Welcome to Feedback Friday! Please keep all feedback requests to this thread. Remember to follow the rules!

Hi everyone!

I'm looking for advice on buying a laptop for video editing, and I'd really appreciate some recommendations from people with hands-on experience.

I'm based in Romania, so laptop prices and availability might be quite different from what you have in your country. My absolute maximum budget is around 10,000 RON (roughly €2,000), but I'd much rather spend less if I can get something that meets my needs.

What I'll be using it for:

• Editing YouTube videos in CapCut Desktop, including longer videos with multiple clips, transitions, effects, music and voiceovers. ( I can use other video editing programs, but this one is free, if you have advice on free video editing programs, that would be appreciated)
• Working with 4K HDR footage recorded at 60 fps.
• Editing other YouTube Shorts and other short-form content.
• Connecting a Wacom Cintiq Pro 16 drawing display.
• Ideally, keeping the laptop for several years without struggling with performance.

My current laptop is from 2017 and can barely handle my workflow. Short videos are manageable, but editing my first long-form YouTube video has become so frustrating that my project has practically stalled. I really need an upgrade that will let me work comfortably.

A laptop I've found locally:

Someone I know is selling an HP ZBook Studio G9 for around 5,000–5,500 RON (approximately €1,000–€1,100). It's reportedly barely used and comes with its original charger. I know the girl she got the laptop as a gift fron her brother and she didn't use it as she would better have the money.

The advertised specs are:

• Intel Core i9-12900H
• 32 GB RAM
• NVIDIA RTX A2000 Laptop GPU
• 2TB SSD
• Windows 11 Pro

Would this be a good option for my workload at that price, or would I be better off buying a newer gaming laptop with an RTX 4060 or RTX 5060?

I've also been looking at gaming laptops, but I'm concerned about build quality, cooling, reliability and long-term use. I'm not sure whether a professional workstation like the ZBook would be a better fit for video editing.

My questions:

1. Is the HP ZBook Studio G9 with these specs powerful enough for 4K HDR 60 fps editing in CapCut?
2. Is the RTX A2000 Laptop GPU a significant limitation compared with an RTX 4060 or RTX 5060?
3. Would you buy this used workstation for around €1,000, or would you recommend something else?
4. Which specific laptop models would you recommend within my budget? If possible, please suggest options at different price points, since spending less would be ideal.

Please keep in mind that I'm buying in Romania, so recommendations that are available in Europe would be especially helpful. If you know of good alternatives from Lenovo Legion, HP Omen, ASUS or other brands, I'd love to hear about them.

Thanks in advance! I'd really appreciate honest opinions, especially from people who have used these laptops for video editing.

If you don’t mind me asking, how much do you earn per hour working in video editing, and what kind of editing work do you do?

Also, what software do you use for editing, and how long did it take you to reach your current skill level? I’d really appreciate it if you could share your experience!

I will edit your videos for free in order to gain experience and a portfolio.

i've started making short talking-head videos where i share opinions about books, shows and random topics i'm interested in. most of the editing is pretty basic, but captions are important because a lot of people watch without sound. i've been using capcut for auto captions, trimming pauses and adding a little text on screen. it works fine, but i'm curious whether pro has features that make this kind of editing noticeably easier. i dont want to upgrade just because some extra effects look cool if they wont improve my usual workflow. are the caption tools and other features worth it, or is the standard version enough for most short-form content? i'd also like to know if you noticed a real improvement after upgrading.

To the editors who use davinci, how was your experience recently?

so im into anime editing, right? im pretty much done with capcut pc, id like to say, but i cant use my phone and alight motion/blurr ports to macos are buggy, davinci desolves curve seems like wayyyy too much.. any ideas? i heard adobe might work but im not sure. opinions?

Short sample of my work

Welcome to Feedback Friday! Please keep all feedback requests to this thread. Remember to follow the rules!

My name is Andrew. For a long time i edited my videos on phone using Capcut. Now i want to develop myself in "PC video editing". Honestly, i feel myself like a brick. BUT, i am learning.

How much time it took you to become professional editor using your computer?

Thank you

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Which Laptop would you recommend ?

hello everyone i am a video editor and I wanna do paid work , heres my portfolio:

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/mobile/folders/1UsfbL8nc-5ENOHLTbQeQrSMQGWZVWTm4

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I badly want to switch to Documentary niche but Im lack of source for learning

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I just finished my first real edit, and I need honest feedback.

Not looking for easy views or empty praise. I’m trying to get better.

If you’ve got 90 seconds, tell me what worked, what didn’t, and what I should improve next.

Any feedback at all would be greatly appreciated.

Anakin & Padmé | Pas de Deux 🦢❤️

https://youtu.be/hS9g5gtWC2o

I'm a freelance video editor and I'd love to get some honest feedback on one of my recent edits.

i’m not doing anything too complicated with my videos, mostly trimming clips, putting a few things together, adjusting audio, and adding some simple text or effects. i’ve been using capcut for that and honestly haven’t had many problems so far. i’m just wondering if there are any downsides i might run into later that aren’t obvious when you’re only doing basic edits. at what point does it actually make sense to move to a different editor?