Time for a new laptop, any lightweight options?

[Mat Mayer]

I am selling my rather large and heavy Windows laptop as I want something more portable. Any suggestions for something that can easily cope with 4K h.264 and h.265 on Premiere Pro? I don't want to use proxies. I am also selling my 2013 Macbook Air which I love as it is so light and thin. I am open to Windows or Mac. Anything available that fits the bill? Or is there something in the pipeline? I could wait a month or two.

Thanks.

[Brother]

What's your budget? Look for a laptop with a quad core processor like the new i7-7700HQ. Dell XPS15, Razer Blade, Macbook Pro 15. There's plenty to choose from but be prepared to open your wallet if you want both portable and powerful.

[Don Kotlos]

If you need premiere I would stick to a windows laptop because 1. You get better hardware for your money 2. Premiere works better under windows right now. 

XPS 15 9560 and Razer blade should be good, but take a look at the hp zbook studio G3 that is officially supported by Adobe:

That being said, I edit 4k videos (with proxies) on a macbook 12 with FCPX  

[Shirozina]

3 hours ago, Mat Mayer said:

 Any suggestions for something that can easily cope with 4K h.264 and h.265 on Premiere Pro? I don't want to use proxies.

That's a tall order on a high spec desktop at the moment so forget about it for a laptop. Intel have been working on energy efficiency with their chip developments of late which means there hasn't been much real speed gains in the last 5 years. If you really want to edit those codecs on any machine these days you need to use proxies or transcode. Be careful with transcoding though as unless you are using the highest quality codecs ( idealy lossless) you will loose image quality.

[markr041]

6 minutes ago, Shirozina said:

That's a tall order on a high spec desktop at the moment so forget about it for a laptop. Intel have been working on energy efficiency with their chip developments of late which means there hasn't been much real speed gains in the last 5 years. If you really want to edit those codecs on any machine these days you need to use proxies or transcode. Be careful with transcoding though as unless you are using the highest quality codecs ( idealy lossless) you will loose image quality.

No, Intel has also included hardware encoding and decoding of H264 and H265 in the processors. The problem is that many software editors have not taken advantage of this capability.

[Shirozina]

Intel have had H264 support for quite a while but that doesn't change the fact that their CPU's have not got much faster for quite a while either.

[Mat Mayer]

Proxies doesn't effect the rendering time right? It just makes the editing process smoother, yeah? Or have I assumed wrong?

I usually only use a single simple clip, hence my avoidance of proxies as I dont need to scrub through much. I want a machine that will render faster and not constantly throttle/overheat the computer. Obviously a custom made poweful PC would be ideal but I am not settled in one place, otherwise I would make one or get the best iMac.

My guess is the top of the range Macbook Pro from 2 years ago or so will be the best, most solid option for now, without being overpriced. But there are some nice looking ultrabooks mentioned above which I will check out before deciding. If the Surface Book did what it originally promised that would be my ideal as it would replace 3 devices- my workstation laptop, ultrabook and tablet.

[benymypony]

Why not a custom built Clevo ? You can choose the components.
That's what I did.

[markr041]

4 hours ago, Shirozina said:

Intel have had H264 support for quite a while but that doesn't change the fact that their CPU's have not got much faster for quite a while either.

The hardware decoding and encoding support for H265 and H264 does not change lots of irrelevant facts, like moon orbits. Hardware encoding and decoding is at least if not more important than simple speed increases for smooth editing and rendering without the need for proxies or something to keep busy while waiting.

[Mat Mayer]

On 09/02/2017 at 9:44 PM, benymypony said:

Why not a custom built Clevo ? You can choose the components.
That's what I did.

 

 

This is an awesome idea. Found the PCSPECIALIST website and it seems ideal to build a laptop without having to actually put it together. Prices seem very reasonable to me on first glance. Unfortunately I probably left it too late, selling my MSI was a spur of the moment decision, so I need something someone has in stock nearby as I leave Tuesday. Might see if they can deliver Monday if I order tomorrow morning.

Currently also looking at mini PC's, as I will be getting a monitor anyway and small ones can easily fit in luggage. Also the black HP Spectre x360, which is thin, fairly light and can be used in tablet mode, so it would replace all 3 of my devices (tablet, notebook and workstation laptop). I like to spend time looking so I get the best device and deal- will post the winner of best 4K portable computer when chosen.

Might wait though because I checked Mac prices in Singapore and they are way cheaper than in the UK: for example £4,049.00 for the most expensive Mac Pro in UK and £3,409.57 in Singapore (approx 15% cheaper). Would rather steer clear of the c*nts at Apple though until I settle down and get an iMac. They leave people in the lurch all the time with their updates e.g. my spare monitor doesn't work with Macbook Air anymore and thousands have had the same problem for many years with no help from Apple. Microsoft make stupid decisions but I always find a way around them eventually.

 

Edit: Found the perfect laptop: Dell XPS 15. 1TB SSD, 32GB RAM, 2GB 960M GPU, i7-6700HQ. Same screen size as my big MSI, but feels more like the size of a 13" Air. 4K touchscreen too.