Best video editing laptop | Laptop Mag

You’ll need one of the best video editing laptops to work with raw 4K,6K, 8K, or even 12K video or to create special effects. While you can trim small clips with a cheap laptop, they won’t boast a fast processor, strong discrete graphics, or a high-resolution display. A cheap laptop will also have weak battery life and slow rendering times, and if you’re a run-and-gun content creator, you don’t have time to waste.

The most affordable video editing laptop on our list is the MacBook Air M1, which you can still snag for around $800 on sale. Our top choice is the most expensive MacBook Pro 16-inch M2 Max with 96GB of RAM and 4TB of storage, costing you a whopping $5,299. 

If you prefer working within Windows on a PC laptop, you will require a discrete GPU, which will drive up the cost and devour battery life. If you don’t mind being tethered to an outlet, there are several PC laptop options you should take a serious look at. However, if you’re a run gun always creating on-the-go type, then an Apple MacBook is your best option, as the engineering wizards at Cupertino have mastered performance and battery life using some form of dark magic. 

Compiling this list took a great deal of time, and it will change, grow, and be updated as we review newer laptops. Enough with the pretense; let’s jump into which laptops are the best for video editing. 

As we come to the finish line of 2023, there will be some upcoming changes to our best video editing laptops page. Also, with makers like Nvidia and Intel infusing hardware with AI, we may see some surprise changes, and possibly even a Chromebook enter our best video editing list. 

The Quick List

Don’t have the patience to scroll through the whole list to find your next video editing laptop? No worries, I lack patience too, here’s a quick look at all the laptops on our best video editing laptops list complete with link that will take you directly to a review of the laptop your heart desires. 

1. MacBook Pro 16-inch (M2 Max, 2023)

Backed by the prodigious power of Apple’s M2 Max chipset, the option 16 to 96GB of RAM, and up to 8TB of Storage, the MacBook Pro M2 Max 16-inch reigns supreme as the ultimate mobile video editing laptop. If there is a video editing deity, this is the laptop they would use because it is powerful, and, remarkably, 18 hours and 56 minutes of battery life are unmatched by the competition. 

As our reviewer stated, “the company’s proprietary M2 Max chip. It shames competitors while putting a clear gulf between its predecessors.” When you add a roomy, responsive keyboard, and a captivating 16-inch Liquid Retina XDR display (3024 x 1964 pixels, 254ppi), the MacBook Pro M2 Max is leagues beyond the competition, so much so a special in-the-field report is in the works to see how it handles when pushed to its limits. 

In addition to the powerful chipset, you get powerful audio, but the cherry on top is the battery life, which is nearly 19 hours, which will serve on-the-go creators well. In short, the MacBook Pro 16 is a relentless beast. But not so fast — there’s always a price. And in the case of MacBook Pro 16 M2 Max, the price is the actual cost ($2,699 starting, $5,299 as reviewed). It’s par for the course with Apple, but it still will give most people, including this reviewer, pause. 

But if you want the crème de la crème of Macs, the MacBook Pro 16 sits at the top.

See our full MacBook Pro 16-inch (M2 Max, 2023) review.

Razer Blade 16

The Razer Blade 16 packs pure fire with a 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13950HX CPU and an Nvidia NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 GPU, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB of SSD storage. The 16-inch WQUXGA IPS (3840 x 2400) display is stunning, reaching 93% of the DCI-P3 color gamut while averaging 466.6 nits of brightness. 

Its ample deck and delightful keyboard make for an excellent editing experience. However, 5 hours and 29 minutes of battery life mean you’re tethered to a wall socket for a whole day’s use. Also, performance is hit when you’re running on battery alone. 

Overall, its gorgeous design, spec potency, and editing capabilities are undeniable. So far, this early in the year, it is hands down the best PC video editing laptop we’ve gotten hands-on with. 

See our full Razer Blade 16 review

MacBook Pro M2 14-inch

Why yes, it’s another MacBook Pro, but this time it is the M2 14-inch model that also allows you the option of an M2 Max chipset. RAM starts off at 16GB, and if you select the Max, you can ramp things up all the way to 96GB of RAM. Storage options run from 512GB all the way up to 8TB. 

With its sleek, super portable design weighing in at just 3.5 pounds, it slips into your camera backpack with great ease, and did I forget to mention it also averages 14 + hours of battery life while maintaining optimal performance levels plugged or unplugged, which is perfect for run-and-gun content creators who find themselves traveling a great deal. 

The M2 Pro chipset offers a 10-Core CPU and 16-Core GPU for improved performance. The Base model 14-inch remains $1,999 with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage. If you want to get it with the M2 Max chipset, which comes with a 12-Core CPU and 19-Core GPU, it also bumps you up to 32GB of RAM with the same 512GB SSD, it will cost you $2,899. If you do choose the Max chipset, it allows you to bump up your RAM to a whopping 96GB. 

Ever since Apple released its new silicon on the world with the M1, PC laptops have been trying to catch up, especially in battery life and per-watt performance. The climb seems even steeper as Apple is preparing to unleash 3nm chips soon. Sure there’s no flashy design update or extra ports to get excited about. However, performance wise Apple keeps setting the bar higher, faster, and farther than the competition is able to anticipate, in the mobile video editing space. 

See our full Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, M2, 2022) review.

MSI Creator Z16P

MSI’s Creator Z16P is a prodigiously potent powerhouse of content-creating perfection that will save you money if you want to edit using a PC. Equipped with a 12th Gen Intel Core i9-12900H CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti GPU with 16GB VRAM, a 16:10 golden ratio display with QHD+ (2560 x 1600) resolution, a 165Hz refresh rate touch screen, and a stylus, I’m shocked it didn’t just manage to drive to my home and deliver itself.  

The major selling point for me with the Creator 16P is its massive, immersive, and vivid touch display. It literally challenges you to create whatever your heart desires, and a touch display is something you will not find on any MacBook. 

The Z16P is a portable content creator workstation that easily handles Adobe Creative Suite’s power-hungry needs, enjoys editing and color grading in DaVinci Resolve, and lets you enjoy some gaming. This sleek, elegant beauty is always ready to be powered up and put to work — but it comes at a high price. Read on to find out if the MSI Creator Z16P is actually worth taking out a loan for and why it makes our list of best video editing laptops.

See our full MSI Creator Z16P review.

HP ZBook Studio G8

Last year’s HP ZBook Studio G8 holds on to the award-winning G7 series styling but bumps up the power to help content creators with their creative projects in the studio or the field. The $4,727 system is gorgeous, powerful, MIL-SPEC tough, and is one of the best content creator laptops on the market. Oh, I forgot to mention that its OLED 4K touchscreen is bright, vivid, and stunning.

This salacious attention grabber comes with an 11th Gen Intel Core i9 processor, 32GB of RAM, 2TB of SSD storage, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 GPU that will more than handle all your Adobe Creative Suite power-hungry needs and then some. It’s easily one of the best video editing laptops that we’ve tested, even if it’s priced at a whopping $4,727 as reviewed.

See our full HP ZBook Studio G8 review.

Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1

I love playing with expensive toys, but who the heck is the Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 really for? Not the budget-friendly professionals nor up-and-coming businesses — it’s for highly paid professionals or Fortune 500 companies. So unless you can afford $4,663, look away now.

Okay, big spenders. The Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 will net you a beautiful 16-inch, 4K display, a comfortable keyboard, great speakers, and a powerful Core i9-12950HX vPro processor and Nvidia RTX A5500 GPU. However, despite its ridiculous price and boring design, it has a short battery life, so you’ll have to stay plugged in most of the time.

This is one of the best workstations and best video editing laptops I’ve reviewed — I’m just a tad salty about the battery life and the price.

See our full Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 review.

MacBook Air M2

Apple is once again represented, and it may shock some to see a MacBook listed in the best entry-level and budget category, but here we are. The MacBook Air M2 is the perfect lightweight entry-level content creator laptop at just $1,199 for the M2 with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. For $200 more, you can get 16GB of RAM if you need it. 

I have edited hours of video on the MacBook Air M2 while working from an external 1TB SSD I picked up for $50, and it is fast, renders within a more than reasonable amount of time, and has all-day long battery life. Even the model with just 8GB of RAM will flawlessly handle an entry-level content creator’s workflow. At $1,199, it is a steal, and here is where I go a little crazy. 

The MacBook Air M1, for just $999.99, is a great budget-friendly beginner content creator laptop that you will find new, on sale for under $800, which is highway robbery. I still like to grab my MacBook Air M1 and run around new york city and stop somewhere between filming and shooting photos for a sandwich and editing while I snack away. It still gives me all-day battery life, and it weighs next to nothing at just 2.8 pounds.

See our full review of the MacBook Air M2 or M1. 

How to choose the best video editing laptop

Choosing the best video editing laptop for you depends on a couple of things. One is your budget — how much are you willing to spend? And another is what you’ll be using it for — of course you’re video editing, but are you simply trimming small clips in 720p? Or are you editing massive projects in 4K? Your answer will determine what kind of system you need.

If you want to get into video editing as a hobby, we recommend starting out with a cheap gaming laptop. It’ll offer you a decent amount of power and you’ll get a feel if you want to stick with video editing for the future. If you’re a professional that needs a top-of-the-line video editing laptop, you’re going to need a sharper and brighter display to get your work done, which will cost a pretty penny. So when you’re buying a video editing laptop, ask yourself — how much do you actually need it?

How we test video editing laptops

There’s a number of tests that we run on video editing laptops to make sure they’re up to par with our standards, such as Geekbench, which measures the overall performance of the CPU, and the HandBrake video editing test, which determines how long a laptop takes to transcode a video from 4K to 1080p. To test the GPU, we use synthetic benchmarks like 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited and 3DMark Fire Strike.

Performance isn’t the only thing you have to worry about when you’re looking to buy a video editing laptop. We also take into account the display, specifically the resolution, the sRGB color gamut coverage and average number of nits that its panel can produce. Considering that content is frequently consumed on phones with OLED screens or giant colorful TVs, you need to make sure you’re able to see what your users will be seeing when you’re editing videos.