 4800 MHz DDR5 RAM which is the maximum this laptop supports. I am slightly disappointed by this, but glad that Asus did not solder the RAM to the motherboard.

For storage it has a fast 1 TB PCIe Gen 4.0 with read speed of 4.5 GB/s and write speeds of 3.5 GB/s. These speeds are moderate for PCIe 4.0 SSDs but it is still very snappy. The best part is that, unlike many other laptops, this comes with a second PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD slot for even more expansion. If you decide to use another M.2 SSD as a scratch or storage disk, you can easily add a full-sized 2280 M.2 SSD.

This laptop absolutely rocks when it comes to performance, and that’s all thanks to the powerhouse combo of the 24-core i9 13980HX and the RTX 4070 GPU. The CPU and GPU have separate cooling, ensuring this laptop doesn’t break a sweat even during the most demanding 4K video editing. Plus, it’s a performance beast because both the iGPU on the i9 and the RTX 4070 have fantastic video codecs, and Nvidia GPUs have amazing support on Adobe software and Davinci Resolve.

The “Nebula Display” is my favorite part of the Asus G16 and is the main reason I would choose this laptop over any other laptop in the $2000 budget range. It is a 240 Hz ultra-smooth 16” screen with a resolution of 2560 X 1600 and it is an IPS panel that comes with Pantone validation and 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 color space. 

Gaming laptops usually prioritize refresh rate and leave color accuracy behind, but Asus really knocked it out of the park with this one. The sustained brightness of this display is 500 nits which does not make it a true HDR panel, but it is brighter than any SDR monitor you will ever find.

Moving on to the ports, Asus has done a good job. The left-hand side has a barrel plug for power, an ethernet jack, HDMI 2.1, 2 USB type-C ports (both support DisplayPort with one of them is a Thunderbolt 4 port), and a headphone jack. On the right hand, you’ll find a 2 USB 3.2 type-A port.

When it comes to looks, for my eyes, the laptop looks decent but there is a large RGB strip moving across the front of the chassis which I find distracting. Asus includes software that allows turning it off. The laptop is not too big in size but it is slightly heavy at

2.50 Kg or 5.51 lbs

The battery life is decent and can last for 5 hours if you play 4K YouTube videos continuously. To save on battery, I highly recommend switching the refresh rate of the monitor to 60 Hz unless you want the smoothness of higher refresh rates.

In a nutshell, the Asus Strix G16 is a laptop powerhouse. With the Core i9 13980HX and RTX 4070 GPU, it’s built for peak performance, tackling everything from 1440p ultra gaming to 4K video editing with ease.

To sum up what I like is…

• Incredible display
• Top-of-the-line performance
• Great port selection including Thunderbolt 4
• Overbuilt cooling for zero throttling

On the downside…

• RGB strip is annoying
• Maximum of 32 GB RAM
• Not that light

RATINGS:

• Design: 7/10
• Cooling: 9/10
• Performance: 9/10
• Screen: 9/10
• Value for Money: 8.5/10
• Overall Rating: 9/10

2. Apple MacBook Pro 2023 (M2 Max) – Best Premium Laptop For Video Editing

If you’re truly serious about video editing and are willing to invest top dollar for the best performance and user experience, it’s no surprise that I’ve selected the 16″ Apple MacBook Pro as the ultimate premium video editing laptop.

While there are numerous powerful Windows laptops that can get the job done, none of them deliver a complete package where everything feels just right. When it comes to power, display, portability, and battery life, MacBooks stand out as the best all-in-one solution.

The 2023 MacBook Pro with the 12-core (8 Performance and 4 Efficiency) M2 Max chip offers single-threaded performance in direct competition with the top AMD’s Zen 4 and Intel’s 13th-gen CPUs. While its multi-threaded performance lags behind AMD and Intel at the same price point, Apple’s Silicon is different from your typical CPUs.

The M2 Max is equipped with plenty of dedicated video codecs and accelerators that take almost the entire load off the main CPU cores. This is because Apple designed these chips themselves for professional-grade applications to make sure that they efficiently focus on these tasks rather than have plenty of general-purpose CPU cores sharing resources with other applications.

This results in a huge advantage for the Macbooks and in testing, the Macbook Pro is one of the smoothest laptops for video editing. Scrubbing a timeline with 8 simultaneous 4K videos playing is no issue for this chip.

Speaking of efficiency, the battery life on the M2 Max Macbook Pro is unbeatable. In testing, it takes continuously playing a 4K YouTube video for 12 hours to drain the battery on the M2 Max MacBook Pro from a full charge! And unlike Windows laptops, the M2 Max MacBook Pro does not lose performance once you plug out the charger.

For memory the laptop features 64 GB of 6400 MHz LPDDR5 RAM shared by the CPU and the 38-core GPU and a speedy 1 TB PCIe Gen 4.0 SSD with impressive read and write speeds of 8 GB/s and 7 GB/s, respectively.

The laptop is equipped with 64 GB of 6400 MHz LPDDR5 RAM that is shared by the 38-core GPU and a fast 1 TB PCIe Gen 4.0 with reads of 8 GB/s and write speeds of 7 GB/s which is the fastest speeds you can get on PCIe 4.0 lanes.

The new 2023 Apple MacBooks all have incredible displays and this one has a 120 Hz 16.2” Mini LED display with an unusual resolution of 3456 X 2234. Apple chooses resolutions based on their own standards which is to ensure maximum clarity with no discernable pixels at a close range. Apple calls this display “Liquid Retina XDR”.

Even though Apple’s approach is different from the rest of the industry, the display quality speaks for itself. It is well-calibrated with 99.8% sRGB and 98% DCI-P3 coverage making it one of the most color-accurate laptop screens.

Thanks to the Mini LED, it is a true HDR display with 500 nits of sustained brightness in SDR and 1000 nits in HDR mode.

The port selection is below average in my opinion and it feels that Apple wants you to invest in dongles or other accessories. They only provide you with just enough ports and leave quite a lot to be desired.

The left-hand side has a MagSafe port for power, 2 USB type-C ports, and a headphone jack. The right-hand side has an HDMI 2.1 port, USB type-C port, and full-sized SD card reader.

The good thing about the ports is that all 3 USB ports are Thunderbolt 4 ports that support DisplayPort for video output. Also, the headphone jack is a high-impedance port for studio-grade headphones that need extra power to operate and the SD card slot can read at 200 MB/s and write at 100 MB/s. Although Apple didn’t put enough ports despite having enough room, the choice of ports is excellent.  

Lastly, the MacBook Pro is a gorgeous machine thanks to its aluminum unibody. Holding the MacBook tells you immediately that it is premium and strong despite being slim and lightweight. You will have no issues taking this machine around wherever you want to go and using it however you want to.

The laptop also has some cool perks. You get access to Apple’s exclusive first-party software like Final Cut for video editing, on top of using Adobe Premiere Pro or Davinci Resolve. If you’re up for trying something new, macOS can be a fun change of pace. Plus, it’s famous for being super reliable and stable, so you don’t have to worry about anything.

Although I have praised the Apple MacBook Pro for its completeness as the definitive laptop, I do not like its lack of upgradeability. You can only get what you pay for and everything is fixed. The RAM shares the same package as the CPU and the SSD is soldered on the motherboard. The battery is glued to the chassis and if you ever need to replace it, doing so will be a massive challenge. You simply cannot change anything unless you swap out the entire motherboard with the help of an expert.

Overall, the Apple MacBook Pro 2023 is a laptop that all laptops should try to be. It offers top-notch performance with the best battery life of any laptop ever. The screen is bright, sharp, and smooth thanks to the 120 Hz Mini LED panel. If you are a professional video editor who demands on-the-go peak performance, then the Apple MacBook Pro will is really your dream editing machine.

To sum up what I like is…

• Best display for professional work
• Unmatched video editing performance
• Silent cooling even under maximum load
• Very long battery life

On the downside…

• No room for upgradability or parts replacement
• Lacks a lot of ports
• Quite expensive

RATINGS:

• Design: 9/10
• Cooling: 9.5/10
• Performance: 8/10
• Screen: 9.5/10
• Value for Money: 7/10
• Overall Rating: 8.5/10

3. ASUS TUF Gaming F15 (2023) – Best Budget Laptop For Video Editing

Finding a high-powered laptop for video editing on a budget is difficult. Most laptops near the $1000 mark are focused on making the laptop sleek and slim while compromising on performance. On the other hand, gaming laptops offer a lot of power for the budget but they leave a lot to be desired.

Despite being a gaming laptop, the ASUS TUF Gaming F15 offers everything that a laptop should be – fast and portable. It is refreshing that it offers a balance of features even though gamers mostly only care about performance.

Starting with the specs, the laptop comes with an Intel Core i7 12700H 14-Core (6-Performance + 8-Efficiency core) CPU that can rival desktop CPUs like the incredibly fast and popular Intel Core i5 13600K.

The laptop only comes with 16 GB of 3200 MHz DDR4 RAM since most gaming laptops don’t need more than that. Asus is charging a significant premium for installing another stick of 16 GB DDR4 RAM. Thankfully, anyone can get a $30 RAM stick and upgrade it themselves easily.

When it comes to storage, it is equipped with a fast 1 TB PCIe Gen 4.0 with reads of 4 GB/s and write speeds of 1.8 GB/s. Although these speeds are slow for PCIe 4.0 SSDs it is still faster than every PCIe 3.0 SSD and the overall file transfer experience is quick and easy. The best part is that, unlike many other laptops, this comes with a second PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD slot for even more expansion. If you decide to use another M.2 SSD as a scratch or storage disk, you can easily add a full-sized 2280 M.2 SSD.

The performance of this laptop is excellent thanks to the 14-core i7 12700H and RTX 4060 combo. The CPU and GPU are cooled individually and never let the laptop throttle even during heavy 4K video editing. Both the CPU and GPU have incredible video codecs and Nvidia GPUs have great support in the Adobe suite of software as well as Davinci Resolve.

Focusing on the display, I was not expecting it to be as impressive as it turned out to be. The first thing that gaming laptops cheap out on is the display. Asus paired this laptop with a 15.6” 1080p display with 100% sRGB coverage and an IPS panel with a refresh rate of 144 Hz. The display is really good for the price and the higher refresh rate makes the entire experience of using a laptop responsive and smooth. In testing, the screen can sustain 250 nits of brightness which is just like any other display.

ASUS TUF Gaming F15 comes in another variant with a 1440p display with 100% DCI-P3 coverage, but it’s not as widely available and the added cost should go into getting more RAM for this laptop instead.

The port selection is good and for a gaming laptop, it is very impressive. The left-hand side has a barrel plug for power, an ethernet jack, HDMI, 2 USB type-C ports (both support DisplayPort and one of them is a Thunderbolt 4 port), a USB 3.2 type-A port, and a headphone jack. On the right hand, you’ll find a  single USB 3.2 type-A port and a Kensington lock. Given that this is a $1200 laptop, I was surprised how well-rounded Asus selected the ports including a Thunderbolt 4 port! 

Lastly, the laptop looks average in my opinion and it is riddled with too many stickers. Gaming laptops try too hard to catch your attention but due to this, thankfully, their build quality is excellent. The Asus TUF Gaming F15 is a moderately weighted machine at just 4.85 lbs or 2.2 KG despite a large body where other gaming laptops can be north of 6 lbs or 2.7 KG.

Also, being large means great cooling and in testing the laptop never throttled during long video editing sessions. Sadly, battery life is one area that it just barely makes it. It only lasts for about 5 hours of continuous video playback.

In conclusion, the Asus TUF laptop nails the balance that a laptop should offer. It packs a serious punch in terms of performance and sits comfortably in terms of size and weight. Compared to almost any other gaming laptop in this price range, it offers a display that can be used for more professional workflows.

To sum up what I like is the…

• Great display for the budget
• Excellent performance
• Lighter than almost every gaming laptop
• Comes with a Thunderbolt 4 port even on a budget

On the downside…

• Battery life is average
• Included SSD is slow by PCIe 4.0 standards

RATINGS:

• Design: 8/10
• Cooling: 8.5/10
• Performance: 8/10
• Screen: 7/10
• Value for Money: 9/10
• Overall Rating: 8/10

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What’s the ideal screen resolution for a video editing laptop?
   A Full HD (1920×1080) display is acceptable, but for the best clarity and detail, aim for a 4K resolution, especially when working on high-definition projects.
2. Do I need a dedicated graphics card for video editing?
   Yes, a dedicated graphics card (GPU) will drastically improve rendering times and playback performance. Look for NVIDIA or AMD GPUs with ample VRAM.
3. Does the GPU play a lesser role in video editing than the CPU?
   While the CPU handles the majority of tasks, the GPU also plays a pivotal role. Modern Intel and Nvidia GPUs come with efficient video codecs beneficial for editing, which AMD’s GPUs may lack.
4. How much RAM is recommended for video editing?
   For seamless editing, laptops should have atleast 16GB of RAM, but 32GB or more is recommended for optimal performance, especially when working with 4K footage or complex effects.
5. Is SSD storage necessary for video editing laptops?
   Editing entails reading and writing massive amounts of data and SSDs are significantly faster than traditional HDDs, ensuring quicker load times and smoother timeline scrubbing. A combination of SSD for OS/software and HDD for storage can be a cost-effective choice.
6. How important is color accuracy for video editing?
   Extremely. A laptop with good color accuracy ensures that what you see on the screen is true to the final output. Look for displays that cover a wide color gamut and are factory-calibrated.
7. Are touchscreens useful for video editing?
   While not essential, touchscreens can be beneficial for certain tasks, such as pinpointing areas for effects or scrubbing through timelines. However, ensure it doesn’t compromise on other crucial features.
8. How does CPU performance impact video editing?
   The CPU handles many tasks in video editing, including rendering effects and transitions. Having a high-performing Intel 12th-gen or AMD Zen 3-based CPU ensures faster processing and reduced lag times.
9. How significant is battery life in a video editing laptop?
   While you’ll often work plugged in, a longer battery life ensures uninterrupted workflow during power outages or when on the move. Aim for a laptop with at least 6-8 hours of battery life under heavy use.
10. Is port selection crucial for video editing laptops?
    Yes. Multiple USB ports, HDMI/DisplayPort outputs, and SD card slots can be invaluable, especially when working with various external drives, monitors, and devices. Ensure the laptop caters to your connectivity needs.
11. What should I prioritize if I’m on a tight budget?
    Focus on key components like CPU, RAM, and SSD. Ensure the laptop is upgradeable, so you can enhance the RAM or storage later. Even if the display isn’t top-tier, ensure it’s at least color-accurate.