After 18 years of video editing, these are my top 3 laptops — spoiler: it's hard to beat a MacBook Pro

I've been a video creator for nearly 20 years — cutting my craft in all kinds from TikTok content in CapCut to YouTube videos in Final Cut Pro, and even a dash of color grading in DaVinci Resolve for TV. That puts me in a great place to help you pick the best video editing laptop for you.

And in all my years, four things are essential for a laptop to be a content creator's best friend: plenty of horsepower for those intensive 4K edits, a color accurate display for confidence, good battery life for editing on-the-go and ergonomics for zipping around all those shortcuts.

Sorry to spoil my top picks so early, and my apologies to Google for not padding this out with more keywords. But whenever anyone asks me what the best laptop for video editing is, my answer is two words: MacBook Pro.

Why? I already know the Adobe crowd may be looking at me funny, so I'd better have a damn good reason. Well, it comes down to it ticking off all those three top things I look for:

• Tons of power: That GPU on the M5 chip is a beast with the ability to edit up to 8K video. Not only that, but the whole system is impressively power efficient to last you a long while if you're shooting in a remote location.
• A great display: The Mini-LED panel is bright, smooth (for slow motion video) and color accurate for confidence in grading.
• Stellar battery life: With over 21 hours on one charge, you've got worry-free battery life for if you get that one quick idea you want to add to your timeline.
• Zippy ergonomics: Once you figure out the shortcuts in Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere Pro, the keyboard and trackpad feel amazing to get stuff done on.

That doesn't mean there aren't other great options out there. The best video editing software you can get works on both Windows and macOS, and in Microsoft's sphere, the Asus ProArt P16 stands head and shoulders above the pack.

But the MacBook Pro stands up as the best of the best when it comes to speedy and reliable video creation.

Written by

Written by

Jason England

I've created content for YouTube channels, livestreams, TV shows and TikTok. Over 18 years of video editing, I know a thing or two about finding the best video editing laptop for you.

The best laptops for video editing you can buy today

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The best laptop for video editing overall

Originally, the MacBook Pro with M4 Pro took the top spot, and was easily the ultimate video editing laptop I'd trust my life's work with. So, it only makes sense that the M5 Pro upgrade takes the crown. As it should, considering the performance gains it boasts.

You're getting the same stellar 16-inch Mini-LED Liquid Retina XDR display, which is no bad thing with its stunning color accuracy and smooth motion with its 120Hz refresh rate. That alone makes editing videos a treat, but there's plenty more going on under the hood.

The M5 Pro is one of the fastest chips we've tested on a laptop (behind the M5 Max, no less), and it delivers shocking amounts of performance in all your creator apps. But there's also higher memory bandwidth, faster SSD performance, Thunderbolt 5 ports and an even greater Neural Engine for helping out with auto color corrections and plenty more in apps like Final Cut Pro.

Yes, it's $200 more than its predecessor, but you're also getting Wi-Fi 7 connectivity (that makes uploading or downloading edits far faster) and a larger 1TB base storage (a boon for storing files). The MacBook Pro continues to be the video editing laptop to beat, and the M5 Pro upgrade proves it.

Read our full MacBook Pro 16-inch M5 Pro review.

The best laptop for video editing on the go

Looking to save previous space and, more importantly, cash? If you're working through 4K YouTube videos or TikTok edits, the MacBook Pro M5 still delivers plenty of horsepower to blaze through clips.

The M5 chip itself delivers faster multithread performance than its M4 predecessor, which sees a huge uplift in powering through creative apps. That's expected, but the enhanced Neural Engine gives AI performance a boost, while the higher 150GB/s of unified memory bandwidth and improved SSD performance means importing and exporting videos is faster than ever.

Plus, it has all the right Thunderbolt 4 ports and a full-size SD card slot to make editing on the fly a cinch. Throw in its compact yet gorgeous 14-inch Mini-LED Liquid Retina Display (if you opt for the nano texture coating, you're in for a glare-free treat), whopping 18-hour battery life and familiar yet premium design, and you've got yourself a masterful laptop made for video editing.

Read our full MacBook Pro M5 review.

The best Windows laptop for video editing

When it comes to the best Windows laptop for video editing, I’ve tried a lot — but the Asus ProArt P16 really comes out swinging. It’s the only Windows machine I’ve tested that genuinely gives the MacBook Pro a run for its money.

The P16 nails it in three key areas. First up: the display. I need a solid canvas to do my work, and Asus delivers big time with a stunning, color-calibrated 4K OLED panel. The 16:10 aspect ratio is perfect for getting more of your timeline in view, and the colors? Spot on. I can trust what I’m seeing when I’m grading footage — it’s vivid, accurate, and just gorgeous.

Second, the ergonomics are exactly what I need for long edit sessions. The keyboard feels great, the touchpad is huge (which is a big deal when you’re scrubbing through clips), and the touchscreen is super responsive. Plus, that DialPad? Genuinely useful — it makes precise edits feel intuitive.

Finally — and most importantly — the power under the hood is wild. The AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 paired with the RTX 4070 GPU handles everything I throw at it, even complex 4K animated sequences. In fact, in Premiere Pro, it’s actually faster than a MacBook Pro in some cases based on our tests.

Sure, it has a couple of classic Windows laptop quirks — battery life isn’t mind-blowing, and the SSD loading speeds are a bit underwhelming. But honestly? Those issues fade into the background when I’m in the zone. This machine keeps up with my creative flow, and that’s what really counts.

Read our full Asus ProArt P16 review.

Performance test results compared

Every laptop we review gets put through a rigorous amount of tests in CPU, GPU and AI performance. But for video editing, two tests matter: PugetBench Premiere Pro and CrossMark Creativity.

These bring all of the above together to truly measure the raw processing power of those internals in delivering your creative vision. So let me share the results we got testing these (and yes, there's a clear winner here):

Battery life test results compared

In my experience as a content creator on-the-go, performance is only half the story. Battery life plays a major factor, and the MacBook Pro boasts the longest runtimes on a laptop we've tested here at Tom's Guide

This guarantees worry-free stamina when you have a shot of inspiration.

So in a long-winded way, there's your reasons why the MacBook Pro is my go-to choice for the best video editing laptop.

There are many other things I can go into from the zippy SSD speeds for reading/writing video files to the more advanced media engine for handling many more video codecs like the awkward AV1.

But at it's core, there's a perfect balance between performance, power efficiency, a color-accurate display and great ergonomics.