UPDATE: Figured out what I need now (perhaps this fits others here). Thought I needed a GPU for speeding up transcoding longer videos, so I thought I needed to aim at budget gamer laptops. But now realised what I need to maximise is cores and threads, as the free version of DaVinci Resolve doesn't use GPUs (and I'm not a professional video editor), with an eye for the SSD speed too.
Can you help me choose a budget laptop? Yes, I've read the related threads, and my requirements are slightly different:
• https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/552007
• https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/540067
• https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/546917
• https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/543717
My MBA 2011 died (apparently the after-market battery burned the power circuitry, or so the tech guy said), and I'm now looking for a replacement. While mostly happy with it in the decade it lasted, I'm now looking to plug its shortcomings. Having grown up on PCs (and Apple IIe's before that), and having ditched iOS for Android in the last couple of years, I'm not averse to going back to Windows (on probably a multi OS set up, with Ubuntu and HackOS). I'm a pretty basic user—mostly just web apps and the occasional spreadsheet—and the most computationally intense task I ran on occasion was exporting video from iMovie (and that took literally hours, if not the whole night!). My video editing is also pretty basic—mostly just collages of clips—not professional, so I'm not picky about colour accuracy (though sometimes I wished the MBA screen went a tad bit brighter on just daily use), having 4K (my eyesight is not that great anyway), and don't need a huge screen (15" is the most I'd go, but I was happy with 13" and would probably be happiest with 14"). I don't play games and definitely don't want a heavy gamer laptop (like the Acer Predators and Nitros, the ASUS TUFs, or the Dell G5s). I'd love to keep the MBA form factor, if I can: fairly thin, light, metal casing… I'm not a road warrior, but am not stuck at a desk, and like to move around (hence why a lappy, not a desky). The Asus ROG Zephryus G14 seems to be the closest to what I'm looking for, but it's far from budget. I want something closer to A$1000, not over A$2000 (and am willing to give up on horsepower for that, of course). I'm also happy to buy refurbished from reputable sellers. So, given those parameters, what's the best bang for the Aussie buck?
P.S.: Oh, and I don't want a Chromebook, thanks.
P.S.2: Didn't add many choices to the poll; thought I'd be able to add them along the way. Sorry.
Your requirements aren't different. Even though your heading says "video editing", the type of editing you will be doing is very basic and could be done by nearly any laptop.
You also don't need a large screen, so a lot of your budget could go to a smaller form factor and better quality screen.
Is there a reason the suggestions in the prior threads you linked aren't suitable?
There are quite a few options around the $1250 mark. If you can stretch it to $1500 even better. You've given a $1000-2000 window. Are you prepared to actually spend "up to" $2k? Because then suggestions change again.
Give a defined budget, what it is you are actually prepared to spend. If it's $2k, fine. For what you intend to use it for I reckon that's overkill, but if you've got a little extra to spend it'll futureproof you a little more.