The new 'retina' machines are undeniably awesome units for general use but you have to spec them so high out of the factory now to make it a 4k edit suite.

This meant I could upgrade to a large SSD easily but it still won't do 4k editing. I own a 2010 Macbook Pro which was one of the last of the Macbooks using 2.5inch hard drives.

In my opinion avoid the current Apple macbooks. For this reason a heavy machine is often better because it tends to have more space inside its chassis which means better airflow, better cooling etc. What you will find with any laptop when editing 4k is that it will get very hot and very loud. This doesn't need to be Solid State (SSD) as you won't be editing from it. For that reason having a backup drive that you can hold footage on is a very good investment. 4k footage is massive in file size and you will fill 500gb very quickly. You will also need at least 500gb in size but be warned. The faster the 'clock speed' of the ram the better (and higher the price). You don't want to go lower than 16gb and if you can you want 32gb.

Graphics card needs to be at least an Nvidia 980m but if you can find one, 1060 or 1070m is a LOT better. 5th gen chips don't have massive speed boosts over 5th gen but they are much more efficient with use of power (so if you work of battery they tend to last longer). Intel Core i7 5th (or preferably) 6th gen chips. Personally I would go for this as a minimum: I thought I'd throw some advice in here too.Īs other suggest there is no one laptop that does the job and therefore a minimum spec is probably more useful.

Best laptop for video editing 2018