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Are you confused about which one to select as the best laptop for film students? As a film student, you can not select any random laptop which comes with the highest hardware you need to find out the best combination of all the hardware that can provide you with the best performance.

Film students need to deal with a lot of heavy software like DaVinci Resolve for colour grading, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Avid Media Composer. 

And these software require a lot of processing power to get the best optimal performance not only for a single particular task but also in overall multitasking like handling multiple tabs on chrome or listening to music.

Some low-end laptops will make it difficult for you where you need to wait for a couple of seconds to see the result of your input for example you are working on a video editing project where you are applying a particular animation effect and you are waiting for couples of the second to check the how it is looking which will impact on your productivity.

And if you have selected a laptop that is providing you with the best performance right now may not be providing you with the same performance in the future because of software updates.

Nowadays, software updates are very frequent, but the hardware remains the same, which may be the issue in the future to get the same level of performance so you should think as a long term and then pick up the laptop.

So if you want to stay on top of this massively growing industry, the first requirement is the latest technology and smart work. A laptop that comes with all the latest hardware will help get the work done as quickly as possible compared to some old hardware specifications that are not optimized according to the latest update.

Now the question comes to your mind then which one you should select which will fulfil all the requirements that can deliver the best optimal performance with the best hardware combination to get the same level of performance for long years along the great carrier journey.

Well, the question is the beginning of the intelligence which help to you to make the correct division while investing your hard-earned money I have done the research and compile the list of best laptop for the film students you can pick any one of them or you can also check to buy guide for your due diligence if you find any other great option.

List Of Best Laptop For Film Students In 2024

1. Apple MacBook Pro
2. Asus ZenBook 15
3. Dell XPS 15
4. HP Spectre x360
5. Microsoft Surface Book 3
6. Lenovo Yoga 730 2-in-1
7. Razer Blade 15 Base

Apple MacBook Pro [Best Laptop For Film Students]

We all know Apple is the very well known brand to provide a great ecosystem with their product and Apple MacBook Pro is one of them that comes with all the powerful hardware resources with the ultralight form factor and great battery life.

The main advantage of this laptop is it is highly optimized with hardware and software so that you can run all the heavy software like Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Final cut pro etc with the butter smooth experience. You will get your work done in less period of time if you use a Macbook.

Apple MacBook Pro comes with a complete metal body with the 16 Inch of raita display which comes with the resolution of 3072×1920 native resolution that will help you to get the best images quality and colour clarity with great viewing angles without a shadow of a doubt.

This laptop comes with Intel Core i7 Processor 9th generation with the combination of 16GB Ram which is perfect to get the highest performance in your day to day graphics-intensive task and normal multitasking.

Apple MacBook Pro comes with 512GB SSD and 1 TB SSD storage where you can select according to your budget and requirement. 512 GB SSD is more than enough as a film student to store all big video files and all the day to day required software.

With this powerful performance Apple MacBook Pro around 4.3 pounds which is decent enough (not too heavy as compared with others) to carry with you anywhere and when we talk about the battery life then it can easily provide you Up to 11 hours on a single charge.

This laptop can easily handle all the software which will require you as a film student. There is also a new variant which is quite popular which comes with an M1 chip that is a more powerful laptop as compared to the older intel MacBooks but the only disadvantage with it is not compatible with all the software.

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Asus ZenBook 15 [Best Windows Laptop For Film Students]

Next on the list, we have the Asus ZenBook 15 which is the best alternative to the Macbook as a windows laptop so if you are looking for the best windows laptop for film students then this laptop can be a perfect choice.

Asus ZenBook 15 comes with very powerful hardware specification with ultralightweight and ultra-slim form factor with great battery life on a single charge it can easily provide you Up to 5 -6 hours of battery life which is decent enough if you are using this laptop while you are travelling.

This laptop comes with 15. 6 inches full HD with minimum bezels up to 92% screen to body ratio screen where resolution of the display is 1920 x 1080 Pixels the display quality is impressive with great viewing angles.

Asus ZenBook 15 equipped with the latest Intel Core i7-10510U 10th generation with 4GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX1650 that can help you get the speed and powerful performance while editing videos and photos.

It can handle all software which is required as a film student with a seamless experience; you will not find any complaints about performance at all.

You can also enjoy some casual gaming with this laptop because of the 4GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX1650 but due to its slim form factor, it can not resist heat so you can play some casual games with high performance but not for very long hours.

Asus ZenBook 15 comes with 16GB LPDDR3 with the combination of powerful processors you will get the best experience while handling multiple applications or browsers with multiple tabs at the same time.

This laptop comes with a 1TB PCIe SSD to store all your daily uses files and application and software. You can easily store large sizes of video files and media content without running out the storage.

Now if we talk about the ports then this laptop comes with all the ports which will be required to efficiently workflow this laptop comes with 1 HDMI USB Type C and SD card reader.

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Dell XPS 15 [Best Laptop For Filmmaking]

Dell is also a very popular brand to produce high-quality laptops so if you are finding the best laptop for film editing which can be used for long years then Dell XPS 15 would be a great choice.

This laptop comes with a simple sleek design but it looks very premium and elegant while held in your hands and there is no question about the build quality and long term durability.

Now if we talk about the display then this laptop comes with 15.6 inches 4K Ultra HD InfinityEdge Touch screen which provides a realistic image and colour output. 

This display comes with an anti-reflective touch screen so you will get the best viewing angles in outdoor conditions and you can increase brightness up to 500 nits for great images and video quality.

Dell XPS is a full powerhouse as a film student because this laptop is equipped with Intel Core i7-9750H 9th Gen with 4GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card which will provide you with the extra power and speed while editing 4K large video files which is very helpful who needs to deal with a lot of media content to further processing.

This laptop is more than enough to handle all the heavy software without any hassle at all. This laptop comes with 16 GB of RAM which will handle daily multitasking like a charm.

You can also enjoy gaming with the combination of this hardware specification but to get the best performance you should plug in on charging so that the processor gets boost speed and provides the best performance.

As a film student, you need to store all big media files where you can not compromise with storage capacity so this laptop can be a great option because it comes with 1 TB of SSD.

Dell XPS 15 will provide you with Up to 12 hours on a full charge that is great battery life as compared to Asus ZenBook 15 along with this battery life this laptop is just 5.50 pound which can be carried easily anywhere while travelling for university or workplace.

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HP Spectre x360 [Best 2 in 1 Laptop For Film Students]

If you are finding the best 2 in 1 convertible option which comes with digital pen support so where you can also use the laptop as a tablet mode then HP Spectre x360 will be one only choice.

This laptop comes with excellent build quality with the colour nightfall black with golden edges which gives this laptop a very attractive look while hold in hands.

HP Spectre x360 comes with 15.6 Inches 4K IPS micro-edge touch screen with Corning Gorilla Glass where the resolution of the display is 3840 x 2160 which is perfect for you to get the best overall experience while editing video and other media content.

It also supports the digital pen and you can convert it to tablet mode which is very useful while making some colour adjustment in any picture which is a little bit hard when you use a normal trackpad.

HP Spectre x360 powered by the Intel i7- 9750H 9th gen and with 4GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 and 16 GB of Ram capacity that can easily handle all the 4k editing with other multitasking on the same.

Gaming performance is average on this laptop but if you want to play some game on this machine then it will provide decent performance so you can not expect much more than that.

Now if we talk about the internal storage of this laptop then this laptop is equipped with 512GB NVMe SSD which will be very useful for storing all your software and applications which are required as in regular use.

This laptop also comes at the top of the list while we are talking about lightweight laptops. The weight of this laptop is just 4.81 lbs and you won’t feel any extra weight while working for long hours and putting it on your feet.

This laptop can last Up to 15 hours of battery life on a full charge which is very impressive as compared to the other windows laptop.

As in connectivity options, you don’t need to compromise with any of the ports this laptop will provide you with all the majorly required ports.

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Microsoft Surface Book 3 [Best Laptop For Film Students]

Microsoft Surface Book 3 is also a great machine as the best touchscreen laptop for film students where this laptop comes with a very unique removable keyboard so you can also use this laptop as a tablet mode.

Microsoft Surface Book 3 equipped with Intel Core i7 10th Gen and 4 GB NVIDIA GTX GeForce GPU that will help you to complete all your graphics-intensive task like editing 4K videos with multiple layers or handling a large file of animation without any legginess along with the combination of 16 GB Ram will enhance the multitasking experience.

This laptop is also capable of handling some casual gaming with a powerhouse of 4 GB NVIDIA GTX GeForce GPU so if you are a gamer like me then this will be the best option for you.

Microsoft Surface Book 3 comes with a 13.5 Inches touchscreen with pen input and the resolution of the display is 3000 x 2000 where you will get the quality of great images with colour accuracy. This laptop also supports the digital pen which will enhance the experience of image and the colour correction which is very very difficult with a mouse or trackpad pointer.

This laptop comes with all the storage options where you can select according to your choice and you should also keep in mind the hardware part can not easily be upgradable on this laptop so if you want to store all the large media files and application then definitely you should pick 512 GB variant but if you are in a budget then you can also go 256 GB variant and later on you can use external storage SSD according to the requirement.

The only disadvantage of this laptop is it becomes very heavy and bulky while attached to the keyboard with it which is not ideal for portability but this is a very powerful laptop that can easily provide you with Up to 15.5 hours of battery life on a single charge.

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Lenovo Yoga 730 2-in-1 [Best Budget Laptop For Film Students]

If you are on a budget but do not want to compromise with the hardware then Lenovo Yoga 730 2-in-1 will be a great option for you.

Lenovo Yoga 730 comes with 13.3 Inches Full HD IPS Touchscreen with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 Pixels which comes with 2 in 1 convertible feather where you can convert this laptop as tablet or tent mode according to requirement.

Display quality is decent enough according to the price colour accuracy and image quality is very good but the screen is a little bit reflective on outdoor conditions, which is the only disadvantage of this laptop.

Lenovo Yoga 730 is the beast while talking about the performance where it comes with the Intel Core i7-8550U 8th Gen processor with the combination of 16GB DDR4 so you can easily be able to run all the necessary software without any hassle and processor can be boosted up to 4.0GHz for the all the heavy task this laptop comes with dedicated graphic card.

So you can expect some casual gaming with a laptop but for heavy gaming, this laptop will cause some heating issues due to the slim form factor so can’t play heavy games for a long period of time. On the other hand, you will not find any issue with some casual gaming.

This laptop comes with Up to 10.5 hours of battery life on a single charge which will help to use the laptop portably with that long-lasting battery life this laptop is also very lightweight at just 2.47 Pounds so can carry to your workplace without any hassle.

Lenovo Yoga 730 comes with a Headphone jack, Thunderbolt 3, USB 3.0, HDMI ports for the connectivity options and for video calls and video streaming it has a built-in HD webcam.

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Razer Blade 15 Base [best laptop for film editing]

Now next on the list we have Razer Blade 15 Base which you can consider as the best laptops for photography students if you don’t have any budget issue this laptop comes with very powerful hardware with ultraslim and a very lightweight form factor.

Razer Blade 15 equipped with Intel Core i7-10750H 10th Gen Intel with the combination of 8  GB NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 which is more than enough to generate the power which will be required for all the heavy video editing and photo editing tasks.

If you are thinking about multitasking performance then this laptop comes with 16 GB which will provide you with the butter smooth experience while switching between multiple tabs or application without any latency. 

A combination of the processor and RAM is suitable for all the tasks which you need to complete as a film student.

Apart from that this laptop is also a gaming laptop that can deliver the best of the best gaming experience with the combination of this hardware without any frame drop or lagging in between the game.

Now if we talk about the display then this laptop comes with a 15-Inch FullHD which is a 4K OLED display. This display comes with a 144Hz refresh rate and the colours are vibrant which help you to get colour accuracy while editing videos and photos.

This display also comes with the protection of Corning Gorilla Glass which makes it safe while using this laptop in outdoor conditions.

Razer Blade 15 comes with all the storage options so you can pick one according to the needs but on this list, I have selected 512 GB SSD variants which are more than enough nowadays to store all the necessary files and software which are required for day to day uses.

 As a film student, you need to store all the heavy video audio files or images and all the necessary software to edit them so 512 GB SSD is decent enough for that but if you want to expend some more bucks then you also pick up 1 TB SSD model.

This laptop can easily provide you with Up to 5 hours of battery life on a single charge which is the only disadvantage of this laptop as compared to other ultrabooks in the same price range but if you compare performance this laptop has not any competition at all.

Overall this is the best laptop if you are a film student and don’t want to compromise with the performance at all.

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Buying Guide For Best Laptop For Film Students

These are top-notch options as the best budget laptops for film students but there are some factors on which basis I have selected these top picks for you.

These factors will help you make the right decision on where to invest your money for the best performance for the long years. 

In some of the laptops you can also customize hardware in future according to the software requirement through the hardware up-gradation so for example if you want to increase your RAM Memory then simply you can replace it in future.

so you should also check if the hardware can be upgraded in future according to the software updates so that your laptop provides great performance not only today but also in future.

So here are some factor which you should focus on before marking any decision –

Processor [9th Gen Intel Core i5 to 10th Intel Core i7]

Processor is the first very important factor to keep in mind because it will be the powerhouse for all the graphic intensive tasks which require a lot of processing power with speed so if you have the latest processor then it will be able to generate the best optimal performance with the butter smooth experience.

Minimum Intel Core i5 9th Gen processor would be a great choice but if you can expand your budget a little bit then you can also go with Intel Core i7 10th Gen which is more than enough to get the best performance.

Ram [8Gb to 16GB]

The second most important factor is RAM that will help to handle the multiple application software and browser tabs at the same time. Minimum 8GB RAM is required to get the basic performance but if you are looking for a great multitasking experience then no doubt you should go with 16GB.

Display [15.6-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) to 15.6-inch 4K UHD (3840 x 2160)]

If you are a film student then you need to deal with video photos editing tasks most of the time where you require a great display that can provide you with the best viewing angles which colour accuracy so you get the desired output in terms of video and photos editing.

Here you can select a minimum 15.6-inch FullHD with the resolution of 1920 x 1080 and a maximum of 15.6-inch 4K Ultra HD with the resolution 3840 x 2160 to get a great experience while editing the video.

Graphics Card [2GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 to 4GB NVIDIA GTX 1650 or better]

As a film student you will use Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Avid Media Composer very often to run these software required graphics cards smoothly and quickly.

According to these software requirements, you should select at least 2GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 minimum and the maximum 4GB NVIDIA GTX 1650 which is good enough for work done in less amount of time.

Storage [256GB SSD to 512GB SSD]

Now if we talk about storage then storage will help not only store all your large video, images files and all the software for daily use but also the operating system where if you are using basic hard disk so I could impact on performance so if you want to get the same performance for the long years then definitely you should invest on SSD.

You might have seen some of the laptops get slow after some time they get a lot of time while booting up and also takes time to transfer the one file to another folder because of HDD if you want to prevent your laptop from that issue then you should invest a laptop which comes with SSD which will provide the great performance for the long years.

If you are a film student then you should go with at least 256 GB of SSD and if budget is not the issue for then you can select up to 512GB which is good enough to store all the files and software.

Battery Life [Up to 3 hours to Up to 6 hours]

Battery life is also a very important factor while you are looking for the best laptop. Great battery life will help you use the laptop portable anywhere without the charger for a long period.

As in this form factor where you are using heavy resources like a powerful processor with the graphics card and 4K display you can not expect battery life like 15-20 hours.

Here you can check if that laptop is claiming to provide at least 4-6 hours of battery life which is very decent but there are some laptops that easily provide up to 10-12 hours of battery life on a single charge.

You can check the above list of best laptops for film students that comes with great battery life at a reasonable price.

On the other, you can also check if the laptop supports fast charging or quick charging which is also a great advantage so that you can charge your laptop as quickly as possible and use it on the go.

Weight

And the last very important factor which you should keep in mind is weight so you should find it as lightweight as possible so that you can easily carry it anywhere while travelling for work. You can consider a minimum 2 pound to 4-pound maximum.

Conclusion

These are some of the most important points which you should keep in check while taking the right decision.

But if you find this process a little bit overwhelming then you can directly pick up anyone from the list which we have covered. It will be the right choice that will complete all the requirements which you need to grow in this journey.

So in quick glance, if you want the best software and hardware optimization with great battery life yet ultralightweight laptop then you can go with Macbook Pro without a doubt.

But if you are a Windows user and looking for the best laptop not just only as a film student but overall on which you can also play some games then you can check out the Razer Blade 15 Base and MSI P65 Creator these would be a perfect choice.

And last if you don’t care about gaming but still want the best software and hardware optimization with long-lasting battery life with Windows 10 then you should pick either Dell XPS 15 or HP Spectre x360 and some other alternative of these two Asus ZenBook 15 and LG gram Laptop which are value for money.

If you find this detailed post very helpful to take the right design with your money for the future then please share this post with your friends and also you can check out some of the other posts below –

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