I’m looking for a laptop that I’ll mainly be using for video editing for my YouTube channel. No gaming. Budget is $600-ish. I haven’t had a computer in probably 10 years so I’m going into this blind. Thanks in advance for any recommendations.
Phil
"The abbot says we should be grateful to you for a number of things. He said it was thanks to you that we rediscovered the whole moral universe that we had been in danger of forgetting—courage, sacrifice, faith . . .” — From a forgotten Man-Kzin Wars book
Asus, if was me. I purchase an Asus about 5 years ago, Intel i7, Nvidia 1570,144 mghz, 16 gb of ram, 1tb ssd, $700 out the door 5 years ago, still works great..
Not to directly counter Terl9999's recommendation, but I had a really bad service experience with Asus, where a computer made by them died a few days before the warranty expired, and after I spent a few days trying to use guides from their website to fix it, I gave up and contacted them about warranty work, and they refused. 1 day out of warranty, and they shut me down without so much as a sorry.
But for recommendations, I have had really good luck with factory refurbs, as you get a little more for your money but the same warranty as new (the Asus above was not a factory refurb). Video editing is actually a fairly high-impact activity, so a little more capability might be worth looking at. I bought a factory refurb MSI laptop for $650 from a site called Woot (woot.com) that often has factory refurb systems rotating through their daily deals, and it's been great, and works well for video editing, but a more powerful system would do better, of course. I do not see any on their site right now, but they have deals that change every day.
Things to think about what you want, besides the obvious performance items (CPU, video card, RAM, etc.) would be the screen size and resolution (for me, 1080p is good, but I wouldn't go lower), back-lit keyboard, touch-screen, built-in ports, and power adapter type (USB-C is the current standard, so I would try for that).
Edit: not to pile on, but here are a few videos about other people's issues with Asus:
Last edited by Arthonon; 08/19/2505:40 AM.
Ken Cartwright
No single drop of rain feels it is responsible for the flood.
I bought a Dell. Customer service is so "English as a second language". They do fix and replace stuff, just frustrating at times. Also... I thought video editing is pretty processor and video intensive. Is a budget lappie gonna handle it???
'After about twenty years of having one, I am now convinced that, for the most part, smartphones may be the dumbest thing man has ever invented!"
"There's a sucker born every minute." Phineas Taylor Barnum
I would check slickdeals.net and buy whatever is in your price range. At this price point, it doesn't really matter much. I am also a fan of buying at Costco as they have a 90 day return policy and, I think, extra year warranty.
I bought a Dell. Customer service is so "English as a second language". They do fix and replace stuff, just frustrating at times. Also... I thought video editing is pretty processor and video intensive. Is a budget lappie gonna handle it???
Depends on the type of editing. I'd second a Dell. They usually have good support and we use them for work. My current one is 6 years old of very hard use. Very hard as in lots of processing, programing, testing automation projects and usually in very terrible conditions like loads of dust/dirt, humidity and heat. Only had a fan fail on it in that time.
I guess I was lucky with my Asus Laptop, just my experience. I took it apart recently and both fans were clogged, cleaned the fans and now running much cooler.
I guess I was lucky with my Asus Laptop, just my experience. I took it apart recently and both fans were clogged, cleaned the fans and now running much cooler.
I was waiting to see if anyone mentioned these. My Apple experience is limited to iPhones and iPads, plus the ones I’ve seen were out of my budget range.
Phil
"The abbot says we should be grateful to you for a number of things. He said it was thanks to you that we rediscovered the whole moral universe that we had been in danger of forgetting—courage, sacrifice, faith . . .” — From a forgotten Man-Kzin Wars book
Thanks for the replies so far. The budget is cash, I’m trying to avoid using a credit card and still have to get an action cam as well (looking at Insta360 Ace Pro 2.) Getting both now will let me learn how to use everything and start publishing videos well before winter.
Phil
"The abbot says we should be grateful to you for a number of things. He said it was thanks to you that we rediscovered the whole moral universe that we had been in danger of forgetting—courage, sacrifice, faith . . .” — From a forgotten Man-Kzin Wars book
Thanks for the replies so far. The budget is cash, I’m trying to avoid using a credit card and still have to get an action cam as well (looking at Insta360 Ace Pro 2.) Getting both now will let me learn how to use everything and start publishing videos well before winter.
As I mentioned, that Woot website often has deals, and they have some factory refurb MSI laptops in your price range now. You'll want to check the specs vs. value, but it might be worth a look. These deals are temporary, and some are already sold out, so you the longer you wait the less selection you'll have:
Sooooo much has changed in the past 10 years. I think I’m going to talk with a computer geek army buddy and either get his advice on a laptop (with a higher budget) or have him write me up a parts list and build a desktop (I really prefer desktops.)
Phil
"The abbot says we should be grateful to you for a number of things. He said it was thanks to you that we rediscovered the whole moral universe that we had been in danger of forgetting—courage, sacrifice, faith . . .” — From a forgotten Man-Kzin Wars book
Sooooo much has changed in the past 10 years. I think I’m going to talk with a computer geek army buddy and either get his advice on a laptop (with a higher budget) or have him write me up a parts list and build a desktop (I really prefer desktops.)
I would think that you'll get more bang for the buck with a desktop if you don't need the portability.
Sooooo much has changed in the past 10 years. I think I’m going to talk with a computer geek army buddy and either get his advice on a laptop (with a higher budget) or have him write me up a parts list and build a desktop (I really prefer desktops.)
I would think that you'll get more bang for the buck with a desktop if you don't need the portability.
Sooooo much has changed in the past 10 years. I think I’m going to talk with a computer geek army buddy and either get his advice on a laptop (with a higher budget) or have him write me up a parts list and build a desktop (I really prefer desktops.)
Your subject only mentioned a laptop so I thought that's what you wanted or needed for your situation. For video editing in particular, I would definitely recommend a desktop if you have the space for it and a monitor. I don't know if you already have video editing software, but if not, Microsoft has Clipchamp for free, and you can get Davinci Resolve for free too, which is a very powerful, professional-level video editor, but has a steep learning curve.
Ken Cartwright
No single drop of rain feels it is responsible for the flood.
I was looking for a laptop for space reasons, but if I can reorganize my gear room and unload some stuff I don’t use I’ll have room for a smallish desk. So much stuff to do, so little time to do it!
As far as what I’ll need the software to do, basically combining video from different devices and adding captions. Very basic stuff, I don’t plan on any special effects, adding music, nothing like that.
Phil
"The abbot says we should be grateful to you for a number of things. He said it was thanks to you that we rediscovered the whole moral universe that we had been in danger of forgetting—courage, sacrifice, faith . . .” — From a forgotten Man-Kzin Wars book
I'm not wild about the interface, but Clipchamp should do everything you want.
Just for reference a laptop I picked up as a factory refurb (for $600) has the specs below, and I'm using Adobe Premier Elements for video editing, adding transition effects, audio, etc., and it handles it pretty well.
MSI Prestige 14 i7 Laptop
Windows 11 Pro Core i7-1260P, 1.5 - 4.7Ghz 14" FHD, 60hz IPS level 100%sRGB, 1920x1080 NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3050 Laptop GPU White backlight keyboard (84 Key) 16GB LPDDR4X-4267 512GB NVMe SSD Killer WiFi 6E AX1675 (2x2 ), BT 5.2 IR HD Webcam [30fps/720p] 1x USB 3.2 Gen1 (Type-A), 2x Thunderbolt 4*2 [Support Power delivery, DP 1.4a, USB 4.0] , Mic-in/Headphone-out Combo
Ken Cartwright
No single drop of rain feels it is responsible for the flood.
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