How To Choose A Good Laptop For Content Creation

Laptops promise powerful performance while on the move. Not so long ago, consumers had to spend a ridiculous amount of money just to carry around a “portable” computer.

We’ve obviously come a long way from those days. Gone are the days of horrible battery life, low-resolution screens and terrible performance. Laptops these days, especially ultrabooks, are pretty lightweight and easy to carry around. Screens are sharper and crispier and battery life isn’t that bad either, of course, this all varies from model to model.

But some people like to get some serious work done on the go. For individuals like these, ultrabooks just don’t cut it. Sure they are thin and light but don’t necessarily have all the horsepower a content creator would want. It doesn’t matter if you’re a music producer, video maker or designer, professionals always need a reasonably powerful computer. But deciding on a good laptop can be a bit of a difficult task.

That’s why we are here to save you from the headache. We’ll help you consider what you want in a laptop and what features you really need. Hopefully, by the end of this guide, you’ll decide on a good laptop for yourself.

What Content Creators Should Look For In A Laptop

There is a tonne of stuff you need to look out for when buying a laptop. The list becomes even wider when you’re a content creator. Depending on your work, there are some things that only you will find benefits in. We’ll help you narrow down all the stuff to help you decide. Read on for some good advice.

A Great Display

We’re pretty sure this one applies to most, if not all people. But it’s not just about the screen is bright and vibrant, there are a lot of different things you need to consider.

We need to talk about resolution first. A lot of laptop panels are mostly 1080p panels. This is absolutely fine for most cases and for a lot of people, they don’t need much more. The largest common screen size is 17″ and 1080p looks just fine on it. However, if you are a video maker or editor, you’ll obviously want something with a bit more resolution just for that extra clarity. Noticing all the little details is really important in professions such as video or photo editing. Color accuracy and saturation is also important for filmmakers, video editors or photographers.

A touch screen might sound like a gimmick at first, especially for laptops. However, we’ve seen people who absolutely swear by it. It can prove to be really helpful in video editing so you can just scrub the video via the touchscreen. Some “2 in 1” type laptops also have a stylus, which could be useful for graphic designers.

Performance

Obviously, we all know why performance is important, so we won’t talk about that. We’ll just discuss how much performance you actually need. The first thing to decide on is the processor.

Going with a slower processor or a lower end one will leave you for wanting more. Depending on the work you do, you might get away with a low-end processor for a while. But it doesn’t seem that great of a deal when you have to upgrade from time to time. Going with a really fast one will obviously leave you satisfied, but we don’t recommend overspending. A laptop might turn up which actually has a better value or better features for your workflow, so make sure you don’t regret the purchase.

We recommend getting a laptop with the performance that will satisfy you for a while, and it is recommended to give yourself some headroom for futureproofing.

RAM and GPU are also important. For most tasks, 16GB of RAM is more than enough, even for gaming. However, in video editing, you will appreciate a higher capacity for sure. As for the GPU, it all depends on the use case. For video editors, designers and photographers we’d recommend a mid to high-end card for a smoother experience.

Storage

Storage is sort of a redundant thing to mention in guides like this. At this point, it’s pretty obvious to anyone that storage is one of the biggest issues when it comes to laptops. Especially for content creators who are always working with new files. We recommend getting the most storage you can fit into the budget so you won’t need to run out and buy external drives.

However, its not all about capacity. For working professionals, the typical mechanical hard drive is too slow to get work done smoothly. It’s the biggest bottleneck in the system. You will benefit from a faster SSD in a laptop, no doubt about that. It actually has an effect on rendering speeds as well. Even for an average consumer, we’d still recommend some sort of SSD in the laptop.

Macbooks or Windows Laptops?

This one is pretty easy to answer for a lot of people. It mostly comes down to personal preference and what system you are actually used to. Most people already know the pros and cons of each, but we’ll still quickly cover both.

Windows laptops exist with so many different models. It’s easy to get lost in the pool of Windows laptops when looking for a new one. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as you can probably find a Windows laptop for your budget. There are regular laptops, 2 in 1 convertible and even simple tablets with a keyboard attachment.

On the flip side, we know MacBooks are basically in the hands of Apple. They can price them however they want and at whatever spec they want. Typically, they’re expensive compared to Windows machines. However, they have a few benefits. Because MacBooks use MacOS, applications and software work smoothly and sometimes better compared to windows due to optimization. For video editors, Final Cut Pro is the best application out there. Still, that doesn’t take away the sometimes hard to justify the cost of Apple computers.

Final Thoughts

Obviously, there are a lot of other deciding aspects that you should consider when getting a new laptop. Things such as connectivity, thermals, and portability are also important. However, those things are pretty easy for the consumer to decide on by themselves. This guide is pretty much the gist of the main things that will decide what laptop you need as a content creator.

On a side note, you can go an entirely different route and build a workstation PC for yourself. A PC is much more versatile as it will probably be less expensive and can cram in a better dedicated GPU. It’s a good time to build yourself a PC because the processor and graphics department has never been stronger. And if you’re wondering what the best CPU is for gaming (or just overall), check out this guide here.

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