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After spending 30 hours researching and testing the top five contenders, we found that the Microsoft Surface Book 2 is the best laptop for creative professionals. The Surface Book 2 had some of the fastest 4K rendering speeds we tested, and it has an excellent keyboard and trackpad and a healthy variety of ports. Its 4K display is the most accurate of the Windows laptops we tested this year, though it isn’t accurate enough for video color grading or print production work; if you do those things, pick up the 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro.
Our pickMicrosoft Surface Book 2 (15-inch)
The Surface Book 2 has powerful specs and the best battery life and most accurate screen of any Windows laptop we tested. It’s reliable enough for most creative tasks, but not quite accurate enough for video color grading and print production.
Buying Options
The Surface Book 2 configuration we recommend costs around $2,900—we know! Keep reading—and it has a 4K display, an eighth-generation 1.9 GHz Intel Core i7-8650U processor, 16 GB of RAM, and a 512 GB solid-state drive. It also comes with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 with 6 GB VRAM, a powerful graphics processor that can handle demanding tasks such as quickly exporting 4K footage in Adobe Premiere Pro or gaming. The Surface Book 2’s keyboard is clicky and comfortable to use for long periods of time, and its trackpad is even better: It tracks smoothly and accurately, and it executes gestures and other Windows-related tasks with ease. It also has all the necessary ports and connections: two USB 3.0 ports, a USB-C port (though not Thunderbolt 3), as well as a full-size SD card reader, and a proprietary Surface Connect port. It also had the longest battery life of any laptop we tested this year by about 20 minutes, and you can even detach its screen and use it as a tablet if you want.
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Also greatApple MacBook Pro with Touch Bar (15-inch, 2019)
The 2019 MacBook Pro has the best display of any laptop we’ve tested, and it’s accurate enough for video color grading and print production. Its keyboard is shallow and its battery life is short, but it’s the most powerful option for those who prefer Apple.
Buying Options
If you need a laptop with a screen precise enough for print photo production or video color grading, get the Apple 15-inch MacBook Pro (2019). The MacBook Pro’s 15.4-inch Retina display has a resolution of 2880×1800—lower than the 4K screens on the Surface Book 2 and the XPS 15 Touch—but in our tests it was more color accurate than its competition, and it’s the only one of our picks that’s technically accurate enough for color grading and print production work. It also reproduced more of the sRGB color gamut than the Surface Book 2, and it supports the DCI/P3 color gamut while our top pick doesn’t. It has the best trackpad we’ve used on a laptop, as well. But it has a shallow keyboard, it lacks legacy ports, it has a high price tag, and it suffers from a shorter battery life than we’d like. We recommend the $3,150 model—which is about $250 more than the Surface Book 2—with a 2.3 GHz ninth-generation Intel Core i9 processor, 16 GB of RAM, 512 GB of solid-state storage, and Radeon Pro Vega 20 dedicated graphics with 4 GB of memory.
Budget pickDell XPS 15 Touch
The Dell XPS 15 Touch has fast 4K rendering speeds and decent battery life, and it costs almost $1,000 less than the Microsoft Surface Book 2. Its screen is less accurate, but you can buy a great 4K monitor with the money you save and still have some left over.
Buying Options
If you’re looking for a cheaper option, you don't need to do precise color work, or you don't mind relying on an external monitor when you do, get the Dell XPS 15 Touch. It is not as accurate as the Microsoft Surface Book 2, much less the MacBook Pro: Its reds, in particular, were so oversaturated that we don’t recommend it for photo editing or color grading video. Instead, pair the Dell XPS 15 Touch with our favorite 4K monitor pick, the HP Z27, which is accurate enough for photo and video production work, and buying the XPS 15 plus the Z27 still costs less than one Microsoft Surface Book 2.
We recommend the configuration with an eighth-generation, Intel Core i7-8750H processor, 16 GB of RAM, a 512 GB solid-state drive, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050Ti, and a 15.6-inch 3840×2160 IPS touchscreen. At the time of this guide's publishing, this configuration cost around $1,930. It was a few seconds faster than the Microsoft Surface Book 2 at exporting 4K video in Adobe Premiere Pro. It’s about as portable as the Surface Book 2, and its keyboard and trackpad are decent but not as enjoyable to use. Unfortunately, its webcam is located below its screen, and it fell about a half hour behind the Surface Book 2 in battery-life testing.
Everything we recommendOur pickMicrosoft Surface Book 2 (15-inch)
The Surface Book 2 has powerful specs and the best battery life and most accurate screen of any Windows laptop we tested. It’s reliable enough for most creative tasks, but not quite accurate enough for video color grading and print production.
Buying OptionsAlso greatApple MacBook Pro with Touch Bar (15-inch, 2019)![]()
The 2019 MacBook Pro has the best display of any laptop we’ve tested, and it’s accurate enough for video color grading and print production. Its keyboard is shallow and its battery life is short, but it’s the most powerful option for those who prefer Apple.
Buying OptionsBudget pickDell XPS 15 Touch
The Dell XPS 15 Touch has fast 4K rendering speeds and decent battery life, and it costs almost $1,000 less than the Microsoft Surface Book 2. Its screen is less accurate, but you can buy a great 4K monitor with the money you save and still have some left over.
Buying OptionsThe researchWhy you should trust us
Wirecutter has been researching and testing laptops since 2013, and our PC team has more than 37 years of collective experience reviewing all kinds of laptops—in addition to the 60 hours we’ve spent researching and testing laptops for video and photo editing work over the past two years.
For this guide, we interviewed 11 creative professionals—three music producers, three product or graphic designers, one 3D modeler, two photographers, a game developer, and a Web developer—to find out what they need in a laptop. Among the experts we spoke to are a composer for Bob’s Burgers, a developer and composer behind the video game Night in the Woods, a senior 3D modeler at Weta Digital, and a graphic designer and illustrator whose work has appeared in The New York Times (parent company of Wirecutter).
Who should get this
If you’re a creative professional looking for a laptop that can perform demanding tasks—including photo editing, video editing, graphic design, drawing, programming and developing, game design, and audio production—on the go, you should get what we call a power notebook.
If you work in print production or color grade video, you should buy a MacBook Pro.
While an ultrabook can perform some of these tasks, a power notebook will let you do more and faster; it will also have a dedicated graphics card, more RAM, often a more powerful processor, and a larger, higher-resolution screen that’s better for doing creative work. A gaming laptop or workstation has the power for these tasks, but a power notebook is more portable, durable, and stylish. (We don’t cover mobile workstations here—most people who need one have very specific needs or will get it through an employer—but if you need a recommendation, Notebookcheck’s top 10 list is a good place to start). Power notebooks are more expensive than most people need though—some cost upwards of $2,500—so it makes sense to spend the money only if you need one for your job.
If you work in print production or color grade video, you should buy a MacBook Pro. Our Windows pick’s display is accurate enough for other video and photo work, though. If you’re in Web development, music production, or game design, and you don’t need production-quality color accuracy, or need it for only part of your workflow, you can buy a less expensive, less color-accurate laptop like our budget pick. For print-quality work, you can even buy our budget pick and pair it with our favorite 4K monitor, which is more accurate than our top pick, for about $400 less.
Apple’s MacBook Pro line has long been the standard-bearer of power notebooks, and most of the creative professionals we interviewed use Macs. But over the past two years, Windows manufacturers have largely caught up with (and in some cases surpassed) MacBooks when it comes to sleek designs, great screens, and powerful hardware—though that doesn't matter if the software you use only works on Macs. We have picks for both Mac and Windows users.
How we picked
The most important features in a power notebook (in rough order of importance) are the processor; memory; storage; dedicated graphics; screen size, resolution, and quality; keyboard and trackpad; weight; ports; and battery life. But not all creative professionals need the same features. The photographers and graphic designers we spoke to emphasized their need for a good screen, for example, while product designers and audio producers prioritized a machine’s available ports.
These are the features that you should look for in a laptop for creative work, but the order will vary based on the work you do:
We checked laptop manufacturers’ websites—companies like Microsoft, Dell, Asus, HP, Lenovo, Razer, and MSI—and found 23 models that matched our criteria. We looked at reviews of those laptops from trusted sources like CNET and Ars Technica.
We eliminated models with dealbreaking flaws mentioned in reviews, like a dull screen or poor build quality, as well as laptops that were unavailable. Then we used what we learned from speaking to 11 creative professionals—three music producers, three product or graphic designers, one 3D modeler, two photographers, a gaming developer, and a Web developer—about their laptop needs, in 2016. Using their expert input, we winnowed our list to five models: the 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro (with Radeon Pro 560X graphics), Asus ZenBook Pro 15, Dell XPS 15 Touch, HP Spectre x360, and Microsoft Surface Book 2. We tested the 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro with Radeon Pro Vega 20 graphics in May 2019. We’re interested in testing the Razer Blade 15 4K Touch and the Lenovo ThinkPad P1 in the future, and we will update this guide when we do.
How we tested
We worked with Chris Heinonen, senior AV staff writer for Wirecutter, to test the contrast ratio, color accuracy, and gamut of each laptop’s display using customized tests in the CalMAN 2016 software-calibration suite.
For contrast ratio, we expect a result of at least 1,000:1, and all of the laptops we tested for this guide passed that threshold. It wasn’t a differentiating factor for our picks. The CalMAN tests also produce DeltaE 2000 numbers for each screen, which show us how close the displayed color is to what it’s supposed to be; the lower the number, the better. A value of under 1.0 is nearly perfect, and under 2.0 is sufficient for print production work. At around 3.0, you begin to see a difference between the screen and its reference.
Color gamut, or the range of colors that can be accurately represented on a device, is also important, so we used our CalMAN tests to determine how much of the sRGB color gamut (and, when applicable, the DCI/P3 color gamut) each laptop screen could reproduce. The ideal score is 100 percent; our numbers will not go past that, because reporting numbers larger than 100 percent can give the impression of full gamut coverage even in cases where that isn’t true.
To test each laptop’s rendering speed, we worked with our photography team to export 4K video footage using a compression preset in Adobe Premiere Pro. We tested each laptop’s real-world battery life by setting each laptop’s screen backlight to 150 nits (candelas per square meter; cd/m²) and ran a Web-browsing battery test that cycles through Web pages, email, Google docs, and video. Because we set each laptop to the same brightness, the results were directly comparable. Finally, we used each laptop for at least one workday to get a feel for its keyboard, trackpad, screen, and speakers, and we traveled with them to and from a coffee shop to get a feel for portability.
Our pick: Microsoft Surface Book 2Our pickMicrosoft Surface Book 2 (15-inch)
The Surface Book 2 has powerful specs and the best battery life and most accurate screen of any Windows laptop we tested. It’s reliable enough for most creative tasks, but not quite accurate enough for video color grading and print production.
Buying Options
The Microsoft Surface Book 2 is the best Windows laptop for creative professionals because it has the best combination of performance, screen quality, and portability. In tests, the Microsoft Surface Book 2 showed that it’s powerful enough to handle demanding workloads, and it renders 4K video very fast—faster than most of the competition. It has the most color-accurate screen of any Windows laptop we tested—though not as accurate as the MacBook Pro, the only laptop we recommend for video color grading and print production work—and it covers 95 percent of the sRGB color gamut. Plus, the Surface Book 2 has a great keyboard and trackpad, it has a variety of ports, and it’s light enough to carry around for work. It has the longest battery life of all the laptops we tested, too, at 7 hours, 20 minutes. You can even detach its screen and use it as a tablet if you want. But its screen isn’t quite accurate enough for print production work, it’s much thicker than the competition, and when closed it has a wide gap near its hinge thanks to that detachable screen.
The Microsoft Surface Book 2 and the Dell XPS 15 Touch were, by far, the fastest at exporting 4K footage in Adobe Premiere Pro; shorter bars indicate better performance. We tested the 15-inch MacBook Pro (2018) with a six-core Intel Core i9 processor; the eight-core i9 processor in the 2019 model may be a bit faster.
The Surface Book 2 we recommend has a 15.6-inch 3840×2160 IPS display, an eighth-generation 1.9 GHz Intel Core i7-8650U processor, 16 GB of RAM—which isn’t upgradable—an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 with 6 GB VRAM, and a 512 GB solid-state drive. In real-world performance testing, the Surface Book 2 exported our 4K footage sample in 2 minutes, 5 seconds, just 5 seconds slower than the Dell XPS 15 Touch, although this difference is within the margin of error.
The Microsoft Surface Book 2 had the most color-accurate display of the Windows laptops we tested, although none of the Windows laptops we tested were as accurate as the Apple MacBook Pro, and we don’t recommend them for video color grading or print production work. In our CalMAN test, the Surface Book 2 had an average grayscale dE2000 of 2.6, which means that images are mostly free of color tint, aren’t washed out, and details are visible in dark shadows, so the images on your screen will look like the creator intended. (Lower is better: A score below 1.0 means the difference between the displayed color and a reference is invisible to the eye when side by side; a score under 2.0 is sufficient for print-production work; and a score below 3.0 means the differences between the display and a reference are considered indiscernible when in motion.) The Microsoft Surface Book 2 measured a 2.9 score in ColorChecker, 3.0 in Saturation Sweep, and a 2.8 in color points; all of which test the display’s ability to accurately show a variety of colors’ hues and saturations.
A wide color gamut is important for tasks like photo editing because if you can’t see the full gamut, some of the colors you’re seeing are inaccurate. We found that the Microsoft Surface Book 2’s screen covers nearly all (95 percent) of the sRGB color gamut; which most people interested in serious video- and photo-editing will be using. It lacks support for the DCI/P3 color gamut, but the creative professionals we spoke to weren’t as concerned with DCI/P3 as they were with sRGB. The MacBook Pro (2019) covers more of the sRGB color gamut (99.8 percent), and a lot of the DCI/P3 color gamut (75.9 percent).
The Surface Book 2 had one of the best keyboards we tested this year. (Laptop Mag measured 1.2 millimeter of key travel. The Dell XPS 15 and Apple MacBook Pro both feel shallower, with 0.8 millimeter and 0.7 millimeter of key travel, respectively.) Its keys bounced back when we used them, and they offered an easy and enjoyable typing experience. The Surface Book 2’s trackpad has a crisp physical click when pressed, and we never experienced any issues with palm rejection or gestures, like using two fingers to right-click, scroll, and zoom. The medium-size touchpad fit the size of our hands better, which felt less awkward to use than the MacBook Pro’s huge one, but your mileage may vary.
The Surface Book 2 has the smallest width of any laptop we tested at 13.5 inches, though its 9.9 inches in length made it longer than all of the other laptops we brought in; but the size differences from model to model weren’t so major that they were noticeable in our testing. The biggest difference between the Surface Book 2 and the competition is its thickness: In part because of its detachable screen and odd hinge, it's 0.88 inch thick, with a large gap between the screen and keyboard at the hinge, while the Apple MacBook Pro is just 0.38 inch, and the Dell XPS 15 Touch is 0.63 inch thick. The Surface Book 2 is on the lighter side of the laptops we tested, though, at 4.2 pounds; all of the power notebooks we tested were between 4 pounds and 4.6 pounds.
The Surface Book 2 has all the necessary ports: two USB 3.0 ports, a USB-C port (though not Thunderbolt 3), as well as a full-size SD card reader and a proprietary Surface Connect port. We’d like to see Microsoft incorporate a Thunderbolt 3 port into its line of Surface Books in the future, since it’s the fastest, most versatile port—it can transfer data at speeds up to 40 Gbps, and carry power and display data over a single cable—and many other companies have now incorporated Thunderbolt 3 into their laptops.
The Microsoft Surface Book 2 had the longest battery life of any laptop we tested, at 7 hours, 20 minutes; longer bars indicate better performance.
The Surface Book 2 had the longest battery life of any laptop we tested, at 7 hours, 20 minutes in our Web-browsing test. This means that it should last a full day of work, although those with heavier workloads should expect shorter battery life. While the Surface Book 2 had the longest battery life, the Apple MacBook Pro had one of the shorter battery lives we tested, at 5 hours, 29 minutes. Our budget pick had 6 hours, 53 minutes of battery life, too.
The Surface Book 2’s screen is detachable—you can remove its top half from the keyboard by pressing a dedicated key to unlock the hinge. Then you can use the Surface Book as a 1.8-pound tablet with integrated graphics to draw, take notes, watch videos, or browse the Web. It’s compatible with the $100 Surface Pen stylus, but we weren’t able to test it. The Surface Book 2 has its own Surface Connect port, so it can be charged separate from the keyboard. This detachable screen is a neat addition, especially for illustrators and artists, though it’s not a requirement for laptops in this category.
Flaws but not dealbreakers
The Surface Book 2 is much thicker than the competition when it’s closed, and it has a wide gap near its hinge because of its detachable screen. With its lid shut, the laptop measures 0.88 inch thick near the hinge and 0.59 inch at its thinnest point; comparatively, the MacBook Pro is just 0.38 inch thick, and the XPS 15 Touch is 0.63 inch thick. The Surface Book 2’s thickness is caused in part by the hinge we mentioned, and in part because the Surface Book 2’s screen half contains components that allow it to be detached for use as a tablet. Dirt or dust can fall into this opening and gunk up your screen and keyboard. We haven’t experienced or read reports of any damage to the screen or keyboard, but this is a poor design decision nonetheless.
If you want a Mac: MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2019)Also greatApple MacBook Pro with Touch Bar (15-inch, 2019)
The 2019 MacBook Pro has the best display of any laptop we’ve tested, and it’s accurate enough for video color grading and print production. Its keyboard is shallow and its battery life is short, but it’s the most powerful option for those who prefer Apple.
Buying Options
If your workflow requires macOS, Apple’s 15-inch MacBook Pro (2019) is the best option. The newest MacBook offers solid performance and the best screen and trackpad of any laptop we’ve tested, and it’s the only one of our picks that’s technically accurate enough for video color grading and print production work out of the box. The MacBook Pro has a shallow keyboard, the battery in the 2018 model we tested lasted only 5 hours, 29 minutes, and the machine lacks legacy ports—which nearly half of the creative professionals we interviewed said was a disqualifying inconvenience. But even so, the 15-inch model is the only MacBook powerful enough for creative professionals.
We recommend the 2019 15-inch model with a 2.3 GHz eight-core ninth-generation Intel Core i9 processor, 16 GB of RAM, 512 GB of solid-state storage, and a Radeon Pro Vega 20 dedicated graphics card with 4 GB of memory—a configuration that costs about $3,150 at the time of publication. It also has a 15.4-inch, 2880×1800 Retina display. (You can customize your MacBook Pro with 32 GB of RAM instead if you know you need the extra memory.)
The configuration we recommend offers performance that in general is slightly better than that of the Microsoft Surface Book 2. The 2018 MacBook Pro we tested took an average of 3 minutes to export 4K video footage with Adobe Premiere Pro 12.1, about a minute longer than the Surface Book 2 took. But when we retested the 2018 MacBook Pro with the latest version (13.1.2) of Adobe Premiere Pro, it took just 1 minute, 33 seconds to export. We suspect Adobe further optimized hardware encoding on macOS between these two versions of Premiere, and the 2019 version should be a bit faster than that. (We’ll be testing new Windows models for comparison in the coming months.)
The 2019 15-inch MacBook Pro had the most color-accurate display out of the box and a wide color gamut, making it the only one of our picks that’s technically accurate enough for print production work. In our CalMAN test, the MacBook Pro scored an average grayscale dE2000 of 1.8, much better than the Microsoft Surface Book 2’s score of 2.6. (The closer to zero, the better.) It had an impressive score of 1.4 in the ColorChecker test; its Saturations and color points scores both landed at extremely accurate 1.1 point. We found that the MacBook Pro covered 99.83 percent of the sRGB color gamut and 75.86 percent of the DCI/P3 color gamut; the Dell XPS 15 Touch was the only laptop that covered more of both gamuts than the MacBook did, although its colors weren’t nearly as accurate.
The 2019 MacBook Pro has a shallow keyboard, with keys that offer only 0.8 mm of travel according to Laptop Mag. Even so, the new fourth-generation keyboard should be more durable than previous models due to silicone covers that prevent dust and dirt from getting below the keys and “new materials” that Apple claims will make the keyboard more reliable. After a while, you may become accustomed to the less-clicky, short-travel keys of the MacBook Pro, but even with the keyboard’s improvements, it still isn’t as enjoyable to use as that of the mid-2015 MacBook Pro. The 2019 MacBook Pro’s trackpad is the most accurate we’ve used on a laptop; you can click anywhere on the touchpad and receive the same response because it has no hinge, and its haptic feedback is gratifying. Its width can occasionally be annoying, though.
Despite seeming like a nifty feature, the MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar, which replaces the traditional row of physical function keys (as well as the Escape key) with a touch-sensitive strip of virtual buttons, was occasionally a nuisance, disrupting our workflow. And although you can use the Touch Bar for quick and easy timeline scrubbing, its lack of physical keys tends to be a particular hassle for developers, graphic designers, and other creative professionals, who rely heavily on keyboard shortcuts and muscle memory to do their work. The addition of Touch ID is convenient for unlocking the laptop and making purchases, though.
The 2019 MacBook Pro is a smidgen bigger than the Microsoft Surface Book 2, at 13.8 inches by 9.5 inches, but it weighs about 0.2 pound less, at 4.02 pounds. It’s also much thinner with its lid closed, at 0.38 inch, versus the Surface Book 2’s 0.88 inch. It has four Thunderbolt 3 ports, which allow the laptop to charge, transfer data, and connect to displays from any of its ports. But it has no legacy ports, something that nearly half of the creative professionals we interviewed in 2016 said was a dealbreaker. This lack of traditional ports requires creative professionals to change their workflows—which likely includes lots of peripherals—to include multiple adapters, cables, and hubs for connecting crucial accessories, and that costs money, time, and convenience. But the 2019 MacBook Pro is the only MacBook with a discrete graphics card, so creative Mac professionals will have to stock up on dongles and deal.
We’ll run a new round of battery tests on the 2019 MacBook Pro for our next update, but the 2018 MacBook Pro (which is very similar to the newer model) didn’t perform well in our battery life test, running for 5 hours, 29 minutes; this result is low compared with what we saw from our other picks, and it means that the MacBook Pro won’t last a full workday without being charged. The Microsoft Surface Book 2 lasted for 7 hours, 20 minutes, nearly 2 hours longer, and our budget pick, the Dell XPS 15 Touch, lasted for 6 hours, 53 minutes, nearly 1.5 hours longer.
Budget pick: Dell XPS 15 TouchBudget pickDell XPS 15 Touch
The Dell XPS 15 Touch has fast 4K rendering speeds and decent battery life, and it costs almost $1,000 less than the Microsoft Surface Book 2. Its screen is less accurate, but you can buy a great 4K monitor with the money you save and still have some left over.
Buying Options
If you want a cheaper option, or if you need a laptop for music producing, game design, or Web developing, we recommend the Dell XPS 15 Touch. Although its screen is much better at displaying accurate color than your average laptop’s screen, it isn’t as color accurate as the Apple MacBook Pro or the Microsoft Surface Book 2, and its reds in particular were so oversaturated that you can’t rely on it for color grading video or still images unless you pair it with an accurate external monitor. It quickly exported 4K video in Adobe Premiere Pro, though, and its battery life is nearly as long as our best contenders. But its webcam is located in an inconvenient place below its screen.
For around $2,100—almost $1,000 less than our top pick—the XPS 15 Touch has a 15.6-inch 3840×2160 IPS touchscreen, an Intel Core i7-8750H processor, upgradable 16 GB of RAM, a 512 GB solid-state drive, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050Ti graphics card with 4 GB of VRAM. In real-world performance testing, the Dell XPS 15 Touch exported 4K footage with Adobe Premiere Pro five seconds faster than the Microsoft Surface Book 2 (within the margin of error), at 2 minutes flat.
Its screen is much better than the HP Spectre x360’s and the Asus ZenBook Pro 15’s, but it isn’t as color accurate as the Microsoft Surface Book 2’s, and it wasn’t reliable enough for accurate video and photo editing. In our CalMAN test, the Dell XPS 15 Touch scored an average grayscale dE2000 of 2.0, which is very good, better than the Microsoft Surface Book 2’s 2.6; it means that grays will be mostly free of color tint, so images will look as the creator intended. We found the reds were oversaturated in our ColorChecker test, where it scored a 3.0, and all of the colors in the Saturation Sweep were too saturated; it scored an average dE2000 of 2.6. It also had a bad score of 5.0 in color-points testing; its reds and blues were very oversaturated, and its greens and purples may have hue errors, which means that you shouldn’t rely on this screen for accurate video- and photo-editing work. It’s a good budget option if you don’t need accuracy above all else, or if you can pair it with a color-accurate monitor.
If you plan on using your XPS 15 Touch somewhere with enough room to house an external monitor, we recommend pairing it with our favorite 4K monitor, the HP Z27. The Z27 monitor has great, even CalMAN scores across the board, which we noted while we evaluated 4K monitors. In our ColorChecker test it scored at 2.68 points, and its Saturation Sweep came in at 2.42 points. It easily beat the Microsoft Surface Book 2, which scored 2.9 points in the ColorChecker test and 3.0 points in the Saturation Sweep, and much less variability in accuracy between colors. Buying the XPS 15 Touch and the monitor will cost less than one Surface Book 2, too. But we only recommend buying the XPS 15 Touch for photo editing if you're able to use an external monitor 100 percent of the time that you’re doing editing work.
The Dell XPS 15 Touch was able to display 100 percent of the sRGB color gamut, even more than the Microsoft Surface Book 2’s 95.2 percent. But gamut doesn’t matter as much as color accuracy when you’re working in video and photo editing.
The Dell XPS 15 Touch’s keyboard is shallower than we’d like; Laptop Mag measured 0.7 mm of travel. Although key travel is on the shallower end of the spectrum, and its keys aren’t as punchy as those on the Windows Surface Book 2, it’s still bouncier and more responsive than what we experienced with the MacBook Pro or the Asus ZenBook Pro 15 we tested. Its trackpad was the perfect size for us in testing; it was easy to navigate Web pages and click where we meant to. Gestures worked well, and zooming in felt easy and natural.
We only recommend buying the XPS 15 Touch for photo editing if you're able to use an external monitor 100 percent of the time.
The XPS 15 is a little bigger than the Surface Book 2 at 14 inches by 9.3 inches, and it weighs a little more, at 4.5 pounds. The size and weight difference weren’t noticeable in everyday use, though. It’s thinner than the Surface Book 2 when its shut; we measured 0.63 inch, thinner than the Surface Book 2 by a little more than 0.2 inch. The XPS 15 Touch has a useful mix of old and new ports: one Thunderbolt 3 port—which our top pick lacks—one USB 3.0 port, an HDMI slot, an SD card reader, and a Noble lock slot. It also has a useful battery status indicator.
The Dell XPS 15 Touch lasted 6 hours, 53 minutes during our battery life test, about 30 minutes less than the Microsoft Surface Book 2, but long enough for a day spent recording and producing music, or completing a Web design project.
The Dell XPS 15 Touch’s webcam is inconveniently placed below its screen. If you frequently make video calls and you’re concerned about meeting participants seeing up your nose, you may want to consider our other picks.
What to look forward to
HP announced the Spectre x360 15 at the CES 2019 trade show. It’s the first HP laptop to feature an OLED display, plus an eighth-gen Intel Core i7 processor, 16 GB of RAM, and 512 GB of SSD storage.
The new Razer Blade offers a 15.6-inch 4K touchscreen display and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 graphics card for $2,900. We plan on testing it soon, and we will update this guide with our thoughts.
The new Lenovo ThinkPad P1 has a 15.6-inch 4K touchscreen display and an Nvidia Quadro P2000 graphics card for $2,300. It could be a good budget contender. We’re hoping to test it over the next few months.
The competition
The HP Spectre x360 had terrible CalMAN marks in our testing—all around the 4.0 mark and well beyond (ideally, we look for results below 3.0)—and it was the slowest laptop we tested when exporting 4K video. We enjoyed using its keyboard and trackpad for work, it had the second-longest battery life of the laptops we tested, and it’s a few hundred dollars less expensive than our budget pick for the same specs, but we can’t recommend it because of the test results we mentioned above.
The Asus ZenBook Pro 15 gave us good CalMAN results, but it displays only in Adobe RGB, which doesn’t help those who will use the sRGB color spectrum (most video and photo editors). It took about 30 seconds longer than both the Microsoft Surface Book 2 and Dell XPS 15 Touch to export 4K video, and its keyboard and trackpad felt less natural to use than the other contenders we tested. It also had shockingly poor battery life—3 hours, 44 minutes in our test—so we don’t think the ZenBook Pro 15 is the right choice for video and photo editing.
We considered mobile workstations like the Dell Precision 5520 and the Dell Precision 7520, but both models have slower, seventh-generation processors, and the Precision 7520 weighs more than 6 pounds. The Lenovo ThinkPad P52s is also a mobile workstation,and the Lenovo ThinkPad T580 is a business laptop, so we eliminated them from the competition.
Although it has a new, eighth-generation processor and powerful GPU, the HP Omen Laptop 15t is thicker, wider, and deeper than all the laptops we tested, at 14.2 inches by 10.4 inches by 1 inch. It also weighs nearly 6 pounds; the laptops we brought in for testing were all 4.5 pounds or less.
Footnotes
Sources
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If you need a basic program for basic projects, this application might suit your needs. It has some great tools for a much lower price.
In partnership with NCH Software
But unless you have experience editing videos or have worked on films previously, it is very hard to know what features to look for in a video editing software. We break down the basics any decent video editing should provide and talk about how these features can help you while you produce your project.
At Top Ten Reviews we’ve researched and tested the best video editing software for 16 years. Each year, we spend dozens of hours evaluating, comparing and rating each product.
At the end of our most recent analysis, we chose CyberLink PowerDirector as the best overall program. Its full array of tools will satisfy both the novice user and the veteran editor.
It’s packed with many of the same tools found in professional video editing software. And its 99-track timeline gives you the flexibility to complete complex projects.
Best Overall
Cyberlink PowerDirector
From simple functions like trimming and cropping footage to advanced tools for 3D and action cameras, this program has everything you need.
Best for Beginners
Wondershare Filmora
Wondershare makes things simple to fill the need for editing software for everyone. Filmora helps video edit for non-video-editors.
Best Value
VideoPad
If you need a basic program for basic projects, this application might suit your needs. It has some great tools for a much lower price.
1. Cyberlink PowerDirector 17 Ultra: best overallCyberlink PowerDirector 17 Ultra
PowerDirector has consistently topped our video editing charts for more than a decade
Reasons to Buy
Has every video editing tool we look for
Reasons to Avoid
Requires time to learn how to use
Cyberlink is often the first to roll out new and innovative tools and features. For example, it pioneered multi-cam functionality for consumer-level software. That technology was previously only found in professional programs like Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro. Cyberlink’s basics are also top-notch. This program has a 99-track timeline, which gives nearly unlimited versatility. You can make simple videos quickly but also delve deeply into complex projects. You may never edit a feature film with this software, but it is more than capable of that task. In our ease-of-use evaluation, PowerDirector earned an A. The interface is intuitive, the tools are accessible, and even the most advanced features are simple to learn. You can unlock the fullest potential of the program easily if you learn how to use the tools properly.
2. VideoPad: best valueVideoPad
If you want a functional video editing program at a fraction of the price, consider VideoPad
Reasons to Buy
Compatible with the ultra-high-definition 4K video resolution
Price-to-feature ratio best of all the applications we reviewed
Reasons to Avoid
Lacks advanced features like multi-cam and action-cam modules
Exported videos sometimes have imperfections like pixelation and motion blur
VideoPad Home Edition
VideoPad Masters Edition
You’ll find the familiar timeline/storyboard workflow, along with other basic tools such as titles and credits, effects and transitions, and a chroma-key (green screen). It also has some, but not all, of the advanced tools you need to make an outstanding video. You’ll get a video stabilizer to smooth out shaky footage, 4K compatibility for footage from the newest cameras, 3D editing, motion tracking and more. But there are some significant trade-offs. For example, there are no themes or templates. So, you’ll need to build every project from scratch – not very appealing for beginners. It also lacks an automatic video creator and slideshow creator, which are also great for novices. This program lacks multi-cam and 360-degree editing features that you would find on more expensive programs. If you want the newest, greatest effects and tools, this is not the program for you.
3. Wondershare Filmora: best for beginnersWondershare Filmora
Filmora makes video editing simple enough for everyone
Reasons to Buy
All tools and features can be accessed from the main window
Reasons to Avoid
No storyboard mode
Wondershare Filmora 1 year
$39.99
Wondershare Filmora Lifetime
$59.99
Wondershare Filmora Unlimited
$99.87
The whole experience is geared around making it as easy as possible to turn your project into reality. However, it’s simplified to the core. All the tools are accessible from the main window of the interface and there’s no guesswork as to what a tool does or how to use it. It’s a great way to familiarize yourself with the process. This program provides access to tools from basic trimming and cropping to advanced features like picture-in-picture editing, audio mixer, chroma-key, split screen, video stabilization and much more. Filmora excels at teaching people to use these tools, and anyone with the patience to learn will find it useful. Filmora also has some of the best sharing options of the programs we reviewed. When you’re done with your project, you can export it to a file, upload it to YouTube (or other video-sharing site) or even burn a DVD.
4. Adobe Premiere Elements: best for quick videosAdobe Premiere Elements
Adobe Premiere Elements was the best when you want to edit quickly
Reasons to Buy
It offers multiple ways to learn how to edit video
Reasons to Avoid
The program’s quick mode is one of three editing modules within the program, and it offers two video creation options. The first is a simple trimming feature; simply load the video you want to cut and select the video’s focus (action or people). The program then uses its smart trim technology to highlight the best parts of your video and cuts out the rest. The second option allows multiple videos to be selected and arranged on what Adobe calls the “Scene Line.” This is a version of a traditional storyboard editing workflow and allows you to easily arrange clips and add other basic elements like music, text and transitions.
5. MAGIX Movie Edit Pro Plus: most dynamic timelineMAGIX Movie Edit Pro Plus
Timeline lets you to put any type of media on any of its 200 editing tracks
Reasons to Buy
You can put any type of media on any editing track
Reasons to Avoid
Downloading and installing the entire effects library takes a long time
Movie Edit Pro Plus
One of the most unique features we encountered in our review of the best video editing programs is MAGIX’s timeline. MAGIX calls this “object-based editing.” It allows you to put any type of media on any of its 200 editing tracks.
Other video editing applications have dedicated tracks for video, audio, images, effects, etc. Object based editing makes the program more dynamic and easier to manage tracks.
This program also employs proxy editing, in which the program creates lower-resolution copies of videos to use during the editing process. This cuts down on the time it takes to import, render and preview projects before you export them. When you’re done, it uses the original source files to export the final project. Why trust us?
We have been reviewing video editing software since Top Ten Reviews launched in 2003. We have watched these programs grow from simple timeline editing to include tools that were only dreamed about for programs at the consumer level. Every year, we gather all the best software and use each program to create dozens of videos. The reviewers who evaluate video editing software all have a background in media production, particularly video.
How we found the best video editing software
We used each program to create a test project, using identical elements for each one. We evaluated each program’s interface and workflow to see how intuitive they are. We also looked for and evaluated a list of basic and advanced tools to get a baseline of their usefulness. Export and production options were also considered. We also noted each program’s unique features that make them stand out from the crowd.
Ease of use grade
We considered things like how easily you can important and organize the elements of your project like video, audio and images. We also looked at how easy it is to perform basic tasks like placing elements on the timeline, splitting clips and arranging media. We also considered how easily editing tools are accessed and used. If a tool is difficult to find, awkwardly implemented or counterintuitive, it can slow down your edits. We quickly discovered that the more accessible everything is, the better the editing experience will be. We gave each program an A to F grade based on this evaluation.
Quality grade
We created, exported and reviewed all of the results. We watched every video we made, looking for imperfections in the video and audio. Flaws such as pixelation, compression artifact, motion blur and more were present in most of the videos we examined, but they varied greatly depending on which program we used. Each program was given an A to F quality grade based on this evaluation.
Robust video tool sets
The best video editing applications are simple to use and offer robust video tool sets. As you search for the right software for your projects, think about the basic and advanced tools each program offers, its export and production options, and the help and support the company provides.
Basic tools
All the video editing programs we reviewed can help you blend your footage, audio clips and images to create new and unique videos. They also all offer basic nonlinear video editing tools. Timelines, storyboards, transitions, titles and audio editing are all common fare for the products we reviewed. These applications also have video effect libraries. The number of available effects varies from program to program; however, a library with more than 500 effects is usually sufficient for any non-professional project.
The truth is, you’ll get roughly the same results from all the programs we reviewed when you just use their basic tools to edit your footage. As such, it’s most important to focus on usability.
Simple video editor programs have an easy or basic mode for beginners. This is distinct from the familiar timeline and storyboard modes and often reduces editing to its most basic concepts and tools. Some applications make the process even easier by scanning your media and creating a video with it automatically. The best video editing programs let you manipulate the automatically generated video after it has been compiled.
Easy-to-use applications also come with basic themes and templates you can use for both simple and advanced projects. You can add your footage to these templates and customize them with themes that are appropriate for a child's birthday party, a vacation highlight reel or even a mock movie trailer starring you, your family and your friends.
Advanced tools
Once you’ve cut your teeth with the basic video editing tools, you can move on to using the more powerful ones. The best editing software is compatible with all the latest video and audio technology on the market today. For example, they can import, edit and export at ultra-high-definition 4K resolution. This makes your videos crisp, clear and enjoyable on today’s large ultra-HD televisions.
Another advanced tool worth noting is a multi-cam editor, which combines videos of the same event taken at multiple angles on different cameras. It even automatically syncs them so you can smoothly switch angles.
The best video editing applications have tools that allow you to capture, edit and produce videos recorded by action cams like GoPros and Drift Innovation’s Ghost-S. These tools are generally as good as or better than the ones in the software that comes bundled with the cameras themselves. You can use them to stabilize shaky video, correct fish-eye distortion, enhance color, and pan and zoom around your footage. They can even slow down and reverse the video.
Even though 360-degree video is in its infancy, there are a few consumer-level cameras that can capture video in this advanced format. The best video editing software helps you build a compelling story out of your 360-degree footage that makes your audience feel like they are standing in the middle of it all.
Export & production
The best video editing programs for Windows make it easy to export your film as popular file formats such as MP4, MOV, AVI and WMV. Normally, the software has presets for each format. Some programs we reviewed allow you to export into less common formats. While this is useful in some cases, the most popular formats will usually meet your needs.
In addition, all the video creation software we tested can optimize your videos to share on sites like YouTube and Facebook. However, the best applications let you upload your finished videos to social media directly from their export menus.
Since people now watch, store and share videos on tablets and smartphones, it's important for video editing programs to be able to export to these devices. Nearly all the products we reviewed can do so to some degree, but the best ones have companion mobile apps you can sync with their desktop counterparts, which makes transferring faster and more secure.
https://zfbhvna.weebly.com/blog/autocad-for-mac-crack-2018. Disc authoring tools are another essential feature to consider if you intend to distribute DVDs or Blu-ray discs of your videos. Authoring options can be quite extensive; for example, you may be able to insert chapter markers, build disc menus and include extra features, just like in Hollywood-produced movies. The best video editor programs have a lot of authoring tools.
Help & support
Even though these programs make the task much easier, video editing is difficult and time consuming. There may be times when you need help, especially if you have limited experience. This help can come in the form contacting the software developer by online chat, reading FAQs and knowledgebase articles on its website, or watching free tutorials.
The most useful tool a manufacturer can provide is a community dedicated to video editing. These are places where editors can share, learn and collaborate. The value of these online communities is significant, especially for editors refining their skills.
How much does the best video editing software cost?
You can expect to pay anywhere from $35 to $100 on consumer-level video editing software. But keep in mind that you don’t always get the best product for the highest price. Additionally, several of the programs we looked at have lower- and higher-priced versions, so you can get what you need and not pay for what you don’t.
Free vs paid video editing softwareBest Mac For Movie Editing
There are some free video editing solutions out there. Programs such as Windows Movie Maker and VSDC are free downloads, and iMovie comes preloaded on every new Macintosh computer. While these products may be good for small projects, you don’t get the advanced tools necessary to really make your projects shine.
Before you go the freeware route, we suggest downloading the free trials of the programs we’ve reviewed to see if they’re worth paying for. Nearly every program we tested has a free trial that lasts anywhere from 15 to 30 days. You’ll have some limitations, but you’ll probably come away with the information you need to know if you want to shell out the cash for a more versatile program.
Best video editing software for iPhone
Every new iPhone comes with the iMovie app preinstalled. This is a great option for most Apple users because it complements the software's desktop version very well. The workflow is almost identical, and it allows you to sync your projects via iCloud, meaning you can start a project on your computer and continue it on your phone later with all your changes intact. The iMovie app is the best for those who live entirely within the Apple ecosystem.
Which Mac For Video Editing 2018 Tax
Outside of iMovie, there are a few other video editors you can download from the Apple App Store. Options include the mobile version of Adobe Premiere Rush, which has many of the same advantages as iMovie but with the benefit of being compatible Windows computers and Android devices.
You can also download a handy app called Splice. This program includes the familiar array of features, including those for trimming, cropping and adding simple effects. However, it also has some unique features – for example, it can sync a video to a musical beat automatically. In addition, unlike Adobe Rush and iMovie, it has a more traditional timeline that allows you to work with multiple tracks, making it a bit more versatile.
Best video editing software for Chromebook
Our top choice for Windows video editing software, PowerDirector, has an Chromebook-compatible app. It’s a watered-down version of the main program, but it has much of the same functionality and works well. Probably the biggest hurdle is adjusting to using a mobile app on a laptop. The app is free to download and use, so there are ads and in-app purchase offers.
The app's multitrack timeline is done well, considering it is meant to be used on a smartphone or tablet. The program also includes more than 50 effects and transitions and customizable titles as well as tools that adjust picture values like contrast, saturation and brightness. As an added convenience, you can post your videos to YouTube and Facebook directly from within the app.
If you allow the program to connect to your Google account, you can automatically use media you’ve stored in the cloud. So, if you take a lot of video with your phone that syncs to the cloud, it will be ready to go on your Chromebook without having to manually import it – a huge convenience.
Best video editing software for GoPros
If you have a GoPro or another action cam, you know that it takes special software to handle the large, highly detailed footage they capture. Action cam creators usually have their own software, like Quick, which is made by GoPro. These are fine programs that allow you to import, edit and enhance your action cam footage. However, they don’t have many of the advanced features you find in the video editing software we reviewed.
Our top choice for this category, PowerDirector, has an integrated action cam module. It allows you to import footage from your action cam, apply lens correction, stabilize footage and adjust white balance and color. There are also some action cam effects like timeshift and freeze frame which are very useful. And because it’s integrated directly into PowerDirector, you don’t have to use multiple programs to incorporate action cam footage into your project.
Other video editing software developers offer programs exclusively devoted to action cams. For example, Magix, which makes Movie Edit Pro Plus, also makes Fastcut. This allows you to streamline projects made primarily with action cam footage. Fastcut has some great features, like templates for quick projects and a beat detector to help you line up your footage with audio to help enhance your action cam project.
Advice from the pros
We also reached out to professionals who use video editing software on a regular basis and asked what aspects are most important to look for in consumer-level programs. Drew Tyler, instructor of digital media at Weber State University, told us there are two primary questions to answer: “Does it fit your ecosystem?” and “How much do you want to grow into the software?”
Tyler explained that the software you buy should complement the hardware you use, as well as the type of project you’re working on. “You want to have software that will work well with your phone, digital camera, action cam or whatever you’re shooting on. If you plan on shooting on a lot of different devices, you want a program that’s compatible with a lot of different formats.”
He went on to say that your end goal should also play a big part in your decision, advising that if you’ll edit video infrequently, you should get simpler software. “If it’s a one-off project, the fewer whistles the better,” Tyler said. He called out Adobe Premiere Elements and Wondershare Filmora as good choices because they have easy-to-understand workflows for non-editors.
For those who plan to edit more regularly, CyberLink PowerDirector is a good choice. “Cyberlink gives you room to grow, which is key for people who do this often,” Tyler stated.
The best video editing software must be easy to use
We also spoke with Richard Dutcher, an independent filmmaker and director of eight feature films including “Brigham City,” “Falling,' 'God's Army” and “Evil Angel.” He told us that the time you spend learning a new program is at a premium. “I like things that are intuitive and with the fastest learning curve. The less time spent becoming familiar and proficient the better. The sooner I can get to work and putting the film together – that’s the most important thing to me.”
After making his first two feature films, Dutcher started editing his projects himself rather than hiring a trained editor. And he recommends that independent directors do the same. “When I’m shooting a film, the reason I choose particular shots and what to do with the camera is because the film is already taking shape in my head.” Dutcher continued, “No editor will see the film exactly as you see it. And some editors don’t understand what’s a good a performance and what isn’t, and they don’t understand what’s a good shot and what’s a good edit. That’s just the simple truth of it.”
When asked if he had any advice for newbie editors learning the software, he recommended third-party resources. “Classes are great if they’re available and affordable,” Dutcher said. He also advised new video editors to “buy the manuals that are not published by the software companies, such as 'Final Cut Pro for Dummies,' because they’re written by actual users, and written in language that’s more accessible.”
Multi-cam editing features
Additionally, we spoke with Greg Andersen of South Weber, Utah. He has been working in the video media industry for 20 years. In that time, he’s produced and edited video for projects ranging from television shows to video reviews, a daily tech news show, independent films, commercials and freelance projects.
We asked him what new developments in video editing software he finds to be useful in his work. He emphasized the rise of multi-cam editing features, which save a lot of time with freelance projects. “The thing with any video production standpoint, like any business, time is money,” Andersen said.
“Specifically, with weddings when you’re filming a bride and a groom giving their vows, the last thing they want to see is a video camera guy running to the left and right,” explained Andersen.
Andersen continued to express the importance of saving time by using multi-cam editing features. “You can dump multiple files at the same time, and through sound matching they can pull those together and layer them right on top of each other and have them ready to go for you. So, you don’t have to try to sync things yourself. And that’s invaluable,” said Andersen.
We also reached out to Brandon Young, video producer for Harmons Grocery. He currently produces much of the company’s video content as well as its photography. He’s also worked for various corporations producing video content.
When we asked what the most important factors are in choosing a video editing program, Young said, “The biggest thing as far as software is concerned is what type of plug-in support is there. If there are no plugins, what type of effects and things can you do in the program?” He cited effects, color correction and multi-cam functionality as particularly helpful.
We also asked Young what he thinks newbies should do to grow their video editing skills. “Outside of the software stuff is watch content and watch how it’s done. That’s the biggest thing. As far as software is concerned, experiment, mess around with it. It may turn out to be garbage, but just get the basics figured out,” Young said.
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