Newbie pilot shopping for laptop

[bersecti]

We have needed a new laptop for a while but now our needs regarding specs has gone up to include editing 4K footage for the mini 3 pro that has joined our family.

A lot of reading of ‘top 10 laptops for….’ are telling me I need a machine with 16M RAM minimum, preferably 32M RAM. This is a pretty big jump in price points. If I use software with a proxy like Filmora is this an issue while editing as such? I can put up with a slower rendering time when I’m finished if it saves me near a grand and I just buy a nice 8m RAM lappie specced up a bit with some SSD.

 

[Deleted member 170519]

We have needed a new laptop for a while but now our needs regarding specs has gone up to include editing 4K footage for the mini 3 pro that has joined our family.

A lot of reading of ‘top 10 laptops for….’ are telling me I need a machine with 16M RAM minimum, preferably 32M RAM. This is a pretty big jump in price points. If I use software with a proxy like Filmora is this an issue while editing as such? I can put up with a slower rendering time when I’m finished if it saves me near a grand and I just buy a nice 8m RAM lappie specced up a bit with some SSD.

From the beginning of time, it was said to buy as much ram as you can afford.
As technology evolves, it has become apparent that ram is the most important part of computing.
I recently purchased a MacBook Pro M2 8 core and opted for 24gb ram, cost me an extra 400.00 but in the long run I am kind of future proof for the next few years. With AI technology coming up... one needs the biggest badest machine they can afford.
I think if I were going for a PC or laptop with windows 10 or better.. I would opt for at least 32gb of ram.
In the end, the advice I would give you is think about how long you'll have that laptop.. technology advances in the next coming 2 years... and buy as much as you can afford.

 

[steaneb]

If you're looking at spending the coin on a laptop, give yourself 'some' future proofing by getting one with slots where you can swap out the RAM or add more, and/ or an M2 SSD slot if the budget can stretch. As Mark_F has said...get the best you can afford.

 

[MavicAir2Marc]

A thing to keep in mind...you cannot add RAM later to the new Apple M-chip machines, you are stuck with what you originally purchased as far as RAM. The M-chip machines however are more efficient with RAM than Windows machines therefore you can get away with less RAM for the same performance. I have an 8GB RAM Mac Mini that will playback 4K footage without dropping any frames at full resolution in DaVinci Resolve. Premiere Pro is a little more processor intensive so it runs into dropped frames once in a while. 32GB of RAM is plenty for most applications unless you're shooting Canon C70 codecs or something like that. For drone footage, the H.265 codec causes the issues for most machines which is a required codec for high resolution/high frame rate footage.

 

[SpitFire]

Welcome to the forum from Chicago the Windy City.
FLY SAFE & FLY SMART

 

[Suzygs1000]

Why don't you just buy a DJI RC Pro?

 

[bersecti]

Why don't you just buy a DJI RC Pro?

Why don’t you use a few more words so I can understand this suggestion?

 

[Suzygs1000]

Sorry, lI thought you were going to use the laptop to fly with?? silly me ... sorry

 

[badcooky]

We have needed a new laptop for a while but now our needs regarding specs has gone up to include editing 4K footage for the mini 3 pro that has joined our family.

A lot of reading of ‘top 10 laptops for….’ are telling me I need a machine with 16M RAM minimum, preferably 32M RAM. This is a pretty big jump in price points. If I use software with a proxy like Filmora is this an issue while editing as such? I can put up with a slower rendering time when I’m finished if it saves me near a grand and I just buy a nice 8m RAM lappie specced up a bit with some SSD.

I've found that the lower cost gaming lap tops(1300-1500AUD) can be quite quick for everything not gaming , if that makes sense . They're good gamers but i think you know what I'm saying.
The GPU can be made to do all or help with all processes not used for gaming and being gaming LT's you can wind them up a little for better results..
Also an XMP program can get the most out of RAM speeds , just make sure whatever you buy has at least DDR4 RAM and an SSD .