Adobe Premiere Pro is another one of Adobe’s staple video editing software, alongside Adobe AfterEffects, and chances are, you’ll be using both to create your video edits. Adobe software often needs powerful laptops to run smoothly, so you’ll be looking at some fairly pricey laptops.
That being said, we’ve compiled a list of laptops that we feel are the best laptops for Adobe Premiere Pro, and all of our picks take into consideration the specs that matter the most: the CPU, graphics card, RAM, storage, and display quality.
Contents
Best Laptops For Premiere Pro Compared
Best Laptop for Premiere Pro Reviewed
1. Razer Blade 15 [Best Overall]
Specs:
Razer has come out with some of the most powerful gaming laptops on the scene, with top-tier gaming specs to make them perfect for video editing. These powerful specs are sure to make editing an easy task for editors.
What we like
Starting with the CPU, the Razer Blade 15 comes equipped with a 10th Gen Intel Core i7 processor. You can easily overclock the CPU of this laptop, as it goes up to speeds of 5.0GHz. You can be sure that this laptop can handle just about any program, especially Adobe software, you throw at it.
Of course, it isn’t just the CPU that impresses on the Razer Blade 15. It sports 16GB of RAM, so you can be sure to multitask with it easily, and having more RAM gives you the ability to create much more complex transitions on Adobe Premier Pro as well.
With the 512GB solid-state drive, your files will be kept safe and sound, and you can be sure that your laptop and the programs on it will start quickly. Both the memory and the storage of the Razer Blade 15 can also be upgraded, for users who may want to juice this laptop up.
Don’t forget the powerful NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 GPU found in the Razer. You’ll be able to render in no time thanks to this dedicated graphics card, which has 6GB of VRAM as well, giving you an extra boost to your laptop’s abilities while editing.
The 15.6-inch full-HD IPS display allows the user to view it from just about any angle and can replicate colors fantastically well. Because the display of the Razer Blade 15 was meant to immerse gamers fully, and it’s sure to do the same with editors who have to pay close attention to what they’re creating.
Downsides
As a video editor, you’ll have to work with video clips of varying volumes, and we find that the Razer Blade 15’s sound system doesn’t quite give us the quality or volume we’d prefer. You might find that you’ll need to purchase a set of headphones for work.
The body of the Razer Blade 15 can also get quite hot when under heavy loads. It doesn’t get too hot that it’s unusable, but it might be uncomfortable for some users to use this laptop unless placed on a table or other work surface (rather than their lap).
Pros
- Extremely powerful CPU
- Upgradeable storage and memory
- Fastest SSD on the market
- Best GPU of the laptops listed here
- Fantastic, immersive display
Cons
- Poor sound system
- Gets quite hot over time
2. MacBook Pro [Best MacBook for Premiere Pro]
Specs:
The MacBook Pro is one of the go-to laptops most media professionals opt for, and for good reason. With powerful specs, a fantastic display, and other additional features, the MacBook Pro is a step-up from its preceding model and is a must-have for editors who are loyal to Apple.
What we like
With the 9th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, the MacBook Pro handles Adobe Premier Pro with ease, alongside other Adobe software you may be using. This processor gives the MacBook Pro a serious boost in power, allowing it to go up to speeds of 4.5GHz.
The 512GB solid-state drive also gives the MacBook Pro more than enough space to store your programs, OS, and raw footage files on as well. The MacBook Pro is sure to start quickly as well, thanks to the PCle NVMe solid-state drive.
You can expect to easily multitask on the MacBook Pro, as it has 16GB of RAM, giving you more than enough free space to create complex transitions on Premiere Pro. You shouldn’t experience any lag when working or running other programs (like browser tabs and other software) at all.
Of course, video editors have to look out for the kind of GPU in their next laptop of choice, and the MacBook Pro comes equipped with a dedicated AMD Radeon Pro Graphics GPU, which gives the MacBook more than enough graphics power to render with ease.
The most impressive feature the MacBook Pro has is its retina display, which has an extremely high pixel density. You can expect clear images and crisp colors on its display, and the MacBook also has up to 300-nits of brightness. Apple’s True Tone Technology ensures that the display automatically adjusts itself based on the time of day to ensure your eyes are comfortable while working throughout the day.
The last perk to the Apple MacBook Pro that editors using Premiere Pro would enjoy is the TouchBar. The TouchBar adds further functionality to the MacBook, giving you access to more shortcuts, which can be adjusted to suit your preferences, and making it much more convenient for editors as well.
Downsides
The MacBook Pro comes with tons of upsides and perks, but not without any costs. The MacBook Pro is quite pricey, and each upgrade you make with it is going to cost a pretty penny, especially since upgrades cannot be done yourself with ease.
Not only are the upgrades of Mac quite expensive, but repairs are extremely costly as well, with Apple having the most expensive repair costs of the laptop brands here. As long as you’re careful with the MacBook and you take care of it, you’ll be fine, but you should keep repair costs in mind if anything goes wrong.
Pros
- Productivity powerhouse for video editors
- Fantastic retina display with True Tone Technology
- High pixel density on the screen
- TouchBar gives software-based shortcuts
Cons
- Costly upgrades and repairs by Apple
- Lasts up to only 5 hours
3. ASUS TUF Gaming A15 Laptop [Best Budget Laptop For Premiere Pro]
Specs:
It’s no surprise that another gaming laptop makes it onto this list, and the ASUS TUF Gaming laptop is our go-to budget choice for Adobe Premiere Pro. It offers great mid-range specs that can surely handle just about anything you throw at it.
What we like
The AMD Ryzen 5 processor of the ASUS TUF Gaming laptop is a mid-range CPU that comes at a much lower price than its Intel counterpart. This processor also goes up to speeds of 4.0GHz, so you shouldn’t have any issues if running Premiere Pro needs some power.
We believe 8GB is more than enough RAM for editors who are using Premier Pro and only creating simple transitions, as well as doing more simple edits on your videos, making this an ideal choice for students who are using Premiere Pro while still in film school.
It also has 512GB of storage, so you’ll have more than enough space to store your raw files, as well as your other documents for university, and even some of your favorite games (for those long breaks!). Fortunately, both the memory and storage of the ASUS can be upgraded, so you can keep this laptop running for quite some time.
Despite the affordable price of the ASUS TUF Gaming laptop, the graphics card is quite powerful. It comes with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650, which should render your videos with ease. Having a dedicated GPU in an affordable laptop makes this the ideal choice for student users.
The display of the ASUS is great, as it’s got 15.6-inches of a full-HD display. This display has an IPS panel, making it easy to view from any angle, and offers clear and crisp images. You’ll be sure to edit easily because the display is quite bright, though it isn’t the most color-accurate screen.
Downsides
While this laptop is still quite powerful, it doesn’t quite pack the punch most other laptops have here considering it’s only got a Ryzen 5 processor. Fortunately, we’ve found that AMD offers much better mid-ranged specs compared to Intel, at a much lower cost.
Another issue we’ve found with the AUS TUF Gaming Laptop is that it tends to run quite hot when under heavy loads. You might find that the laptop heats up while you edit or render, but it won’t get too hot that you won’t be able to touch it.
We’ve mentioned that the display of the ASUS isn’t color-accurate, however, the differences are at a bare minimum, almost unnoticeable. We believe that this inaccuracy won’t get in the way of editing on Premiere Pro, so this isn’t a major downside.
Pros
- Affordable yet powerful specs
- Upgradeable storage and memory
- Large SSD storage capacity
Cons
- The display isn’t color-accurate
- Can get uncomfortably hot
- Weakest CPU compared to other laptops
4. Dell XPS 15 [Best Display]
Specs:
One of the best Windows laptops that rivals Apple’s MacBook Pro is the Dell XPS 15. It offers some of the best specs for editors at a much better price in comparison to the MacBook Pro and is great for professionals who prefer Windows over Mac.
What we like
With a 9th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, the Dell XPS 15 can clock up to speeds of 4.5GHz. You can be sure that this laptop will run Adobe Premier Pro with ease, alongside any other media editing software you need to use to create your films.
We’ve suggested users who are doing more than simple effects and transitions on Premier Pro purchase a laptop with more than just 8GB of RAM. Fortunately, the Dell comes with 16GB of RAM, which can be upgraded up to 32GB if you want that extra boost.
The Dell XPS also sports the most impressive storage capacity of all the laptops listed here, with a whopping 1TB PCle NVMe SSD. You’ll be sure to have more than enough space on this laptop to store your OS, programs, and files, without your laptop slowing down at all.
We’ve already mentioned that the memory of the Dell can be upgraded, and storage can be as well. This gives the Dell XPS a much longer lifespan, as it isn’t difficult to install another SSD to increase its storage.
The GPU is nothing to scoff at either. The NVIDIA GeForce 1650 graphics card also ensures editors will have an additional boost to your laptop’s power when editing while using Premiere Pro, and also keep video render times at a minimum.
The best feature of the Dell XPS 15 by far is the 4K UHD display. The display offers extremely clear and crisp images and has a screen resolution of 3840×2160 pixels, so creating 4K videos won’t be a problem. While having a fantastic display isn’t a necessity for creating 4K videos, it is a plus.
Downsides
The only major issue we’ve found with the Dell XPS is its thermal management system. This ultrabook doesn’t get too hot, but the fans tend to make quite a bit of noise, so it may be a distraction for users who are editing quieter scenes on Premiere Pro.
Pros
- Windows OS ultrabook to rival the MacBook Pro
- Fantastic 4K UHD display
- Powerful specs perfect for video editing
- Upgradeable storage and memory
Cons
- Fans are loud under heavy load
5. Lenovo Legion 5 [For Premiere Pro & Gaming]
Specs:
Another gaming laptop that doubles as a great laptop for Premiere Pro is the Lenovo Legion 5. This laptop is home to powerful specs at a much more affordable price and looks as professional as their workstations as well.
What we like
The Lenovo Legion 5 comes with an AMD Ryzen 7 processor, which offers similar power to its Intel i7 counterpart, the Legion 5 has a powerful processor at an affordable price. Because it can go up to speeds of 4.2GHz, you’ll be sure it can run Premiere Pro with no issues.
It also has 16GB of RAM, which can be upgraded up to 32GB, so if you’re planning to expand further down the line, the Legion 5 is great. More RAM means you’ll be able to create and edit much more complex transitions and effects, so this is a viable option.
Storage won’t be too much of an issue either. The 512GB SSD offers ample storage for your raw clips, final edits, varying software, and even for some of your favorite games to play after work. If you’re considering purchasing upgrades for the Legion’s storage, it’s easy to upgrade as well.
Thanks to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650Ti, you’ll be able to render your videos with ease. While a more powerful GPU might be ideal for some users, we feel that the GTX 1650Ti is great for the odd occasional video game, particularly if you’re mainly using the Legion as a work laptop.
The 15.6-inch FHD display is great to work on as well. It offers 300-nits of brightness, making it easy to work on even with dark scenes, with clear images and crisp colors. There aren’t many laptops within this price range that offers display quality like this.
Downsides
We couldn’t find much wrong with the Lenovo Legion 5, but we did find that the laptop tends to run quite hot when under heavy loads. You might find that the Legion 5 can go up to temperatures of 100-degrees C, which is going to make it quite uncomfortable to use.
Other than the thermal management system, this laptop comes with an AMD Ryzen 7 processor, which might be an issue for some. The AMD processor is only slightly less powerful than its Intel i7 counterpart, and users might not want to sacrifice that.
Pros
- More affordable yet powerful specs
- Upgradeable storage and memory
- Good GPU for rendering
- Great display with 144hz refresh rate
Cons
- Poor thermal management
- Ryzen 7 is less powerful than Intel i7
Best Laptop For Premiere Pro FAQ
Q1. What are the minimum system requirements of Adobe Premiere Pro?
- Multicore processor with 64-bit support
- 8 GB of RAM (16 GB or more recommended)
- 1280×800 display (1920×1080 or larger recommended)
Optional: and Adobe-recommended GPU card for better performance
Q2. Can I use an HDD instead of an SSD?
While you can opt for an HDD to keep costs at a minimum, we highly recommend purchasing a laptop with an SSD instead. Solid-state drives are significantly faster (up to 17x times the speed), last up to 3x longer, and are much more reliable than hard-disk drives.
Q3. How important is the GPU for Premiere Pro?
The GPU is another memory cache for your laptop, and also determines how well your laptop will be able to create complex transitions or how quickly it will render your video edits. We suggest that any video editor purchase a laptop with a dedicated graphics card to ensure you won’t encounter any problems with editing or rendering.
Q4. Do I need a 4K display to do 4K video editing?
Not really. Your laptop does not need to have a 4K display to create extremely high-resolution videos, as playback will scale itself to match your screen resolution. That being said, it wouldn’t hurt to purchase a laptop with a 4K display for a more immersive editing experience.
Q5. How much RAM would I need for editing on Premiere Pro?
We highly suggest that users who create videos over 60 minutes long purchase a laptop with at least 16GB of RAM. If you plan to create shorter videos than that, then we think 8GB is more than enough. You won’t need more 32-64GB of RAM unless you’re a very heavy user of varying editing software, not just Adobe Premiere Pro.
Conclusion
And there we have our top 5 best laptops for Adobe Premiere Pro. We’ve made sure to include some of the best laptops out on the market, as well as some of the more affordable options as well. What matters to us is that we show you a much wider variety of laptops that we know are perfect for Premier Pro, at varying price points.
As we’ve said in our introduction segment, we’ve included a Frequently Asked Questions segment as well to give you the rundown on what you should be looking out for based on what you’re planning to create on Premiere Pro.
Good luck!
