Choosing a laptop that strikes a balance between performance, portability, and screen quality can make or break your workflow. This video offers a clear breakdown of what you need to know about laptops specifically for creators, touching on practical details about performance and specific configurations that work best for different creative tasks.
Coming to you from Brent Hall, this insightful video focuses on three types of laptops: ultra-portable two-in-ones, creator-focused laptops, and high-powered gaming laptops. Hall begins by explaining why ultra-light laptops, like the Samsung Galaxy Book, can be convenient for travel but lack the power needed for heavier editing tasks. Weighing under 2.5 pounds, these laptops prioritize portability over performance, which can be limiting if you require features like Adobe's AI noise reduction. Despite their appeal for light work, these options fall short for those needing consistent, high-level performance.
The video then examines creator-focused laptops, which have gained popularity among photographers due to their tailored design and balanced specs. These laptops offer a middle ground between weight and performance, often including discrete graphics cards and higher-quality screens. Hall points out that while these laptops perform well in editing programs like Photoshop and Premiere Pro, they can suffer from thermal limitations due to their thin build. He emphasizes that creators should consider laptops with solid cooling systems, as poor heat management can reduce performance over time.
Next, Hall covers gaming laptops, which provide the highest power in exchange for extra weight. Equipped with powerful CPUs and GPUs, these laptops perform exceptionally well for demanding tasks like rendering high-resolution videos and working with numerous layers in Photoshop. However, their screens often prioritize high refresh rates over color accuracy, which can be a drawback if you require precise color representation. Hall advises that gaming laptops should ideally have adjustable refresh rates, allowing you to lower them to save power and improve color accuracy during editing.
Beyond choosing the right type of laptop, Hall details crucial hardware considerations such as CPU, GPU, RAM, and storage. He advises opting for multi-core processors and sufficient RAM—ideally 16 GB or more—for smooth multitasking. Integrated GPUs in ultra-light laptops can manage light edits, but a dedicated GPU is essential for more complex work. He also highlights the importance of checking for expandable RAM and storage, which can extend a laptop’s usability as your needs grow. For ports, Hall recommends Thunderbolt 4 for fast data transfer, especially if you work with large files on external drives. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Hall.
No Macs. Waste of time.
The title of the article should be:
"Choosing the Least Bad Windows Laptop for Photo and Video Editing"
Thanks for saving everyone some time, internet hero! Though, I'm sorry you had to waste your time coming in here to bless us with your clever article title. Honestly, you should have known it was a waste of your time because the title didn't contain the words Macbook, Tim Cook, or "most powerful ever."
I mean really, anyone with a differing opinion is a waste of time anyway amirite?
The title wasted my time by not informing me that the video was only for followers of the Dark Side. At least Mr. Hall didn't make me watch 10 minutes of intro before letting me know. OTOH, he titled it "A Beginner's Guide to Laptops for Photographers", implying a broad perspective. A proper title would make it clear he's surveying only a subset of available laptop options. Some folks seem to think Windows is the center of the universe. It's not.
Some folks think Macs are the center of the universe, they're also wrong.
Windows is far from ideal, but it's also the only viable option that runs "industry-standard" photo editing and management software that isn't MacOS
I will never buy an Apple product, for a host of reasons, not relevant to this discussion. I also happen to be technically savvy enough that I'm not necessarily the target audience for this article. This can help a great deal of "never Apple" people make a buying decision, definitely not a waste of time.
I just think that article titles and intros should mention the platform if the discussion centers on just one, so that users of one platform or another don't waste their time. It's always disappointing to click into a review, and sometimes read an entire article, only to find it's irrelevant to me.
I've always thought a desktop computer with a 32" or larger screen was better for editing. Laptops are for travelers (it's difficult to use a desktop in a car and awkward to carry a desktop system into a hotel room.) Ambitious work demands serious hardware.
I have 24" and 32" displays connected to my Mac Studio. But, on the road or on location at conferences and other long events, I bring my iPad Pro to serve as a second display alongside my MacBook Pro, doubling my screen real estate. I put thumbnail grids on the iPad and devote the MBP screen to the image I'm working on. The iPad connects wirelessly, easily, and is self-powered. The two devices can run basically all day without plugging anything in. And, color is similar on both displays. I had bought a 24" display to bring on location, but this combo does the trick and fits in my carry-on-size rolling backpack.
As for "Ambitious work demands serious hardware", that is not always the case. Some very ambitious, and successful, work is done with modest hardware. Not calling myself "ambitious", but the fairly high demands of running my high-volume event photography business were met for three years by a $1099 M1 Mac mini. Now I could do it easily with a $799 M4 mini and a used 24" NEC display for $100. Aside from that, "ambition" can encompass concepts and aesthetics that are a function of choice and technique and not dependent on "serious" (i.e. expensive) hardware.