This is the most budget friendly laptop for Adobe Premiere Pro 2023 and the bare bone MINIMUM GPU power you need.

GPU: 3050Ti ( 4GB vRAM )

I know a lot of you are just getting started with Adobe Premiere and it is likely you’re not going to touch 4k and higher resolution videos. It’ll be mostly limited to FHD or 2k resolution footage of up to 1-2 hours. Now obviously, a better CPU + GPU will work wonders for that but if you are on a budget you will still have a decent workflow with 4GB vRAM GPU just be sure NOT to go below 4GB vRAM, it is literally the bare bone minimum otherwise rendering those GPU accelerated effects will take more than an hour. 

On the other hand, if you just want to add titles , simple transitions and cuts or mix clips perhaps for your blog or youtube channel, then you can even get away with a laptop that’s about 500 bucks (with no dedicated GPU) but I would still advice you grab this one instead to speed up performance. Another good option would be to go for 1650GTX laptops which may be cheaper but also have 4GB vRAM.

CPU: Core i5 10300H or AMD Ryzen 5 5600H

It would be nice if you could get a core i7 or a ryzen 7 with a 4GB vRAM GPU as video playback and rendering will be significantly faster but models with those CPUs are 200-300 more expensive for which you might as well grab a model with a 3060RTX. The Core i5 10300H or Ryzen 5 5600H you’ll find on several 4GB vRAM laptops are not slow by any means, they still go past 4GHz (the same amount of clock speed I used in my benchmarks below) and have 4-6 cores. For obvious reasons, I would advice you to pick the Ryzen 5 models (it has two more cores) or the Core i5 11400H which has 6 cores as well.

RAM+ Storage: Upgradeable

RAM & Storage out of the box is plenty for those getting started with Adobe Premiere but as your timelines get bigger you will need 16GB if you want a faster workflow. No biggie, both RAM & Storage are SO super easy to upgrade. In fact, I have done it myself on this very same model and you can check my tutorials found on the home page or the menu bar above. It supports up to 32GB which can be upgraded in dual-channel mode (for a slight CPU performance gain) and storage can also be upgraded in two ways. You don’t have to replace the onboard 512GB, you can even add an additional 1TB.

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4. Dell XPS 17 9710

Best Windows Laptop For Adobe Premiere

  Intel Core i9-11900H (8 cores / 4.9GHz)

  32GB RAM DDR4

  RTX 3060RTX 6GB vRAM (105W)

  1TB SSD PCIe NVMe

  15.6” 4k UHD Infinity Edge TouchScreen IPS 

  5.53lb

  4 hours

This is a massive upgrade to both of the laptops we went over.

This is the most expensive laptop on the list despite the mid-tier 3060RTX but rightly so, it’s actually faster than the first laptop and way more suitable for video editing at 1080p and 2k resolutions with Adobe Premiere for two reasons:

Display: 17” – Infinity Edge + 4k + 100% sRGB

You probably could not ask more from a laptop display, there’s just no better this play than this one. Even the MacBook Pro isn’t as good as the resolution here is x2 higher (UHD is 4k pixels) . Plus there’s also NO bezels which means although this is a 17 inch laptop, it can fit a 17.5 inch display.

What’s more is that it covers 100% of the sRGB and aRGB color space. The only real problem witih the Dell XPS 15 display that it needs for serious color configuration before you can take full advantage of the color space covered. That doesn’t need to be done with all models, if you do end up witih a model that does head over to the dell forums and you’ll find a few guides.

CPU: Core i9-11900H

Both this core i9 and the core i7 you’ve seen in most of the models we went over have 8 cores however the core i9 is expensive for one reason: it has better multi-core performance, that is every core can hit higher clock speeds (~0.3) although 300Mhz may not sound a lot in paper it makes a HUGE difference ESPECIALLY when MOST cores have that extra clock speed. That means faster video playback , faster rendering, you know the story.

GPU + RAM: 3060RTX (6GB vRAM) + 32GB RAM

This laptop is extremely expensive and you would expect a 3070 or a 3080Ti however there are no Dell XPS models with a GPU higher than the 3060RTX. That’s a bad thing if you edit videos mosty at FHD or 2k resolutions, it’s going to be just as fast as 3070 and 3080Ti laptops. If you do throw some video editing at 4k, it’s not going to be as fast as having high-tier GPUs but it’s going to be pretty close because the CPU will make up for the lack of power of the 3060RTX.

If you’re wondering why there are no models with a 3070 or 3080Ti, it’s because this laptop’s main attraction is the sleek and portable design. Despite being 17 inch it weights just as much as your average 15 inch laptop.

Because it’s relatively thin and sleek, upgrading it is a pain and that’s exactly why it comes with RAM & Storage all maxed out (32GB & 1TB).

Note: the non-renewed models are way too expensive. I would not invest anywhere near this much money for video editing. The renewed models can be as low as 1500 bucks.

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Choosing The Best Laptop For Adobe Premiere CC

Just to make sure we’re all in the same page ( I know newbies might be reading this), let’s define the following terms: encoding, rendering, transcoding and exporting.

exporting = encoding + rendering, your final product

render = although this can mean the final ‘process’ that outputs the final product. In this section, it’ll mean to “render” the effect or change so you can get a preview.

encode= apply a format/codec AVI MP4

transcode= change formats

1. CPU (Processor)

The CPU is going to be the #1 most important factor for ALL instances of video editing: encoding, effects, rendering,etc. Please have a look at the figure below and just look how taxxing rendering a preview of a color correction effect on the CPU is (~100%).

Now there are TWO specs to consider when checking out CPUs whether it’s for a laptop or a desktop: clock frequency (speed) and # cores.

Clock Speed (Frequency) vs Rendering & Applying Effects

Applying effects is not so taxxing on the CPU (it is instantaenous there are no loading bars), it’s mostly GPU dependent we’ll talk about that.

The main issue is rendering previews or small clips or even playback after an effect has been applied as in the figure above.

It is EXTREMELY FREQUENCY dependent as shown below.

CPU utilization is on average 70% but trust me it goes up to 100%. This is on a desktop CPU with +4GHz of clock speed. Even there were times when the playback had a few jerky framerates. That effect was applied on a 15 min clip, it’s going to be less taxing on shorter clips.

# Cores vs Rendering

Likewise the more cores you have here the better, as you can see every core is being used when rendering in the figure. That’s a 6 cores CPU (12 threads) but you will see benefits up to 8 cores.

Exporting

Likewise since exporting is basically a ‘rendering-like’ operation, it is going to be multicore dependent as well. You can double check this by heading over to Pudget systems on Adobe Premiere. 

It is easy to fall into the trap that Adobe premiere has no limit on the #cores it can use for rendering and exporting. In fact, if you contact customer support you’ll be this. It is partly true but there are significanty diminishing returns after 8…making 10 12 14 cores pretty much useless.

Note: these rules apply to every instance of Adobe Premiere but there are some source footages which are more dependent on single clock frequency. Those formats are RARE so it is likely you don’t have to worry about it. 

2. GPU (Graphics Card)

Applying Effects

Now I’ve said that applying effects was nearly instantaneous in that 15 min video clip, there was no loading bars.

It’s always going to be instantaneous as long as your “VIDEO” fits in video memory (vRAM). Look at the red circle and how much that 15 min video clip is taking 2GB (it’s actually a 20 min clip). Thus the more footage you have, the more video RAM you’re going to need if you want effects to be applied instantaneously.

Also effects aren’t very taxing to the GPU ( Ive only seen spikes up to 15% in the graph above), it’s more about ‘video RAM” .

Rendering

Rendering previews and real time rendering is mostly done by the CPU but the GPU can help too. It’s not going to be a dramatic improvement but it’s going to be more or less significant as you can see in the first figure of this section (15% GPU power used while rendering in real time).

If you want to maximize rendering and exporting performance, then…

That’s because these “GPU Cores” act as additional CPU cores when rendering. However, just like #Cores on CPU, there’s a limit to this making most high-end GPUs perform just as well as  mid-range GPUs. We’ll get to specifics in the conclusion section.

GPU Accelerated Effects

There’s a whole list of so called “GPU accelerated effects” which are listed by Adobe on their website here. If you happen to use any or several of those effects on your videos, then there’s going to be an even major perfomance gain when rendering in real time or generating previews with these effects.

High Resolution Videos

A dedicated GPU becomes a MUST if you want to edit high resolution videos (4k, 8k) and use an external monitor (laptops usually don’t have that much resolution).

Additional conclusions: GPU (Graphics Cards)

The following have been  benchmarked by Pudget Systems:

• Exporting or rendering from one resolution (1080p) to the same resolution (1080p), you don’t need to grab the latest most powerful GPU. Any of the following : 2060RTX, 1660Ti, 3060RTX will do. 
• The high tier GPUs (3070RTX, 3080RTX, 2080Ti, etc) are slightly faster at generating previous at 1080p. 
• Although Previews at 1080p are faster with high tier GPUs. Mid-tier are just as good for previous at (4k).
• Lastly, high tier GPUs are faster when exporting from high resolution (Ex: 4k ) to lower resolutions (Ex: 1080p).

So which cards should we go for?

For simple cuts and transitions, no need to worry about graphics card just pick a good CPU.

For serious video editing, 4k video editing:

• Those getting started with softwar or editing for youtube videos: At least a 4GB vRAM dGPU. (1650GTX, 3050Ti)
• Pros working with 4k videos & several accelerated effects: at least a 6GB vRAM dGPU ( 1660Ti, 2060RTX, 3060RTX).
• Very very few users will need the 8GB vRAM dedicated GPU (high tier) but it will certainly speed up a lot of the things we mentioned only buy it if you can afford it.

NVIDIA or AMD

Dedicated AMD GPUs are not available on laptops, only on older MacBook Pros (but they have Finale anyways). If you’re building a desktop, save yourself the hassle and just believe everyone: NVIDIA is better for video editing. 

If you still want to know why here’s the explanation (jump to the next section otherwise).

CUDA vs Open CL *

NVIDIA operates under CUDA technology (programming paradigm) and AMD with Open CL(likewise). While NVIDIA’s GPU programming focuses on general purpose usage (video editing, gaming, 3d modeling), AMD’s Open CL is MOSTLY focused on gaming .

Thus although AMD GPUs have ‘GPU cores’ also known as ‘shaders’, they are not ‘programmed’ to excel at other tasks than video editing. CUDA cores technology by NVIDIA IS tailored for video editing too thus it performs significantly better.

Although in the past great benchmarkers like Linus tech tips have noticed no performance gains when rendering. Later on, Pudgetsystems, the top dog in benchmarking have concluded that CUDA outperforms open CL.*

*This is subject to change though as AMD’s technology improves over time, better check the latest articles to confirm this if you’re reading this later than 2022.

What about workstation GPUs? Quadro?

If the workstation GPU you have picked has more ‘vRAM’ and you think you have very very high resolution and very very long footage as well, then they are useful.

Otherwise, all things being equal (same amount of vRAM and same generation ), they perform pretty much the same as consumer ‘gaming’ GPUs. The only advantage would be that you’ll get better customer support and drivers. 

Lastly, they are a must for 10bit display (for laptops this isn’t a concern as most don’t have one and if they do have that display, the GPU will not output 10bit videos because it is likely the integrated graphics gets in the way).

3. RAM

RAM memory behaves the same way vRAM does although it is less efficient with image data thus having 64GB RAM does not mean you’ll be able to apply effects on a 10hour footage instantaneously.

It does help toward that though.

16GB or 32GB?

It seems adobe premiere STILL makes good use of 32GB and 64GB too but they aren’t a significant perfomance gain after 16GB.

However..

If you’re an AE (After Effects) user and also use plugins like Magic Bullet, 32GB will certainly help. Nearly all laptops with dedicated GPUs are upgradeable to 32GB, it’s going to be rare to find a laptop with 32GB out of the box so you’re going to have to do the upgrade yourself. I have a tutorial on how to Upgrade RAM here.

4. Storage

When there is not enough RAM for your footage, the storage will be used instead. Thus buying a faster storage means getting ‘more RAM’, this is very rare so that should not be the reason why you should buy fast storage (SSD).

HDD vs SSD: Slow High Capacity or Fast Low Capacity

On modern laptops, storage devices are always solid state drives. Whether you choose the slower HDD is only a problem with desktops.

Either way just make sure you have an SSD. Space is important of course but nowhere near as important an an SSD for the following reasons:

• Increased performance rendering & previewing (5% tops not much but still good)
• Source files (footage) will load in an instant (would take several seconds with HDDs)
• Outputting and exporting videos are 5% faster too
• Fast file transfers between PC/Laptop and External devices
• Booting up Adobe Premiere will take 5 secs tops (as opposed to 1-2 min with HDDs)

Recommended Storage Device Set Up

Obviously, it has to include a Solid State Drive. Now there are still a few types of SSD some faster than others. This is only a problem for desktops though, laptops always come with the fastest SSD: PCIe NVMe SSD which are 20% faster than SATA III SSDs.

To rip off ALL the benefits just be sure (in case you have a dual SSD or HDD+SSD set up) you place Adobe Premiere and source files in the fastest SSD.

Best Desktop Storage Set Up: Pudget systems has a nice infographic with the recommended storage set up to maximize performance

Laptops: Like I said laptops all have SSDs the problem is most have 256GB and very few 512GB out of the box. Good news is they are easy to upgrade and you can even have TWO SSDs on a laptop (15” gaming laptop) and some workstation laptops (17”) may allow up to 3 (though they are crazy expensive).

Anyways either dual SSD set up or a SSD+ HDD is the best combo. I have a tutorial here on how to do the SSD Upgrade.

Where to store Adobe & Files for maximum performance?

To maximize performance (if you have a dual SSD set up), the main SSD should hold the OS and the secon SSD should have Adobe Premiere and all of your footage.

5. Display

Resolution & Size

Obviously, you need a FHD display to edit FHD videos (actually you don’t but if you want to see how your FHD resolution is going to look, you do). Virtually all laptops with dedicated graphics have FHD anyways, what’s different from laptop to laptop is size.

17 inch displays are ideal but heavy and very expensive.

Color Gamut & Color Accuracy

If you have a lot of cash, you can be picky about how color accurate your display is. Laptop displays will never be as good as desktop displays for video editing of course but it’s still worth trying to get the best display.

Here’s a few tips:

• IPS displays are more color accurate than TN displays
• Glossy displays are also more color accurate than Matte displays
• Some laptop displays have much better color accuracy and gamut (it means they cover a much bigger color space)
  • Some examples are the Dell XPS 15 & MacBook Pro
• Laptop displays with 2k or 4k resolution will naturally have better color accuracy

4k displays

Lastly, just want to be clear, you don’t need a 4k display on a laptop to edit 4k videos, yes it helps but you can still do it with a FHD display. 

In fact, since the video will be scaled down when you edit it, it will not be in 4k even with a 4k display. It will only playback in 4k WHEN you use fullscreen mode.

The best choice is to just not focus on display too much when shopping a laptop and use an external display for the final touch ups and to make sure everything looks color accurate.

Comments?

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