Anyone know about video editing/PCs?

[EJWW]

Hi all, 

Over the last year or so I've been spending time editing video footage I've captured from my gigs (I record everything I do). From this I've produced my personal showreel and little gig videos of my old band. 

I love it and use a brilliant and very powerful free programme called Shotcut to do it all. 

However my family laptop computer (HP pavilion Windows 10, Intel Pentium 2.1gig, 4GB RAM) just isn't up to the job and lacks power. It's very frustrating having to put up with jerky and juddering playback and occasional freezes which mean I have to shut it down and restart the programme. 

Can anyone recommend a decent laptop that I can buy and use exclusively for creative work like this, and perhaps run Logic or another production programme also?

I'm an amateur and don't intend to go pro anytime soon but I would like to be able to use some half decent kit for a change. 

I saw a second hand Macbook pro 9.2 recently, would this be worth going for?

My budget is around £350.

Cheers in advance for any advice. 

 

[Balcro]

At £350 you're definitely into refurbished PC laptop terrritory.

I saw this at Currys.
https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-pavilion-15-bc550na-15-6-intel-core-i5-gtx-1050-gaming-laptop-512-gb-ssd-10193844-pdt.html

For video editing this is probably you're starting point.

I suspect the code number (bc550na) is mixed up because I can't find good info about it after searches or at HP themselves, so it's probably an old model or a Curry's special. Memory can probably be expanded to 16gB which would be better. worth checking.

Don't assume Core i5 is slower than Core i7. It isn't always; there are lots of overlaps in CPU performance.

[TJ Spicer]

3 hours ago, EJWW said:

Hi all, 

Over the last year or so I've been spending time editing video footage I've captured from my gigs (I record everything I do). From this I've produced my personal showreel and little gig videos of my old band. 

I love it and use a brilliant and very powerful free programme called Shotcut to do it all. 

However my family laptop computer (HP pavilion Windows 10, Intel Pentium 2.1gig, 4GB RAM) just isn't up to the job and lacks power. It's very frustrating having to put up with jerky and juddering playback and occasional freezes which mean I have to shut it down and restart the programme. 

Can anyone recommend a decent laptop that I can buy and use exclusively for creative work like this, and perhaps run Logic or another production programme also?

I'm an amateur and don't intend to go pro anytime soon but I would like to be able to use some half decent kit for a change. 

I saw a second hand Macbook pro 9.2 recently, would this be worth going for?

My budget is around £350.

Cheers in advance for any advice. 

 

What are the specs for the macbook? I used to run adobe premiere for my video editing stuff, but Final Cut Pro X runs way more efficiently I've found, so may be worth going mac for that reason alone. I'm editing video every day for my YT channel and it's been quicker and more efficient moving to Final Cut.

[hooky_lowdown]

What you need to do is max out the RAM, it's this which will speed up processing power. Most laptops come with basic RAM, but look for a laptop with allows you the most RAM, something 12gb and over will be more than suitable. Upgrading RAM is pretty easy to do yourself as well, lots of tutorials online.

£350 will only get an old MacBook, with minimal RAM, and some MacBooks don't even allow RAM upgrades. So this won't suit your requirements.

[Doctor J]

Adding RAM will only speed things up if the system is keeping more data in memory than it physically has and has to use the swap file with any kind of frequency. I use Sony Vegas for video editing and when rendering, it's all about processing, not RAM.

 

@EJWW, next time you're working on a video, have task manager open on the Performance tab with More Details selected. It'll show you where your laptop is getting hit hardest. It'll be that Pentium for sure, but you'll see what kind of disk and memory usage is going on too, which is what should guide you on the spec of your new machine. Understand what it is you need first before spending cash on the wrong thing.

Edited August 10, 2019 by Doctor J

[hooky_lowdown]

2 hours ago, Doctor J said:

Adding RAM will only speed things up if the system is keeping more data in memory than it physically has and has to use the swap file with any kind of frequency. I use Sony Vegas for video editing and when rendering, it's all about processing, not RAM.

 

@EJWW, next time you're working on a video, have task manager open on the Performance tab with More Details selected. It'll show you where your laptop is getting hit hardest. It'll be that Pentium for sure, but you'll see what kind of disk and memory usage is going on too, which is what should guide you on the spec of your new machine. Understand what it is you need first before spending cash on the wrong thing.

As you dismissed the usage of ram, I'd be interested to know your background in computing?

[Doctor J]

4 minutes ago, hooky_lowdown said:

As you dismissed the usage of ram, I'd be interested to know your background in computing?

Global server admin for a US multinational, have worked in IT since the mid-90's. Is that ok?

I didn't dismiss the usage of RAM. RAM is only useful when it's used. There is no point in loading up with RAM if you don't use it. If his system doesn't use all the RAM it has then adding more won't make a difference. This is why I suggested he analyse what resources his system is using and base his decision on that, given he has a tight budget.

[hooky_lowdown]

35 minutes ago, Doctor J said:

Global server admin for a US multinational, have worked in IT since the mid-90's. Is that ok?

I didn't dismiss the usage of RAM. RAM is only useful when it's used. There is no point in loading up with RAM if you don't use it. If his system doesn't use all the RAM it has then adding more won't make a difference. This is why I suggested he analyse what resources his system is using and base his decision on that, given he has a tight budget.

Easy fella, I was only enquiring. Like you I've worked in computing since the mid 90s, my background being in motion graphics including rendering 3d, live footage and video editing.

For the OP's budget they're not going to get a laptop with a super fast processor, so they're best bet is to buy a used laptop with the fastest processor they can, and max out the ram.

[EJWW]

Here is the spec of the Macbook that I spotted in my local branch of CEX.

Is it better to go for Apple for this kind of work? I prefer not to use Apple as I found them a pain when I had an iPhone in the past. 

 

[wateroftyne]

If you’re going the MacBook route (and personally, I would),  you’d be looking at spending a fair chunk more than that - something used from around 2013 maxxed out with RAM would be a good start.

I’ve used Premiere Pro for years, and it’s great.*

*Other editing applications are available

[EMG456]

If you buy a MacBook you will definitely be paying the apple premium by comparison to most Windows machines. Apple's os is good but really no better than Windows despite what many claim. It can also prove frustrating for anyone who has a good grounding in the Windows ecosystem and likes to delve beneath the surface in terms of fine tuning for performance etc.

The issues you mention - juddery playback, hanging - are probably more influenced by a shortage of available RAM than anything else but remember intensive processing like real time video editing depends on a combination of things, all of which have to be in place for top performance. 

Must it be a laptop? Again, a mobile i5 or i7 processor is likely to offer less performance than a desktop one - careful comparison of specs is in order here. Also mobile processors more likely to be thermally throttled down during intense usage which can sometimes become self defeating.

Shotcut being multi platform is good as it means you won't have to build in re-learning into your upgrade but I'm not sure if all versions are updated simultaneously so that may also figure in your thinking if you're going to switch platform.

I run Shotcut on a Surface Pro 4 i7 16gb ram and performance is acceptable to me as I'm basically doing it for my own purposes. If I was doing it professionally, I think I'd want a much beefier desktop system.