Club Benefits
I've been a video creator for nearly 20 years — cutting my craft in all kinds of formats 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 (don't worry, there's a Windows option, too), 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 GoPro Edition (PX13) stands head and shoulders above the pack.
But the MacBook Pro stands out as the best of the best when it comes to speedy and reliable video creation.
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 at 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 precious 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 mean 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 on the move.
No, it won't match the superb workflow speeds the M5 Pro model offers, and if you've already got yourself an M4 Pro MacBook Pro, then there isn't that much of a reason to upgrade. But for content creators who want a more-than-capable machine for complex video edits, the 14-inch MacBook Pro M5 still delivers fantastic performance at a more affordable price.
- Read our full MacBook Pro M5 review
The best Windows laptop for video editing
When you're searching for a Windows laptop that can handle demanding creative tasks, the Asus ProArt GoPro Edition (PX13) is the machine to grab. Pricey? Yes, but this is the first Windows laptop that keeps up with the might MacBook Pros offer.
It combines an absolutely gorgeous 3K OLED display with exceptional color accuracy and beastly performance, combining AMD's powerful AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 CPU with integrated Radeon 8060S graphics power. With those alone, this is a portable 13-inch machine that genuinely rivals Apple’s best for both display quality and creative horsepower.
Then you throw in the stand-out 128GB of RAM delivering the kind of muscle that keeps demanding video edits, large music projects and complex creative workflows running smoothly. In practice, scrubbing through 4K timelines and working with dense audio sessions feels impressively fluid, with no stutters or thermal throttling to slow you down.
Battery life is noticeably improved over prior ProArt generations, making on-the-go edits more attainable. The PX13 still can’t quite match the all-day endurance of the latest MacBook Pros with its 11-hour battery life, and it's a shame there's just a microSD card slot rather than a full-size one.
Its design is also made for video editing, especially for those marathon editing sessions. Asus’s DialPad and stylus support add meaningful control, giving creatives fine-grained input for color grading and timeline scrubbing. If you’re a Mac-first creator hesitant to switch, the PX13 is a rare Windows machine that can keep pace in real-world creative work.
- Read our full Asus ProArt GoPro Edition (PX13) review
Also tested
Look, the MacBook Pro is hard to beat, but Windows laptops are catching up, and fast. Thanks to the arrival of Intel Panther Lake and AMD's Ryzen AI Max chipsets, Windows machines are still good options for video editing if you're not ready to jump ship to macOS. While they aren't as strong in the video editing front, here are other laptops we've tested that are worth considering.
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, three tests matter: PugetBench Premiere Pro (measuring performance in Premiere Pro), CrossMark Creativity (testing performance in content creation tools) and HandBrake (converting a 4K video to 1080p).
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):
Laptop | CrossMark Creativity | PugetBench (Premiere Pro) | HandBrake (mm:ss) |
MacBook Pro M5 Pro (16-inch) | 3812 | 105580 | 01:45 |
MacBook Pro M5 (14-inch) | 2760 | 69887 | 03:31 |
Asus ProArt PX13 (GoPro Edition) | 2777 | 52945 | 02:38 |
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. In fact, with each new iteration that arrives, it consistently scores the highest marks in our list of the best laptops for battery life.
This guarantees worry-free stamina when you have a shot of inspiration. But that doesn't mean Windows laptops aren't catching up, and the ProArt can at least last you longer than a full workday.
Laptop | Battery life (hh:mm) |
MacBook Pro M5 Pro (16-inch) | 21:10 |
MacBook Pro M5 (14-inch) | 18:00 |
Asus ProArt PX13 (GoPro Edition) | 11:12 |
So in a long-winded way, there are 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 its core, there's a perfect balance between performance, power efficiency, a color-accurate display and great ergonomics.
If you're looking for even more options that aren't just about video editing, though, check out our guide on the best laptops and best Windows laptops.
