Photo/Video Editing Laptop Choices

LightsCameraJay · July 6, 2022

Hello - long time listener, first time caller.

I'm looking at picking up a new laptop as my studio/photo editing computer. In this case I'm specifically looking at a laptop because I need the portability (or I'd look at maybe building another desktop unit). I shoot primarily stills, but do edit a little bit of video.

The current dilemma is between the:

Apple M2 chip with 8‑core CPU, 10‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine
16GB unified memory
512GB SSD storage
13.6-inch Liquid Retina display with True Tone
1080p FaceTime HD camera
MagSafe 3 charging port
Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports
Backlit Magic Keyboard with Touch ID - US English

$1999 CAD (before apple care or any software)

and the

GIGABYTE A5 X1 Gaming Notebook,
15.6"FHD,
AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX,
RTX3070,
16GB DDR4,
512 GB PCIe SSD,

Currently $1599 CAD (on sale - reg $2199 - incl seller's 'tech care' package)

So my question.... Which one, and why? Everyone seems to be going on and on about the new M1/2 chips, but when compared to a machine like this, I can't see a difference. Am I missing something? The Mac is more expensive, and impossible to customize after it's purchased, but is it truly a better machine for what I need to do? Is is $X00 better? I'm looking at now and 3-5 years from now. Thanks in advance for your help!

dj_ripcord · July 6, 2022

Call me Biased, but I would go with the PC. Solely because my usual source for CPU benchmarks, CpuBenchmark.net, there aren't any results for the M2 chip yet. So I can kinda use the M1 chip as reference, and I am seeing a 3% difference between the 5900X and the M1. So if Apple's numbers are right (they say 18% better than M1), then the Apple M2 machine will be better. Question is - Worth difference in $400?. Maybe.

You're looking at a 20% difference in cost for the machines. Do you rank performance per dollar that way? Up to you really.

Again, I am biased because I don't like Apple products. However they definitely have their display technology down pat. As well as their touch pads. But I'm hearing that the new M2 machine is susceptible to thermal throttling. So that's something to consider.

Electronics Wizardy · July 6, 2022

Id probably get a m1 pro 14in or a m2 mba, the m2 mbp doesn't make any sense to me.

Do you care about the other aspects other than performance? Id say the macbook does much better here. Much better battery, keyboard + track pad, better speakers, near silent at load, better cpu. And much thinner and lighter too. Id much rather have the mbp as a daily laptop than gigabyte laptop.

Performance wise, both will be fine, and probably not a significant difference for most uses, but depends on your exact workload and programs. Id give the mbp the edge for most stuff due to the better hardware encoding/decoding. And much better performance on battery.

saintlouisbagels · July 6, 2022

22 minutes ago, LightsCameraJay said:

The current dilemma is between the:

Apple M2 chip with 8‑core CPU, 10‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine
16GB unified memory
512GB SSD storage
13.6-inch Liquid Retina display with True Tone
1080p FaceTime HD camera
MagSafe 3 charging port
Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports
Backlit Magic Keyboard with Touch ID - US English

$1999 CAD (before apple care or any software)

At $2000 you should really just get the 14" MBP M1 Pro.

It will still be 512GB and 16GB RAM.

The MiniLED screen will be far better.

I've literally never heard the fan run on mine. The M2 Air doesn't even have a fan, which is a concern. Especially if you plan to have this as your main workhorse for years to come.

I can't vouch for video editing performance - there's plenty of YouTube videos for that - but photo editing has been very quick.

I edit 33MP RAW stills (38MB per file) and I don't have any issues.

I'm sure you can find sales for it at this point since the laptop is nearing 1yr old.

A quick check on BHPhotoVideo shows me $1800 USD for the base model 14".

Edited July 6, 2022 by saint_louis_bagels