Month: May 2020

It takes time to create a stunning video. From the first brainstorming session to scriptwriting, to actually filming – it’s a lot of work. The last thing you want to do at the end of an edit session is to wait for your work to be rendered and ready to share with the world.
A speedy laptop for video editing is about more than just the latest processor. You’ll also want a powerful GPU to speed up exporting, but often that means you’ll give up some portability. Although, that’s not always the case, as you’ll see below.

The spec sheet of most video editing laptops reads a lot like a gaming laptop, with color tuned displays, RTX 20-series GPUs, and cooling systems to ensure everything keeps running. But that’s necessarily a bad thing. You’ll save yourself some time, and when you’re done working, you can open your favorite game and escape for a couple of hours.

These are the Best Laptops For Video Editing

• Gigabyte Aero 15
• Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch
  
• HP ZBook Studio x360 G5
• Acer ConceptD 5
• Razer Blade Stealth
• Alienware Area 51m
• Asus ProArt StudioBook Pro 17

1. Gigabyte Aero 15

Best Laptop For Video Editing

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• See it on Adorama
• See it on Newegg
• See it on Best Buy

The Aero15 checks all the boxes for a fully-loaded video editing laptop without the sticker shock. The Samsung AMOLED display is X-Rite Pantone color calibrated, giving you realistic colors and shading. There’s a myriad of ports on either side, including a rare UHS-II SD card reader.

This laptop also comes with Microsoft’s Azure AI support, which helps automatically tune the CPU and GPU based on the app you’re using, increasing performance when you need it most. There are several configurations, with the one we’re highlighting here being the middle of the road option in specifications and cost.

2. Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch

Best MacBook For Video Editing

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• See it on Adorama
• See it on Best Buy

Apple’s 16-inch MacBook Pro is the most powerful MacBook Apple makes. It combines Apple’s typical minimal approach to design, with a high-resolution Retina display, an AMD Radeon Pro 5000M GPU, and a beefy 64GB of memory.

It was also the first laptop Apple shipped with the new Magic Keyboard scissor mechanism that, so far, hasn’t experienced the same issues Apple’s keyboards had been plagued with. For anyone who lives inside Final Cut Pro X while on the go, the 16-inch MacBook Pro was made for you.

3. HP ZBook Studio x360 G5

Best 15-inch Laptop For Video Editing

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• See it on HP
• See it on Walmart

HP’s ZBook Studio boasts Intel’s Xeon E-2176M processor and the Nvidia Quadro P1000 GPU. Unlike the RTX or GTX lines which are primarily for gaming, the Quadro is designed and marketed for professional applications like CAD or video editing and support 10-bit color.

The ZBook Studio x360 has a unique form factor with a screen that rotates nearly 360-degrees, a touchscreen, and stylus support. So you can flip around the display and use the included ZBook Pen to make edits, sketch graphics, or take notes. There are multiple configurations, doubling the memory or storage – or both.

4. Acer ConceptD 5

Best 17-inch Laptop For Video Editing

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• See it on Acer

Want more screen space? 17.3-inches is plenty for a laptop, and Acer found a way to keep it from adding a ton of extra weight. The ConceptD has a Pantone validated 4K screen with true to life colors.

This configuration hits an attractive price point while combining the reliable performance of 9th generation Intel Core i7 and a GTX 1660 Ti – a combination we’ve seen perform well in some of the best budget gaming laptops, and it is sure to excel when put to use in a creative environment.

5. Razer Blade Stealth 13

Best Ultrabook For Video Editing

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• See it on Razer
• See it on Walmart
• See it on Newegg

The Razer Blade Stealth 13 (see our review) is stunningly small, lightweight, and portable, without sacrificing much, if any, power. It’s a clear cut Ultrabook on the outside, with a spec sheet that reads like a gaming laptop. Another benefit? It’s priced more in line with what you’d expect from an ultrabook, at $1,500.

The 13.3-inch screen looks fantastic, despite its 1080p resolution. Razer also has a 4K touch panel configuration if you require a higher resolution display. Weighing just over 3 pounds, lending itself to be tossed in a bag and taken anywhere you want to work.

6. Alienware Area 51m

Best Desktop Replacement For Video Editing

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• See it on Dell
• See it on Walmart

Not all laptops are made for your lap, and the Alienware Area 51m (see our review) is proof of that. It’s big, bulky, and heavy, but for good reason. Instead of using a mobile processor, it uses a desktop-class CPU i9-9900K and RTX 2080 for a truly powerful workstation. It comes with plenty of storage, 1TB of SSD storage and a 1TB hybrid drive.

The Area 51m has a fun design, with a honeycomb pattern on the bottom that’s part of its cooling system. There are plenty of ports, allowing you to connect peripherals and monitors via HDMI, miniDisplay Port 1.4, or Thunderbolt 3.

7. Asus ProArt StudioBook Pro 17

Best High-End Video Editing Laptop

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If budget isn’t a concern, you can go all out with the Asus ProArt StudioBook Pro. The massive 17-inch WUXGA display is powered by a Xeon E-2276M processor, and Quadro RTX 3000 GPU that’s designed for professionals (read: not gaming). With 64GB of memory, 4TB of storage, and the Xeon E-2276M, you’re looking at a computer that should be able to handle your editing sessions with ease.

The overall design is fairly small, given what it’s packing inside. At 5.27 pounds, it’s still portable even with a 17-inch screen. You can pare down the $4,000 price tag with different configurations, cutting down memory, storage, or both.

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 20-series GPUs leverage Nvidia’s Max-Q design that trades a slight decrease in performance for a smaller overall size, and in turn, allowing for a light and portable laptop (just look at the Razer Stealth). But don’t get caught up on with having to have the latest 20-series GPU – unless you’re dealing with 8K video, you should be able to get by just fine with something like the GTX 1650.

When looking at processors in a laptop, Intel’s 10th generation chips are becoming commonplace, and future proof your investment, but aren’t a requirement. Intel’s 9th 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 i7-1065G7 denotes a 10th generation Ice Lake processor. Whereas an Intel Core i7-9750H represents a 9th generation Coffee 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 ZBook Studio x360 or Asus ProArt StudioBook Pro are proof that non-gaming laptops are just as powerful and versatile.

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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.

EA has been impacted by the coronavirus but is still planning a pretty full slate of 2020 games, according to its recent financial results. The remainder of the year will include its full slate of sports games, and a few other surprises leading into next spring.

One of the slides in the company’s most recent financial statement lays out a partial schedule of games. That includes Burnout Paradise Remastered on Nintendo Switch and Command & Conquer Remastered by the end of June, followed by FIFA 21 and Madden 21 by the end of September (Q2), and then NHL 21 by the end of the calendar year (Q3).

In addition to those, EA’s footnotes mention a few other games on the way. Another sports game is coming, along with another EA HD game, four EA partner games, and two mobile games that will soft-launch. All of those are scheduled for this fiscal year, which means they could come anytime before March 31, 2021. It is also planning to release a previously-announced Medal of Honor VR game on Oculus during this period.

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson previously spilled he’ll be the cover athlete for Madden 21, which suggested that game was on track for its usual fall release. The rest of EA’s 2020 slate may be light without many fall releases besides sports titles, but that could change if any of the unannounced EA or partner games get slotted into the fall time period.

EA is likely to make any such announcements at EA Play Live, its annual summer gaming show. This year the festivities will go on without being adjacent to E3, since that show was canceled, and it will take place digitally instead of as a physical gathering. It will begin on June 11 at 4 PM PT / 7 PM ET.

Since 2016, there has been a Borderlands movie in the works. The film is now moving ahead with casting news trickling out. Oscar-winning actor Cate Blanchett is lined up for the fan-favorite character Lilith.

According to a report from Variety, Blanchett, who appeared in Thor: Ragnarok, among many other acclaimed films and TV shows, is in talks to appear in the Borderlands movie to play Lilith. The character is from the planet Dionysus and is one of six “Sirens”–a group of women with superpowers. Lilith is also one of the main protagonists of the series. Gearbox announced its excitement for the news in a recent tweet.

Lilith has appeared in all three of the main Borderlands games, along with 2014’s Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel . The movie will be directed by Eli Roth (The House with a Clock in Its Walls), and he wants to cast cosplayers in order to kill them off.

“I’m so excited to dive into the world of Borderlands, and I could not be doing it with a better script, producing team, and studio,” Roth said in a statement in February. “I have a long, successful history with Lionsgate–I feel like we have grown up together and that everything in my directing career has led to a project of this scale and ambition.”

Chernobyl’s Craig Mazin penned the latest version of the script. Avi and Ari Arad and Erik Feig will serve as producers, while Randy Pitchford, founder of the Borderlands game franchise’s development studio, Gearbox Software, will serve as executive producer along with Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick.

There is no release date set for the Borderlands film at this time.

Half-Life: Alyx has taken the VR world by storm, and if you want to get in on it, the Oculus Quest is a great, versatile VR headset that’s compatible with Valve’s latest game and a bunch of other great titles. Oculus itself has restocked its website with both versions of the headset. If you order now, the $500 128GB model ships July 7, while the $400 64GB model ships July 9. If you’re in Canada, you can snag one from Oculus or Best Buy–unfortunately, Best Buy USA does not currently have any in stock.

Oculus:

Best Buy Canada:

The all-in-one Oculus Quest is a completely wireless device, giving you the freedom to experience and play VR games anywhere you want. However, it’s also compatible with Half-Life: Alyx if you plug it into your PC. This is possible through Oculus Link, a technology that lets you plug your Quest into a PC with a high-speed USB-C cable and play Steam and Rift games as if it was a PC VR headset. Of course, you’ll need a high-quality cable to do this. We recommend Anker’s Powerline+ USB-C to USB 3.0 cable, which is what I use with Half-Life: Alyx.

The Oculus Quest is one of the best VR headsets out there, thanks to that versatility. In addition to Half-Life: Alyx, it’s capable of playing pretty much every VR game out there–except for PlayStation VR exclusives. If you’re looking for something to keep you busy while you’re stuck inside, the Quest VR headset is a great way to escape reality.

While you kill time until your VR headset arrives, be sure to check out all of the free games you can claim right now and the best TV, movies, and games for social distancing.

Developer Infinity Ward is rolling out a new update for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare soon, which will refresh the game’s playlists and introduce a brand-new mode called Demolition. That’s not the only reason to jump into the game this week, however; the studio is also offering double XP.

To make up for the bug fixes it needed to make this past weekend, Infinity Ward is running a double XP event in Modern Warfare and Warzone for a limited time. Until Friday, May 8, you’ll earn twice the normal amount of XP, weapon XP, and battle pass XP in the online shooter.

The aforementioned new game mode, Demolition, will arrive as part of this week’s Modern Warfare update. Infinity Ward describes it as similar to Search and Destroy, and it’ll have you “attempt[ing] to outsmart and overpower the other team.” Meanwhile, the refreshed playlists include the “all-blueprint battle” mode, Gun Game Reloaded, as well as Shipment 24/7, Blood Money Trios in Warzone, and more.

Beyond that, this week’s update will also disable helicopters in Warzone. Infinity Ward hasn’t provided a reason for this change, but players on the Warzone subreddit have reported that the vehicles are prone to glitching, affecting the game’s balance.