Ever thought of trying your hand at video editing? Maybe you fancy having a go at cutting together a new corporate video for your business? Or perhaps your boss has asked you to do it and you have no choice but to type ‘video editing help’ into Google and see what comes up first!
Well, whoever you are, you’re in the right place!
There are lots of free online video editing tools like Canva and Vimeo Create, but to truly get creative with video editing, you’ll want to use software on a PC or Mac like Adobe Premiere Rush, Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro or DaVinci Resolve.
Here are a few tips to get you started on how to optimise your computer for video editing:
Get an SSD for your video editing PC
First off, one of the best decisions you can make is to get an SSD (solid-state drive) to get faster access to your storage.
An SSD has the same functionality as a HDD (hard disk drive) in that they both store data. But the technology in an SSD is faster and more reliable. HDD’s use spinning disks that can be easily damaged, but SSD’s work more like flash drives and have no moving parts and are more robust.
Having an SSD as the boot drive (the drive that loads up Windows / MacOS) makes your computer faster to access the software and footage, but also so much faster to start up. This eventually leads to faster rendering, exporting and loading when video editing.
HDDs are priced lower than SSDs, but the prices are decreasing all the time as solid state drives are rapidly replacing traditional storage disks.
If you are currently using standard HDDs, replace them if you can with SSDs!
Increase Memory (RAM)
Most of the time, increasing your RAM size makes an immediate difference to your workflow.
Higher RAM sizes enable faster editing, quite simply. it allows you to do more things at once.
For a quality video editing experience, you need to have at least 8GB of RAM size but the it’s to get as much as your computer will allow. The software application you’re using for editing will specify how much you need. It’s relatively cheap and easy to install too.
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Better Video Cards
One of the most important things you need in a video editing PC is a quality video card.
The purpose of a video card is to output the video signal to your monitor. A standard video card is fine if you’re just using emails or making spreadsheets, as those tasks aren’t demanding much of your video card. But video editing naturally needs more video card power so it’s best to get a specialist one if you can.
A better quality video card offers faster rendering at higher resolutions and helps with other video editing aspects. You can even install multiple video cards to really accelerate your video editing!
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Processors (CPU)
Another component of a computer that’s critical to video editing is its processor (or CPU).
A better CPU leads to faster processing, animation & effects rendering, loading, and exporting. Unlike RAM, CPU can’t be installed as easily though. It’s seen as the brain of the computer so switching it out for a new one may require a lot of other new parts as well, so best to ask a professional if you need a new one of these!
Video Editing PC or Mac?
If you’re in the lucky position to be choosing a brand new device for video editing, you might catch yourself struggling to choose between Mac and PC. But when it comes to video editing, both Mac and PC can help you produce the best results.
The only factor that should affect your decision to choose one among them is the cost and which platform you’re most familiar with. You’ll have to spend more money to buy a Mac. However, a PC would cost less. PC’s are much more customisable and so you have a broader choice of components for them, allowing you to save a few quid compared to shopping at Apple.
Ultimately, it’s your skill level that matters the most. It doesn’t matter how fancy the computer is that you’re using, or how shiny your Macbook Pro is, you should always be focusing on improving your video editing skills.
Need some help with your video editing? Get in touch! Find us on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter and let us know how we can help!
