Gone are the days when video editors are only in-demand in the TV and film industry. The emergence of various media channels such as the online world has opened up more opportunities to those who are skilled in video editing. Also, if you never had a background on producing video content, it’s about time you learn this skill if you plan on starting your own blog. Almost every blogger these days have adapted to the growing demand of their target audience—that is, to come up with more content of various media forms including videos such as video blogs a.k.a. vlogs. Read more about vlogging here.
Whatever your reason for wanting to enter the exciting world of video production, whether that’s for a professional career or you simply want to pursue your passion, you’ll surely have fun in the learning process. It’s not all fun learning a highly-technical job though. But, if you have the right equipment, there can be less difficulties. That being said, choosing an appropriate laptop for video editing is crucial. What should you look for in a laptop if you plan to use it for video editing?
Search a laptop with BIG RAM
If you’re a beginner, would you install a video editing software in a laptop with 2GB RAM? Big mistake. You’ll end up wasting hours on that lagging computer. Chances are, the video editing software you’re using would close by itself many times while you’re working on your project.
A big amount of RAM is especially needed in video editing because your computer would need a lot of space where it can store the temporary work files created during the editing process. So, the larger the amount of RAM, the larger will be your storage for temporary files and the faster your computer will run.
As a general rule of thumb, it is always good to start with 8GB of RAM if you want to edit videos that are less than 1080p. While editing footages in a computer with 8GB of RAM, it is also advised to close other programs that use up a lot of RAM in the background.
On the other hand, if you’ll be working on 1080p-4K 8bit projects with few programs running in the background, choose a computer with 16GB of RAM. For editing projects when heavy use of background programs is required, you’re good to go with a laptop that has 32GB RAM. Meanwhile, go for 64GB and above if you’ll be constantly editing 8K footage in 10bit or more and if you’ll be using programs such as After Effects and Cinema 4D.
Go for an SSD rather than an HDD
When it comes to hard drive, there’s totally nothing wrong with HDD. It’s totally okay when you have small editing projects. However, for all kinds of editing projects, get an SSD whenever you can that’s around 500GB or higher. What’s the difference anyway? Well, an SSD makes your laptop work way faster than HDD. If you’re going to compare the two as well, SSD is less prone to failure and lasts longer. Find out more on the advantages of SSD: http://www.ingrammicroadvisor.com/components/4-benefits-of-ssd-vs.-hdd-whats-the-difference
Let’s talk about the size of your hard drive, too. As mentioned, you should opt for one that’s around 500GB or more. When you do so, you’ll avoid the hassle of carrying around an external hard drive, especially when you’re traveling.
Research a good processor for the programs you’ll be using the most
Video editing tools such as Adobe Premiere Pro have recommended computer specifications including processor requirements. Before buying a laptop, determine what editing tools you’ll probably use. Then, read a trusted laptop resource page to find out which laptops are recommended for such editing tools, or any video editing projects. Basically, an Intel i5 processor or i7 would be highly recommended.
Choose a lightning-fast graphics card
NVIDIA and AMD Graphics are popular brands when it comes to a graphics card. They produce really good graphics card, yet, it’s important to do your own research because they also produce less recommended graphics card for video editing needs.
Bonus tip: When picking the right laptop for video editing, choose one that has superb battery life. Video editing consumes a hefty amount of power. So, if you don’t want to plug in your laptop to electricity all the time, get a laptop with at least 10 hours of battery life or more.
Also, take a look at other features you’ll be needing for conveniences such as an SD card slot, several USB ports, and a built-in DVD writer.