Best Laptop for Video Editing in 2023

There’s no doubt about it; video editing requires a powerful laptop to turn great ideas into visual realities. And with the amount of processing power required, you don’t want to sacrifice speed when it comes to choosing the best laptop for video editing. That’s why the Gigabyte Aero 16 is our top choice in this area, sporting a stunning 4K AMOLED display, a 12th Gen processor, and a 3070 Ti GPU.

These are the Best Laptops For Video Editing

• Gigabyte Aero 16
• Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (M3 Max)
• HP ZBook Firefly
• Alienware x15 R2
• Razer Blade 14
• MSI Creator Z17
• Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch
• Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 OLED

Because of all the power required, video editing laptops can be expensive. You need a decent processor, a powerful GPU, and a color-accurate display to fine-tune your creative ideas. The good news is you can often find a decent gaming laptop that will do the job well, saving you the expense of investing in a laptop that’s marketed for video editing, and therefore not as expensive.

What’s more, on Black Friday you’re sure to find a great deal on a range of high-end laptops that will serve you well for years to come. Keep your eyes peeled for significant discounts, and get the laptop you want at the right price.

1. Gigabyte Aero 16

Best Laptop For Video Editing

Nothing beats powerful internals and a brilliant display for video editing on the go. The Gigabyte Aero 16 manages both plus a mid-range price point to boot, making it our favorite laptop for video editing. The 16-inch UHD+ display offers thin bezels and sharp visuals, so you won’t miss any details in your projects. Better still, the display totes a 4K Samsung AMOLED panel and VESA DisplayHDR 500 for vibrant colors, rich black levels, and insane brightness. It’s easy to get work done from anywhere with this computer. And, you never have to worry about your edits on this machine looking off elsewhere, as the display comes X-Rite Certified and Pantone Validated for color accuracy with a 100% DCI-P3 color gamut.

If you think the display has a lot to offer, you might be more impressed by what’s under the hood. There’s the latest 12th Gen Intel Core i7-12700H processor on top of 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. You are in for some speedy processing and multitasking with this machine. Though, if you want it to chug along even better, it can be kitted out with up to a wild 64GB of RAM. Plus, rendering work can be pushed onto the graphics processor, which is a solid RTX 3070 Ti. So, in addition to editing, you’ll be good to game on this machine as well. Possibly, most importantly, it comes in a delightfully portable form factor that weighs a manageable 5.07 pounds.

2. Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (M3 Max)

Best MacBook For Video Editing

Apple’s 16-inch MacBook Pro is a machine of great power, reliability, and functionality. With its latest M3 Max processor, it’s the highest-performing MacBook you can get. This new M3 Max chip offers a combined CPU and GPU. And, by going with the M3 Max, you will be able to push this machine to the limit, as it doubles the number of GPU cores and memory bandwidth offered with the M3 Pro. It can handle a massive file load and work super fast. All of this is perfect for your video editing needs.

In addition to the excellent processor, the 16-inch MacBook Pro has a stunning Retina XDR display that provides vibrant colors and an excellent contrast ratio, so you can ensure all of your edits are looking exactly like you pictured. For anyone who lives inside Final Cut Pro X while on the go, this MacBook Pro really can handle everything you throw at it. It’s one of the best MacBook models to buy right now.

3. HP ZBook Firefly

Best 15-inch Laptop For Video Editing

If you’re looking for a perfectly powerful and compact workstation, the HP ZBook Firefly is that. It packs all the components you need for video editing into a form factor that’s ready for your backpack. This machine comes with a decently sized 15.6” screen, but it is still super thin and light enough that you’re not likely to find your back hurting from toting it around.

Inside, the HP ZBook Firefly comes packing a quad-core Intel i7-1165G7 processor alongside a professional-grade Nvidia Quadro T1000 graphics card. Those should be perfect for handling all your video editing needs along with the impressive 32GB RAM. The 1TB of SSD NVMe storage offered with this laptop should be more than enough for most. And, don’t worry about the display with its impressive 4K UHD, a peak brightness of 250 nits, and an anti-glare finish, it’s up to all your video editing tasks.

4. Alienware x15 R2

Best Laptop for 4K Video Editing

Editing 4K video takes a beast of a machine, but that’s just what you get from the Alienware x15 R2. It pairs a 12th Gen Intel Core i9 processor with an Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti, giving you a bunch of powerful CPU cores—14 cores in total with 20 threads—and ample graphics power for hardware acceleration. This system can hold some large projects in memory and has no problem cruising through tasks even with multiple heavy applications open thanks to its 32GB DDR5 RAM, and you can load up projects quickly from the 1TB NVMe SSD.

If the 15.6-inch QHD display isn’t going to cut it, you’ll have an easy time setting the Alienware x15 R2 up with an external monitor using its rear HDMI 2.1 port to support 4K or even 8K video output. You also get DisplayPort capabilities from the USB-C and ThunderBolt 4. But, when you’re done editing for the day and want to game, you’ll want to switch back to the built-in monitor because it has a blazing 240Hz refresh rate at 1440p and G-Sync for some silky-smooth frames.

5. Razer Blade 14

Best Ultraportable Gaming Laptop for Video Editing

For a laptop that you can take just about anywhere and has loads of power to do a bit of everything, you want the Razer Blade 14. Yes, Razer is often associated with gaming, but anyone can appreciate this highly capable machine. An AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX octa-core processor, Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti GPU, and 16GB DDR5 RAM are all packed into this chic little machine. However, it still manages to weigh less than four pounds and measure just a bit over a half-inch thick. This means you not only get an insanely portable laptop but also one ready to take on whatever task you throw at it. So, you’ll really find little to no downtime while working on your latest edits.

The Razer Blade 14 offers a 14-inch QHD display that lets you do some editing on the go as well as gaming, thanks to its 165Hz refresh rate. And no, this isn’t the best display on our list, but it’s still great and does offer a 100% DCI-P3 color gamut to ensure your edits never look off no matter where they’re viewed. You’ll also be good to connect this computer to a monitor or TV for more screen real estate, if you need it, thanks to the HDMI 2.1 output. Plus, two USB-A and two USB-C ports are available for tons of connectivity options.

6. MSI Creator Z17

Best High-End Video Editing Laptop

The MSI Creator Z17 may seem like a basic, run-of-the-mill laptop at first glance, but lurking inside is some serious muscle, which makes it the perfect high-end machine to handle all of your video work. It comes rocking the latest 12th Gen Intel Core i7-11800H processor and a 32GB RAM, and this gives it the power to keep up with even the biggest files and downloads. It’s a multitasking maven. And, thanks to the Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti graphics processor, there is a perfect amount of rendering speed for high-resolution editing. Those components will come in handy if you want to do a bit of gaming on the machine as well.

If you’re looking for a laptop with loads of screen space, the MSI Creator Z17 is the answer. You get a bright 17-inch IPS display built-in that offers a QHD+ resolution to let you see everything with high contrast and deep blacks from any angle. Plus, the 100% DCI-P3 color gamut and True Color Technology ensure your color edits are accurate no matter where they’re viewed. And should you decide you need some more screen space for complex edits, the HDMI output will come in handy for connecting an external monitor. Overall, its larger display and impressive internals do make this one of the bulkier laptops on our list, but it still manages to be under 5.5 pounds and three-quarters of an inch thick. That means this laptop is still very much an on-the-go editing option.

7. MacBook Pro (14-inch, Late 2023)

Best Laptop for Final Cut

Boasting Apple’s M3 Max chip, the MacBook Pro M3 Max is designed for power users who want the best machine for video editing. Thanks to its 14-core CPU, 30-core GPU, and stunning Liquid Retina XDR display, you can push productivity to the limit, allowing you to work more efficiently.

The 14.2-inch display might not be the biggest on the market, but it’s one of the most vibrant and offers over 1000 nits of brightness on HDR settings. Making accurate video edits no longer requires guesswork. The MacBook Pro M3 Max provides a premium experience. It includes all the ports you need too, like a MagSafe charging port, three Thunderbolt 4 ports, and an SDXC card slot for convenience.

8. Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 OLED

Best Dual Screen Laptop For Video Editing

When you’re editing a video, there’s a lot to pay attention to. A laptop’s screen isn’t always going to provide enough real estate to keep all of your tools easily accessible, but Asus has a workaround. The Asus Zenbook Pro Duo 15 OLED boasts a primary 15.6-inch display and a secondary 14-inch tilting touchscreen display to improve your workflow. The main display utilizes an HDR-capable OLED panel with a UHD resolution, letting you get an incredible look at the footage you’re working on. Meanwhile, the secondary display maintains that same level of impressive sharpness while providing a handy home for extra tools or your video timeline. Now, it’s honestly hard to compete with an on-the-go option that offers two screens in one.

Of course, this video editing machine needs some might behind its impressive screens, but don’t worry, the Asus Zenbook Pro Duo 15 OLED brings it. This model comes kitted out with an Intel Core i9-11900H processor fed by 32GB of DDR4 memory. It’ll handle your biggest file downloads and task heavy apps like a champ. And, the dedicated Nvidia RTX 3060 graphics card inside offers capable rendering speeds, making it ideal for high-res editing.

What to Look for in a laptop for video editing

In many ways, there’s a significant overlap between a great video editing laptop and a gaming laptop. You want something that’s powerful, while still being portable. Battery life is nice to have for everyday tasks, but when it comes to processing your latest shoot, you’ll want to keep your laptop plugged in.

To help with processing, you’ll want a laptop with a powerful GPU. Nvidia’s latest RTX 30-series GPUs are now the norm. You’re going to want a computer packing this graphics processor to get solid rendering speed and work done. Luckily, almost all of our picks come rocking a chip in this series.

When looking at processors in a laptop, Intel’s 12th generation chips are becoming commonplace, and future proof your investment, but aren’t a requirement. Intel’s 11th generation processors are just as capable and will save you a little money when shopping. A quick way to identify which generation is being used in a build is to look at the numbers that follow the processor name. For example, an Intel Core i7-1165G7 denotes a 11th-generation Rocket Lake processor. Whereas an Intel Core i7-12700H represents a 12th generation Alder Lake processor.

It’s easy to get caught up in looking at flashy gaming laptops, most of which will do just fine as a video editing machine. But don’t limit yourself to a gaming machine, laptops like the Gigabyte Aero 16 or MSI Creator Z17 are proof that non-gaming laptops are just as powerful and versatile.

Jason Cipriani has covered technology full-time for the past 8 years. During that time he has freelanced for the likes of CNET, Fortune, Time, ZDNet, Macworld, Wired, and TechRadar.

Danielle Abraham is a freelance writer and unpaid music historian.