what the best laptop for recording music and video

It may be controversial to split these two products into two different listings, but we feel that the benefits across both devices can appeal to different requirements, and that's distinct enough to warrant this more compact MacBook Pro coming in at second place.

The MacBook Pro 14-inch (2021) may be more what you need if all of the benefits of the new M1 Pro appeal to you, but you need something a little smaller. Add in the best battery life we've seen in a MacBook (or any laptop of this power, to be honest), and you've got the very best laptop for video editing you can buy. Add in ProMotion for fast refresh rates, plus HDR (High Dynamic Range) and support for the P3 wide colour gamut, and you've got the best screen you can currently find on a laptop, making it a wonderful choice for video editors who want to see their footage at its very best.Īpple has also added a great selection of ports, including HDMI and a memory card slot, so you can plug in external monitors, or copy footage from a camera, without needing an adaptor. With its 16.2-inch screen that features 1,600 nits peak brightness, the new Liquid Retina XDR MiniLED display on the MacBook Pro delivers deep blacks and bright whites to provide incredibly rich and detailed video. While we loved the 13-inch M1 model released back in 2020, this newer model has proved itself to be the new top-dog for macOS laptop workstations (and Apple didn't offer any improvement on it specifically in its latest batch of new products). The MacBook Pro 16-inch (2021) is easily the best laptop for professional-quality video editing that you can buy in 2021, having introduced the latest addition to Apple's M1 line of processors with the beefier M1 Pro or M1 Max. For now, let's jump into the best laptops for video editing available now. If you want to upgrade your workspace, don't miss our round-up of the best monitors for video editing. If you're studying a video editing course (or just want to do a bit of video editing for fun while at university, college or school, then check out our best student laptops rundown).

There's also a choice of different operating systems and brands, with Apple MacBooks offering a fanless design and native support for applications like Final Cut Pro, and Windows laptops with AI-boosted graphics cards from Nvidia, you'll soon be editing 4K or even 8K video in no time.Īll of the laptops on this page can easily run the best video editing software, so you won't have to worry about any of them struggling. Even just a few years ago, desktop computers were better suited to running demanding apps like DaVinci Resolve and Adobe After Effects because they could house more powerful hardware, but technology has no progressed far enough that a slimline, lightweight workstation laptop is now a viable replacement for a bulky desktop tower.

What the best laptop for recording music and video