Best Laptop to edit 4k video under $1000

stompdat

stompdat

Member
Trying to save money here..

Can I edit a 4k video without chop on a cheap laptop? What do I look for in a laptop for editing 4k vids? I found the Dell Inspiron Series 15 7000 might be a solid choice. It's $900.

Thanks dudes.
 
4k from what camera?

And TBH even a fully loaded MBP will still choke on 4k, you'd need a high end i7 processor, 16-32gb of ram, a high end graphic card (gtx 960 or higher) and then you probably won't even have a 4k screen to view your 4k footage on.

I voted for shooting 1080p. You won't notice a difference and no one else will either.
 
13604278:eheath said:
4k from what camera?

And TBH even a fully loaded MBP will still choke on 4k, you'd need a high end i7 processor, 16-32gb of ram, a high end graphic card (gtx 960 or higher) and then you probably won't even have a 4k screen to view your 4k footage on.

I voted for shooting 1080p. You won't notice a difference and no one else will either.
Click to expand...

Now i may catch flack for this (like i often do),

but you may want to look into downscaling to 1080p from 4k if you want really good video while not spending insane amounts of cash on a 4k editing monster.

Now if you have a 4k Camera, then this is great, if you are looking at getting a 4k camera, don't waste your money on features your computer won't be able to handle.

Like eheath said, shoot 1080, but if you want something a little more crisp, buy a good computer, and then i would suggest getting software that can downscale your footy to 1080. After Effects would be my go to because you can torrent it everywhere.

While your computer will take some time to process it, it will look a little better than 1080.

-And before anyone freaks out and calls me an idiot, it is the facts. A lot of cameras "1080" is not actually 1080, so if you shoot 4k and downscale it, it will be true 1080, which looks really quite good.

I do not have a 4k camera, so i am no master at downscaling, and do not claim to have a lot of knowledge about it, but i know it is an option if you are looking to do good video editing on a computer that may not be able to handle intense 4k editing.

p.s. until 4k monitors are more common, 4k will be pretty pointless.. Especially considering most people have apple laptops which have 1280x800 or whatever.
 
13604305:EDolloStone said:
Now i may catch flack for this (like i often do),

but you may want to look into downscaling to 1080p from 4k if you want really good video while not spending insane amounts of cash on a 4k editing monster.

Now if you have a 4k Camera, then this is great, if you are looking at getting a 4k camera, don't waste your money on features your computer won't be able to handle.

Like eheath said, shoot 1080, but if you want something a little more crisp, buy a good computer, and then i would suggest getting software that can downscale your footy to 1080. After Effects would be my go to because you can torrent it everywhere.

While your computer will take some time to process it, it will look a little better than 1080.

-And before anyone freaks out and calls me an idiot, it is the facts. A lot of cameras "1080" is not actually 1080, so if you shoot 4k and downscale it, it will be true 1080, which looks really quite good.

I do not have a 4k camera, so i am no master at downscaling, and do not claim to have a lot of knowledge about it, but i know it is an option if you are looking to do good video editing on a computer that may not be able to handle intense 4k editing.

p.s. until 4k monitors are more common, 4k will be pretty pointless.. Especially considering most people have apple laptops which have 1280x800 or whatever.
Click to expand...

This is great advice. You will have a horrible time with anything 4k on anything you bought for a grand. Additionally, if your budget is 1000, I'm guessing your maybe shooting 4k on a hero 4? Just shoot in a different resolution if that's the case. like they said, be patient. 4k is still useless, generally speaking
 
I edited a legit 4k short film on my iPhone 6s. It was $850 so that breaks your price line. Go for the + size for $100 more. Total steal, plus built in iMovie. Can't beat it
 
13604305:EDolloStone said:
Now i may catch flack for this (like i often do),

but you may want to look into downscaling to 1080p from 4k if you want really good video while not spending insane amounts of cash on a 4k editing monster.

Now if you have a 4k Camera, then this is great, if you are looking at getting a 4k camera, don't waste your money on features your computer won't be able to handle.

Like eheath said, shoot 1080, but if you want something a little more crisp, buy a good computer, and then i would suggest getting software that can downscale your footy to 1080. After Effects would be my go to because you can torrent it everywhere.

While your computer will take some time to process it, it will look a little better than 1080.

-And before anyone freaks out and calls me an idiot, it is the facts. A lot of cameras "1080" is not actually 1080, so if you shoot 4k and downscale it, it will be true 1080, which looks really quite good.

I do not have a 4k camera, so i am no master at downscaling, and do not claim to have a lot of knowledge about it, but i know it is an option if you are looking to do good video editing on a computer that may not be able to handle intense 4k editing.

p.s. until 4k monitors are more common, 4k will be pretty pointless.. Especially considering most people have apple laptops which have 1280x800 or whatever.
Click to expand...

nah, you won't catch flack for this because you're right. Although even if the camera did shoot a true 1080 the 4k downscaled to 1080 would still look noticeably better I think.

There's no way you'll find a computer under 1k or even under 2k that'll handle 4k editing with ease (depends on bitrate of footage and shit too so 4k from which camera does matter). Also even if you could edit it (premiere at 1/8th or 1/16th with offline-online workflow) rendering a 2 minute thing would probs take you like 5 hours with anything under 1k
 
If you've got time on your side, and are strapped for cash for a good computer, you can always shoot in 4k, create 720p or 1080p proxies to edit with, then export in 4k using the original files.
 
Alrighty. Sounds like I just need to downscale to 1080. And yes, I am using a GoPro. Anyone know any good programs I can use for free? I found Macx HD, Wondershare, and a few others, but they don't seem to work with the video I have. It's a ten minute long clip if that matters. Anyone have these problems with converting software?

Just wanna get footy for da boys!

Thanks again dudes!
 
Disclaimer: I assume you have a gopro hero 4. If not skip the first paragraph

I assume that you have a GoPro 4 because if you have a nicer camera capable of shooting 4k you probably would not ask a question like this. So going off this assumption, downscaling from 4k would look great however you are limiting yourself in the modes you can use. Shooting in 1080p, while it has slightly more aliasing than 4k on gopro's sensor, allows you to use the different FOV's and the higher frame rates. 1080 narrow on the gopro looks strikingly similar to footage shot with a 50mm lens and has like no aliasing that I can see on my native 1920x1080 display. 1080 medium looks great with far less gopro fisheye distortion, and with a little tinkering in after effects you can do a pretty good job of getting rid of that. You could use the wide 4k for wide stable shots and then downscale. Don't knock 1080p because you have a camera capable of higher resolutions because the additional settings at lower resolutions can be used to make a much better looking video. But OF COURSE if you don't have a gopro don't listen to me because it obviously doesn't matter.

And to be more on topic: I have a Lenovo y50-70 with a i7 quad core 2.6gHz (although I have seen it boost to 3.6gHz when rendering), 16gb ram, and a built in NVIDIA gtx 860m. It is awesome for the little gaming I do (Arma 2 and 3 at max settings running flawlessly). It depends what editor you use, but my laptop struggles with even 1080p in devinci resolve 11.3. I put in an SSD and use it for caching and use an external HDD with a SATA3 to usb3.0 connector to hold the footage and I still have to use proxy versions of each clip to edit. So moral of the story: Leave the 4k to the big boy desktops or ridiculous laptops out of most people's price ranges. Also, explore the other settings on your camera that might actually work better. Probably don't get a macbook if you do plan on doing heavy rendering. They thermal throttle like bitches and after I switched to windows I will never go back.

If you do happen to have a gopro, this is an awesome article written by one of the head gopro media creators Abe Kislevitz. Even if you have a Hero 4, a lot of the settings still apply and it's a really helpful guide. His website also has links for helpful stuff for all their cameras. Definitely helped me:
http://abekislevitz.com/understanding-your-new-gopro/
 
13611263:HumanGenius said:
Disclaimer: I assume you have a gopro hero 4. If not skip the first paragraph

I assume that you have a GoPro 4 because if you have a nicer camera capable of shooting 4k you probably would not ask a question like this. So going off this assumption, downscaling from 4k would look great however you are limiting yourself in the modes you can use. Shooting in 1080p, while it has slightly more aliasing than 4k on gopro's sensor, allows you to use the different FOV's and the higher frame rates. 1080 narrow on the gopro looks strikingly similar to footage shot with a 50mm lens and has like no aliasing that I can see on my native 1920x1080 display. 1080 medium looks great with far less gopro fisheye distortion, and with a little tinkering in after effects you can do a pretty good job of getting rid of that. You could use the wide 4k for wide stable shots and then downscale. Don't knock 1080p because you have a camera capable of higher resolutions because the additional settings at lower resolutions can be used to make a much better looking video. But OF COURSE if you don't have a gopro don't listen to me because it obviously doesn't matter.

And to be more on topic: I have a Lenovo y50-70 with a i7 quad core 2.6gHz (although I have seen it boost to 3.6gHz when rendering), 16gb ram, and a built in NVIDIA gtx 860m. It is awesome for the little gaming I do (Arma 2 and 3 at max settings running flawlessly). It depends what editor you use, but my laptop struggles with even 1080p in devinci resolve 11.3. I put in an SSD and use it for caching and use an external HDD with a SATA3 to usb3.0 connector to hold the footage and I still have to use proxy versions of each clip to edit. So moral of the story: Leave the 4k to the big boy desktops or ridiculous laptops out of most people's price ranges. Also, explore the other settings on your camera that might actually work better. Probably don't get a macbook if you do plan on doing heavy rendering. They thermal throttle like bitches and after I switched to windows I will never go back.

If you do happen to have a gopro, this is an awesome article written by one of the head gopro media creators Abe Kislevitz. Even if you have a Hero 4, a lot of the settings still apply and it's a really helpful guide. His website also has links for helpful stuff for all their cameras. Definitely helped me:
http://abekislevitz.com/understanding-your-new-gopro/
Click to expand...

On a seroius note though, I do edit videos on my late 2011 Macbook Unibody(white polycarbonate), the last of its kind. I upgraded the ram to 10 GB and the stock 250 GB hard drive with a new Toshiba 1 TB one. I have no problem at all editing and exporting 1080p 60fps videos. It quite a steal. Buy the used laptop at a used computer store for maybe $550 tops then add harddrive for about $60 from OWC, then the RAM for maybe $100. Boom. Done. Roasted.
 
13613045:daskommando said:
On a seroius note though, I do edit videos on my late 2011 Macbook Unibody(white polycarbonate), the last of its kind. I upgraded the ram to 10 GB and the stock 250 GB hard drive with a new Toshiba 1 TB one. I have no problem at all editing and exporting 1080p 60fps videos. It quite a steal. Buy the used laptop at a used computer store for maybe $550 tops then add harddrive for about $60 from OWC, then the RAM for maybe $100. Boom. Done. Roasted.
Click to expand...

Well as I said, it depends what programs you are running. I'm using Davinci Resolve which is designed to be used with a professional workstation with a color grading board that goes for like 30k, so it makes sense that it's sluggish when scrubbing and playing back in a timeline on my laptop. Out of curiosity, what program are you using to edit? And I would find it hard to spend around $700 on a used laptop using laptop grade hardware. At that point why not just buy a brand new laptop for $900 to $1000 with a warranty and current software?
 
So turns out I'm looking to sell my personal on-the-go machine that I use to edit 4K Drone videos, shot with a GoPro.

It's a Lenovo z710.

i7 Quad Core, 16gb Ram, 120GB ssd, Blu Ray, Nvidia 745M. For $500.00 USD + Shipping.

PM me for full specs if you're interested.
 
13614432:HumanGenius said:
Well as I said, it depends what programs you are running. I'm using Davinci Resolve which is designed to be used with a professional workstation with a color grading board that goes for like 30k, so it makes sense that it's sluggish when scrubbing and playing back in a timeline on my laptop. Out of curiosity, what program are you using to edit? And I would find it hard to spend around $700 on a used laptop using laptop grade hardware. At that point why not just buy a brand new laptop for $900 to $1000 with a warranty and current software?
Click to expand...

Fair point. I used GoPro studio for the longest time but recently changed to Adobe Premier Pro. Going with new gear is a good idea. I just upgraded my current stuff and it's worked out fine. So my point is that, if you currently have a decently laptop/software that you are already comfortable with, maybe it would be worth just spending another $200 to update it with more RAM and a better HD. Just my 2 cents though.
 
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