4k Video Editing

Can any Framework owners tell me if this laptop is capable of editing 4k video? I’m a bit nervous about buying a laptop without dedicated graphics card.

I don’t expect it to be buttery-smooth, I just want to know it will possible without too much frustration as I only edit video once in a while… but still need too.

Thanks in advance. :grin:

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Kdenlive, 2 or 3 4k Video clips plus 2 or 3 audio tracks, some cross over effect… nothin’ too fancy.

Buy an m1 MacBook Air for that. Best bang for the buck as far as video editing goes, and you know it will be buttery smooth.

^ That or you’ll want to get a more powerful laptop with a dGPU (E.G XPS, Thinkpad X1 Extreme, etc). Even if you were to run an eGPU with the laptop, your limiting factor would be the CPU as they’re not designed for running editing workloads.

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@Trex182 I dont think KDEnlive runs on the M1.

I just fired up Kdenlive on my Framework, and it worked just fine with a test 4K video clip. Especially if you enable proxy clips it’s going to be perfectly usable. Now, I have 32GB of RAM installed in mine, and lots of RAM helps immensely with video editing. I am also using the mid-range (non-vPro) i7 model. But for just basic video editing, even with 4K files, a Framework should not have a problem handling that. You definitely want to make sure that you are using two sticks of RAM so that you get the full benefit of Iris Xe graphics.

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Many, Thanks.

It’s nice to see some genuine help on a forum not just people repeating what they read on other forums.

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@Kieran_Levin yeah. Got that part. :wink: Just a recommendation. I have both laptops, my opinion is only my opinion.

Oh, and actually, it does. Kdenlive comes to macOS (nightly version) - Kdenlive

He never said Kdenlive isn’t on macOS, just that it isn’t available for M1. There are probably workarounds for this, but they will certainly effect performance

It’s right there in the comments, it indeed runs on M1. Either way, my opinion and recommendation stands.

It’s OK, I use Linux BTW. :grin:

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@RandomUser ok, got it. My bad for speaking of the enemy. Funny.

Is 32GB a must? or can you get away with 16GB?

Not a must, but a recommended, when you’re working with 4K footage it will be big and it will help. You can get away with 16GB but it might now be as smooth. 32GB is usually recommended for video editing anyway.

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Thanks for the reply.

I agree there - the more RAM the better when working with video. You also want to make sure that you are getting 2 sticks of 16GB rather than one single stick. For Intel Xe Graphics you lose about 20% performance when not operating your memory in “dual channel” mode (i.e. 2 sticks).

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Can a egpu be good if it was only used for light video editing?

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Hi there! I’m a video editor who often works with lots of 4K footage on Premiere Pro, and sometimes I use After Effects for graphics. I love what Framework is doing, and I love the idea of being able to upgrade my computer as new tech comes out, but I don’t know if a Framework laptop is powerful enough to handle 4K editing and 3D graphics. Has anyone here used their laptop to edit videos, and would you suggest this laptop for a professional video editor?

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I would not recommend doing 4K editing and effects on an iGPU. In a pinch, simple cuts and effects may work, but anything more significant you would want a dedicated GPU (or Apple silicon).

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