The 5 Best Laptops for Video Editing in 2026 (A Filmmaker's Picks)
By Seb Pupino · Updated
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what I recommend.
Every filmmaker I know has lost hours in the edit to exactly two problems: a machine that can't play the timeline back in real time, and storage that can't keep up. (Storage gets its own post.)
So, the computer. A few honest truths before the list:
- RAM matters more than you think. 16GB is the floor for 4K, and 32GB is where things stop stuttering.
- The GPU does more and more of the work. DaVinci Resolve in particular leans on it heavily.
- Screen quality matters if you grade. You can't fix colour you can't see.
Quick picks
- Best overall: Apple MacBook Pro 14" (M5)
- Best value Mac: Apple MacBook Air 15" (M5)
- Best Windows laptop for creators: ASUS ProArt P16
- Best Windows all-rounder: ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16
- Best desktop replacement: Lenovo Legion Pro 7i
1. MacBook Pro 14" (M5): the one most editors end up with
There's a reason so many filmmakers end up editing on one of these. Apple silicon handles ProRes and H.265 in hardware, so timelines that bring Windows laptops to their knees just play. Final Cut, Resolve and Premiere all run beautifully on it.
The Liquid Retina XDR screen is also genuinely good for grading on the go. It's not a reference monitor, but it's honest enough to catch problems before a client does.
- Great for: anyone editing professionally, especially on the move
- Spec advice: go for 32GB of unified memory if you can. You can't upgrade it later.
- Watch out for: Apple's storage upgrades are expensive. Buy a smaller internal drive and a fast external SSD instead.
2. MacBook Air 15" (M5): the sensible pick for most creators
If you mostly cut YouTube videos, social content or shorts in 1080p and light 4K, the Air is more laptop than you need. It's silent because it has no fan, it has a big enough screen to edit comfortably, and the battery lasts a full day.
The trade-off is sustained performance. On long exports it slows down to keep cool. For a 10-minute video that hardly matters. For a feature-length timeline, it does.
- Great for: YouTubers, students, editors who travel
- Spec advice: don't buy the base 16GB if you're touching 4K; 24GB or more is worth it
- Watch out for: no fan means slower exports on long projects
3. ASUS ProArt P16: Windows, built for creatives
The ProArt line is one of the few Windows ranges designed for people who make things rather than play games. It has a high-end NVIDIA GPU, a beautiful OLED screen, and the dial that integrates with Adobe apps is more useful than it sounds for scrubbing.
If you're committed to Windows, or you do 3D, VFX or heavy AI-assisted work alongside editing, this is the one.
- Great for: Resolve users, VFX artists, Windows loyalists
- Watch out for: it's priced like a MacBook Pro, and battery life is shorter
- Why it's here: the best-looking screen on a Windows creator laptop
4. ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16: a gaming laptop in disguise
Don't let the "gaming" label put you off. Gaming laptops are often the best-value editing machines, because they have the GPUs that Resolve and Premiere love. The Zephyrus is the grown-up version: slim, well-built, and with a much better screen than most gaming laptops.
- Great for: editors who want NVIDIA power without a huge brick of a laptop
- Watch out for: the fans get loud under export, so use headphones while you work
- Why it's here: the best balance of power, portability and price on Windows
5. Lenovo Legion Pro 7i: for when you never leave the desk
This one is heavy, the power brick is huge, and you won't want to carry it around all day. But if your "laptop" mostly lives on a desk plugged into a monitor, it gives you desktop-class GPU power for multicam 4K, noise reduction and heavy effects.
- Great for: editors who need maximum power and only occasionally move
- Watch out for: weight and battery life, which are what you trade for all that power
- Why it's here: the most performance per pound on this list
The mistake I see most often
People spend everything on the laptop and then edit straight off a slow USB hard drive. Your timeline is only as fast as the drive the footage lives on. Save a couple of hundred pounds from the laptop budget and put it towards a proper portable SSD.
My honest pick
For most people reading this: the MacBook Pro 14" with 32GB. It'll still feel fast in four years' time. If you're on Windows, the Zephyrus G16 is where I'd put my money.
Laptop configurations on Amazon change constantly. Check the exact RAM and GPU in the listing before you buy, because the same model name can hide very different specs.