Laptop for video editing questions

[Flyinhillbilly]

Hi guys, I'm wanting to step my youtube game up and have nothing, so that gives me a good starting point. Obviously I'm looking to do this on the cheap, but I'm wanting a laptop that I won't end up smashing against the wall, so I am hoping you guys can point me in the general direction of what numbers and specs are important for video editing.
I want to stop right here and admit that I'm a complete ignorant when it comes to computering, so I have no idea what numbers mean what. I'm also interested in video editing software and what works as far as cameras go, I'm not a label *****, so I don't care what brand it is just something that will get the job done.
I don't care about having the latest or greatest or having the highest quality video on youtube. Pretty much looking for the most bang for my buck.

 

[Bbqjoe]

Hi guys, I'm wanting to step my youtube game up and have nothing, so that gives me a good starting point. Obviously I'm looking to do this on the cheap, but I'm wanting a laptop that I won't end up smashing against the wall, so I am hoping you guys can point me in the general direction of what numbers and specs are important for video editing.
I want to stop right here and admit that I'm a complete ignorant when it comes to computering, so I have no idea what numbers mean what. I'm also interested in video editing software and what works as far as cameras go, I'm not a label *****, so I don't care what brand it is just something that will get the job done.
I don't care about having the latest or greatest or having the highest quality video on youtube. Pretty much looking for the most bang for my buck.

Have you a confuser now, or are you looking to buy one?

 

[Flyinhillbilly]

Going to have to buy one.

 

[Whitetrashrocker]

Well I'll tell ya there's a bunch out there for software. Windows comes with a video editor. It works. I'm sure there's so much better out there. But see what you have and start playing.
As far as a computer. How serious are you? Most midrange+ laptops should be capable of your needs. I dont think your doing major CGI and all.

I started buying a music studio and got all into protools. Great program but it was too priority and hard to use freeware. I was using Windows and wish I would have bought a Mac. But that's all in hindsight.

What I'm saying is start some where. Then you know what you want more of.

 

[Flyinhillbilly]

I'm hoping to learn from people that have experience with it. I have no idea what a GB, or ram is, or how they affect video editing. You're right about cgi, I just want to be able to splice video together, and add music and text.
I don't even know what constitutes a midrange laptop, I have owned only one, and all I used it for was tuning fuel injection.
I was once told by an old man
"Son, there are only three kinds of people in this world.
The truly stupid who don't even learn from their own mistakes,
The average, who do learn from their own mistakes,
And the wise, who learn from the mistakes of others.

Be wise every chance you get."

 

[Bbqjoe]

If you're looking for something new, your bottom dollar is going to be somewhere around $500 for a PC from wally or Staples or somewhere like that.

I see tons of used computers at the pawnshops for much less.
As WTR rocker put it, The apples beat the daylights out of most PC's, and I wish I had started with one, as compared to switching years later.

There's just mind boggling gobs of video editing programs out there.

The latest one in win 10 is enough to make you do the things you suggested I do with my dog and bike problem. It's just mind numbing.

I could help you better, if you check your PMs.

 

[pRoFiT]

To start almost any laptop with windows 7 or 10 should be fine. 8 and 8.1 sucked. Mac is good too, just cost more. Don't get the simple chrome book laptops. They are really only good for browsing internet. Hard drives is where all the speed is at now. If you get an SSD drive, almost anyone, will be way faster then the older magnetic hard drive. I have both in my pc. SSD for the os( windows ) and the regular hard drive for storage ( pictures, movies, music, pron etc...). I put 40gb SSD in my home theater pic and it boots in like 10-15seconds. 40gb is tiny, but I had the drive laying around. R commend 250gb SSD or more. And on laptop maybe 500gb or more because they typically only have one drive slot. And you will need space for editing videos.

Editing software......tons. I use Sony vegas and love it. But windows built in moviemaker is easy and can get the job done. Even YouTube has simple editing built into the website. With free audio to use.

I'm on my iPad so hard to type a lot. Or I would give more info.

Maybe at least mention memory. I recommend 8GB or more. 4gb not enough for win7,10. Even 8gb is almost not enough on heavy editing.

I have desktop pcs to edit on. So I can't really say what else a laptop would need.

For my desktops I at least install gaming graphics card in it. Not that editing needs it. But some mac software can take advantage of Nvidia graphics cards for processing.

Even some CPU processors have cool features to help speed up video editing. I want to say the i7 on a motherboard with the Haswell chipset had a great increase in video conversion time for me.

Anyways, rambling now. Good luck.

 

[KartFab]

Asus makes great laptops $850-$1200 ish

Video editing takes the highest toll on CPU ram and doesn't need a crazy graphics card

It's better to get a high end CPU, decent ram, and a mid range graphics card.

16 gb ram minimum
CPU Intel i5 or i7 (i7 is better) - cpu is probably most important here. quad core better than dual, hyperthreading better than not hyperthreading, and ghz, the higher the better, but if a high ghz, but fewer cores and no hyperthreading= much worse than one with low ghz, but also has more cores and hyperthreading.
Graphics is not as important but one with an invidia chip in it is great. Mid range is Gtx 1050, high end gtx1060, rediculous 1070 and stupid expensive is GTX 1080. you could go onboard graphics instead of nvidia, but the playback SUCKS during editing.
Laptops don't have a ton of storage, but get one with USB 3.0 so you can keep files on an external HD through USB 3.0 if needed. SSD is much better than HDD for boot times and editing in general. limit space though with SSD, so consider an extra HDD or external HDD

Camera is up to you but there are two low end pathways, there are the DSLR/mirrorless cameras that also do video, OR the camcorders that do just video.

Basic camcorder 1080p, image stabilization, canon vixia hf r400 $150. decent 1080p even 60 fps.

Basic dslr canon rebel t5 $250 better image quality, and choice of lenses. can get better audio with external mic.

Video editing could be done through windows movie maker, but it crashes all the time for me . I ended up getting adobe premiere elements+ photoshop elements for $120

One giant newbie mistake is audio. It is often overlooked. If you get dslr you can get a shotgun mic by rode for like $80 it makes a huuuuge difference. you can also get a mic for voice overs that is what i do for around $100.


oooor you can go the laptop mac pathway, and they are more expensive, perform worse per $$$ but easy to use, and have heard good things about their video editing program that comes with it.

whatever you do, dont get a dell/hp as they are total crap (speaking from experience here)

 

[Kartorbust]

I agree that Asus is top quality for laptops. Something like this one will do the job well. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-q5...m-with-gunmetal-hinge/5561400.p?skuId=5561400

 

[itsid]

I agree to everything Grant said...
(Dell is not always crap though.... IIRC they bough alienware a few years ago.. those are still great and a few other series are also still good.. but that's the four figure pricetag ones for sure I'm afraid)

one more thing I want to point out:
if you can find a win7 device... or buy a win7 license and install that.
main reason being, win10 takes about twice as many ressources than win7 (ram, cpu etc..)
sooo installing an older OS is basically increasing the amount of available ressources for whatever you need to do.
(videoediting in your case)

And since 4k videos are getting more and more important (at elast to some)
Buy a laptop with TWO internal harddrives.. one of which should be an SSD (OS and software only!)
the other one being just big is good enough (one or two TB should do.. HDD is fine for storage purpose)

I can't recall the model numbers affected.. but if you plan on buying an i7 CPU, ask google for the reviews.
there was a fairly reasonable line of chips which were easily outperformed by its cheaper and older predecessor.
(I run xeons so I do not remember the details I'm afraid)

And.. stay clear od the radeon graphics chips.. while they are okay to great.. the drivers are really crappy more often than not.
Nvidia it is...
if you want lots of postprocessing powers, get one with dedicated memory and a Cuda compatible chipset.
IIRC for example premiere makes use of the CUDA GPU parallel processing to speed up rendering drastically.
with that.. GPU is even MORE important than CPU for most video editing tasks
(since apart from running the software which is done by the CPU all calculations are then GPU based.. and a GPU has thousands of cores where a CPU has less than ten )

'sid

 

[Kartorbust]

The problem with 4k video is, it takes a metric crap ton of bandwidth to upload, even upwards of a day depending on ISP speeds and local use. 720 and 1080 are good enough, since most people don't have UHD displays, let alone the bandwidth to even justify watching in 4K.

A 250GB SSD is probably all one needs for the OS and video software. Some laptops have enough space for them, Samsung has great SSD. I will say though, keep the laptop on a desk, especially ones with the vents on the bottom. Video editing will cause the laptop to generate a lot of heat, it's about as taxing as gaming. My laptop (Asus Q551L, no longer made) has the vents through the keyboard, and does pretty well keeping cool. For the amount of money though spent on a laptop for video editing, you could have a desktop that could be as good or better and be cheaper too. Desktops can be ran cooler, since they have larger and more fans, or you have the ability to liquid cool them. $800-1000 laptop can get you a great desktop.

 

[Bbqjoe]

I agree to everything Grant said...
(Dell is not always crap though.... IIRC they bough alienware a few years ago.. those are still great and a few other series are also still good.. but that's the four figure pricetag ones for sure I'm afraid)

one more thing I want to point out:
if you can find a win7 device... or buy a win7 license and install that.
main reason being, win10 takes about twice as many ressources than win7 (ram, cpu etc..)
sooo installing an older OS is basically increasing the amount of available ressources for whatever you need to do.
(videoediting in your case)

And since 4k videos are getting more and more important (at elast to some)
Buy a laptop with TWO internal harddrives.. one of which should be an SSD (OS and software only!)
the other one being just big is good enough (one or two TB should do.. HDD is fine for storage purpose)

I can't recall the model numbers affected.. but if you plan on buying an i7 CPU, ask google for the reviews.
there was a fairly reasonable line of chips which were easily outperformed by its cheaper and older predecessor.
(I run xeons so I do not remember the details I'm afraid)

And.. stay clear od the radeon graphics chips.. while they are okay to great.. the drivers are really crappy more often than not.
Nvidia it is...
if you want lots of postprocessing powers, get one with dedicated memory and a Cuda compatible chipset.
IIRC for example premiere makes use of the CUDA GPU parallel processing to speed up rendering drastically.
with that.. GPU is even MORE important than CPU for most video editing tasks
(since apart from running the software which is done by the CPU all calculations are then GPU based.. and a GPU has thousands of cores where a CPU has less than ten )

'sid

The problem with 4k video is, it takes a metric crap ton of bandwidth to upload, even upwards of a day depending on ISP speeds and local use. 720 and 1080 are good enough, since most people don't have UHD displays, let alone the bandwidth to even justify watching in 4K.

A 250GB SSD is probably all one needs for the OS and video software. Some laptops have enough space for them, Samsung has great SSD. I will say though, keep the laptop on a desk, especially ones with the vents on the bottom. Video editing will cause the laptop to generate a lot of heat, it's about as taxing as gaming. My laptop (Asus Q551L, no longer made) has the vents through the keyboard, and does pretty well keeping cool. For the amount of money though spent on a laptop for video editing, you could have a desktop that could be as good or better and be cheaper too. Desktops can be ran cooler, since they have larger and more fans, or you have the ability to liquid cool them. $800-1000 laptop can get you a great desktop.

You guys!!!!
His poor head's probably about to blow up.

 

[Kartorbust]

Could be worse, he could read a PC mag article or 6 and get even more confused.

 

[courts94s]

Do you have an iPad. I did all the videos on my YouTube channel, with my iPad. Final cut on a MacBook is probably the best entry level video editor.... if you have a Mac.
If you have a PC, you're doing it wrong.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[outcrydrummer]

Anything with a good up to date processor with lots of cores.....
I have the newest i5 processor with a ddr4 motherboard and 16g of ddr4 ram. It does ok.
Gpu, gpu, gpu!!! Video editing is heavily reliant on your graphics card. Your probably way better off doing some youtube research on building a pc and buying your parts. Most affordable off the shelf pc's (especially a laptop) is going to be sub par for video editing.

Software is the easy part. Hitfim 4 express is free and is a really good video editor. Only allows you to render to 1080p 30fps but i think youtube is capped to that anyways.

---------- Post added at 10:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:51 PM ----------

Do you have an iPad. I did all the videos on my YouTube channel, with my iPad. Final cut on a MacBook is probably the best entry level video editor.... if you have a Mac.
If you have a PC, you're doing it wrong.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Pishhh

Steve jobs is dead.....you dont have to kiss his @$$ now lol


---------- Post added at 10:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:58 PM ----------

Hi guys, I'm wanting to step my youtube game up and have nothing, so that gives me a good starting point. Obviously I'm looking to do this on the cheap, but I'm wanting a laptop that I won't end up smashing against the wall, so I am hoping you guys can point me in the general direction of what numbers and specs are important for video editing.
I want to stop right here and admit that I'm a complete ignorant when it comes to computering, so I have no idea what numbers mean what. I'm also interested in video editing software and what works as far as cameras go, I'm not a label *****, so I don't care what brand it is just something that will get the job done.
I don't care about having the latest or greatest or having the highest quality video on youtube. Pretty much looking for the most bang for my buck.

Sending you a pm.

 

[pRoFiT]

Yah so basically the faster the pc the quicker you can complete the video editing.

You could pick up a raspberry pi ($35) and edit video on it. but you would be waiting for ever for anything to run.

Software And i still recommend sony vegas pro. but i here Sony Vegas Movie Studio is just as good for a cheaper price. Adobe also makes some good video editing. but they are moving towards cloud based monthly payment style applications. which i hate. but maybe a previous version could be purchased without the need for constant web connection and monthly payments to adobe.

I've also tried final cut for mac....oh man that software is amazing! but way overkill for the average youtuber.


p.s. mac/win faboys. They both run on intel CPU's now. it makes no diff. i have a couple intel i7 pc's that i run hackintosh on. MAC on a PC hardware. runs great.

Audio for sound overlay talking if you want. a lot use the cheap BM 800 condenser mics. you can pick up super cheap from china. i have one but never really used it. More for live video streams.

hmm. anyone think this good deal? if i didn't have laptops i would buy.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-Thin...052707?hash=item237e1359a3:g:npYAAOSwdGFYpXS2

Something must be wrong with this posting? i searched ebay for laptop i7 buy now cheapest. and this came up.