Laptop for LrC/PS and DaVinci Resolve

[Ephemeris]

Do you have experience with this setup?

I assume I should avoid the previous generation 30x0 cards, just for future-proofing...

We run resolve on a variety of machines but two happen to be Asus, 32GB 4070. Works well, and fast.

Process 4k120, 8k30, 8k60. (In and out).

Upscaling isn't so fast

It's the free variant of resolve.

Desktop or laptop?

Laptop (we have more powerful machines but this is what I take around with me).

The area where the laptop needs to do more work is imagery rather than videography. NR in LR, or upscaling in Topaz. Topaz photo ai has a new tool called Super Focus (Super Focus is our latest breakthrough in image enhancement technology. This powerful generative AI model is designed to rescue images that have missed focus or are completely out of focus). Then any of our laptops (we have some with 4090s in) are amazingly slow.

I'll have to compare that to the "redefine" function in Gigapixel 8.0.1. That's pretty slow, too. (On a high-end desktop PC.)

Yep I agree - need about 10 x 4090s it's a funny creative feature but perhaps something that may be popular.

For those that are less aware of the features mentioned this blog may be interesting.

JUST RELEASED! Topaz Photo AI and Gigapixel AI new versions: Super Focus, Redefine and more! – Plugs 'N Pixels

plugsandpixels.com

 

[Ephemeris]

Do you have experience with this setup?

I assume I should avoid the previous generation 30x0 cards, just for future-proofing...

We run resolve on a variety of machines but two happen to be Asus, 32GB 4070. Works well, and fast.

Process 4k120, 8k30, 8k60. (In and out).

Upscaling isn't so fast

It's the free variant of resolve.

Desktop or laptop?

Laptop (we have more powerful machines but this is what I take around with me).

The area where the laptop needs to do more work is imagery rather than videography. NR in LR, or upscaling in Topaz. Topaz photo ai has a new tool called Super Focus (Super Focus is our latest breakthrough in image enhancement technology. This powerful generative AI model is designed to rescue images that have missed focus or are completely out of focus). Then any of our laptops (we have some with 4090s in) are amazingly slow.

I'll have to compare that to the "redefine" function in Gigapixel 8.0.1. That's pretty slow, too. (On a high-end desktop PC.)

Yep I agree - need about 10 x 4090s it's a funny creative feature but perhaps something that may be popular.

For those that are less aware of the features mentioned this blog may be interesting.

https://plugsandpixels.com/blog/jus...i-new-versions-super-focus-redefine-and-more/

Reminds me I don't think I've seen a post on Magnific. Appreciate it's a little creative (and expensive) but perhaps offers some capabilities the other normal tools discussed cannot. Perhaps for those that use text to image tools that could upscale and add details.

 

[number_5]

If you are running Davinci, you need the graphics to have 12GB of VRAM. That is in the territory of RTX3080 and 4080. These gpus won't be cheap. So expect to bust your budget by a lot.

For Lr/PS, even older i7 13700H cpu is perfectly fine, just make sure to have enough ram like 32GB, for these software.

Black Fri is just around the corner, you can pick up some good deals on older laptops using 13700H + RTX3080 12GB, but I still expect the price to be in the $1700 range, with 32GB ram and 15" OLED screen 2880 x 1600, 1TB nvme storage.

Of course to throw a wrench in, if you are pushing the budget to $2000, you can look at the mac option. But the mac graphics won't be near the performance of the 3080/4080, and you still would want that 32GB ram, no compromise on that. I read elsewhere that Lr catalog can get really huge and eats up to 30GB of ram in a mac. So there's that for consideration. YMMV.

Any thought on the 4090 with the extra 4GB of VRAM? Getting a GPU upgrade is the same as getting a new laptop, and thinking about getting a higher spec laptop for down the road.

 

[nhr5005]

I mean I'm sure that's a much better spec, but it would really come down to budget.

 

[nhr5005]

Does anyone have any general thoughts on Intel vs. AMD processors? I've only ever had intel (current laptop, and my old macbook was intel-based).

I heard 13th gen intel processors had some issues, and that AMD might be a better choice if that is the gen of intel that happens to be in a given laptop...

 

[BobKnDP]

Does anyone have any general thoughts on Intel vs. AMD processors? I've only ever had intel (current laptop, and my old macbook was intel-based).

I heard 13th gen intel processors had some issues, and that AMD might be a better choice if that is the gen of intel that happens to be in a given laptop...

I believe that the 13th and 14th generation laptop CPUs don't have the same failure mode as the desktop CPUs.

I also think that it has been many years since there were any more issues with AMD CPUs than with Intel for use in Windows.

(I'm CPU agnostic.)

Some software requires the proprietary features of nVidia graphics cards (like CUDA).

 

[number_5]

I mean I'm sure that's a much better spec, but it would really come down to budget.

Yes, but how much gain for video editing?

I did a search on GPU comparisons, on average: 4070 20% over 4060, 4080 50% over 4070, and 4090 10% over 4080. BUT they are for gaming and don't know how much that translate to video editing.

 

[Ephemeris]

I mean I'm sure that's a much better spec, but it would really come down to budget.

Yes, but how much gain for video editing?

I did a search on GPU comparisons, on average: 4070 20% over 4060, 4080 50% over 4070, and 4090 10% over 4080. BUT they are for gaming and don't know how much that translate to video editing.

I edit on a 4070mx laptop with a i9-13980HX.

The 4090 laptop with i9 14900HX, raid and more memory are not a revolution faster. In some cases makes no odds.

It would depend what your asking the tool to do, some features of the paid version require more graphics card processing, for example upscaling.

 

[silentstorm]

I mean I'm sure that's a much better spec, but it would really come down to budget.

Yes, but how much gain for video editing?

I did a search on GPU comparisons, on average: 4070 20% over 4060, 4080 50% over 4070, and 4090 10% over 4080. BUT they are for gaming and don't know how much that translate to video editing.

That really comes down to how much video work you do, and how heavy duty those are. For eg. You are simulating a Teams video call with 10 people. So you have 10 layers of videos, 3 extra layers for graphics like blinking "Live" with a red dot, etc. that's total of 13 layers. And then you add effects on every layer, video looks blurry and pixelated, noise effects, and colour grading effects to make it look washed out simulating a webcam.

Or contrary, just simple home video with only 1 layer of video and 1 layer of graphics. For this type of video work, integrated graphics is good enough, like the 780M or 890M.

As more and more software are developed to tap on the graphics power & Ai (After effects, 3DsMax, Simulators, etc), having more VRAM is "The more the merrier" motto. If you can afford a 4090 with 24GB vram (16GB for laptop), go for it. A more powerful GPU with more vram makes rendering video effects (smoke, particles, lighting, 3D effects, etc) much faster.

Powerful computers are good for many things, just that the marketing people decided to use "Gaming" to sell cos' this group of people are more willing to spend and have faster upgrade cycles.

 

[Ephemeris]

I mean I'm sure that's a much better spec, but it would really come down to budget.

Yes, but how much gain for video editing?

I did a search on GPU comparisons, on average: 4070 20% over 4060, 4080 50% over 4070, and 4090 10% over 4080. BUT they are for gaming and don't know how much that translate to video editing.

That really comes down to how much video work you do, and how heavy duty those are. For eg. You are simulating a Teams video call with 10 people. So you have 10 layers of videos, 3 extra layers for graphics like blinking "Live" with a red dot, etc. that's total of 13 layers. And then you add effects on every layer, video looks blurry and pixelated, noise effects, and colour grading effects to make it look washed out simulating a webcam.

I confess I didn't know it had these sorts of capabilities.

We use to edit video from our Canons, apply some text to aid the viewer sometimes, perhaps a title and credit scene and the odd splash screen in the video with some text to help the viewer. Some stabilisation, some exposure control and that's about it. Export out to MP4 usually to a local drive and also directly to YouTube.

We have the free version so I can take in 8k60 (for example) and output up to 4k60 (or Xk60 as I think 60fps is the max)

I create the videos, line them up to be processed, recorder them (nice new feature) and hit the go button. Rendering is usually sat at 200-300fps and I can use the laptop in the mean time.

I, and some of the staff have felt we would benefit from some education with this software as it's quite complex but also very different to anything else we use.

That said, a blithering idiot like me manages to stick good YT content out so hats off to Black magic.

Or contrary, just simple home video with only 1 layer of video and 1 layer of graphics. For this type of video work, integrated graphics is good enough, like the 780M or 890M.

As more and more software are developed to tap on the graphics power & Ai (After effects, 3DsMax, Simulators, etc), having more VRAM is "The more the merrier" motto. If you can afford a 4090 with 24GB vram (16GB for laptop), go for it. A more powerful GPU with more vram makes rendering video effects (smoke, particles, lighting, 3D effects, etc) much faster.

Our laptops are a mix of 4070s, 4080s, and two dells with 4090s. We mostly are running engineering type software and that 16GB limit can be a problem with some work.

Ws do have a small H100 server created for EM simulations which we farm off work to if the laptops can't handle it but we often are not connected to the web. Hopefully the 5090M chips will give a bit more RAM.

Powerful computers are good for many things, just that the marketing people decided to use "Gaming" to sell cos' this group of people are more willing to spend and have faster upgrade cycles.

Very true. At one of our defense customers the computational electromagnetic room has high powered Linux boxes for each desk and two super computers (they have a pond outside with tropical fish it is - we are in the UK and it's currently snowing. The water is heated by the computers). I won't name the prime but it has been known for us to have the odd LAN game or two

 

[Bill Ferris]

Have you found your new laptop? I recently upgraded from a 5-year-old Lenovo Legion Y540 laptop (passed on to my son, who should get at least another few years use from it) to a Lenovo Legion Pro 5i with 14th gen Intel i9-14900HX CPU, GeForce RTX 4070 GPU, 32 GB RAM and 2TB SSD internal storage for about $1,600.

I've had it a couple of weeks and it's been great. LrC runs very well with import, preview rendering, and Enhance processing all running noticeably faster. I haven't done any video editing in it but have opened a couple of old Premiere Pro projects just to make sure everything loads and plays, well. I also upgraded my monitor to an Asus ProArt PA279CRV 27-inch display.

This is my third Lenovo. I started with a G510 (2014), upgraded to a Legion Y540 (2019), and now to the Pro 5i. (I like to upgrade every 5 years.) Barring any unexpected issues, I should be set until at least 2029.

Lenovo still has some great deals running through Cyber Monday.

 

[nhr5005]

Hi Bill,

Thanks for the response! I have not gotten one yet, but luckily Lenovo still has some sales ongoing. I have actually been seriously considering the 5i Pro that you have, but with the 14700 processor (should I do the 14900?). I'm not sure if I can still get the 2tb (2x 1tb drives) and 32gb ram for that price--but those are user-upgradable components.

Any issues extending your display (laptop is 16:10) to a 16:9 monitor?

I guess you had no issues video editing on it with your quick premiere test? From some replies further up in this thread, it sounds like the 4070 will suffice for me. The 7i Pro models are quite a step up in price to get the 4080 or 4090 cards, and I'm not sure I need that for the basic editing I do. I'm also considering the non-pro 5i and 7i (7i has a card reader, which is nice, super convenient on my current machine) but the 5i Pro is standing out a bit. I might have to get a card reader haha.

I also considered some of the HP Omens, but honestly I'm not a fan of the HP website. They don't clearly list specs like lenovo, as in the max memory capacity, if it has a second drive slot, etc etc. Lenovo even has a detailed PDF to list everything. I had to ask a chat agent at HP about this and it was a struggle just for one model--heaven forbid I have to go through that for each model I'm looking at there.

 

[Bill Ferris]

Hi Bill,

Thanks for the response! I have not gotten one yet, but luckily Lenovo still has some sales ongoing. I have actually been seriously considering the 5i Pro that you have, but with the 14700 processor (should I do the 14900?). I'm not sure if I can still get the 2tb (2x 1tb drives) and 32gb ram for that price--but those are user-upgradable components.

I wouldn't worry too much about the difference between the i7 14700HX and the i9 14900HX.

Any issues extending your display (laptop is 16:10) to a 16:9 monitor?

I did not have any issues. I've setup the Asus display as the primary and the Lenovo display as the secondary. Fonts, graphics and videos all display well on both.

I guess you had no issues video editing on it with your quick premiere test? From some replies further up in this thread, it sounds like the 4070 will suffice for me. The 7i Pro models are quite a step up in price to get the 4080 or 4090 cards, and I'm not sure I need that for the basic editing I do. I'm also considering the non-pro 5i and 7i (7i has a card reader, which is nice, super convenient on my current machine) but the 5i Pro is standing out a bit. I might have to get a card reader haha.

I opened three archived projects. Premiere Pro updated them to be compatible with the current version. All three projects played without any buffering issues. That said, they're 1080p timelines so, not pushing the system hard at all.

The Enhance tool in LrC runs faster, now, as do imports and the creation of previews. That was my primary motivation for upgrading...get more nimble working with 45MP raw files in LrC.

I also considered some of the HP Omens, but honestly I'm not a fan of the HP website. They don't clearly list specs like lenovo, as in the max memory capacity, if it has a second drive slot, etc etc. Lenovo even has a detailed PDF to list everything. I had to ask a chat agent at HP about this and it was a struggle just for one model--heaven forbid I have to go through that for each model I'm looking at there.

This is my third Lenovo laptop. The first two ran well for 5 years each so, I figured why chase something better when I know this works and I can get a well-spec'd machine within my budget.

Good luck with your upgrade.

 

[nhr5005]

Great feedback, thanks again! I’ve had mine for 9 years now, it would keep going too if not for the hardware not cutting it for windows 11. I hope to get ~10 years out of the next one too!

 

[nhr5005]

I stumbled upon a bit of a "sleeper" laptop (according to some) from Lenovo, which was basically a Legion 5 housed in a more premium "business" build--the Thinkbook 16p. It was a one year's past model (Gen 4), but it was a great deal so I picked one up. 13900H cpu, 4060 graphics, 32gb ram and 1tb ssd. There's a 2242 M.2 slot for another drive which I plan to get a 2tb for photo storage. It has their 3.2k screen which is beautiful!

I downloaded the latest free Davinci resolve and played around with it yesterday. I only pulled in some silent drone 4k clips quickly, but scrubbing the timeline and transitions were totally usable--without any generation of optimized media or proxies. I had task manager up and it seemed to use about 5gb of the video ram. I'm sure with a longer timeline, some text, and some audio, it might be a little different, but that first test was really encouraging! I may try loading in a past project once I get some files transfered over to see how it handles it. Definitely a massive upgrade in usability vs. my previous laptop!

I had a few bugs with the graphics in my CS6 photoshop, but I think I fixed it with a setting in the NVidia control panel. Loading photos doesn't seem significantly faster, but so far these are promising results from the upgrade.

Thanks all for the recommendations!

 

[Bill Ferris]

Sounds like you found a great laptop at an excellent price. Persistence pays off. Enjoy your new computer and the rear of the holiday season.

 

[Ephemeris]

Sounds like you found a great laptop at an excellent price. Persistence pays off. Enjoy your new computer and the rear of the holiday season.

 

[number_5]

I picked up a Samsung 4TB 990 PRO for $270 during the blackfriday/cybermonday sale. It's still on sale but for $320; you can keep an eye on the price when you are ready to upgrade.

 

[nhr5005]

Thanks for the tip, the 1tb drive will definitely hold me over for a while, but I will keep an eye out around that time of year if I need an upgrade to the boot drive.

There weren't many options for 2242 drives unfortunatley, but I got a 2tb drive. It turns out this laptop case has some special (very tiny!) torx screws so I am waiting on some new screwdriver bits to get the drive installed.