Video Editing Laptop

[Cross Aerial Photography]

Hello everyone,

I am currently in the market for a video editing laptop. I currently have pretty powerful desktop but need something mobile as well. I have looked at sites like Sager which offer laptops that have desktop components.

Sager specs:

• i7-8700K Processor -15.6" Full HD IPS Matte Display with G-SYNC Technology (1920 x 1080) or 4k display
• GTX 1080 (or 1060)
• 32GB Dual Channel DDR4 SDRAM at 2400MHz - 2 X 16GB
• 250GB WD Blue M.2 SSD
• 1TB 7200rpm SATA3 Hard Drive

Pretty high end setup with a high price tag. My current desktop is:

Gigabyte Gaming 3 B350M

Ryzen 1700 OC'ed to 3.9

32 Gb Trident Z Ram at 2933

EVGA 1080ti

250 Gb SSD

1 TB 7200rpm HDD

8 Tb Backup HDD

So I want something that I can use on the go. I travel some weekends to my hometown and do some work there and dont like lugging my desktop with me. I deal with 4k 60fps footage so the laptop needs to be pretty good. I primarily use Premier Pro and AE.

[DrewT]

I've been looking at this myself -- trying to decide what I want to purchase. I've put some comparisons below -- hope it helps. Note that I was looking for a thin + light laptop which also has a 4K screen.

Device	Cost	Graphics	Weight	Dimensions	Screen Resolution	CPU	RAM	SSD	OS
Razer Ghost	$2,799.00	nVidia 1060 6GB	4 lbs	0.7" x 13"	14" 4K	i7-7700HQ	16GB - 2400 MHz	1TB PCIe SSD	Windows 10
Surface book 2	$3,299.00	nVidia 1060 6GB	4.5 lbs	0.9" x 13.6"	15" 3240x2160	i7-8650	16GB - 1666 MHz	1TB PCIe SSD	Windows 10
Dell XPS 15	$2,299.00	nVidia 1050 4GB	4.5 lbs	0.66" x 14.06"	15" 4K	i7-7700HQ	32GB - 2133MHz	1TB PCIe SSD	Windows 10
ASUS Zephyrus	$2,699.00	nVidia 1060 8GB	4.9 lbs	0.7" x 14.09"	15" FHD (1920x1080)	i7-7700HQ	16GB DDR4	512GB PCIe SSD	Windows 10
Gigabyte Aero 15	$1,999.00	nVidia 1060 6GB	4.4 lbs	0.7" x 14"	15" FHD	i7-7700HQ	32GB - 2400 MHz	2x SSD	Windows 10
Macbook Pro	$3,199.00	Radeon 560 4GB	4 lbs	0.61" x 13.75"	15" 2880x1800	i7 - ????	16GB 2133MHz	1TB PCIe SSD	Mac OS

[mikeklar]

Good list.

I'm presently leaning towards the Surface Book 2, 15 inch. 

[Bill_Gehrke]

Your Sager configuration is phenomenal just get rid of that hard disk drive it is not very usable and sets there drawing power while rotating. The storsge options for that laptop are endless.  Also you might want to think about my favorite additional storage drive solution the Samsung T3 USB 3.0 or newer T5 USB3.1 portable SSD's devices.  I do a lot of editing on my laptop and with the project and media on the USB devices just unplug and walk it to your desktop and almost instantly work on it there.  Probably 3 times faster read write rates than hard disk drives.

I will be very jealous of that laptop with its CPU a desktop category  6-core 4.7GHz Turbo speed have you seen how well that processor does on the Puget testing?  On many tests that i7-8700K will run rings around your Ryzen 1700!   Sager NP9155 I am guessing?

Am I crazy?  Why would anyone want a 4K screen in 15" inch or smaller size screen?

[mikeklar]

Bill, you’re right, viewing 4K on a 15” screen it problematic, even a 24” screen is too small (I happen to use one, but mostly used at a reduced resolution). 

The real issue for me is the ability to do some relatively light work on a small laptop, not for the laptop to replace my work station. 

Frankly, if/when I finally do acquire a laptop and use it at a client’s office, it will likely be connected to a larger screen there. 

One of the reasons for me leaning towards the Surface Book 2 15-inch version is the ability to use the screen for drawing (presently use the Surface Pro, but it has a latency issue), as well the ability to remove the screen and use it as a tablet for showing work to clients at their comfortable viewing angle.

What I'm really saying is that I have not been able to feel comfortable editing a multilayer video with the computer on my lap.  Although, I have no difficulty working on static images with laptops and particularly working on sketches...

[Bill_Gehrke]

Thank you for the confirmation on 4K.

Of course there are many different uses, applications that each of us have to figure out

[mikeklar]

One issue is Adobe’s unwillingness to allow a more dynamic sizing of the tool bars and menus, which would help when using small high-resolution screens. 

And yes, there are many different uses for laptops in particular.  Also, as we’ve all seen and are subjected to, “us”, the consumers appear to like the “Swiss Army Knife” approach even if all the tools are never used.  Of course I’m not one of those, I use all of the tools…