You can edit video on just about any PC, and even on your phone, but if you want professional quality results you need a computer that is designed for the task.

Looking for a new PC or laptop for any purpose can be daunting if you don’t know exactly what you need to get the job done. Here is a quick guide to help you out.

Processing Power

The most important component of any PC or laptop is the central processing unit, known as a CPU. Without a powerful CPU, it will not matter how good the other parts of your PC are, the data will ‘bottleneck’ when it reaches a low-power central processing unit and slow you down.

If you are planning on doing some serious video editing, including adding effects or CGI, then you need to aim for the top end of the CPU market. Intel i7 processors have the edge over the competition when you need raw power. Look for one with a ‘k’ at the end of its model number. This means it can be overclocked to give you even more processing power when you need it.

A GPU With VRAM

When you think of graphics cards and GPUs, you probably think of gaming. This component is crucial to high-quality game performance, but it is very important in video editing too.

Most video editing software uses a feature called hardware acceleration when editing and rendering footage. This is where VRAM comes into play.

VRAM is extra RAM that is a part of the graphics card for the GPU to use exclusively, and it is the hardware that is used to accelerate rendering and editing tasks. Without it, your finished video will take a long time to render and edit and the quality of the completed footage may suffer as a result.

These Lenovo Laptops for After Effects are the perfect solution for video editing on the move or on set. Their GPUs have plenty of power for hardware acceleration and can handle complex video effects and CGI plugins without a drop in speed.

Random Access Memory

When you are editing and processing high-definition video with After Effects, you are going to need a lot of RAM to help handle all the data that will need to be computed.

Random Access Memory helps a computer multitask and process many different commands at once. This could be as simple as having a web browser with multiple tabs open while playing music on a media player, or you could be editing video while checking emails and checking social media.

Without a large amount of RAM, your video editing PC or laptop will struggle to keep up with your demands and slow you down.

Look for a computer with at least 8GB of RAM, though more is recommended. For high-definition video editing that uses After Effects, you will need 16GB or more, preferably 32GB to cover all the bases and give you a PC that can keep up with your workload.

With these bases covered, you should have a powerful and capable video editing PC or laptop that will help you get the professional quality results you need. Now you just need the video to edit.