Is a sub $900 or 1.200 laptop enough for raw and/or 4k in Davinci?

[tomastancredi]

I shoot with a digital bolex and a gx80, transcoding to prores and/or shooting 1080 when I need to to edit my own footage. So I am now looking for a machine that I can rely to use Davinci not heavily, but extensively... 

I need a laptop, and in doubt if a gtx1050ti GPU is enough, or if I should find a gtx1070 (since gtx1060 usually does not compensate). 

I have seen people using using laptops with proper GPU, and read loads of discussions on gaming forums, but wanted to hear experiences from video people using mainly davinci but also premiere. 

 

so, for $800 a laptop with a  gtx1050 GPu ( like a basic dell Inspiron)

$900 up 1.100  - gtx1050ti

1.100 - gtx1060 - 6gb  ( such as the predator Helios 3000)

1.300 and up you can find a laptop with gtx1070

 

So, would recommend a bit of money sacrifice up to the gtx1070 laptop, or a 1050ti or even 1050, is already enough, in your experience for a basic edition, with no hassle, on davinci and or 4k on premiere..?

[cantsin]

Forget raw video editing on a run-of-the-mill laptop, with the sole exception of industrial heavy-duty laptops using desktop components (i.e. desktop CPUs & GPUs, plus a combination of system SSD and data HDD) like they're being offered as barebones by Clevo and sold as ready-to-use laptops by different smaller manufacturers. - Also make sure to have a top-of-the-line TFT display that is good enough for critical color correction/grading work. Most gamer laptops disqualify because of their low-resolution TN displays.

[Kisaha]

Those prices are crazy, everything is almost double here (Europe). 1070 laptops start from 2000euros where I live, and that is for older (6700HQ) models.

CPUs are more important, so I believe everything with a 4 core (not "U" chips, which are 2 core) will be sufficient, and of course a dedicated video card. I would try 1060 6GB (1050 is seriously under performing) but if you can find a 1070 for 1300, then what can I say? go for it! RAM also, try 16GB.

Try to get one with an IPS monitors, they are achieving some OK sRGB values (some goes up to 99%) at least for simple tasks, and of course you can do colors later on, on a proper monitor.

The real issue is heat. It is quite difficult to find a good performing gaming laptop that is both mobile and have no overheating issues. The cool ones (literally cool!) are the huge ones. Also 1070 GPU needs wider laptop chassis (except Q-max or whatever they called, the new ultra small laptops, GL501 is the new Asus. Expensive).

recap:

1050 is useless. No way.

Inspiron with I7-7700HQ and 1050ti could be your best (cheapest) bet, but entry models have an atrocious TN panel, but you can change the panel with a better one (60-100euros). Google it.

Always the GTX series with 6 inside them, are the best value for money (660, 960, 1060 now). You don't brake the bank, and the performance is adequate for most things (even some 1440p gaming!).

1070 seems like the best deal right now, if you can afford it (there is a significant increase in performance vs the 1060, and the 1080 isn't that far away, but definitely 1070 laptops are a lot more expensive, at least where I live!).

Check here if you can find information about GPU and Premiere in general https://www.pugetsystems.com/all_articles.php

[gt3rs]

I can help you at least with Resolve. I switched from Premiere a couple of years ago so I cannot comment on Premiere.

I edit 90% of my stuff a combination of 1Dx II MJPEG 4k 30-60p and h264 4k 30-60p (Drone stuff) on a gaming notebook (Asus Rog) i7 7700 HQ with GTX 1070 and it is fine. The h264 material I convert through optimize media, the MJPEG I edit them natively without conversion. The new 14 studio version should do h264 decoding in the GPU (Nvidia, windows only) so I hopefully I may skip the conversion for 4k h264 material too once it is final.

Edit on a 4k 60p timeline in real-time is not a problem with basic transition like dissolves etc... 30p and below is no issue at all. I use also quite a bit optical flow retiming on 4k 60p material on a 30p timeline slowed down at 25% and the notebook can cope with this. Bottom-line I never encounter so far an issue with 4k up to 60p on the edit tab with the notebook.

Grading the notebook can cope well with light grading 3-4 nodes, qualifier, power windows and even some NR in real-time on a 4k timeline. If you do more heavy grading you can either change the timeline resolution to FullHD for real-time playback and switch it back to 4k for final render or simple use the proxy feature and set it at half resolution (it changes the resolution on the fly with a switch, it is not using or generating proxy, a very handy feature).

Bottom-line on a gaming notebook with a GTX 1070 you can edit and grade well, worst case you just change the timeline resolution to fullhd for real-time playback and switch it back just before final render. 

My friend has a Dell XPS 15 i7 7700 HQ with GTX 1050 (4 GB Vram) and we test it a bit and you can edit well similar to my Asus Rog but 4k grading with 4k preview can become tricky due to the 4 GB Vram. It works and you can do light grading and even optical flow stuff with it, but Blackmagic says that the minimum for 4k editing is 6 GB Vram so it could happen that the GTX 1050 will run out of Vram and you cannot do the final render even at super slow speed because the gpu ram is full.

To answer your question if you can do 4k editing and grading with a 7700 HQ + GTX 1050 4 GB Vram? Yes you can do it but you may encounter issue with heavy grading and effects. I would stay on the safe side and get a gaming notebook with a 1070 8 GB Vram. Also forget to use these machines on battery power for editing they simply do not work (both the XPS and the Asus Rog)

 

 

[Dave Maze]

I used a $900 MacBook Air as my workhorse for the last year and a half. Just recently switched to the base model $1299 13" MBP without touchbar and both computers work fine. I shoot 4k and edited and graded with Arri Raw, R3D, and work with 4k ProRes almost daily. This video really sums it all up: 

I will say....being a FCPX editor really helps me out. It is such an optimized program that is years ahead of Premiere in speed and optimization. 

[Kisaha]

@gt3rs What Rog do you have? GL502VS ? I see crazy heat on those laptops (both 502 and 702). Can you comment about thermals?

How important do you thing the GPU is on an editing notebook?

Cheers.

[gt3rs]

On ‎7‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 0:12 AM, Kisaha said:

@gt3rs What Rog do you have? GL502VS ? I see crazy heat on those laptops (both 502 and 702). Can you comment about thermals?

How important do you thing the GPU is on an editing notebook?

Cheers.

Yes I have the GL502VS and so far I never run into issue due to thermals. Yes the pc becomes quite hot and the fun works quite hard during editing but so far nothing alarming. Btw on a normal edit / grading session you are not always playing back continuously so the continues load comes mostly at the final render. I don't render long stuff so most of the time below 10 minutes. If I remember I can check the temp next time a render something long to see what the values are.

The panel is not great but on my 2 locations I have good 4k external monitors so the issue is only when I'm on the road.

For Resolve GPU is key because almost all the effects and even more important the grades (NR, Sharpening, Blurs, power windows, optical flow, etc) are all done by the GPU. The faster the GPU is the more grading you can preview in real-time at high res without pre-render.  Also the recommended minimum VRam for 4k in Resolve is 6 GB.

 

[Kisaha]

3 hours ago, gt3rs said:

Yes I have the GL502VS and so far I never run into issue due to thermals. Yes the pc becomes quite hot and the fun works quite hard during editing but so far nothing alarming. Btw on a normal edit / grading session you are not always playing back continuously so the continues load comes mostly at the final render. I don't render long stuff so most of the time below 10 minutes. If I remember I can check the temp next time a render something long to see what the values are.

The panel is not great but on my 2 locations I have good 4k external monitors so the issue is only when I'm on the road.

For Resolve GPU is key because almost all the effects and even more important the grades (NR, Sharpening, Blurs, power windows, optical flow, etc) are all done by the GPU. The faster the GPU is the more grading you can preview in real-time at high res without pre-render.  Also the recommended minimum VRam for 4k in Resolve is 6 GB.

 

Thank you, I would like to know more about the thermals (Piriform Speccy is great, and free!).

I work in Premiere and I recently got a GL502VM but on a few rendering tests I did (light, no color correction, no nothing) the first second start rising to 84C for both CPU and motherboard (GPU 70-75).

I tested a couple of games, and when the GPU were reaching 85C (it seems that is the limit from Asus, 85-87C) the CPU/Motherboard were reaching 95, even 98C (then it was throttling).

So I decided to take it back to the shop, but my issue is that I haven't find anything clearly better in heat dissipation (except my NX1 :p ), and all the rest of the laptops are at least 1Kg heavier (that is 2.3-2.4Kg) and a lot bigger, and a lot pricier, so I am really considering taking it back(! I have a day to reconsider, really). At least it had a perfect monitor (no light bleeding at all, I was amazed) and has Thunderbolt 3 (unlike the VS series, the VM have).

There are some obvious designing limitations (small fans, not enough airflow intake, small copper lines), and the first thing to do is undervolt CPU/GPU, and then open holes, just under the fans.

After a lot of research, I do not believe there is a normal to "slim" (for a gaming one) sizing (and weighting) laptop with 1060 6GB and up. I was looking at 1050ti ones, but there is a serious downgrade from the 1060, so I haven't decided yet.

The panel is a G-Sync, so it performs better for gaming, than video critical work, but it is much better than similar laptops I have seen.

[tomastancredi]

On 11/07/2017 at 10:36 AM, Kisaha said:

I recently got a GL502VM but on a few rendering tests I did (light, no color correction, no nothing) the first second start rising to 84C for both CPU and motherboard (GPU 70-75).

Really? I'm glad I read this, I was about to buy it. it goes for 1300 on newegg. before that I was into aspire v nitro, but also found reviews with the same heating issue. I read that the Lenovo y520 ($1000) does quite a good job with heating..http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/the-best-budget-gaming-laptop-so-far/  although I would like to start with a 6gb GPU, for a 1000 bucks, I am considering it..

[Dan Wake]

if you want to for gaming try to take from 1060 above. 1000 euro for a 1050ti is wasted. imho is better to invest 1000 euro on a desktop pc with ryzen + gtx 1070 or 1060. seriously forget about 1050ti.

[iaremrsir]

My Dell 5000 series gaming laptop can playback a UHD timeline with GH5 and 4K XAVC from an F5. Also played with 4K Sony F5 raw in a 2K timeline and no hiccups there. In all honesty though, I think if you went with an alienware 13 or 15 you'd be better set up for more complex projects. A Dell 5000/7000 series gaming laptop, you'd be good for editing, grading, and low intensity stuff at high resolution. This is all in Resolve 14 by the way. Premiere has been too sketchy with raw performance for me.

But I do agree that a small desktop setup for around the same price will get you much more bang for your buck.

[gt3rs]

On ‎7‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 3:36 PM, Kisaha said:

Thank you, I would like to know more about the thermals (Piriform Speccy is great, and free!).

I work in Premiere and I recently got a GL502VM but on a few rendering tests I did (light, no color correction, no nothing) the first second start rising to 84C for both CPU and motherboard (GPU 70-75).

I tested a couple of games, and when the GPU were reaching 85C (it seems that is the limit from Asus, 85-87C) the CPU/Motherboard were reaching 95, even 98C (then it was throttling).

So I decided to take it back to the shop, but my issue is that I haven't find anything clearly better in heat dissipation (except my NX1 :p ), and all the rest of the laptops are at least 1Kg heavier (that is 2.3-2.4Kg) and a lot bigger, and a lot pricier, so I am really considering taking it back(! I have a day to reconsider, really). At least it had a perfect monitor (no light bleeding at all, I was amazed) and has Thunderbolt 3 (unlike the VS series, the VM have).

There are some obvious designing limitations (small fans, not enough airflow intake, small copper lines), and the first thing to do is undervolt CPU/GPU, and then open holes, just under the fans.

After a lot of research, I do not believe there is a normal to "slim" (for a gaming one) sizing (and weighting) laptop with 1060 6GB and up. I was looking at 1050ti ones, but there is a serious downgrade from the 1060, so I haven't decided yet.

The panel is a G-Sync, so it performs better for gaming, than video critical work, but it is much better than similar laptops I have seen.

Today I did a 5 hours editing session and I did check the temperature and throttling. First I converted h264 files to DNxHD and the machine did run for 1h continuously at 100% CPU with a temp around 80° C for CPU and 65 for GPU (gpu was doing almost nothing) and it did not throttle at all always around 3.380 GHZ. I then did 3 hours of editing and grading 4k and there was really no stress and at the end the final render the CPU went up to 84-87° C throttling it at 3300-3350 GHZ. At the end I played with C200 RAW natively on a 4k 25p timeline with some grading while letting loop continuously the preview it did reach 89° C the CPU and 80° the GPU and after 10 minutes it did throttle down to 3000 GHZ.

In my opinion is a non issue for editing because you never play continuously the video so it cools down between every preview.... Worst case it throttle down for the final render but there is not an issue if it becomes 10% slower...

Games are probably different because the load is continuous, but I'm not a gamer so I cannot comment on it.

Bottom-line for portable editing and grading in Resolve it is a good compromise between price, perf and portability. In 3 months that I have used it for editing and grading I never run in to issues du to the heat.