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Want/need a laptop.
Criteria....
Slim (GF's current "laptop" is massive, weighs a ton and on its last legs)
USB charging (we only have 12v sockets, no 230v)
Video editing.... Enough power that it can edit gopro clips.
Design software... The GF uses lots of Adobe and other design programmes for work.
Cheers!
Oh.... Nothing apple.
Any particular reason? The new M1 laptops are incredibly energy efficient with really long battery life, got to be relevant if you’re living out of a van or whatever! Even the base spec ones are great for video editing, too.
I think because I'm a luddite and after years of Windows I cba to learn a new system.
Middle_oab is on a digital media course. He (natch) has the hoofing big gaming tower and college PC's he can use.
But he spend just under £1k last year on an Asus Vivobook - Ryzen 9(?), 16gb of ram and a half decent graphics card. He immediately added another 16gb of ram, as it was less than buying next model up with the 16gb. It is OK in size - it isn't slim, but it isn't as heavy as my work HP Probook. IMO, it is really well made - it feels solid, is rigid in use and types real well. It seems to rip through work well, it can get a bit hot.
I am struggling for a link, but pretty sure it was on Box.com. From memory there are two cases - one really chunky, one that is slimmer and had OLED screen which is what he managed to get as a box-open, Grade A machine.
USB charging (we only have 12v sockets, no 230v)
You won't be able to combine this with video editing. USB charging is limited to 65W, anything with a graphics card will be using roughly double or even treble that. So you'll need and inverter (or a 12-24V power supply and get your soldering iron out). Either way, be aware you'll be drawing upto 20A from the battery!
Beyond that, you pay your money and make your choices. A video editing laptop is £4k+ (plus dedicated card readers, RAID drives etc which all make it quicker and smoother). Equally mine cost me £400 (i5, GTX1650, 16gb ram) and is smooth enough that I can live with it at home. Spending more only has a payback if it means more time spent actually being productive rather than waiting for things to render/encode.
Pretty sure no-one needs to spend £4k+ just to edit GoPro videos 😂
Reasonable point about charging, another tick for a MacBook Air tho as they only draw 30W!
i dont know how they stack up in terms of value for money. possibly a bit more expensive than you can get at the big box store, but if i ever need to get my own laptop (i have a work one only), i will be getting a framework:
This…
Design software… The GF uses lots of Adobe and other design programmes for work
And this…
Oh…. Nothing apple
Are mutually incompatible
If you want something to run Adobe Creative Suite then just buy a Mac. It’s literally what they were built for. I’d go for a MacBook Pro
You can run it on a PC, in theory, but in practice they don’t tend to like each other very much.
Pretty sure no-one needs to spend £4k+ just to edit GoPro videos 😂
Depends what the OP's GF is doing, if it's just some fairly untaxing 2D design work and occasional cutting down and sticking together HD video clips then yep, it's overkill. On the other hand if she's an architect or doing 3D CAD an want's edit 4K at 200mbps (i.e. broadcast spec) then as soon as there's a time pressure or money involved then spending what looks like silly money becomes the best option. That's why Lenovo make things like the P53 with an RTX5000 GPU.
Case in point; the DIT on my last job had a card reader that cost more than my laptop. It could talk directly to the RAID box, so the laptop only had to control it via USB, which meant the transfer rate off the cards became the limiting factor, not the USB transfer. Nice bit of kit, but as he put it, the client was paying a flat rate for his services and it allowed him for finish 2 hours earlier each evening than just using a generic USB-C card reader.
Yeah sorry to say, get an M1 (of any guise) apple. Plenty second hand / apple factory refurbished now
Otherwise, best of luck!
I think because I’m a luddite and after years of Windows I cba to learn a new system.
I thought it was for your GF.
If you want something to run Adobe Creative Suite then just buy a Mac. It’s literally what they were built for. I’d go for a MacBook Pro
The M1 Air is very capable.
Recently bought a Huawei Matebook 14S that I suspect would fit your needs pretty well. We’ve been getting on happily with ours but haven’t tried any video editing in it. Have done plenty of 3D cad (fusion 360) and casual gaming which hasn’t bothered it at all.
Edit: Forgot a link
https://amzn.eu/5KihDzw
she’s only paying for it, and using it to earn a living 😂I thought it was for your GF.
Apple M1 MacBook Air. Perfect.
Get this screen to go with it. With the stand and 'nano texture glass', obvs...
https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/buy-mac/pro-display-xdr/nano-glass
I may be opening myself up to abuse here but how on God's Green Earth is a monitor stand worth £949?
I may be opening myself up to abuse here but how on God’s Green Earth is a monitor stand worth £949?
It's an apple product, so it'll just work.
Every other brands stand is obviously going to lead to incompatibility issues between the monitor and it's interface with earths gravity.
Having written that, it does sound like an actual problem with cheap monitor stands falling over 🤣
If you really want to seem them take the piss, look at castor wheels for a Mac Pro.
As said, the charging thing is going to be your barrier here, but ignoring that go for the highest spec Asus your budget can take.
If you want something to run Adobe Creative Suite then just buy a Mac. It’s literally what they were built for. I’d go for a MacBook Pro
You can run it on a PC, in theory, but in practice they don’t tend to like each other very much
I'm intrigued.
My son's college has a couple of hundred+ high end PC machines all running Adobe creative suite, for photography, gaming design, video, 3D design, animation, web design and digital media courses.
We visited two universities this weekend, so he can continue into a degree in product design or digital media. Of the 4 rooms of computers, 3 were PC and one Mac. The Mac room tutor openly admited she was Mac fan, and really should have saved the money by buying PC, but they thought having an alternative was good for students to gain experience on both.
Our work comms and marketing use PC.
Our landscape architect uses PC.
My bother, the biggest Mac fanboi ever with a Mac Cube fishtank, uses a PC for work as partner in NZ's biggest architect firm, as do all his staff.
So I'm left wondering if Mac really is the only choice as you suggest.
If you want something to run Adobe Creative Suite then just buy a Mac. It’s literally what they were built for. I’d go for a MacBook Pro
You can run it on a PC, in theory, but in practice they don’t tend to like each other very much.
This is nonsense. As is this:
A video editing laptop is £4k+
I can edit video on my iPhone. 'Video Editing' isn't one thing; there's myriad levels of complexity and quality. Simple stuff can be done on a 'phone, as I've said. A lot of Blockbuster Hollywood stuff is done on suites of often highly specialised equipment costing a tad more than £4k. What limits things is processing power; if you want to be combining several 'layers' of footage, then adding SFX, complex audio etc, then yes, you'll benefit from having a faster, more expensive machine. For simple GoPro editing, even 4k video, then something like a MacBook Air is going to be fine. Saying you need a £4k+ laptop is like saying you need a £4k+ bike just for going down the shops on.
As for the Mac v PC thing; that may have been true 20+ years ago, as Adobe software was originally developed on and for Macs, but that's not been relevant for a long time now. Adobe stuff is identical on either platform. I much prefer Macs to PCs, because of the OS, but that's a personal preference so entirely subjective. If you can navigate Windows, you can use Mac OS easily. More easily if anything, if you're not all that computer nerdy.
I recommended a M1 Mac because the new models are so good; the stripped down 'unified' circuit board design may not allow future 'upgrades', but then who actually does that anyway, other than nerds? What it does do, is make the whole system faster and more efficient. The MBA doesn't even have any fans, such is its efficiency, it doesn't need any extra cooling. It can easily handle video, Adobe software etc. Get the RAM upgrade though, you can never have too much RAM. I'm using an M1 iMac, and its way more powerful than I'll ever need really. A Mac Studio with the 5k display would be lovely, but it would be pearls before swine.
I may be opening myself up to abuse here but how on God’s Green Earth is a monitor stand worth £949?
It's not. I've had a play with one in a shop, and it definitely felt very smooth in operation, perfectly counterweighted with the XDR display. No way I'd buy one though, but then I wouldn't be buying that display either, as it's total overkill for my needs. Gorgeous though, no question.
Thanks for the replies...
she’s only paying for it, and using it to earn a living 😂
If only..... 😁
I'll buy it and chuck it against my tax because my profit this year is already a little more than I would like. The GF has not been that proactive recently when it comes to work. If that continues it'll be me using it the most.
When she's a little more productive than currently her work is a mix of graphic design and some modelling. She's a product designer.
She's run all her designy programmes on her massive Dell laptop for years workout issue.
WRT the power supply... Not something I thought about at all. Assumed that a power supply is a power supply and that it would be enough. The USB sockets have a max output of 20W. Wouldn't that mean that the laptop just charges slowly?
I've found these which might be a solution... https://www.helperslab.com/
Cheers!
Half my motion graphics studio colleagues have switched from Mac to PC, I've ended up doing the same with a Razer Blade laptop (albeit largely because at the time I needed it Apple were closing out the Intel range and the apple silicon MBP wasn't available yet). Better access to 3D render pipelines was another thing PCs had but I think a few more things like Redshift are working well on Macs again now so that's less of a concern that a year or two ago. I really don't think it matters anymore, get the one you're happier using. Personally, Windows and OSX piss me off in roughly equal measure in their own lovely ways.
I think getting a beefy enough laptop that will power well over USB might be the bigger challenge. But that depends on if you need it to be so powerful, the GoPro video editing didn't sound particularly onerous on modern computers but whatever the GF is using Adobe for might be different. And Adobe creative suite will be as frustratingly buggy on both OS too!
Oh, and I want to learn CAD and have been recommended Autocad 2020 by a mate.
apparently so. Of course, if you're maxing out the laptop it'll still [I]lose[/I] charge, just more slowly than were it not plugged in at all!The USB sockets have a max output of 20W. Wouldn’t that mean that the laptop just charges slowly?
I don't think that gadget you linked is necessary. Pretty sure the new chargers have a separate cable which is MagSafe (for the Mac) at one end and normal USB-C at the other. So you can just plug that in to any USB-C port (that's capable of delivering the full 20W you have available)
Has anyone mentioned budget yet?
Why are you limited to 20W from the USB? you can buy USB chargers that go to 140w:
Or am I missing something?
USB charging (we only have 12v sockets, no 230v)
Do you live in a caravan? Can you not get an electrical hook up at all?
Oh, and I want to learn CAD and have been recommended Autocad 2020 by a mate.
3D stuff can be pretty resource hungry, so a MacBook Pro would be a better bet; more powerful and more RAM. Starts getting very expensive, very quickly. Then you're heading towards £4k+ laptop territory. An MBA could still do 3D, but not as quickly, if you're wanting to view models with full rendering etc.
the only difference budget makes is whether you get an Air or a Pro 😉Has anyone mentioned budget yet?
Do you live in a caravan? Can you not get an electrical hook up at all?
No, a van. Not staying on campsites, more off the beaten track.
Haven't installed a 230v converter because they cane the battery (160ah li-po) and most things charge via USB these days.
apparently so. Of course, if you’re maxing out the laptop it’ll still lose charge, just more slowly than were it not plugged in at all!
That I could probably live with assuming the battery life is half decent to begin with.
Design software… The GF uses lots of Adobe and other design programmes for work
And this…
Oh…. Nothing apple
Are mutually incompatible
This is bollox.
Oh, and I want to learn CAD and have been recommended Autocad 2020 by a mate.
Why Autocad? Unless you need it for a particular job there are better alternatives.
Why Autocad? Unless you need it for a particular job there are better alternatives.
Is what a mate uses and says it's a fairly easy programme to learn/use.
Would like to be able to draw up plans and be able to tweak them rather than currently sketching something out by hand.
Is what a mate uses and says it’s a fairly easy programme to learn/use.
At the risk of repeating myself,
Has anyone mentioned budget yet?
A year's subscription to Autocad will cost you about the same as a Macbook.
How old is the old one and what spec is it? And are you already editing GoPro stuff and using Adobe CS on it?
Assuming so, if it's on its last legs and ancient probably anything vaguely new and midrange will be an improvement.
i dont know how they stack up in terms of value for money. possibly a bit more expensive than you can get at the big box store, but if i ever need to get my own laptop (i have a work one only), i will be getting a framework:
Base model looks about the same price as a MacBook Air M1.
Oh…. Nothing apple
🤦🏻♂️
I was going to suggest one of the new M2 MacBook Airs. An M1 MacBook Air would be cheaper and still excellent.
Moving between OSs is NP - Windows at work, MacOS at home, works fine. Plus maybe a sprinkling of LINUX here and there.
The MacBook Pro M1 Pros are excellent.
A year’s subscription to Autocad will cost you about the same as a Macbook.
About 62€/month, so ~750/year. Business expense.
I had around 2,500€ budget in mind, less is better, obviously.
Moving from one OS to another I found impossible. Tried a big apple experiment a few years back and invested in a nice MacBook Air. Sold it on after 6 months and went back to a ThinkPad. To be honest I’m still getting over the move to Windows from OS/2 in the late 90s so think it was just too soon. Give me another 20years and I might try again.
Thats a decent budget, TBH I doubt you need to spend that much. I'd look at the smaller Asus ROG series, like the Zephyrus G14 or Flow X13. I've used a bigger Zephyrus on a VR development project and it was fine for that, it won't struggle with a bit of video editing.