M1, Ryzen or Nvidia for video editing

[IAmAndre]

Hi,

 

So I'm looking for an ultrabook under $1000 for mostly casual stuff like web browsing and general productivity, but that I could use for video editing using After Effects and Premiere in rare occasions (when I can't access my gaming rig for any reason).

 

So I'd like to know what would be the better option between

•  MacBook Air with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage
• Hp Envy x360 with a 8GB of RAM upgradable to 16GB with a Ryzen 7 4700u
• The same HP but with a 10th gen i5 and an MX330

For now my preferred option is the second one because of the touch screen (I'll be using it a lot in bed for reading and watching videos), the upgradability options, and... the ports. However Ryzen isn't optimized for Adobe products but this might change in the future. Adobe is now using my Vega 56 properly since just a few months so I like to stay optimistic. The Nvidia on the other hand should perform better as of now.

 

What are your thoughts?

 

[Mohammad Saleh]

hp envy

[SupaKomputa]

Macbook air with 16gb for sure.

both windows laptop suddenly loosing it's appeal.

[IAmAndre]

Just now, SupaKomputa said:

Macbook air with 16gb for sure.

both windows laptop suddenly loosing it's appeal.

That would cost me an extra $400-500 (if I get extra storage as well). $1400 isn't worth it for a secondary laptop. Apple's pricing scheme is terrible, which actually gives Microsoft laptops more appeal budget-wise.

[SupaKomputa]

Just now, IAmAndre said:

That would cost me an extra $400-500 (if I get extra storage as well). $1400 isn't worth it for a secondary laptop. Apple's pricing scheme is terrible, which actually gives Microsoft laptops more appeal budget-wise.

secondary laptop you say? then the 8gb is good enough.

looking at the reviews it's pretty good in editing, even with RED footages.

i hate apple, but i got to admit the M1 blew me away.

i just cant resist the 10w power consumption while doing video editing.

it's just too good. it means you can edit video anywhere without plugging in.

[IAmAndre]

2 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

secondary laptop you say? then the 8gb is good enough.

looking at the reviews it's pretty good in editing, even with RED footages.

i hate apple, but i got to admit the M1 blew me away.

i just cant resist the 10w power consumption while doing video editing.

it's just too good. it means you can edit video anywhere without plugging in.

It's currently on sale for $900 on B&H so I'm very tempted. The fact that it's fanless would make it perfect for my in-bed use. If only it had a touch screen it would have been perfect. But yeah $900 is a very good price.

[SupaKomputa]

Just now, IAmAndre said:

The fact that it's fanless would make it perfect for my in-bed use.

Yes, that is a miracle.

Unless you're doing pen and paper style illustration, a touchscreen won't be useful.

I had one in front of me, barely touching it.

[IAmAndre]

1 minute ago, SupaKomputa said:

Yes, that is a miracle.

Unless you're doing pen and paper style illustration, a touchscreen won't be useful.

I had one in front of me, barely touching it.

I read a lot. A 2-in-1 would help but I guess you can't have everything. Maybe I could buy a tablet later like a used iPad mini.

[SupaKomputa]

Yeah yuo can get an Ipad as the touch bar  pad and a second screen. Lovely.

[Spindel]

Firstly check if the software that you want to use work with the M1 (either native or under rosetta). 

 

If the software works and you can live with using macOS?

 

If yes to both above get an M1 Mac, there is really no competition.

[IAmAndre]

27 minutes ago, Spindel said:

Firstly check if the software that you want to use work with the M1 (either native or under rosetta). 

 

If the software works and you can live with using macOS?

 

If yes to both above get an M1 Mac, there is really no competition.

Actually this is tricky because while Premiere and After Effects work fine using Rosetta, Adobe is releasing an optimized version next year. But as of now it still performs pretty well but not as well as Final Cut of course. My main concern though is the 8GB of RAM because reviewers say that the 16GB model performs better. But then again, I don't want to spend an extra $300 to get an extra $8GB of RAM. The storage is also tiny at 256GB so definitely not enough to install all the software you want but enough for a secondary laptop.

[Spindel]

5 hours ago, IAmAndre said:

Actually this is tricky because while Premiere and After Effects work fine using Rosetta, Adobe is releasing an optimized version next year. But as of now it still performs pretty well but not as well as Final Cut of course. My main concern though is the 8GB of RAM because reviewers say that the 16GB model performs better. But then again, I don't want to spend an extra $300 to get an extra $8GB of RAM. The storage is also tiny at 256GB so definitely not enough to install all the software you want but enough for a secondary laptop.

Even under rosetta the M1 MBA will be faster than the options you mentioned in OP. 

[Imglidinhere]

6 hours ago, IAmAndre said:

Hi,

 

So I'm looking for an ultrabook under $1000 for mostly casual stuff like web browsing and general productivity, but that I could use for video editing using After Effects and Premiere in rare occasions (when I can't access my gaming rig for any reason).

 

So I'd like to know what would be the better option between

•  MacBook Air with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage
• Hp Envy x360 with a 8GB of RAM upgradable to 16GB with a Ryzen 7 4700u
• The same HP but with a 10th gen i5 and an MX330

For now my preferred option is the second one because of the touch screen (I'll be using it a lot in bed for reading and watching videos), the upgradability options, and... the ports. However Ryzen isn't optimized for Adobe products but this might change in the future. Adobe is now using my Vega 56 properly since just a few months so I like to stay optimistic. The Nvidia on the other hand should perform better as of now.

 

What are your thoughts?

 

The HP Envy gets my vote. If you buy into Apple's ecosystem, you're stuck with them and with no real knowledge of whether or not you can run non proprietary applications ever again. With Ryzen, at least you have the firepower to just churn through whatever program you may want.

 

If it were me, however, I'd look for a laptop that has 32GB of memory, as 16 will get gobbled up without thinking.

[Spindel]

12 minutes ago, Imglidinhere said:

...If you buy into Apple's ecosystem, you're stuck with them and with no real knowledge of whether or not you can run non proprietary applications ever again. With Ryzen, at least you have the firepower to just churn through whatever program you may want...

This part of your comment has no base in reality what so ever. This is just ”mmm Apple bad” circlejerk. 

[IAmAndre]

2 hours ago, Spindel said:

This part of your comment has no base in reality what so ever. This is just ”mmm Apple bad” circlejerk. 

Well I don't particularly like Apple products. Actually I've been bashing Apple since forever as a Linux user. The last Apple product before this MacBook I've been interested in was the iPod.

 

So I've kept watching reviews and stuff and still haven't made my decision. My big problem is if I buy the MBA, I'll need to buy an iPad for media consumption. So considering that the cheapest option costs $329, it's not all that bad. But then I realized that 32GB of storage isn't a lot so I'm tempted to spend an extra $100 to get the 128GB version... But then with just a bit more I can have the 4G model.

 

As it keeps adding up, I might be better off with a Dell XPS 2-in-1 with a much sleeker design, or as I mentioned, an Hp Envy or even a Spectre with a Ryzen 7 CPU, twice as much RAM, and ports!

[Commodus]

1 hour ago, IAmAndre said:

Well I don't particularly like Apple products. Actually I've been bashing Apple since forever as a Linux user. The last Apple product before this MacBook I've been interested in was the iPod.

 

So I've kept watching reviews and stuff and still haven't made my decision. My big problem is if I buy the MBA, I'll need to buy an iPad for media consumption. So considering that the cheapest option costs $329, it's not all that bad. But then I realized that 32GB of storage isn't a lot so I'm tempted to spend an extra $100 to get the 128GB version... But then with just a bit more I can have the 4G model.

 

As it keeps adding up, I might be better off with a Dell XPS 2-in-1 with a much sleeker design, or as I mentioned, an Hp Envy or even a Spectre with a Ryzen 7 CPU, twice as much RAM, and ports!

Why would you need a touchscreen to watch media in bed? Not trying to be accusatory — just noting that you can probably use a trackpad (especially one as good as Apple's) for launching videos.

 

If it were me, I'd get the Air and roll the iPad money into storage if you can. The Envy with a Ryzen chip sounds like a good pick, but it's hard to deny the MacBook's advantages. That and it might be helpful to live with another platform if you haven't used a Mac in recent years.

[IAmAndre]

48 minutes ago, Commodus said:

Why would you need a touchscreen to watch media in bed? Not trying to be accusatory — just noting that you can probably use a trackpad (especially one as good as Apple's) for launching videos.

 

If it were me, I'd get the Air and roll the iPad money into storage if you can. The Envy with a Ryzen chip sounds like a good pick, but it's hard to deny the MacBook's advantages. That and it might be helpful to live with another platform if you haven't used a Mac in recent years.

Well I read a lot: comic books, courses, news articles, etc. So it is helpful. And having ports is a big plus, especially for on a mobile computer that you can connect to a projector or share files on a USB stick and whatnot.

 

However I do like the fact that I could finally start developing apps for iOS and test my websites on Safari without relying on an emulator. What advantages are you referring to besides the M1 chip?

[Spindel]

9 hours ago, IAmAndre said:

As it keeps adding up, I might be better off with a Dell XPS 2-in-1 with a much sleeker design, or as I mentioned, an Hp Envy or even a Spectre with a Ryzen 7 CPU, twice as much RAM, and ports!

As I said, at that price range and the options you are comparing it to to, the M1 MBA will smoke the competition performance wise, as long as the software you want to run works.

[IAmAndre]

I'm surprised that the 2020 Matebook 14 doesn't get as much as media coverage: https://www.amazon.co.uk/HUAWEI-MateBook-FullView-Display-Ultrabook/dp/B08HR4H9FM

 

The specs are amazing as it packs a 1440p 3:2 screen, up to a 4800H and 16GB of RAM, and has ports!

[Commodus]

14 hours ago, IAmAndre said:

Well I read a lot: comic books, courses, news articles, etc. So it is helpful. And having ports is a big plus, especially for on a mobile computer that you can connect to a projector or share files on a USB stick and whatnot.

 

However I do like the fact that I could finally start developing apps for iOS and test my websites on Safari without relying on an emulator. What advantages are you referring to besides the M1 chip?

Gotcha, although Apple does have its News app and there's the web stuff.

 

I was mainly thinking of the M1 chip's advantages for performance, battery life, noise and temperature (this won't heat up your lap as a general rule). Beyond that, though, it mainly comes down to things like the better balanced display and the great overall keyboard/trackpad combo. I still scratch my head at how laptop screen choices in the Windows world tend to be split between either a no-frills 1080p panel or a 4K touchscreen of death that cuts battery life in half. I'd say Apple strikes a nice middle ground between resolution and longevity, but... well, it has a good resolution and longevity.

[Spindel]

1 hour ago, Commodus said:

I still scratch my head at how laptop screen choices in the Windows world tend to be split between either a no-frills 1080p panel or a 4K touchscreen of death that cuts battery life in half.

At least it’s not as strange as smart phones with 4k displays

[IAmAndre]

2 hours ago, Commodus said:

I still scratch my head at how laptop screen choices in the Windows world tend to be split between either a no-frills 1080p panel or a 4K touchscreen of death that cut battery life in half.

Well there's a lot in between and actually more options than on the Apple side like 1080p 144Hz and whatnot. Don't forget that not so long ago Apple was still rocking a 720p TN panel on the MacBook Air.

 

With that said I have a crush on the Matebook lineup now. It's crazy that there aren't more reviews online. That's actually a good example of "in-between" display: https://youtu.be/V9_DX9tbVxI

[IAmAndre]

1 hour ago, Spindel said:

At least it’s not as strange as smart phones with 4k displays

I haven't seen those in a while. Actually the main brands who did these were LG and Don't and they're both pretty much dead on the smartphone market now.

[Spindel]

4 minutes ago, IAmAndre said:

I haven't seen those in a while. Actually the main brands who did these were LG and Don't and they're both pretty much dead on the smartphone market now.

I still remember a couple of years back when some people trashtalked some new iPhone for not having 4K display

 

I personally don’t even see the point of 4K on my 27” computer monitor so I chose a 1440p that was factory calibrated instead, colour accuracy is worth more to me (I can see the difference in resolution, but the percieved difference is so small I’ll rather save the money and the system resources and go 1440p)

[Commodus]

4 minutes ago, IAmAndre said:

Well there's a lot in between and actually more options than on the Apple side like 1080p 144Hz and whatnot. Don't forget that not so long ago Apple was still rocking a 720p TN panel on the MacBook Air.

 

With that said I have a crush on the Matebook lineup now. It's crazy that there aren't more reviews online.

Oh, for sure, it's just a bad habit of the Windows world. It's largely dictated by Windows' poor UI scaling — it's easier to simply go over-the-top with a 4K display than to adapt to, say, a 1440p display. The earlier Air's 900p (not 720p!) screen was definitely overdue for an upgrade.

 

The lack of Matebook reviews is likely due to the political reality. Huawei faces a trade ban in the US, so it's hard to bring the laptops into the country. It also casts doubt on Huawei's ability to keep the Matebook updated regardless of where you live (as Huawei can't do business with Microsoft). Basically, you're taking a bit of a gamble by buying one.