Laptop recs for film student?

July 22, 2019 7:58 AM

My son will be going to university for Film Production. We're in search of a laptop that will be robust enough for the requirements of his program, last the length of his four-year studies (and beyond), and not break the bank. Also not too heavy if possible.

Budget:

My preferred budget is ~ $2000 to 2500 CAD, but I can exceed this if a more expensive option is unequivocally THE laptop to get for his purposes. (See next point.)

Operating system:

I am open to Mac if that is the best choice here, son is less so (hesitant about learning new OS, as he has never used iOS anything before).

That may be moot; on the campus tour, the guide (upper-year student in same program) stated that their equipment and machines in the studios were/supported both Mac and Windows.

Specific recs:

I have been looking into Dell XPS and Surface Laptop. Any pros and cons, or experiences with, these models?

In short, son needs a good, durable laptop that's powerful enough to work with digital video tools on a somewhat regular basis. And can survive a slightly clumsy teenager :/

Any input appreciated. Thanks!

posted by methroach to Computers & Internet (14 answers total)

What's he using now? (I assume that since he's going to school for film production that he's already doing this on his own). And what software will he be using? Despite the fact that the school supports Mac and PC, a lot of film makers use Final Cut Pro, which is made by Apple. If he's using Premiere, he can go either way. I would check with the school to see what they recommend.

And whether he's just doing editing or if he envisions getting into any kind of animation and/or special effects could affect things.
posted by jonathanhughes at 8:46 AM on July 22, 2019 [1 favorite]

Do you know what programs he will be using? Maybe the school has some suggestions for specs?

I'm sure you will get some great answers here from folks who are much more knowledgeable, but I just wanted to comment as someone who recently upgraded their laptop to be able to do video editing and Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop/etc. Get the best processor and graphics card you can afford. Also, pay attention to what outputs are available. For school, HDMI out ports could be required (or at least very useful!). I upgraded to a loaded MacBookPro but that's just because I'm used to Macs. I'm so happy that I can run my video editor and Adobe Illustrator at the same time now!
posted by jraz at 9:03 AM on July 22, 2019

If you decide on Windows hardware, I can recommend the HP Spectre x360 as a well-built machine - available with a 4K screen (at least the 15" model I have, not sure about the 13"), 16GB RAM, SSD drive - about $2k CAN for 512GB storage, which may or may not be enough for his requirements.

Can't speak to the specific requirements for film-making, but the Spectre is solid, ~5lbs in weight, metal framed (strong albeit scratchable surfaces) and comes with the 4K screen in at least some models. The convertible 360deg screen and touchscreen may or may not be of use, though.
posted by Nice Guy Mike at 9:04 AM on July 22, 2019

I'd absolutely contact the program to find out if they have any suggestions.
posted by k8t at 9:35 AM on July 22, 2019 [3 favorites]

K8T has it - contact the program to see what their recommendations are. Don't go by the recommendations of the admissions office or the orientation crowd - unless those recommendations are specifically about this program.
posted by kellygrape at 9:40 AM on July 22, 2019

The advice of checking with the program goes double with film, because color gamut and calibration are a big deal in a way that most people just would not care about.
posted by wnissen at 10:31 AM on July 22, 2019 [4 favorites]

Agreeing with k8t and kellygrape. Only you shouldn't contact the department. Your son should contact the department. It's his education and he should learn about and get to know the departmental staff/faculty are whose job it is to help him with this kind of advice. It won't be the last time he'll have to go to them.
posted by dr. boludo at 10:47 AM on July 22, 2019 [11 favorites]

More likely than not, the hardware requirements for doing any serious film editing are going to exceed what any reasonably-priced laptop has. I teach at a college and, while almost all of our students have their own laptops, the film/photo students depend pretty heavily on the powerful desktops that their departments make publicly available. My guess is that any reasonably durable laptop will be fine since it will mostly be used for web, word processing, and, perhaps, basic film/photo editing.

But, yes, your son should email a faculty member in the department where he will be attending to get their recommendation. Tour guides walk by my office all day and, while they are generally well-meaning and they generally get most things right, they often get the details wrong.
posted by Betelgeuse at 11:12 AM on July 22, 2019 [2 favorites]

I also teach Broadcasting and Video production at a post secondary institution and we always suggest that students get computers that meet the requirements for the software they are going to use. But beware that "minimum requirements" may mean that the software works on your system but it may bog under loads. I've personally had to upgrade my RAM since the minimum rec's were not sufficient.

Example: For Premiere, Adobe suggests Intel 6th gen CPU's and 8 Gigs of RAM chips as a minimum but "recommends" 7th gen and 16-32 gigs of RAM.

PS I also suggest talking to faculty in the specific department. We always have time for questions like this.
posted by Zedcaster at 12:23 PM on July 22, 2019

A lot of pro editors use MacBook Pros or similar gaming-grade Windows laptops because they have to, but would rather be working on a desktop. This might mean looking into getting a pretty good desktop and an okay laptop.

I just polled the television editor I'm married to and a friend who's a director and they both say Avid is still - by a hair - industry standard, but they didn't know if that's likely to be one's home application in a degree program today. Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro, and DaVinci Resolve are all being used professionally today and might be more likely to be the classroom pick. Final Cut is MacOS-only, the others are not.

All of which to say: you might send him off for his first semester with a beater laptop and have him find out what people are using/classes are requiring (IF they do require something; it might be editor's choice), before you buy anything. Assume that any laptop you buy will not survive/stay up to requirements for even four years, much less beyond; a desktop very well might, bonus points if there's leeway to upgrade RAM and add drives later (editing consumes wallops of drivespace, obviously; we have portable drives with goofy labelmaker names everywhere in the house). He's likely going to be largely consumed with general education requirements and theory/intro classes the first year, so it is probably not critical he be production-ready on Day 1.
posted by Lyn Never at 12:33 PM on July 22, 2019 [1 favorite]

As a film professor, I echo the recommendation that your son check with the department. I will also point out that for live action production, most of the industry works on Macs. VFX and Animation is primarily Windows machines.

A Macbook Pro is what I see almost all of my students using.
posted by MythMaker at 12:40 PM on July 22, 2019 [1 favorite]

He will also most likely qualify for some kind of educational discount, so don't buy before he has a student ID.
posted by Lyn Never at 12:49 PM on July 22, 2019 [4 favorites]

Let him get to school first, and get a feel for what he needs. You can purchase something online and ship it to him when you have a better idea of what will work best (and to get the student discount Lyn Never recommends!).

I'd lean towards a Mac - the costs are higher upfront, but it will outlast most PCs. Also, now's a good time to get used to working on a Mac. Better to be comfortable on all platforms for the future.
posted by hydra77 at 4:42 PM on July 22, 2019

Response by poster: Thanks for all of your input, everyone! This was all very helpful. My son read all of these responses and has emailed the professor who interviewed him in the spring. If that for some reason does not work out then we have a lot of other suggestions and information to work with. Thanks again!
posted by methroach at 6:43 PM on July 22, 2019