Best Mac for Video Editing: The number of people interested in video is growing, and more people want to make videos. The good news is that the equipment is getting cheaper, and your setup will be built around a powerful computer. People who are creative love Macs because they are reliable, look good, and don’t get in the way of the creative process. But some people are better than others at video.
All Macs are able to play video. In fact, every Mac that is bought will already have iMovie on it. But as you get better at video, some models will quickly stop working for you and make you mad.
Video editing takes a lot of time and is boring. It will put both you and your computer to the test. So make sure you choose a Mac that can handle the job. It will need some serious specs, like a strong CPU and GPU, a lot of RAM, and fast storage.
We like the 27-inch iMac that is currently available. It has everything you need to edit 4K videos without breaking the bank, and you can upgrade its parts as your needs change.
The 16-inch MacBook Pro is easier to take with you. It has the same amount of power in a smaller size, but it is harder to upgrade and you need an external monitor to see 4K video in full resolution.
They are not your only choices, though. An iMac Pro has a lot more power, but it costs more, and it can be upgraded far beyond what most people need. There are also less expensive options, like the iMac 21.5-inch, Mac mini, and MacBook Pro 13-inch, but they have a lot of problems.
Best Mac for Video Editing
1. MacBook Air
The small and cheap MacBook Air (13-inch) may be appealing to video editors on a budget, but they should be realistic about what it can do. It’s a good place to start if you already have one or can’t afford anything else, but it won’t get you very far.
You can edit video on a MacBook Air, but it’s not the best way to do it. It can edit basic HD video, but anything more than that will be a letdown or impossible. The best things about this laptop are that it is easy to carry around, has a long battery life, and is cheap.
At a glance:
- 13.3-inch Retina screen with a resolution of 2560 x 1600
- The memory is 8 GB, the storage is 256 GB SSD (512 GB or more is recommended), and the processor is an Apple M1 chip.
- Apple makes GPUs with up to eight cores.
- There are two Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports.
- It lasts for 18 hours.
2. MacBook Pro 13-inch
The 13-inch MacBook Pro is a little bit thicker than the 13-inch MacBook Air, but it has a lot more power. But it’s not as good for editing videos as the bigger 16-inch model.
At a glance:
- 13-inch Retina screen with a resolution of 2560 x 1600
- Storage: 256 GB or 512 GB SSD Memory: 8 GB (up to 24 GB)
- The Apple M2 processor has a 20-hour battery life, a 10-core GPU from Apple, and two Thunderbolt 4 ports.
This model doesn’t meet any of our needs, but the 16-inch MacBook Pro does. It has a powerful Apple M2 chip and a lot of space to store things.
As with the MacBook Air, the Amazon configuration has only 8 GB of RAM, which is enough for HD and Full HD video but not 4K. There are 16 GB versions, but you can’t get them on Amazon. Choose carefully, because you can’t add more RAM after you buy it.
As I said in my review of the MacBook Air, having a GPU and monitor that aren’t built into the laptop lets you do a lot more with it. This Mac can support one 5K external display or two 4K displays, and we’ll talk about eGPU options in the “Other Gear” section.
3. iMac 21.5-inch
If you want to save money or desk space, the 21.5-inch iMac is a good machine for editing videos. It’s a good alternative to the 27-inch model, but it won’t be as easy to upgrade as the larger one.
At a glance:
- 4096 x 2304 pixels on a 21.5-inch Retina 4K screen
- 8 GB of memory (16 GB is recommended, and 32 GB is the maximum) and a 1 TB Fusion Drive for storage (configurable to 1 TB SSD),
- The processor is an Intel Core i5 8th generation 3.0 GHz 6-core with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory.
- There are four USB 3 ports, two Thunderbolt 3 ports (USB-C), and Gigabit Ethernet.
