Most versatile		Dell XPS 15		SEE IT	This no-nonsense pick blends superior power, customization, and price.
Best video editing laptop for portability		Microsoft Surface Book 3		SEE IT	This tiny but stunning laptop comes equipped with a speedy Core i7 processor and up to 32MB of memory.
Best budget laptop for video editing		Apple MacBook Air		SEE IT	Small but mighty, the MacBook Air comes with a super-efficient M1 chip that makes it a powerful machine for the price.

Laptops used to be far too underpowered to perform the intensive task of video editing. That, thankfully, is no longer the case. On the other hand, unlike, say, Chromebooks or gaming laptops, you won’t actually find products specifically targeted at video editing. So how do you find the best laptops for video editing? 

You’ll have to come in with some knowledge about what video editing really requires in terms of hardware, which will span everything from GPUs to memory to storage to port selection. This stuff won’t come cheap, and often won’t come in the physically smallest package, but it’s absolutely achievable to get a machine that’s capable of editing video on the go. We’re here to guide you through the maze of specifications to tell you what you actually need, and which modern laptops are the best at delivering.

• Best laptop display for video editing: Razer Blade 15
• Best Mac laptop for video editing: 16-Inch MacBook Pro
• Best GPU in a video editing laptop: Alienware M15 R4
• Most versatile video editing laptop: Dell XPS 15
• Best video editing laptop for portability: Microsoft Surface Book 3
• Best budget laptop for video editing: Apple MacBook Air

Features to consider when shopping for the best laptop for video editing

A computer is, at its core, made up of components, and when we’re talking about a computer for a particular task, like video editing, those components are very important. While the overall package does matter, and we’ll note if the software-hardware interface is especially good or bad, the best laptops for video editing need certain hardware above all else.

The importance of the big screen

Laptop screens have gotten crazy-good. For video editors, who are staring at their screens more intently than most computer users, the screen is really, really important. Ideally, you’ll want a combination of size, resolution, and quality. Size is probably the easiest one here: while a 13-inch screen is a great size for most uses, we think that’s probably too small for video editing, unless it’s being used as a secondary device. Instead, opt for 15-inch, 16-inch, or even 17-inch.

For resolution, you’ll want as high as you can get. Many laptops are available today with 4K screens, which is a 3840 by 2160 resolution; less common is a 1440p resolution; and cheapest is a 1080p. Go as high as you can.

You’ll also want a screen that offers high refresh rates for smooth video performance, a wide and accurate color gamut, and great viewing angles.

Best laptop display for video editing: Razer Blade 15

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Razer’s Blade 15 is technically a gaming laptop, but the requirements for gaming and video editing are quite similar making it the best laptop display for video editing. Most importantly, you’ll be getting an absolutely stunning 4K OLED display, a truly premium screen with deep, inky blacks and excellent color reproduction.

What about Apple?

Apple’s computers have long been the machines of choice for video editors, thanks to Apple specifically targeting editors and designers back in the 1990s. Some software, like Final Cut Pro, is only available on the Mac OS, and many video editors simply learned their craft on Mac computers. That meant that once they entered the workforce, Apple was what was familiar, and what they went for. You certainly don’t need to go with Apple to do some great video editing, but they remain, as always, a great option.

Apple is at a very curious point in their evolution right now. The company is transitioning from Intel chips to its own, house-made Apple Silicon. These chips might be power-efficient and tiny, but early reviews also find that they’re incredibly powerful, even enough for video editing. Really, there are two options right now for Apple video editing laptops: the new 13-inch MacBook Pro, which uses Apple’s own M1 chip, and the 16-inch MacBook Pro, which still uses an Intel chip.

Best Mac laptop for video editing: 16-Inch MacBook Pro

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While the 16-inch MacBook Pro isn’t the newest Mac laptop, we still think it’s the best Mac laptop for video editing owing to its large, 16-inch screen. You can max out the specifications with up to 64GB of RAM, a massive SSD for storage, and several high-end mobile graphics cards. The M1 Macs are surprisingly good for video editing, but screen size matters here.

How important is a powerful graphic card in your video editing laptop?

The graphics card is the heart of any video operation in a laptop, whether that’s watching videos, playing games, or, yes, editing videos. Video editing is a particularly intensive process, so a video card is perhaps the single most important internal component you should look at. You’ll want, at bare minimum, a discrete GPU, which means a graphics chip that isn’t merely a part of the CPU. (One possible exception: Apple’s M1 chip.) 

This means, interestingly enough, that you’ll likely find yourself in the gaming PC aisle: the requirements are fairly similar for high-end gaming and video editing. As for specific cards, there are too many to really name and rank here, and they change often. At bare minimum, you want a discrete card; from there, things only get better.

Best GPU in a video editing laptop: Alienware M15 R4

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With Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3080 on board, you can be sure you won’t be lacking for GPU power in this Alienware laptop. The RTX 3080 is currently the most powerful laptop GPU out there, and this beast of a laptop also features plenty of RAM and storage. It’s designed for gaming, so it only has a 1080p display, but you may not even notice, thanks to screaming performance.

How much RAM do you need?

Random-access memory, or RAM, is one of the most important specs to look for in a video editing laptop. RAM provides space for your software to work on projects that you’re editing; if you don’t have enough, your computer will shift to other forms of storage, like your SSD or hard drive, both of which are much slower.

These days, just for general use, you’ll want a minimum of 8 GB of RAM, just to run increasingly memory-hungry software like the Chrome browser. But software like Final Cut and Adobe Premiere are some of the most demanding programs, in terms of their memory use, that you can use. Those memory needs go even higher if you’re editing 4K video, which many video editors are these days. You’ll want 16 GB of memory at the absolute lowest, and if you can go higher, this (and the GPU) are where you should spend your money.

Most versatile video editing laptop: Dell XPS 15

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Dell’s laptops are a great blend of power, customizability, and price. The XPS 15 allows you to go all the way up to 64 GB of RAM, a 2 TB solid-state drive for plenty of storage, and a discrete GPU (the mid-range Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650). All those options can get pricey, but you can pick and choose exactly what you want for the perfect video editing laptop.

Do you need a laptop to edit video on the go?

A laptop is, at its core, meant to be portable. But lots of the laptops on the market are really only portable as a technicality; you certainly don’t want to be lugging around a 17-inch, seven-pound laptop with you wherever you go. That kind of weight can be bad for the shoulders and back, and can be impossible to use in situations where you really need to take up as little space as possible, like in an airport or in a coffee shop.

The problem, of course, is that as you get smaller and smaller laptops, you invariably lose power and capacity. Smaller laptops also have smaller screens; they have less space for batteries, fewer ports, and less powerful GPUs. Finding that perfect balance between portability and power is a tricky prospect.

Best video editing laptop for portability: Microsoft Surface Book 3

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Microsoft’s Surface Book 3 is absolutely beautiful, and in its smaller 13.5-inch-screen configuration, is surprisingly tiny. It weighs only 3.62 pounds (even less, if you detach the screen to make it a tablet), yet it packs in killer specs. You can configure this computer with a super-fast Core i7 processor, up to 32 GB of memory, and a GTX 1650 GPU.

Best budget video editing laptop: What you get for under $1,200

The best laptops for video editing are pricey. We’re not going to dance around it. Video editing requires a huge amount of power, and power doesn’t come cheap. You can very easily spend upwards of $3,000 on a video-editing laptop. But not everybody has that kind of cash, and, luckily, that doesn’t mean that those with smaller budgets are left out in the cold.

You’ve got essentially two options for more budget-minded video editing laptops. One route would be to find a less expensive gaming PC, like Dell’s G15, and carefully max out the elements that are most important to video editing, namely the RAM and GPU. You’ll likely be making sacrifices elsewhere, though, like in the build quality, screen quality, or storage. 

Instead, we like the new Apple MacBooks, especially the MacBook Air. You’ll get the remarkably fast custom-made Apple M1 processor, which has proven very, very fast at video editing, as well as other intensive tasks like gaming. And going for the Air is a great way to save a few bucks; after all, you’re getting the exact same processor and GPU in the Air as you would in the new iMac and MacBook Pro. One suggestion: get 16 GB of memory. It costs a bit more, but it’s worth it.

Best budget laptop for video editing: Apple MacBook Air

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The MacBook Air has the same super powerful, super-efficient M1 chip as the Mac Mini, iMac, and MacBook Pro, and video editors are astounded at the power and ability of this first-generation Apple chip. Opt for the16 GB of RAM, and you’ve got a really great little video editing machine.

FAQs

A final word on shopping for the best video editing laptops

The best laptops for video editing are a mixed crop: some Apple laptops, some gaming laptops, some ultraportables, and some maxed-spec machines. Most laptops can function for video editing, but if you follow our guide and focus on RAM, GPU, and display quality, you’ll get something that can do more than just function.

The post Best laptops for video editing in 2023 appeared first on Popular Photography.

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Best Samsung Galaxy phone		Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra		SEE IT	Probably the best Android phone on the market.
Best camera phone on Android		Google Pixel 5		SEE IT	This camera phone provides stellar nighttime photography.
Best budget Android phone		Google Pixel 4a		SEE IT	This model is fast, affordable, and sleek.

One of the great things about the best Android phones is that many different manufacturers can make their own, compared with the small lineup of iOS phones all made by Apple. The top Android, Google, and Galaxy phones vary dramatically in size, style, and price, but that’s what makes them interesting.

How do I pick the best Android phone?

Android phones come in sizes ranging from tiny to enormous, made by giant companies like Google and Samsung, as well as emerging makers many Americans haven’t heard of yet. Some phones have two screens; some have flexible folding screens. If you’ve already decided on Android, that doesn’t necessarily narrow things down. It can still seem like there are tons of options.

In general, Android phones come in three price categories. There are the flagship phones, which are the best, fastest, and most expensive phones in a given manufacturer’s lineup. These can cost upwards of a thousand dollars, but they’ll have the best screens, the fastest processors, the most storage, and the most cutting-edge technology. Then there are the budget phones, which can cost as low as $300. These have improved in recent years; many of them remain underpowered, but there are a few that are surprisingly good. A newer category is the mid-range: around $400 to $600, with perhaps not the highest-end tech but without any real weaknesses, either. 

• Best Samsung Galaxy phone: Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
• Best Android camera phone: Google Pixel 5
• Best foldable Android phone: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2
• Best small Android phone: Asus ZenFone 8
• Best budget Android phone: Google Pixel 4a

What’s the best Samsung Galaxy phone?

Samsung sells more Android phones than any of its competitors, and it’s easy to see why. The company is great at absolutely maxing out the specs, cramming more features and hardware options than anyone else into their phones. Early on, Samsung phones have sometimes attracted criticism for the way they modified Android—including new apps and a new aesthetic, for example—but recently, they’ve pared down.

Samsung makes a pretty wide range of Android phones under the “Galaxy” brand. There’s the Galaxy S line, which is the company’s normal phones; the Galaxy Note line, for larger phones; the Galaxy Z Fold, which is a folding phone; and the Galaxy Z Flip, which is…also a folding phone, though it flips vertically (like an old-school flip phone) rather than horizontally. 

Best Samsung Galaxy phone: Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra

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The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is probably the best Android phone on the market, period, in terms of specs. It has a 6.8-inch AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, which makes everything feel smoother and more natural. It takes 8K video and has a 10x optical zoom on its camera. Plus, it includes 5G support for the fastest service. It has a processor that could well be faster than your home computer! That doesn’t come cheap, but if you want the best, well, here it is.

Related: Curious about the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2? Check out this review of the multitasking champion phone.

What’s the best camera phone on Android?

A tricky thing about modern smartphone cameras is that you can’t really tell how good they are just by reading the specifications. Megapixels don’t mean much these days; the best Android cameras rely on the phone’s image processing software to make the photos as good as possible. That said, if you do a lot of zooming, it might make sense to look for a phone with an optical zoom, which magnifies the image by moving the lens, rather than simply taking a picture and then enlarging a section of it. 

What you should look for in the best Android phone camera depends on what kind of photographer you are. Do you like messing around with settings and white balance and aperture? Go for the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra. But if you just want your phone to take the best pictures with the least amount of work, the Google Pixel 5 is our pick.

Best Android camera phone: Google Pixel 5

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Google’s Pixel phones, like the Google Pixel 5, never have the most powerful camera hardware, but the photos they take are often considered the best. That’s thanks to the company’s image processing, which analyzes photos and changes them to be more clear, more vibrant, and better to look at. Google also has “Night Sight” in its Pixel phones, a feature that enables nighttime photography that’s better than what any other company has yet managed.

What’s the best foldable Android phone?

Folding phones have been around on Android for a couple of generations now, something Apple can’t claim; Apple has yet to release even its first. These phones generally operate in two ways: Either the phone folds out into a tablet-level size, or it is a large phone that folds down to be nicely pocketable. 

The early generations of this tech had flaws, with very obvious creases in the screen, astronomically high prices, and a tendency to break. But the newer versions are sturdier, faster, more capable, and, well, still expensive. But being able to fold your phone is just so cool and, ultimately, pragmatic.

Best foldable Android phone: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2

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The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 is the style of phone that folds out into a larger, nearly tablet-sized device. It has a 6.2-inch display on the outside, great for quick checks and texts while on the go, but then folds out into an enormous 7.6-inch gadget, great for multitasking, typing longer emails, watching videos, and playing games. The price has gone down recently; at its original listed price of $2,000, it was hard to recommend, but with prices dropping to nearly half that, it’s a great buy.

What’s the best small Android phone?

There’s no getting around it: phones, especially Android phones, are getting bigger and bigger. And just when you think they can’t get any bigger? They do. For some people, bigger is just fine: more screen real estate for gaming or videos, the ability to make text bigger, that kind of thing. For other folks who like to keep their phones in their pockets or who want the ability to operate their phone with one hand, it’s not so good.

Small phones simply don’t sell as well as big phones, and the manufacturers often either don’t make them or only make them with middling hardware. But there are a few out there that are nicely pocketable and still perform well.

Best small Android phone: Asus ZenFone 8

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Look, if you’re really into the idea of a small phone above all else, the Apple iPhone 12 Mini is considered the best. But in the Android phone world, there’s a worthy competitor in the Asus ZenFone 8. It includes a superfast Snapdragon 888 processor—the same one in the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra—but in a small package, with a tiny (by today’s standards) 5.9-inch screen. One major downside: This phone only works with GSM networks, so if you’re locked into Verizon, this phone is a no-go.

What’s the best budget Android phone?

When looking at budget Android phones, you should start with the company that, well, makes Android in the first place: Google. Google’s Pixel line includes the “a” line—the Pixel 3a, 4a, and, likely soon, the 5a. These phones aren’t the fastest and don’t come with the best camera hardware, but that turns out to not really matter. 

Google knows Android better than anyone, because it’s a Google product, and they have all the tricks to get the most out of the slightly cheaper hardware the Pixel “a” line uses. Don’t bother looking at the megapixel count: Google’s Pixels, even these budget ones, use intelligent software to optimize photos, negating the need for cutting-edge hardware. As a result, these phones feel faster, and they take better photos than much more expensive phones. In fact, the Pixel’s camera is generally held to be the best in the entire industry—at least as good as any iPhone camera.

Best budget Android phone: Google Pixel 4a

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With an absolutely top-of-the-line camera and quick performance, the Google Pixel 4a dramatically outperforms its price. You’ll also get a headphone jack—a rarity in many modern phones, which have moved to Bluetooth (of course, this phone also has Bluetooth). You won’t get some bonuses like wireless charging, but that’s a small price to pay. Just like this best Android phone under $500.

FAQs

A final word on the best Android phones

Buying a new phone is a fun process, especially if you’re looking for the best Android phones (and cases). There are so many options, from tiny phones to foldable to beefy flagships— you’re bound to find the perfect one for you. Making decisions about style, camera, and budget in advance should help narrow down your research and let you make the best choice for you or a family member.

The post The best Android phones for any budget or style appeared first on Popular Photography.

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