Can I ask a similar question but flex it in a few slightly different ways? Me and my girlfriend are starting an initiative to record and vlog live music and surrounding content in off the beaten track countries like Cuba and Senega. We’re recording on iPhones at 4K and producing videos at 10:80 P and so far that’s been going really well but it does get frustrating working in places with poor connectivity and so forth.  so I’ve been doing a bit of thinking about the best compute platform for editing and, as well I was trying to avoid facilities like iCloud that can use bandwidth as if it was free, Im I’m thinking about how a laptop might fit in and if so I want something which is adequately performant rather than Top end but also that I don’t want it to be very heavy to carry around and I don’t want it to be excessively stealable. It’s a hobby And. Risk of theft is relatively high.so not ludicrously expensive.  I’d also quite like to use it as a replacement for my aging  desktop and I do do a little bit of AAA gaming 

So I’m looking for suggestions about how you would specify a Sensible mid tier computer balancing those somewhat conflicting demands?  Are any brands and models pitched well against that type of thing? I guess I’d be up for spending $1500 or so but to be honest don’t really understand where I’d feel the benefit over buying something at $1000 or indeed what $2000 would improve. 

MacBook Pro.

Fully loaded macbook.

MacBook Pros tend to be better optimized for things like video editing since people don't use them to game. Gaming tends to put a lot more emphasis on graphics cards whereas editing (while still using a graphics card) often puts emphasis on the processor more than gaming does. Both are important for both but there tends to be a shifted priority there.

That said, MBPs are expensive, so I totally get the desire to not go with one. You can definitely get a laptop for editing that's not Apple and it'll be fine, but I'd look into reviews for different processors and graphics cards for editing and factor that into which laptop you want to get. Just getting a laptop branded for "gaming" will often mean that priority of GPU over CPU and also tends to have markup because it calls out gaming so that a grandma or parent can buy it for their kid.

I do a lot of gaming as well as editing and I spent a lot on my new desktop that runs premiere like a dream but also games, but I also went for the new top of the line Intel CPU as well as a GeForce 4080 Super graphics card and 64GB of RAM. That Desktop was less money than the middle option of M4 Pro MacBook Pros and outperforms it, but it's also not a laptop. I'm not too familiar with the PC laptops out there, though I am quite familiar with Apple and use a MacBook Pro as well for my full time gig and it works very well even though it's around 4 years old, though still not comparable to my new desktop.

Generally speaking, you can get a better computer for the same or cheaper than the price of any Apple computer. But Apple is a very reliable brand that works really well for what they do and there's a lot of value in that at times, it's just a question of if you're willing to pay for that or not.

I do short form content editing, and I use the MacBook Pro 2023 m2 14in 16gb ram. And it is really fast and smooth for the type of footage I am working it. Around the 1080p resolution range.

I mean, the M2 chips are stupid fast. But when you say “editing” is it just cutting together clips and color grading them? Then just get the Macbook. I use an old M1 Macbook Pro and it works well with Final Cut and Premiere for just editing and some basic color grades in Resolve. I am doing 1080p edits most of the time but 4K Sony footage works fine too, but does slow down when effects are added but not to a point where its a pain to work with.

For general cutting 1080p and 4k footage (with final cut and resolve) it will be fine, I've tested one. With premiere it should also be fine but it's still running through Rosetta (compatibility layer) so your mileage may vary. This all depends on which model you get.

It's a solid machine, especially the battery, being able to go unplugged for 3 hours on the train just rough cutting or checking footage/emails, some color grading with minimal performance degradation and the battery holding up is awesome.

Now it's not what you want for 3D at all, if you want a 3D portable work station, least you should go is a 3070ti, max is whatever you can afford (I don't think theres any new quadros out yet for laptop, so the 4090 is probably your limit)

Thanks everyone for the responses! I actually tested one out at the Apple Store and was not impressed. I ended up ordering a custom laptop from falcon northwest. Pretty robust specs so I’m excited to work on it!

Commenting because I’m interested in this. From my limited understanding you don’t have a separate graphics card with MacBooks so from that stand point I don’t see how they can be the best….? Maybe I missed something, but AMD Ryzen processors can be paired with dedicated graphics cards from AMD or NVIDIA, providing significantly higher graphics processing power for tasks such as gaming, video editing, and 3D rendering.

So I don’t understand the Mac worship, I really don’t. And this is from someone who has a iPhone and wouldn’t dream of ever switching to android.

Referb M2 or M1 Max 14 inch will be your best bet, if you can hit that price point. The 32GB of unified memory, 1TB of storage, SD card slot, HDMI, and the solid CPU and GPU is at a really good sweet spot.

My understanding is the MacBook Pro has a fan for cooling and the MacBook Air doesn’t.

Budget? Rough idea even?

no M1 is terrible but you want at least 16GB and M1 Pro. M2 Pro MBP on clearance is a good value right now. spend at least 1500.

budget bro

M4 max 128 GB RAM 8TB storage

Any 14" or 16" Macbook Pro M1/M2/M3/M4

Yeah I get you, MacBook prices are much lower now. If you really look around you can still find some older Pro or higher end M1 and M2 models under 1500.

I would look into a M1,M2,M3 Max with at least 36gb of ram. As even the M1 Max can be had for around that dollar amount.

This is a fantastic page that I used.

https://www.provideocoalition.com/the-updated-professionals-guide-to-buying-an-m-series-mac-updated-march-2024/

Don't get an older one, a base level M1 chip with 1TB SSD/32gb RAM will crush a maxed out 2020 intel Mac, and M2 is like...twice as fast as that. I just sold my 2020 16" MBP with maxed out CPU and 64gb ram and will be replacing with a base model 14 inch M2 MBP with 32gb RAM. I'm expecting a massive performance improvement. I already have a M1 Studio for reference, and I expect the M2 to beat it. If you edit with ProRes you'll see an insane speed boost due to the hardware acceleration, same with H.265.

Check out this image comparing the 2020 M1 to the newer M2 Max - It's almost 90% faster exporting with Premiere. https://9to5mac.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2023/01/m2-max-prores-metal-test.jpg

I would recommend a base level M2 MacBook Pro 14" with 1TB SSD(don't get 512, it is a slower SSD) and 32gb RAM. I'd pass on the MacBook Air since it doesn't have the same ProRes/h265 hardware acceleration

A "simple" Macbook Pro M1 is already enough for Adobe Premiere and reasonable After Effects. Very fast.

Buy the best one you can afford.

And if you are open to a windows machine you can get more bang for the buck. Especially if you don't need a laptop and can use a windows desktop.

Unless you seriously need to edit on a MacBook, why don’t you insider the M2 MacMini? It’s less than $1000 and hella faster than an intel MacBook.

If your can spring $500 more, the M2 Pro MacMini is a hell of a deal at $1299.

imo you will be happier with an ASUS ROG model with maxed out RAM. I used to be a mac person and I would not go back now that I have this.

I dont have a single Apple product. Always edit on Windows and always will. But, Im affraid yes, for that price tag I think the performance is outstanding.

I have a M1 Max (the pricier version), so I can't say for sure what the $1500 model is like firsthand, but from all my research, the entire M1 lineup is pretty killer. Also being able to use Final Cut Pro is a huge bonus, especially since its not a monthly charge like Adobe. Some people prefer Premiere cuz it has some more advanced features, but from my personal experience, Final Cut is just so much smoother, faster, and easier to work with for everything I do.

In my opinion off the cuff, I'd say you could probably build a better PC with $1500 if you knew what you were doing, but if you want a laptop, then yeah the M1 is the way to go. Apple is definitely turning their reputation around with the M1.

I edited on a base model m1 air for about a year and was really impressed by it. I’ve also edited on windows computers I’ve built and now on an M1 Max. Newer intel’s have really gotten better so I can’t say if there’s something else better out there but I will say you can’t go wrong with the M1/M2.

I think if you're okay with just two ports the m1 air with 16gb of ram and plenty of storage is just flat out the best deal out there.

I bought a used 14" (would've gone Air but I need ports) and it just.. breezes through everything.

M1 air 16 gb of ram. As for me it is not bad. DR 17 free works good. Even with 4K timeline. But if I make deep color grading I have to switch to 1080p.

M3 Max or M4 Pro. 14" if portability is important, with external monitor. 36 GB of RAM at least.

And start to learn Davinci Resolve, it's much better sw than Premiere.

If you're editing video as a job, getting the 16" M4 Max MacBook Pro with the maximum amount of RAM you can afford will pay off in spades, and will definitely be future-proof. Step down to the 14" if you want to be portable. In any case, Max > Pro if they're at most a generation apart. (M3 Max > M4 Pro, for example.)

Here's a video showing Premiere Pro benchmarks.

Pay more, get a faster machine if money is no object. M4 Max MBP is the fastest Mac, or better than M2 Ultra on single core speed, which should help realtime use of media production. But M2 Ultra has 6 Thunderbolt 4 ports, so if you've got lots of external drives (Due to insane price of internal memory) and screens, M2 Ultra is the way.

How much render time are you used to have? Do you do this for a living, or is it occasional?

Those questions may direct you to a good final choice. If you are not that picky with render times, and you aren't working against the clock constantly, then I think a M4 Pro (base model) may be a good idea for you; but if you work with very large files, 8K videos, and have to do it more often, then a more powerful model would be a better option.

Get a PC for half the price LOL

If you want your stuff to render 30 percent faster get a Max chip because it has twice the media engine encoders and decoders. If you don't care about render times get an M4 Pro chip.