Specs for a laptop to make YouTube videos

[JT101]

Hi everyone



I'm currently running ClipChamp on Windows 11 on a Lenovo X1 Thinkpad 3rd Gen Tablet

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8350U CPU @ 1.70GHz 1.90 GHz, Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 620, RAM: 8GB, Storage: 256GB SSD



I make lots of Youtube videos, but still testing the waters so for now. Due to my video projects getting bigger (say 30-40Gb worth of clips for a single project) I keep running out of space, and often fail to produce an final video as a result.



I really love my Thinkpad. I love the form factor, and up until now it's been absolutely brilliant as I must be portable and not desk bound. I don't think I'm ready for a powerful desktop or pro editing suite yet, but I should probably step up a level from Clipchamp to say DaVinci and potentially upgrade my hardware to suit.



I could just get a bigger hardrive for the Thinkpad, or upgrade to something like:



Surface Pro 9

CPU: 12th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-1245U processor or 12th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-1265U processor

Graphics: Intel® Iris® Xe graphics

RAM: 8GB, 16GB, 32GB (LPDDR5 RAM)

Storage: 128GB – 1TB SSD)

or



M1 iPad Pro

CPU: Apple M2

Graphics: Integrated in CPU

RAM: 8GB or 16GB

Storage: 128GB – 2TB SSD



But there are various versions as you can see, so the question is, what sort of min laptop specs should I aim for?

[TreeTops]

Your existing laptop may be OK. Just add an external drive for more storage. That should be much cheaper than buying a new laptop.

[mibo]

Agree with the above. More storage. If you get a new laptop, I'd seriously look into a second-hand model from a few years back, and make sure I can upgrade the RAM to 16GB if I wish to be editing 1920x1080 videos. RAM is super-cheap now so it's a good time to upgrade. I personally do not see the value in a new machine.

Core i5-7300U
16GB RAM

That is my current set-up. I find it just fine. My only real wants are faster speeds when using speech recognition for subtitles, but it's not something I am using daily, so it's not critical.

[Alwyn]

Save your money. Upgrade your SSD. When/If you want to get really serious about video editing, spend big on a decent desktop and graphics card.

Is this yours?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPQbljR_RIg

[JT101]

Unfortunately not, but I think the hardrive can be replaced.

Just been a bit nervous about reinstalling Windows etc. My experience in the past is that it's never as easy as you hope and I dread the thought of spending a week trying to fix my laptop.

In any case, it does seem 8Gb doesn't quite cut it, and it is soldered to the motherboard, so if I could perhaps find a 16Gb version knocking about then I may buy that as it's a cracking little machine for the size and weight.