Hey everyone! I'm on the hunt for a video editing laptop that I can use at work. I don't need anything too powerful since I already have a desktop at home with a 3080 GPU. I just need a laptop that can handle Premiere Pro without making me wait forever and has a decent screen for color grading. I usually shoot in 4K, but I'm fine using proxies to ease the load. My budget is pretty tight—around $300 to $350 max—and I'm particularly interested in used models or ones that are easy to upgrade. Any suggestions?
3 Answers
If you’re really set on that $300-350 range, keep an eye out for a 2017 MacBook Pro. It might fit within your budget, but just keep in mind that it won’t offer much in the way of upgrades down the line.
Honestly, finding a laptop for around $300 that can handle 4K video editing is going to be tough. You might find older models, but they will likely struggle with rendering. A decent Mac for video editing would set you back around $2000, so that's out of budget. However, Lenovo workstation laptops pop up on sale for about $600, but keep in mind that the screen quality might not be the best.
I would say that getting a brand new laptop for 4K editing under $300 is a long shot, even with proxy footage. But if you're okay with used or refurbished models, you might be looking at a minimum budget closer to $900 for something that offers a decent screen, at least 16GB of RAM, and a budget GPU. For your budget, consider looking for a used gaming laptop; they're often upgradable and can provide decent performance for editing.
Yeah, I guess that limits my options for upgrades. Thanks for the heads-up!