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[dcll]

He has videos from his iPhone and from a Canon 6D MKii he wants to edit and was asking me about a laptop. I do t keep up with computers anymore and said why not an iPad, he said because I could do more on a laptop. I am thinking about buying him an iPad but not sure yet, I need opinions

 

[SegaShack]

Most editing software would be optimized for a full operating system. I'd go with a powerful laptop or a desktop.

 

[navii]

He knows best. Probably be cheaper too.

 

[H4ze]

An iPad would be the worst you could get him. You need a powerfull device to work with 4k videos.
Get him a strong laptop or even better, a desktop PC, operating on Windows.

 

[Kamina]

I wonder what kind of videos he wants to edit. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

 

[newtypepilot]

neither. Get a desktop.

Editing 4k videos require specs in the higher end spectrum. A laptop would cost way too much.

 

[Despera]

What kind of editing work we talking about here?

 

[lock2k]

He has videos from his iPhone and from a Canon 6D MKii he wants to edit and was asking me about a laptop. I do t keep up with computers anymore and said why not an iPad, he said because I could do more on a laptop. I am thinking about buying him an iPad but not sure yet, I need opinions

As a video editor, laptop all the way.

 

[Spaceman292]

Buy a laptop then just make a big pile of the money saved from not buying a fucking iPad and set it on fire if that'll make you feel better.

 

[dcll]

I found a 2016 Dell XPS 15" with great specs, I'm assuming this is more than capable even though it is older

 

[crumbs]

I found a 2016 Dell XPS 15" with great specs, I'm assuming this is more than capable even though it is older

How much?

My boss has the 9550 model XPS 15, which is from 2016. The battery is pretty easy to replace, but the USB C port is also the only Thunderbolt 3 port, so you'll lose that functionality. Also, the 9550 does have an m.2 slot, but I believe it's only SATA3, not NVME.

 

[dcll]

425

 

[Codes 208]

425

Thats actually not bad for a entry level gaming laptop

edit: oh, n/m i didnt notice that its used with a bad battery

 

[oagboghi2]

Honestly a desktop is the better choice.

But if it must be a laptop, an HP omen 17 is a decent laptop with enough power for 4K editing, and the price isn't that much higher than a new ipad

 

[Benjamin_MFF]

If you want to edit, get a computer and a keyboard.

 

[dcll]

 

[davepoobond]

are laptops actually viable for 4K video editing? seems like they'd need a legit video card and a ton of ram in it. might as well get a desktop at that point.

 

[Benjamin_MFF]

Here's an amazingly important park of editing: Hard Drives. You will need to pull from so many sources and having the largest compatibility will only help you.

 

[LOLCats]

i did edit my 4k drone video on my ipad pro, but really its nothing like a PC. if youre going to spend that much on a tablet, he might like a suped up XPS better (then maybe get a refurb ipad pro later on)

 

[LOLCats]

Here's an amazingly important park of editing: Hard Drives. You will need to pull from so many sources and having the largest compatibility will only help you.

ipad pro offer usbc external storage compatibility now, but network file transfers are faster anyway.

 

[gundalf]

If portability is not a requirement, then building a nice Ryzen based 8-Core Workstation w/ 32GB Ram for around 850$ is also a nice alternative and you are not bound to a walled garden and can use free creative software like DaVinci Resolve, Luminar, Ardour, Krita Paint, InkScape, Blender, GIMP, Magical Voxel and much, much more. Besides the free software, a Workstation PC can be expanded cheaply with new (fast) storage and IO (you can add USB-C, capture cards, WiFi/BT and so on).

//edit
Building the PC together makes also a nice experience and memory

 

[Valonquar]

There is nothing that an overpriced Mac brings to the table that an equally priced Windows 10 machine couldn't do better. Change my mind.

 

[TaySan]

Neither of those. Get a desktop for 4k editing.

 

[dcll]

We have decided to go the desktop route, any input would be much appreciated on what bare minimum parts. I haven't kept up with computers in years, haven't built one in probably four years.

 

[Rentahamster]

haven't built one in probably four years.

They haven't changed that much. Watch some recent Youtube tutorials for a refresher, and make it a father son project. Look up CPU benchmarks for whatever video editing programs he wants to use and buy best one you can afford. It'll probably be an AMD CPU, but you might be able to score a nice Intel one used. 32GB RAM is important, and so is an SSD.

 

[I_D]

I can't imagine trying to do any actual editing whatsoever on a touch-screen.

Something with a keyboard + mouse would immediately be better, regardless of the specs.

Whether it's a desktop or a laptop, either option is almost certainly better than a touch-only machine like a tablet. And if 4k-editing is a requirement, some decent hardware is a must. That immediately rules out anything cheap or weak.

 

[Valonquar]

If he wants to do video editing, make sure you get a desktop that can support 3 or more harddrives. You want to have an OS drive, a "scratch" drive" and a "target" drive for working with processing large video files. Uncompressed 4k video files take up a lot of room quickly. Don't try to pay out the nose for SSD scratch/target drives of respectable sizes. 7200 RPM 3TB drives are fine and way cheaper. I mean if he's gonna be the next Robert Rodrigez or something spring for all flash, but don't get oversold on bleeding edge tech.