What computer is everyone using to edit 4K video?

[td119]

I broke down and switched to the IOS world and picker up a used iMac 27 (late 2013) 16 gig of memory, 1 TB HD and 2 gig of video memory along with a 3 TB "time machine" for a backup. The price was less of $1,200 I thought was a great deal. Now the learning curve begins!!! Down loaded the trail version of Pro Cut and Adobe. The video is great and it has not problem playing 4K video but have not figured out how to use the edit software

 

[monica66]

My current laptop is a Asus windows 7 which has an older I7 cpu running a 2 ghz. I know the issue is with the type of memory and video card. What type of OS is best to edit 4K video? I am looking for a laptop but not sure which OS Apple or Microsoft? And which model laptop?

My computer configuration is much similar with yours. Finally, I downscale my 4K videos into 1080p for editing in Premiere.

 

[EyeInStein]

AMD FX-8350 Black Edition Vishera 8-Core 4.0GHz
ASUS M5A99FX PRO R2.0 Motherboard
HyperX Fury Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3 1866
2 x Zotac GTX 970 4GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 in SLI
Crucial MX100 512GB SATA III MLC SSD - For the Windows 7 Pro
2 x 1TB and 1 x 2TB - Additional Internal Storage
Thermaltake 850W PS
Samsung 27" LED -- 1920 x 1080 - (so I can't actually see it...)
Antec Nine Hundred Gaming Case

Corel Video Studio Pro X8

 

[phuocsandiego]

I edit on a late 2014 iMac 5K with stock i5 processor and everything else except 8 GB of added RAM (24 GB total) and the 1 TB Fusion drive. Works very well. I'm actually kind of surprised at how well it works. I use FCPX (Final Cut Pro X).

My other computer is an old HP Pavilion desktop with an i7 of some sort and 12 GB of RAM. Nothing else worth speaking except a Samsung SSD. Some lower end Nvidia GPU. I use Sony Vegas 13 on that system and 4K works well. This computer is at least 4 years old and runs just fine as well. It previously ran Windows 7 and now Windows 10.

 

[Bigalpdx]

MacPro 12 cores, 64gb ram, 2tb SSD , two video cards. I use Final Cut Pro to edit and compressor with a set of 4 other computer to render the final version. It works very well and pretty fast.

 

[cgraham289]

i7 4770k
16gb Corsair Dominator RAM
500GB SSD drive
Nvidia 780ti

It churns outs 4k like a dream

- Adam

Sweet looking laptop

 

[REBELimgs]

My desktop is about 5 years old. Dell Studio XPS i7 @2.93ghz quad core, 12gb ram, and it's just barely enough. What's killing me is the old nVidia GTS-240 video card! I'm thinking if I get a decent card and double the ram, I can get another couple years out of it.

I'm guessing that's like an i7 920 or something along those lines? That's what's killing you, not the card.

 

[snerd]

I'm guessing that's like an i7 920 or something along those lines? That's what's killing you, not the card.

Not sure. I'm not too savvy about the detailed innards of these machines. How would I find out?

 

[REBELimgs]

Not sure. I'm not too savvy about the detailed innards of these machines. How would I find out?

Should displayed in "System" on the control panel. I'm almost certain it's an i7 940.

 

[chapsrlz]

imac 5k, new model.

 

[Mario_SB]

Hahaha oh the irony - $1k + for the P3 Professional 4k camera & $4k+ for the editing capabilities of the 4k video

That's why they call it "Professional".

 

[John Locke]

Ok guys, really really need some input PLEASE! I think my Adobe Premiere Pro 2015 settings are preventing me from having lag free playback during editing. It starts out fine, then 15 or so seconds into playing a clip before I start slicing it up, huge LAG (1080p 60fps and 4K). Here's my machine specs below. I recently did the upgrades in RED, the original specs are the #'d bullets. To clarify the lag is with 1080p 60fps footage.. or all footage mostly. I've tried changing the GPU settings.. Nothing seems to help. Do I need to render the footage first? What's the proper way to start an editing session. I think my laptop, with the upgrades is enough juice to handle it for my simple editing needs and color grading. Nothing huge or major edits here. Just need lag free settings. THANKS!

Asus Q551LN-BBI706 - Convertible notebook.

1. 4th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-4510U processor
   • With a 3MB L3 cache and 2.0GHz processor speed with Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz.
2. 8GB DDR3 memory (2, 4GB chips, only one is removable and upgradable to 12 total)
   • Expanded to 12GB total (max) with Crucial DDR3 upgrade.
3. 1TB hard drive (5400 rpm)
   • Upgraded to Samsung 500GB SSD (Windows 8.1 and PP2015 saved here here)
   • Moved 1TB HDD to CD/DVD Bay and have it as my media drive
   • I wiped this things clean and started over with a new windows and new adobe products.
4. Nvidia GeForce GT 840M 2GB video card

That's only a dual core CPU. You need a quad core tower to be happy editing 4K, such as i7-4770K. Here are some benchmark comparisons to your laptop

 

[mirrorimage]

2014 15" MacBook Pro with final cut. Buttery smooth.

 

[RoyVa]

There are only a few laptops and desktops that have 4 k capability just like the new 4 k tv's. New format takes a while for the hardware to catch up.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Just don't expect to smoothly play 4K at 8x during editing! It will still be choppy.

 

[loganboyd]

My iPad Pro with iMovie works really well but only does 30fps. There are other apps for iPad Pro that I use as well. It's very easy to chop up some footage and get a quick edited video done on the table. For more advanced stuff, I have a 6-core i7 with NVidia GTX 980ti and I use Davinci Resolve.

 

[Shaiful Rizhuan]

Asus ROG G750JZ. Nvidia GTX880M.

 

[DeeX]

Yeah I have had it a while ... thinking of upgrading to the latest Skylake system soon ....

Was thinking of doing that too till I saw this...
Intel Core i7-6700K Skylake CPU Review & Gaming Benchmarks | Gamers Nexus - Gaming PC Builds & Hardware Benchmarks!

It seems the Skylake isn't that big of a deal lol...

For the record I have
i7-4790K
16GB Kingston HyperX DDR3
Samsung 850 PRO SSD 512GB
1TB Mechanical Drives for Storage x2
ASUS Z97 Mobo
EVGA GTX 980 Ti FTW
BenQ 24" XL2420G 144Hz GSync Monitor
Corsair H110i Cooler
Carbide Series 500R White Case

For my "Media Player Comp"
i7-3770K
8GB Kingston HyperX DDR3
Samsung 840 PRO SSD 256GB
1TB Mechanical Drive for Storage x1
Gigabyte Z77 Mobo
EVGA GTX 970 FTW+
JU7500 Series 48"Class 4K Smart 3D Curved (21ms input lag)
Corsair Carbide Series 200R

Logitech K800s galore (I have extras lol)
Logitech G502 Mice (yes I have extras)
Logitech G700s Mouse
Wireless 360 Controller receivers

The 4790K comp seems to edit 4k video alright.
The only snag I have ran into was the preview windows when speeding up 4K videos get choppy...
The fully rendered video looks fine.
I am referring to Adobe Premiere CS6.

 

[richardhurst]

just got myself a 27" iMac 5K, 3.3ghz i5 with 32GB ram and a dedicated 4GB graphics card. Set it up last night and am going out to record some 4K footage today to see how well it handles it.

 

[DaveB68]

15" 2015 MacBook Pro i7 2.5ghz quad core 16gb ram. Not long had it and does the job very well.