Best budget laptop for video editing 2021

Any blogger worth following knows how demanding video editing is. And Its not just about finding a system with a good graphics card. No, the issue lies with getting a system that has the perfect blend of high-level specifications, from impressive discrete graphics and smart processors to high-quality resolution.

Contrary to expectations, finding a cheap video editing laptop is certainly possible. Some of the best laptops for video editing under 1000 dollars will serve just as well and with the reasonably low cost, you can free up more cash to do some other important stuff.

Of course, a desktop computer is ideal for video editing work and they could even come at cheaper rates than their laptop counterparts. But travel vloggers have it a bit harder, with the added stress of finding great laptops for travel with reliability and strength in addition to the portability that is required of the best tool needed for creating unique content on the go.

Note Please know, some of the external links on this page are affiliate links, this means that if you purchase after following one, I make a small commission from the sale at no additional cost to yourself.

Top Picks

To be frank, choosing the best tech companion for your vlogs depends least on your budget, as important as that factor is. Rather, buying a computer for editing your videos while traveling must be treated with a long-term perspective.

You should have a vague idea of the projects you want to accomplish using this computer. From the complexity to the format of the edits, you want a tech piece that will be worth the cash you want to sacrifice. To get us started, lets see what to look for in a laptop for video editing.

Things to consider in a laptop for editing videos

Storage Space

The essence of a portable system lies in the wealth of storage it has available. At home, you might have access to external hard drives and the like, which become too bulky an option for travel vloggers who need to keep things light, especially since youll forget them anyway. Offline video editing software requires a large storage space. Due to this, it becomes imperative that you have plenty of storage on your laptop, and having an expansive hard drive is a good place to start. Also if you are on the move a lot I would recommend a solid-state drive [SSD] over a traditional hard drive. Although the speed and enhanced performance of an SSD is traded off by the fact they will generally have less space than a traditional hard drive for the money.

Battery Life

The purpose of a portable device is lost when it goes off, then it becomes just a burden. That is the simple reason why the lifespan of a device between charge is a central factor to its choice. Its as simple as that.

Storage Speed

There is usually a need one for the other between storage space and speed, and rightly so. Since the hard drives speed determines how quickly you can get your work done, it can get really frustrating when you have to wait hours looking at the software logo when you could have exported your footage already with a faster system. Of course, there is the famous trick where you store all programs and media files in separate drives for getting a boost on speed, but there is no substitute for a fast hard drive.

Processor

For those that feel more productive when they multitask, a reliable processor is an indispensable asset. Many experts consider a processor to be even more valuable than a dedicated graphics card for video editing, since the tasks tend to demand a lot from processors and memory. On one hand, shopping for a system with a good processor can be quite tricky, but a good rule of thumb is to go for a processor with loads of threads.

RAM

Basic knowledge of computers reveals that work done on computers uses the RAM for a temporary workstation. From that perspective, you can deduce that if you will need a large hard drive to store your saved data, it is equally important to have enough memory to afford you the flexibility to handle video editing and playback in real-time without dropping frames. A common practice is to allocate fractions of your memory to your work, so you can enjoy your work experience a bit more. While 8GB is a pretty solid level, 16GB RAM or more is preferable. Remember RAM can be upgraded pretty cheaply if you find a great deal but it is a little low.

Graphics Transition Card

Images on the system screen are made up of units called pixels, and the part of the computer set-up responsible for converting those pixels to data is the graphics card. As is the case with every other piece of tech, there are different grades of a graphics card. You need a graphics card capable of rivaling the speed of Barry Allen for executing video edits.

Audio

Most times the unique thing about travel vlogs lies their unique content. Having a weak audio support for a neatly edited video makes the graphics look worse. Thus, reducing your chance of communicating effectively, not only with yourself, but your audience in extension. It can be sacrificed, but theres no need to settle for less.

Monitor Screen Quality

Imagine the most delectable pie youve ever tasted, screens are exactly like that. You dont know you need some until you get yourself one. Also, being the first person to appreciate your work requires you to see it in its purest state, and nothing does that better than quality screen resolution. It is worthy of note that the same screen sizes could have different screen resolutions, and vice versa. So speak less of how wide the screen should be, and more of how clear the screen should be.

For vloggers, there is an extra need to search out for advantages like anti-glare screens. Anti-glare screens are films made of special materials used to form extra layers on the surface of computer monitors. This film acts as a reflecting accessory against the rays of the sun. for people on the move, it can be the difference between a good job and a marvelous piece of art.

Best laptop under $1000 for video editing

1. Apple MacBook Air
2. Asus ZenBook 13
3. Lenovo Yoga 720
4. Dell Inspiron 7000 15.6
5. Samsung Notebook 7 13.3
6. HP Pavilion Flagship 15.6
7. Lenovo Premium Gaming Laptop L340
8. Lenovo Legion 5
9. Dell Gaming G3 15 3500
10. Asus TUF Dash 15
11. Acer Swift X video editing laptop
12. Acer Nitro 5 video editing laptops

• You may also like: Best laptops for writers and bloggers

Each of all the qualities and requirements above demands loads of money to bring to reality, and so most people are forced to tradeoffs between each of them to get a tool they can attempt to edit their videos with. Have no such fear! For this written piece is here to expose the best budget laptop for video editing that finely balances all the requirements to help you get the best of all worlds. Whats more? These are cheap laptops for video editing that cost below $1000.

1. Apple MacBook Air

Only pride would keep this machine off this list. For what its worth, it stands in this list as a symbolic representation for budget video editing laptops since it costs much less than its earlier models. If you are lusting after the Macbook Pro, but cant quite budget it, the MacBook Air is a very good second option.

Performance-wise, it delivers just okay, which is a bit steep for its price. After all, we expect nothing less from Apple. It is a Apple M1 chip with an 8-core CPU blessed with 8GB of RAM, and while this looks very unimpressive in written script, Apple rigged the processor to have short bursts of pleasing performance at lightning-fast speeds that peak at 3.6Ghz.

The storage space leaves even less to be desired with a terrible 128Gb of space offered where rival tech nowadays comes with double of that. To make matters worse, upgrading to a 256Gb hard drive would require an additional $200 investment, and at that rate, buying an external storage unit looks like the better decision. The battery life is just a bit better and has been tested to last just half an hour longer than the recorded average.

It is in its display, however, that it seems Apple placed its bets with the MacBook Air proving intelligence with every color rendered. Through the magnificent True Tone feature, the resolution of the MacBook Air provides a delicious spectacle to cater to your video editing needs. Apart from that, it was nice to hear this device continues Apples momentum with Audio goodness, and it felt even better to be heard to a very decent degree by Siri despite being enveloped in noise.

2. Asus ZenBook 13

The Asus ZenBook 13 redefines the tag of a budget laptop for video editing by delivering the quality of resourcefulness that would normally only comes with premium laptops. First, it has to be said that it looks heavenly, even though that has never helped any travel vlogger. What can help, though, is good performance, and the Asus Zenbook delivers with distinct aplomb.

An 8th generation Intel Core i5-8265U processor and 8GB of RAM in its make-up ensures that it is very capable of handling complex tasks with admirable ease, to put in perspective for a travel vlogger, it took the Asus Zenbook half the time it took a MacBook Air to transcode the same 4k video to 1080pixels. All of its abilities have it competing fairly with only premium-level systems.

As for the graphics, it underwhelms with the mention of an Intel-sponsored UHD 620 summing up its Graphic prowess. Also, just like many others valued at a similar price, it also has a terrible 720p Webcam accessory. But then again it does a great job of lasting through the day, with a mind-blowing battery life in store for the owner.

3. Lenovo Yoga 720

This beauty comes in a heavier package than her mates, and with its numerous plusses, you can tell exactly why it is. The Lenovo Yoga 720 is armed with a core i7 processing unit and the latest Nvidia GeForce 10-series graphic card that guarantees you an amazing performance regardless of the task. The storage size is a respectable 256Gb worth of space, in the world of SSDs, you can suck it up. Also, the Lenovo Yoga 720 impresses even more with a battery lifespan that puts her competition to shame running with the operating system Windows.

Its design can look very bland, but being a convertible could make up for those quirks, as the mobility you get from using it either as a tent, tablet or laptop makes it fancy enough to impress. Ahem, I mean, makes it able to get work done on the go.

The 1080p display resolution on the 15.6 of the Lenovo Yoga 720 is unfortunately very average, it reproduces color gamuts very well, but lacks the precision and lighting blend that would earn it some praise.

4. Dell Inspiron 7000 15.6

The due process would be to first take off hats to the most beautiful and sleekest laptop Dell have ever made. The visual appeal of this tech piece is its first selling point. On a more functional note, the 8th gen Intel Core i7 and 16Gb of RAM built-in promise and deliver an unmatchable experience for laptops under the $1000 benchmark, recording 4k to 1080p transcoding speeds and overall performance that many premium laptops can only dream of. This is mismatched by the less inspiring graphic ability of the Inspiron 7000 that is accompanied by a rather meek quality of audio output.

Fortunately, the product is saved by an illuminating display that creates a thirst for more 4k panels, and an innovative combination called the Active Pen. The Active Pen is the banner for the 2-in-1 options for the laptops usability A pen that equally registers notable responsiveness on touch with the screen, is brilliantly placed in a crevice fashioned off the hinges of the system. This addition accounts for the spike in the ergonomic satisfaction scores of the Dell Inspiron 7000, but does nothing to rescue the battery life of the laptop from the load of the 4k display.

5. Samsung Notebook 7 13.3

For all the direction that Samsung laptops of the past have shown, it is ironically becoming clear that Samsung is becoming disillusioned when it comes to the design of laptops. The Samsung Notebook 7 13.3 doesnt shake that feeling at all. However, if you look past the looks, the Notebook 7 delivers when it counts with an arsenal made up of up to 16Gb RAM, a Core i7 processor and a strong 256GB SSD hard drive that can be upgraded to 512Gb if needed. That said, it is perhaps only faster at transcoding videos from 4k to 1080p than some other laptops in its class, and is warm enough to make it hard to swallow with a basic graphic card, but thats not saying it doesnt farm videos well, it does.

When it comes to displays, the Samsung Notebook 7 has 13+ inches of white balance accuracy and color reproduction to defend it. Also, its screen resolution is no scam, outdoing itself with an absolute clarity that will be appreciated by even people with little to no knowledge about screens. All that matters though, is that the Notebook 7s middling quality is okay for its price and still useful for certain levels of video editing.

6. HP Pavilion Flagship 15.6

With this HP Range, they are certainly not joking around when they came out with one of the best laptops for video editing under 1000 bucks. The specs drop many jaws with an insane 16Gb RAM working together with an AMD Octa-Core Ryzen 7 5700U processor unit integrated AMD Radeon graphics to form a reliable brain capable of breaking down the strongest walls, on paper at least. In reality, this editing laptop is a little less dramatic, but very effective nonetheless.

The battery life of HPs Pavilion Flagship is also deserving of a passing score, nothing more or less. Its Hard drive is a whole terabyte, but clocks low transfer speeds, but is future-proof with enough type C USB ports in a full deck that includes an earphone Jack and a HDMI port, not bad for a cheap laptop for video editing.

8. Lenovo Legion 5

The Lenovo Legion 5 is a sweet deal for a video editing laptop under $1000, and heres why. This powerful AMD 4th iteration of the Ryzen 5 4600H processor machine also doubles as a gaming laptop. Ignore the aesthetics, and this laptop was designed with more attention on performance rather than beauty. With six cores and twelve processing threads, Nvidia GTX 1650 graphics card, high-performance cooling system to keep your laptop at a balanced temperature during video editing, you cannot deny its quality.

However, video editors who like sleek and lightweight laptops may be disappointed; this laptop weighs 5.5 pounds. But it makes up for this with a storage 256GB SSD and 16GB RAM capable of being upgraded to 32GB for more significant projects. The Legion 5 is also equipped with a 3GHz base clock that can be boosted up to 4GHz to meet your video editing needs.

This laptop may not offer an optimum gaming experience with its graphics card, but youve got just the suitable machine if your requirement is video editing. It is capable of rendering 4K and 3D videos with its high VFX utilization. In addition, it is intelligently equipped with a 15.6 inch HD screen that easily supports 120Hz refresh, and a solid IPS display for speed and color clarity when editing or gaming.

Performance and efficiency are the language of this machine from Lenovo. It is undoubtedly a steal at below for video editing under $1000. This laptop can guarantee high performance and durability for video editors without fear of lagging. It certainly has a few cons here and there, but if youre looking for a high-performance video editing laptop on a budget, you cant find much better than this one.

9. Dell Gaming G3 15 3500

As far as gaming and video editing laptops below $1000 goes, the Dell G3 15 3500 is arguably the best you can get amongst laptops within this price range. This laptop boasts super durability and assures you the best video editing experience and for many years to come. In addition, the Dell G3 has a powerful 10th Generation Intel Core i5-10300H processor for more speed and better performance, making rendering heavy video projects fast and seamless.

Furthermore, this laptop possesses an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Ti GPU with a VRAM of 4GB. Equipped with a Hexa-core processor with 12 processing threads and a base clock of 2.6GHz, which can be boosted to 5GHz when needed, this machine can quickly render 3D effects and 4K video, perfect for most video editing software and video editing apps. However, it may err in the storage and memory department with only 8GB RAM suitable for low-resolution video editing. But if you want to work with heavier files without necessarily needing to look for another laptop, the Dell G3 has a slot of up to 32GB for another memory to be added.

Another obvious flaw of this otherwise super reliable laptop is its display, with a mere 15.6-inch FHD WVA display with poor brightness levels. Though it has an anti-glare screen, with the bright display being an almost compulsory need for video editors, this might be a turn-off for most. However, you can as well buy another show if this laptop meets your other requirements.
On the upside, the Dell G3 has an incredibly long battery life, better than most within its category. It promises over 6 hours of battery life at optimum performance while running editing projects and video gaming alike.

In summation, the Dell G3 is great if you require a gaming laptop for small and mid-sized video editing projects. Its about the cheapest gaming laptop in Dells collections that still offers fantastic features, and whats more, it comes in a beautiful matte-black plastic design.

10. Asus TUF Dash 15

The Asus TUF Dash is a typical gaming laptop package that doubles as a high-performing laptop for video editing. It is the 11th Generation Intel Core i7-11370Hz laptop with 4 CPU cores and eight threads. So if the best gaming and video editing laptop close to $1000 is what youre looking for [this is a smidge over], look no further than this powerful machine. It has a 15.6 inch Full HD display and a high graphics performance with the Nvidia RTX 3050Ti GPU, making for exciting gaming and video editing experience.

Boasting a dedicated 4GB GDDR6 VRAM, a 512GB SSD, and 8GB DDR4 RAM that supports additional slots to increase RAM capacity, you shouldnt be having issues with storage. This laptop has an advanced cooling system with optimal thermal tuning keeping it cool even at high-performance mode. Rendering lengthy video projects will not be an issue with this machine as it comes with a base 3GHz base clock speed and a Turbo Boost option of up to 4.8GHz.

This laptop also has a backlit keyboard and an excellent trackpad to customize and control its performance. Besides, the makers omitted a webcam, fingerprint reader, and external lighting; it is generally an ideal video editing laptop for under $1000.

While it has a heavy build with a weight of 4.41 pounds, it is surprisingly thin at 19.9mm and carefully designed to be solid and thick. The base comes with a smooth, strong plastic covering, while the back is fitted with a metal lid. It is satisfyingly designed with a smooth surface and a turquoise backlighting very visible on the WASD keys if aesthetics is your thing.

Overall, it has a sub-par display and some other flaws and omissions, but this is one of the best video editing laptops you can get at under $1000, given its impressive specs and strong battery life.

11. Acer Swift X video editing laptop

This is a high-performance portable laptop packed with Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti GPU [4GB GDDR6 VRAM] and a powerful AMD CPU, making it undoubtedly able to handle video editing and gaming with speed and ease. The Acer Swift X laptop also has you covered with its long battery life, 14 inches Full HD [1920 x 1080 IPS non-touch] screen, 16GB memory, amongst a plethora of other juicy specs you cannot ignore.

If youre in doubt about how much of a good deal buying this laptop will be, youll be shocked to know that the Acer Swift X laptop guarantees a 100% RGB display with brightness levels of 300nits and a 16:9 aspect ratio. Theres more. Your laptops security is two times secure with the fingerprint reader feature and Windows Hello sign-in options.

As the name Swift implies, this machine was created for the go. At 3.06lbs, it is remarkably lightweight and thin, making carrying it around easier. Moreover, a battery capacity of 58.7 Watt-hours ably backs it for a longer work time for all its high-performance features.

Like every other laptop, the Acer Swift X is not free of flaws, but some of the themes can be made up for in other areas depending on your specific video editing needs. The fans can get noisy at high performance, and the keyboards can get warm. The speakers are not impressive, and the 720p webcam can do with a bit of upgrading as the quality is relatively low. In the keyboard section, this laptop has minor keys and a rather tricky page up and down arrows which are unusually very close to each other. Though the spacing is good enough, another obvious flaw is the location of the power button at the top right corner directly above the delete key.

Is the laptop the perfect laptop for video editing? It all depends on your needs. However, considering its flaws, if the upsides meet your requirements, then it is absolutely a good deal at under $1000.

12. Acer Nitro 5 video editing laptops

Another laptop from the gaming lineups of manufacturers, the Acer Nitro 5 is up there as one of the best video editing laptops on a budget. The specs do speak for themselves with an i5-9300H processor and top clock speed of 4.1GHz, 15.6 inch Full HD display, and a 144Hz refresh rate. Powered by a 10th Generation Intel Core i5-10300H processor, it has four cores and eight threads.

For the visuals, the Nvidia GTX 1650 with 4GB RAM makes it a super-efficient laptop for video editors. You have little to worry about using video editing suites and software as the 8GB DDR4 RAM, and a 256GB SSD guarantees seamless editing workflow and hassle-free video editing. With a dual storage setup, you can decide to add another SSD when you need to.

One of the many outstanding features of this powerful laptop is its attention to detail in the design. In addition, it is thoughtfully fitted with a supercooling system [Acer CoolBoost technology] and vents to keep the laptop cool while working. If you like lightweight laptops, this solid gaming laptop may not be your choice as it weighs 5.07 pounds and is 0.98 inches thick. However, it has a strong build and battery life of over 8 hours despite its weight and performance levels. There are only a few laptops under $1000 that can be compared with this laptop. Though it lacks in some areas, including its absence of microSD slots and Type-C connectivity, you cannot go wrong with this one as far as good video editing laptops go.

Final thoughts on the best laptops for video editing under 1000 dollars

All in all, the goal was to find the best cheap laptop for editing youtube videos and creating vlogs on the go. While they clearly have a few limitations, they will doubtlessly prove good enough as an asset computer for editing videos while traveling.

And so, with systems like the Asus ZenBook 13 and Lenovo Yoga 720 up for grabs, and a MacBook that just happens to fall under that category [everyone loves the Mac], there is no need for further proof that having a budget below $1000 is no excuse for buying a low-quality laptop. All that is needed is a little direction, and this list rounds up the best budget video editing laptops. Good Luck!

You Can Also Read:

• 15 Essential Accessories for Laptops
• Best Extension Cord For International Travel