Best laptop for video editing under $500

Best Laptops For Video Editing Under $500

Videos are what we use to show the world what we are experiencing. They are a way to tell your story to people. But for that, you need to make sure that the video is interesting, and that people will listen to it. With the increasing trend of videography, cinematography, and vlogging, people are now using videos as a way to convey their message. But to create a great video, you will need one of the best laptops for video editing under $500 along with a couple of other things.

These things include your storytelling skills, your camera tricks, and lastly, good video editing software. Laptops can cost a lot lately and it is always better to stay on a budget. Therefore, we have bought you a list of the best editing laptops under 500 to give you some affordable options.

There is some stuff you need to look for if you want to buy a cheap editing laptop that can edit some masterpieces for you. The features and specs that an editing laptop under 500 needs include satisfactory RAM, a solid processor speed, enough storage capacity, and appreciable graphic quality.

You can find almost all these features in a gaming laptop these days and fortunately, at an affordable rate. We have shortlisted some of the best laptops out there for you, so you can pick from the best.

With that being said there are some questions that people often ask about the specs of the best laptops for video editing under $500. Some of these questions include:

How Much RAM Should I Have For Video Editing?

The minimum you should go to when it comes to RAM is 8 GB. But you might ask, is 8GB of ram enough for video editing? Well, the answer is it depends on the kind of files you are working on. 8 GB RAM is an acceptable option if you are short on budget, but you can not work with larger video files or projects with such Limited RAM. 

You can go relatively high when it comes to RAM; all that matters is whether you have the budget. Since in this article we are talking about editing laptops under 500the most suitable RAM capacity for you will be 16 GB. 

It is always a plus point if you have more, but from what we have experienced, 16 GB of RAM is enough for video editing. You can edit some decently large files without your laptop lagging and have a bad experience. 

However, if you can go up a bit, the experience will only keep on getting better. Plus, you will not have to face any limitations regarding the size of the files, programs, and software. But at least keep your limits at 16 GB if you want a reliable experience. 

What Is Better: Video Editing Laptop vs Desktop?

You can edit some fantastic photos and videos on both desktops and laptops. All you need is a couple of incredible configurations, including solid RAM, storage, and GPU. If you have all this installed on a desktop, you can have the same if not better experience at editing videos than on a laptop. 

Plus, if you are considering comparing both devices budget-wise, laptops are more expensive than desktops. Therefore, the cheaper option is getting yourself a desktop but having a good GPU, SSD, and a fast processor, you will need to spend some extra money. 

It depends on your preference as both devices are equally compatible and perform pretty efficiently. Nevertheless, most people prefer the best editing laptop under 500 because they are portable. You can carry them around without any problem and edit your stuff anywhere you want. Moreover, it always comes in handy, especially if you travel a lot for your business trips or if you are a travel blogger/ vlogger. 

Below we will discuss some of the best cheap laptops for editing youtube videos and other stuff as well. 

Best Laptops For Video Editing Under $500

ACER ASPIRE 5

SPECIFICATION:

  • Weight: 3.97 pounds
  • RAM: 8GB DDR4
  • Storage: 256GB SSD
  • Display: 15.6 inches IPS display
  • Battery Life: 9 hours
  • Processor: Intel-core i7 Processor.

BODY

Acer Aspire 5 is a decent laptop having a weight of 3.97 pounds. Almost all of its body is made up of plastic, but it does not have a chunky feel to it. Besides, it has a thin aluminum layer, which helps in giving it a more premium look. The laptop comes in a shiny metallic-silver color and has the Acer logo right in the middle.

The built quality is durable but not as strong as a high-end laptop. At the same time, the laptop does not feel cheap as well. It has a 15.6-inch display, and the screen features the Acer Blue Light Shield technology. The full-HD IPS display enables this best laptop for video editing under 500 to provide you with sharp and clear graphics.

It comes with a bunch of ports on its sides, which include an HDMI port, a USB-C port, two USB 3.0 ports, one USB 2.0 port, an Ethernet port, and a mic/audio jack. Moreover, the laptop also features a backlit keyboard and a responsive touchpad. The keys on the keyboard are a bit soft to use but still give a satisfying typing experience.

Additionally, you will see that the touchpad comes with a built-in fingerprint reader and is relatively bigger in size. The big size allows you to use several fingers at a time like zooming in/out using two fingers and performing other multi-gesture functions.

Moreover, you can adjust the sensitivity of your touchpad to avoid any accidental movement of the cursor. Acer Aspire 5 is quite thin and has a sleek, classy look to it with a fairly durable body, considering how much it costs.

FEATURES

Acer Aspire 5 has a solid battery life of around 9 hours, but on continuous internet surfing, the battery will die a lot quicker. But that is the case with every other laptop on the market. Besides, when comparing, the battery life of Aspire 5 is a lot better than many other laptops that you can get.  

You can use the laptop for almost an entire day without having to charge it. But if you want you can use it with the charger plugged in; thus, the battery is not that big of an issue here. It features 8GB RAM and additional secondary storage of 256 GB SSD. The memory storage is quite adequate to store and run some decently sized files. Furthermore, the laptop runs on the Intel Core i7 processor and comes with windows 10.

Thanks to the SSD, windows10 runs quite smoothly on Aspire 5. Moreover, for video editing laptops under 500, you need good graphics on your laptop as well so that you can know and adjust the right color tones and contrast. Thus, this laptop comes with dedicated Intel 620 graphics that keep the graphics looking sharp and saturated.

PERFORMANCE

The laptop runs pretty cool and does not heat up instantly. You can put a decent load on it run YouTube videos or open several tabs while browsing, and the laptop will still remain cool. The webcam on the laptop is not to stay dependent on as the webcam quality is below average and so if you want to use the webcam, use an external one.

The battery life is impressive and the display quality is adequate enough to provide you with a satisfactory graphics experience. The SSD storage lets the laptop run smoothly, and reliable storage comes in handy to store large videos for editing. Besides, you can also use an external SSD to increase the storage of the laptop. Therefore, it is a pretty considerable option to look at if you want the best laptop for video editing under $500.

Pros
  • Adequate bright and clear 15.6-inch display.
  • A responsive touchpad and fingerprint scanner.
  • Reliable battery life.
  • Decent looks.
Cons
  • The touchpad has a chunky feel to it.
  • Not very durable.

DELL LATITUDE E7450

SPECIFICATION:

  • Weight: 4.0 pounds
  • RAM: 16GB DDR4 (Expandable up to 64 GB)
  • Storage: 256 GB SSD
  • Display: 14-inch FHD
  • Battery Life: 6 hours
  • Processor: 5th Gen Intel core i5

BODY

Dell Latitude E7450 is a rather durable laptop having a weight of 4 pounds. The laptop has a black color theme inside out and has a Dell logo in the middle. The build of the laptop is pretty durable and comes with a carbon-fiber lid along with a magnesium-alloy chassis. It has a classy look along with a durable body giving the laptop a decent life.

It comes with a 14-inch FHD display and provides fairly acceptable quality performance. The display screen is also matte-finished, so you will not see any glares and reflections on the screen. The keyboard of the laptop has very decent quality and the touchpad is responsive as well. There are five mouse buttons present all around the touchpad.

The keys are of solid quality, and the key travel is pretty adequate. The laptop also features backlighting and comes with two different levels of brightness. Additionally, it comes with a rubber-coated pointing stick feature in the middle of the keyboard. Dell Latitude E7450 comes with a couple of ports all located at its back. The ports include an SD card reader, two USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI port, an Ethernet port, and a mic/audio jack.

There are three indication LED lights present at the top right corner of the laptop’s lid. The lights state if the laptop is powered on, or if it is charging at the moment. It also indicates using a red light if the battery runs out so that you can connect a charger to the laptop.

FEATURES

Dell Latitude E7450 has a reliable battery life of around 6 hours, but it drops a lot faster when the laptop is used constantly for browsing or running programs. The battery life is just fine besides it is not a problem as you mostly operate the laptop while being plugged into the charger. It has a solid RAM of 16 GB which is fantastic, besides you can always expand it by investing some extra money.

You can get the greatest RAM of 64 GB. Furthermore, it features 256 GB SSD, which is quite enough memory storage and can store some high big files. The laptop comes with an Intel Core i5 processor, and the laptop runs rather smoothly. Latitude E7450 comes with the Intel HD graphics 5500, and the graphics quality of the laptop is acceptable. The pictures and videos appear to be clear and bright making it an amazing video and photo editing laptop under 500.

One of the impressive things about this laptop is that you can update its configurations by investing some more money in it. You can shift it into a touch-sensitive, durable laptop with top-notch storage memory; however, for that, you will need to stretch your budget.

PERFORMANCE

The laptop doesn’t stay very cool during heavy work. Run a few YouTube videos, open several tabs, and the laptop will start heating up from different places. Its webcam is placed at the top of the display screen and does an adequate job in proper lighting. Besides, in low lighting, the picture in the camera appears dark and grainy.

It misses a lot of details as well. Using an external webcam is the alternative option if you have to need to use the webcam often. The audio quality of the laptop is not up to the mark. It sounds flat and bland, the speakers are at the bottom of the laptop, but the quality it provides is not very appealing.

But, what you should consider while buying a laptop is if the laptop can be updated later. By that, you will not have to buy a new piece, and you can simply update it by investing some extra money.

Pros
  • Durable and solid body.
  • Reliable keyboard.
  • Updateable laptop.
Cons
  • Audio quality is unsatisfactory.
  • Battery life could have been better.

ASUS VIVOBOOK 14  

SPECIFICATION:

  • Weight: 3.51 pounds
  • RAM: 8GB DDR4
  • Storage: 128 GB SSD + 500 GB HDD
  • Display: 15.6 inch FHD
  • Battery Life: 5-6 hours
  • Processor: 2nd Gen Intel Core i5

BODY

Asus Vivobook 14 is a rather attractive laptop, having a weight of 3.51 pounds. It comes in two different color themes, which include; peacock blue and silver matte. The Peacock blue color changes colors depending on what angle you are looking at the laptop from. It is a mixture of green and purple and looks quite eye-catching.

The aesthetic choice of color makes this laptop stand out amongst other best laptops for video editing under $500 in the market. Whereas, the silver matte is what you often see in laptops and other technical devices. It has a premium look to it. It features a plastic chassis but does not feel chunky or cheap at all. In the middle of the top lid of the laptop, you will see the Asus logo.

Vivobook 14 has an FHD display screen of 14 inches, and the display is pretty clear and bright. The colors appear fairly saturated, and the images appear sharp. The frame of the display is very thin and thus, Asus calls it “Ultra-thin bezels”. Furthermore, it supports a backlit keyboard and comes with three different modes of backlighting.

The keyboard and the touchpad are pretty comfortable, and the key travel of the Asus keyboard is smooth and well-spaced. There are a bunch of ports located at the sides of the laptop. The ports include one USB 2.0 port, one USB 3.1 port, an SD slot, an HDMI port, a USB-C port, and a headset jack. The laptop is thin and light and looks pretty appealing to the eyes.

FEATURES

Asus Vivobook 14 comes with a battery life of 5 to 6 hours. The battery life is rather enough when the laptop is used under little to no load. Yet, if you do constant working on it, edit videos, and run heavy programs, the laptop will die pretty quickly. However, considering the price point you can not get everything in a cheap editing laptop.  

Hence, using the laptop with the charger is a reliable option. The RAM of the laptop is 8GB and the secondary storage it features is 128 GB SSD with an additional 500 HDD. The storage memory of the laptop is quite adequate and can be used to run heavy programs. The laptop runs on Windows 10 and features a 2nd generation Intel Core i5.

It runs pretty smoothly due to the reliable storage memory, and its eye-catching looks make it a satisfactory option to consider from this list of best laptops for video editing under $500.

PERFORMANCE

Vivobook 14 is a relatively cool laptop. It does not tend to heat up even when burdened by running different programs and software. It doesn’t get uncomfortable to use under a heavy load and runs quite adequately. The laptop does slow down in case you start running a couple of different programs simultaneously.  The speakers are located at the bottom of the laptop, but the audio it provides is below average and could have been better.

However, you can always use a suitable headset to make the audio quality better while editing videos or watching movies and shows on your laptop. The display is bright and clear but does not give the top-notch color saturation and experience you would expect. Despite the display quality, which could have been better, this is a pretty decent laptop.

The looks it holds and its appreciable storage space make it a great option to consider. Besides video editing, it is a reliable laptop for graphic designing, and for your daily use as well.

Pros
  • Reliable storage.
  • Decent looks.
  • Adequate battery life.
  • Keyboard provides a great typing experience.
Cons
  • Display quality is not the best.
  • The audio quality is rather disappointing.

LENOVO IDEAPAD 3

SPECIFICATION:

  • Weight: 3.3 pounds
  • RAM: 8GB DDR4
  • Storage: 256GB SSD
  • Display: 14 inch FHD
  • Battery Life: 6 hours
  • Processor: Intel Core i3

BODY

Lenovo Ideapad 3 is an affordable laptop that you could go for if you don’t have a lot of heavy work to do on it. It has a weight of around 3.3 pounds and has a plastic built. The metallic finish on the laptop makes it look as if it has an aluminum body when looked at from a distance. The laptop has the Lenovo logo at the top right corner of the lid.

It is a lightweight laptop with a classy look. Furthermore, its built quality is fairly durable and does not look cheap. It holds a display screen of 14 inches, and the keyboard has mid-tone grey keys. Like all laptops, Lenovo Ideapad also comes with a couple of ports to provide you with a range of connectivity of options.

But all the ports on it are located on the left side. All the ports the laptop holds include a USB2.0 port, two USB3.0 ports, an HDMI port, an SD card slot, and a mic/audio jack. Nonetheless, what was disappointing to see was that the laptop doesn’t come with any USB-C port.

The keyboard it features does not support backlighting, but the keyboard is pretty comfortable to type on. So if you are someone who has a lot of typing work to do, it is a rather appreciable option to consider. The keys are smooth, and the key travel is safe and satisfactory. The keys have a top-notch feel to them while typing, and they are relatively quiet however, there is no fingerprint scanner on the laptop.

Its touchpad is made up of plastic as well along with the whole body of the laptop and does not give the same performance you will get from the keyboard. It is slightly stiff and makes a loud sound while clicking. The touchpad is responsive and works just fine. In this entire laptop, the keyboard got the win, as it is very comfortable and smooth to use. 

FEATURES

Lenovo IdeaPad 3 has a rather enough battery life of around 6 hours under light load however, when burdened with heavy tasks, the battery drops a lot faster. But this is the battery life you will get in most of the laptops out there and is quite adequate. The laptop holds 8GB RAM and secondary storage memory of 256 GB SSD.

The SSD enables the laptop to run smoothly. It comes with a Windows 10S installed, which you could upgrade to Windows10 pretty effortlessly. It features an Intel Core i3 processor and comes with AMD-integrated graphics. IdeaPad 3 is an entry-level laptop that provides a decent work performance. It runs pretty efficiently considering its price range, and the features it comes with are also satisfactory.

PERFORMANCE

The laptop remains cool while being used however, under heavy load, it does get slower and starts heating up slightly. The webcam is present at the top of the display screen and has a protective slide to cover/uncover the camera to provide the user with some privacy.

The webcam quality is fine in bright light, but under low light conditions, you will get a dark and cheap image quality. Use an external webcam if you need reliable camera quality. The storage is quite reliable and can store a range of programs and run them smoothly. The battery life is also adequate, and the overall performance is satisfactory. And lastly, its keyboard is the game-changer in this laptop that provides with exceptional typing experience.

Pros
  • Top-notch keyboard.
  • Decent battery life.
Cons
  • No USB-C port.
  • Display quality could have been better.

HP PAVILION X360

SPECIFICATION:

  • Weight: 3.73 pounds
  • RAM: 8GB
  • Storage: 500GB HDD
  • Display: 14 inch
  • Battery Life: 10 hours
  • Processor: 8th Gen Intel-core i3

BODY

HP Pavilion X360 is a sleek laptop having a weight of 3.73 pounds. The laptop has a silver metallic finish and has a shiny HP logo in the middle of the hood. The laptop has a decent keyboard and touchpad along with a fingerprint scanner at the corner. Right above the keyboard, you will find the speaker grille and are vent that helps in keeping the laptop cool.

The laptop also holds a number of ports in it to provide connectivity issues. The ports that it holds include; two USB 3.0 ports, a mic/audio jack, an SD card slot, an HDMI jack, and a USB-C port. It has a quite premium and classy look to it and has a durable body. 

It has a 14-inch display that is pretty saturated and clear. The negative point about the screen is its glossiness the screen reflects almost everything which at times gets very irritating. However, the display quality is reliable and the colors appear clear. The keyboard is pretty smooth and gives a satisfying typing experience. The touchpad is responsive and pretty smooth to use as well.

FEATURES

The laptop has a battery life of around 10 hours, which is impressive, especially for video editing, as editing videos makes the battery drop a lot faster. It comes with 8 GB RAM and secondary storage of 500 GB HDD. It comes with an 8th generation Intel Core i3 processor and is adequately smooth to run.

Besides, under heavy load, it slows down. The laptop can run 4K videos and features the Intel UHD 620 GPU that provides a rather decent graphic quality. The overall performance of the laptop is reliable, and the features are satisfactory.

PERFORMANCE

Pavilion x360 has decent performance and does not get very hot. It runs smoothly, and the audio quality is okay as well. The webcam is located at the top of the display and has a rather below-average quality.

It provides a grainy and unclear image experience. The impressive battery life is what makes it perfect for long-time use, making it one of the options in the best laptops for video editing under $500. 

Pros
  • Decent keyboard quality.
  • An adequate number of ports.
  • Classy look.
  • Amazing battery life.
Cons
  • HDD storage is relatively slow.

CONCLUSION:

Editing software is quite heavy to run and needs a smooth speed. The processor and the storage memory play an important role in running programs smoothly. Therefore, the best one out of all the options in this list is the Acer Aspire 5. It holds a stunning battery life, as well as, solid storage memory, and a reliable processor that it features, making it a perfect option to consider. 

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