Do you need a gaming laptop to video edit as a hobby?

I'm going to get a new laptop this Summer for purposes that include but are not limited to the fact that my school laptop will be taken in for obvious reasons, I have a Stanford online course and school Rosetta Stone to do, and I need to watch anime.

I have always enjoyed video editing and even did a few projects that got semi-popular on YouTube; One now has around 6 thousand views, 103 likes, and 0 dislikes, while the other has over 11 thousand views (11 thousand and 1 while I'm typing this question), 163 likes, and 3 dislikes. I was planning on getting back into and really hitting hard on the video editing hobby in my free time.

Now, here's my problem: I need a laptop for portability and the ability to lay up in bed with it while doing what I have to. I wanted something that has great display and nice to potentially watch some HD videos, and I even thought about the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 2 until I found out about the 2 GB of RAM. This is because my current school computer, which I used for video editing, was a MacBook Air model with only 2 GB of RAM… A spec that caused my video editing software to freeze every minute after the first 5 minutes of it being open and caused it to crash every hour.

Also, storage isn't a problem with my video editing, because I have plenty of external areas in which to store my files. The question: Is a gaming computer like Alienware the only way to go? I would rather something that isn't so bulky, but I will use HD video.

Guest

No, a gaming notebook is just one configured for gaming, but can be used for video editing due to its powerhouse components inside it. It can be done on that but more expensive and a bit of an overkill for video editing.

Any notebook can do video editing as long as it has a suitable processor, enough ram and video memory (GPU).

Guest

How are you…

I know personally few Pro video producers who use notebooks in their every day video creating work.
So, it works, and works not bad.
(of course depends on which exact tools you are going to play with)
You only have to deal with your eyes and lack of monitor space (graphic programs love to eat it with thousands tool windows). External monitors - is a solution, too.
But laying in bad is so cool.
For same money, PC notebooks work better then Mac - truth…

(important point for someone - all "video" notebooks love to be loud with their cooler while playing any high-performance task - not a pleasure sometimes, midnight)

BUT, if mobility is essence - then Yes, it's possible.
8 Gb of RAM at least - is preferable for graphics.
And dedicated video card - GeForce or ATI with 2 Gb. (avoid stupid integrated ones like Intel 4000-5000 etc - that's for office tasks (remember Macbook Air.
There are plenty of notebook models match with that condition.

For mac - MacBook Pro (priced as airplane, you know). PC - lot of brands, some of them even quite cheap.

Destktop.
Alienwire… Oogh… Did you touch it? It's so ugly, lol, and they even want money for that…
(they also do notebooks, which are pound or two of weight)
Any modern desktop computer works. 8 gb at least + any modern GeForce -- and it will work 3-5 years as a donkey.

Life sample: using iMac i7 with 24Gb ram last 3 years. Play Photoshop, After Effects in mac mode. At the same time Window's (via Parallels tool) - 3ds max + MotionBiulder…
Yes, performance of MotionBuilder is reduced, comparing same PC. (could reboot in Windows mode for better speed, but lazy and love switching between mac-pc).
However, after 3 years of iMacing - i would not recommend it for video graphics. I repaired it 3 times because of overheating, caused by permanent using high performance tasks. Good one for, saying image processing and office, but looks like not for every day videoing.
hm… What i want to say? - ah, it works.

Darth V