How to Find a Cheap Laptop for Video Editing

A cheap laptop for video editing is not a commonly heard phrase. One assumes that a good laptop for editing would be powerful, and very few powerful laptops are cheap. Yet, this is not fully true.

Gaming laptops need the power and graphics capability, but video editing can be done with far less power. The process of editing and rendering may be slower on a budget computer, but it can still be done. It is achievable without crashing, freezing, or otherwise causing trouble.

A good online video editor tool, coupled with efficient software optimization, can significantly enhance the performance of a budget laptop for video editing. While a powerful machine is ideal, it’s possible to achieve satisfactory results without breaking the bank.

Here are a few things to consider when you are looking for a cheap laptop for video editing.

Don’t Laptops for Video Editing Have to Be Powerful?

To work with several layers of editing, you do need some power. But a cheap laptop for video editing can handle what you are doing in a video editor. It is not like a 3D rendering software where massive amounts of information need to be configured for a single twist of the model.

There is a RAM size issue, but it is not as big a problem as something like a high-powered graphics card or processor. Adding RAM will make your editing process much easier and less likely to stall. Ideally, you want 32GB of RAM, but even 8GB of RAM will do a good job. It just means you cannot have as many programs running in the background. It may also mean you have to portion out your work or perhaps quit out of your program every hour.

Are There Any Good Cheap Laptops for Video Editing?

If you look at most business and utility laptops, they are not loaded with the sheer power and technology that high-end gaming computers are fitted out with. Again, a laptop with a good graphics processor and a good set of core processors is a good thing, but it is not as necessary for video editing.

Screen Factor

Besides RAM and core processing power, another concern is the actual screen. You do want a good screen so that you can be more precise with your edits. Don’t forget that it is not all about your GUI. It is also about the quality of the frames you are editing. The last thing you want to do is leave trace elements of something you forgot to remove because you couldn’t see it well enough.

Luckily, these days, even cheap screens are streets ahead of what we were dealing with just ten years ago. In most cases, even a cheap, screened laptop will be suitable. The only downside is that the cheaper screens are often more easily worn and degraded.

How to Pick a Screen Size

Another factor to consider is the screen size. While you want your laptop to be portable and easy to carry around, a larger screen gets the job done faster and more efficiently. With that in mind, a laptop with at least a 15.6-inch display would be ideal for video editing tasks. Anything more than that would serve more as a stationary laptop. Besides, 17.3-inch laptops are more expensive. Yet, with a little effort, you can find a perfect compromise. For example, the Lenovo Legion Y540 with a 17.3-inch display weighs a little over 6 pounds. The same goes for the ASUS ROG Strix G17: it is a 6-pound 17.3-inch gaming laptop, making it a perfect candidate for video editing. And while gaming computers are historically expensive, you can find both of these configurations in the $1000-1500 range.

13.3- and 14-inch laptops, on the other hand, are highly portable, but running video-editing software on a notebook of this size can be a struggle. However, if you frequently use an external monitor, an Apple MacBook Pro 13 with an M1 chip can be an asset for professional editing.

Try Budget Laptop Lists

Checking the best budget laptop picks lists is a good start. It can save you a lot of research time and will help you narrow down your options. Many budget laptops today are suitable for your editing project. That said, you still need to be able to discern the good from the bad.

Another route to finding a low-cost laptop for video editing is exploring gaming models. As we have noted above, most gaming computers are suitable for this line of work. They are not cheap, however. Again, we suggest turning to the internet for help. For instance, we wrote about the top five gaming laptops under $700 not so long ago. Any one of these five suggestions will be an asset in video editing, as long as you don’t mind working in Windows. And if you are willing to spend a little more money, look into models like the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro or the Dell G15, for example. Both of these computer brands come with premium hardware and graphics and are rather affordable for what they can offer.

Should I Sell My Older Laptop Then?

So if you buy a new laptop specifically for video editing, what do you do with the older one? The fact is that laptops depreciate quickly and stop working over time. They cannot run new software, don’t always support updates, or even support new operating systems (since Windows 11 doesn’t work on many older laptops). But the good news is that if it is not super old, you can likely resell it. For instance, you can visit our homepage to see if you can sell your laptop for money. We offer payment by check, Zelle, PayPal, or Venmo, so you can put that sweet cash toward your new upgrade.