Are ThinkPads bad / unsuitable for video editing? (vs Mac Book Pro Retina for example)

I am not a video editor by profession, but at some point in the near future I might want to start making videos, e.g. for a video channel on youtube or to make promotional videos for my employer. But more likely as a new hobby or skill to learn.

I am currently torn between two good offers for the MacBook Pro 13 Retina (25% off) and the multitude of refurbished Lenovo X... laptops (e.g. X220-240).

I know the Lenovos would be the best at handling all my other work/office-related programs... BUT... if within the next 12 months I wanted to start this video editing hobby... would the Thinkpads be unsuitable?

 

Neither the Retina Pro 13 or X series are great for video or photo editing.

Check out the Lenovo ThinkPad W530 or W540 if you want a Lenovo laptop for photo/video work.

Here are some other models that come to mind as well:
Dell Precision M3800 , M4800 , M6800
HP Zbook 14 ,15 , 17

Ideally you should get a mobile workstation with a 10 bit IPS panel and a workstation GPU but those laptops are expensive and have other trade offs like not being pretty.

BTW Macs are overrated.

 

T440p, T540p and W540 are much better suited for video editing than Macs, unless you need something to run FCPX.

rMBP 13 and X240 should be avoided for Video editing, they have puny ULV processors. You could buy an older X230 and upgrade it manually to a quad-core, however.

Views don't always come from NBR members. More often than not, they are from lurkers that stumble on the thread.

 

Thanks for replying Zero000.

I had a quick look - the issue is also that portability is very important for me (sorry if this was not clear from above).

I use a 14 inch Lenovo T410 at my company and it's very bulky and heavy (I have a minor disability, which is another reason I have a hardwired bias for lightweight devices in general). Even 14 inch / 5 pounds is really big for my standards/needs and a pain to carry around.
Besides, I didn't find those on offer

Also, both Retina Pro 13 and X series refurbished are below GBP1000, which is within my budget.

 

Quick question - how do you see if it's a ULV processor?

 

For youtube any of the laptops would do. I currently use X1 carbon (2 core ULV) with premiere CC with no problems in simple editing of HD video.
I don't know what kind of promotional videos you might be doing, but if you edit often and if you want to start using filters and effects and edit very long sequences then an SSD, 16 GB of RAM, 4 cores and a nice GPU will make it much easier. T440p?

 

It has a "U" at the end of its name (for example i5 4200U) compared to "M" or "MQ" for full-voltage mobile processors.

For a solid video editing machine you ideally want to be able to run with at least 16GB of RAM, a quad-core processor and a decent GPU. Having said that, I have a friend currently running Avid Media Composer perfectly well (and fast) on a new i7 Macbook Air (which has an ULV processor and is "certified" by Avid). It really depends what you will be editing and your need for speed. If you do a lot of video editing you'll probably be using an external monitor, so display requirements might not be as critical.

I do a lot of photo editing and some video editing and just bought a quad-core T440p with the FHD display, but mainly use an external monitor.

 

Oh, I see it's the U-... Thanks.

14 inch too big as mentioned above. Bad for my back, carrying around, etc. I prefer not pushing above 13, as my current work laptop is already 14 and I have trouble carrying it around.

 

No.

The CPUs on X series are soldered and not socketed, hence not replaceable unless one has access to a re-balling station and knows how to operate it.

 

honestly if your budget is already met and you cant go anything bigger than 13inch u can go with MBPr or X series since they both only have intel HD graphics,
choose the best processor available preferably an i7 when u buy

worst case is just slow rendering when editing your videos lol... just be patient and it's all set

 

Check out the Clevo W230ST

Its what i have. Its basically the fastest 13 inch laptop you can buy.

 

Too BIG or too HEAVY? If weight is your concern, you might look at the Dell 3800. It's under 5# but is a 15" 3k+ which is much better to edit on than a 13". If actual size is the issue, you have a battle on your hands. Manufacturers aren't putting big processors and dedicated graphics in 13" models.

 

While normally I'd agree with you, I think you missed a pretty big clue as to why OP's limiting himself to 13.3":

Anyway, @OP, at 13.3", there's not a lot of very good choices out there for video work. Ideally you'd want some sort of workstation (with the Precision M3800 being the lightest so far), though in the 13.3" range most of the option will have either Intel/AMD integrated graphics (which are "meh") or sometimes GeForce graphics (which really aren't going to do much for video work; they're very optimized for gaming and not much else thanks to nVidia). If there's a 13.3" with a Radeon GPU, that'd be the best option, though between the X230 and 13" rMBP, the X230 will have the better build quality (durability), though the rMBP would have more pixels to work with. So imo it's a toss-up. I wouldn't consider the X240 due to the ULV processor, as mentioned previously.

 

I didn't read all these replies, but let's not kid ourselves here. I absolutely LOVE my y510p, but a Macbook Pro, it is not.

A Macbook Pro exudes quality and perfection. Let's not mislead anyone. Lenovo is FAR from a Macbook Pro.

 

Correction needed, isn't it rMBP using full watt processor? I thought it's MBA that uses ULV processor.

 

Something like the rMBP might have a better "fit and finish" than ilan Ideapad and maybe even a Thinkpad, though that's not the same as actual build quality. You can have something that has very small to no gaps and feels all nice and smooth, though I wouldn't trust something like the rMBP in a fall or anything too physical.

 

Tbh. for a beginner video editor, the first thing to determine would be

a) figure out what software is going to be used for video editing. E.g. if it's Final Cut Pro, Windows laptops do not matter.

b) what kind of benefit the said software is going to get from the GPU in the tasks performed by the user. Because quite possibly the difference between internal graphics vs dedicated GPU is not going to be significant in the tasks that take most of the users time (the benchmarks running 20 filters for hours aren't really relevant to the work a beginner video editor will be doing on a 13" laptop).

c) what kind of videos are going to be produced, what kind of processing is required, and if editing such videos is at all plausible on a laptop. If it's mostly cutting/joining pieces of 720p video, it's one thing (even though doing it with a single 13" screen is going to be pain), if it's heavy processing of 4K video - completely different.

And decide on hardware only after these points are completely clear.