[Technology] New laptop advice please!

[gripper stebson]

Hi all,

OK - need a powerful laptop for video editing / graphic design bits but am being drowned in a sea of review sites!!

Budget is around £1500

Links or DM's would be superb. Thanks gang!

 

[chip]

Don't by a Dell XPS, very disappointed and despite the spec not suited to the imaging I wanted it for. I've gone back to an HP spectre x360 which despite being 3 years older is much better.

 

[Brian Fantana]

MacBook Pro all day long.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

MacBook Pro all day long.

This.

 

[ConfusedGloryHunter]

£1.5k? I have a Spectrum +3 you can have for that. No cables but the disk drive still worked last time I played Double Dragon on it.

 

[Badger]

MacBook Pro all day long.

Even though I cannot stand Apple, it's hard to disagree with this.

 

[Smile]

I was so surprised when I tried the latest MacBook Air, even this basic version handled video editing with ease.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

£1.5k? I have a Spectrum +3 you can have for that. No cables but the disk drive still worked last time I played Double Dragon on it.

Second hand prices for these are pretty good!

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

Depends how sophisticated you want to edit your video.

That'll be software functionality based - do you know what application you will be using?
I've used Windows Movie Maker for years when I create sports [cricket] analysis video as it serves all my needs because it's simple to use and free - short, cropped clips, with titles/narrative inserted - I've not had the need to include audio overlay [music or commentary] ...

I use a Win 10 Pro with i5 CPU and 8GB RAM - adequate

With video editing, primary need would be a fast CPU [i7] and plenty of RAM [16GB] but to make use of the hardware make sure the software is 64bit and not 32bit as 32bit can only access a max of ~4GB of RAM.

 

[GingerBeerMan]

MacBook pro, second hand is the way to go. Probably from Cex as they have 2 year warranties as well. Shouldn't cost you more than £1,000 for a top of the range one.

 

[mikeyjh]

I've not used for one for video editing so you may want to ignore but my experience is..... I switched to Mac OS, desktop and laptop in 2011 and had a great experience, replaced in 2019 - By 2022 they were both being frustratingly slow and I needed a second desktop for (unpaid) resource hungry work I'm doing in Bioacoustics. Bought a refurbed Windows desktop and it's absolutely wiped the floor with the Mac for general office style work, play and the Bioacoustic processing. Since gone all windows, 2 desktops and 2 laptops. The laptops are black boxes, certainly not things of beuaty but if you want substance over style and value for money, Windows is miles ahead for me right now. It is, of course, horses for coursed though

One thing I'd say for certain is buy refurbished, you will make massive savings. I used Backmarket as I was quite specific in my requirements but there are loads of indepedents out there. And Currys.

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

Macbook pro is an extra 200 quid, but that's basically what it was build to do. My first one lasted me 10 years. The new apple silicon is insane. Fans almost never spin up, battery life is great and these things can really take a beating.

14-inch MacBook Pro - Space Grey

MacBook Pro laptop, supercharged by the M3 family of chips. Best-in-class battery life. Stunning Liquid Retina XDR display. Customise yours now.

www.apple.com

Second hand is also a very good option.

 

[beorhthelm]

Macbook pro is an extra 200 quid, but that's basically what it was build to do. My first one lasted me 10 years. The new apple silicon is insane. Fans almost never spin up, battery life is great and these things can really take a beating.

14-inch MacBook Pro - Space Grey

MacBook Pro laptop, supercharged by the M3 family of chips. Best-in-class battery life. Stunning Liquid Retina XDR display. Customise yours now.

www.apple.com

Second hand is also a very good option.

Macs are great. but how the holy fudge can they justify base model having only 8GB, then charging £400 for 24GB... over 5x the cost!

then i see the price of the 16" version

i'm always in awe of the business model of Apple.

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

Macs are great. but how the holy fudge can they justify base model having only 8GB, then charging £400 for 24GB... over 5x the cost!

then i see the price of the 16" version

i'm always in awe of the business model of Apple.

Yeah numbers wise it always makes for pretty depressing reading. But my experience with a Macbook Pro (M1 Pro, 16GB RAM) has been pretty incredible. It never stutters, handles Photoshop/Illustrator and basically anything I throw at it with ease and it's silent. Had it for 2 years and it's not slowed one jot. Never crashed or hard reset and is built like a tank.

I've only ever done pretty basic video editing on it and tons of coding, but I cannot recommend it enough. A second hand M1 Pro/Max version would be a very good option.

Also, buying a Mac makes your farts smell wonderful and gets you tons more friends.

 

[PascalGroß Tips]

Macbook pro is an extra 200 quid, but that's basically what it was build to do. My first one lasted me 10 years. The new apple silicon is insane. Fans almost never spin up, battery life is great and these things can really take a beating.

14-inch MacBook Pro - Space Grey

MacBook Pro laptop, supercharged by the M3 family of chips. Best-in-class battery life. Stunning Liquid Retina XDR display. Customise yours now.

www.apple.com

Second hand is also a very good option.

Definitely. My wife's MacBook Air just gave up the ghost. It was over 12 years old.

She got a refurbished one from Hoxton Macs a couple of weeks ago - making a decent saving over new - and has been very impressed. She went for one in 'excellent' condition - it looks brand new - which was more than £300 less than a new one. Their website is very good with an excellent filter to narrow down your search. I'll probably go through them next time rather than buying new.

 

[nicko31]

Go for something with AMD Ryzen 7, 4nm chips, better GPU than Intel and lower power consumption (better battery life)

The compelling case for a Mac has to be resell value, people will still pay good money for used