daniel burgio
I Love YTtalk
I'm not sure, but Windows Movie Maker (which is kinda bad...) might be able to help while you save up for something else.
Laptop too weak for editing - help!
- Thread starter Kadelle13
- Start date
Kadelle13
Active Member
i just might try that! then again, there's always my old trust (and by now dusty) quadcore PC which I can use for the time being
thanks for th tip!
Kelkschiz
YTtalk Mad
thanks for the tip about processing power, this helped with my "research" haha
thanks for the detailed help!
you're soo right, i should have done a bit more research before buying my current laptop. i had this "my editing program was cheap so it doesnt require a superduper fancy gaming desktop replacement laptop" - what a naive individual i was
so i checked the system requirements for my MAGIX software which are:
Processor:
At least: 2 GHz
Recommended: Quadcore processor with 2,8 GHz
Memory:
At least: 2 GB
Recommended: 8 GB
Graphic Card
At least: Onboard, min. 1280x768
Recommended: "dedicated", min. 512 MB VRAM
Local Memory
At least: 2 GB in order to install the MAGIX software
I did my best to translate the info from German into English so I apologize in advance for any awkward translations
Now this is what my laptop says it's got:
Processor (CPU)
intel bay trail m DUAL CORE 2840, up to 2.58GHz
Memory
4GB
HDD
500 GB
...Looks like I need a quadcore instead of a dual core; is this assumption halfways correct?
Thank you!
You are welcome
. Yes you are right, it looks like the CPU is a tad close to the bottom end. But you are still above the minimum system requirements, so it may be slow, but your system specs should not be the cause of the freezes. However when operating so close to the minimum specs it is advisable to run as light as possible, like @PrettyKeli suggested. Also reinstalling MAGIX could possible help. Ow and finally, it is always good to check if all your drivers are up-to-date, outdated drivers are a common cause for freezes as well.
Kadelle13
Active Member
You are welcome
ok good to know!
will do, thank you so much!
Xynudu
Super Poster
Freezing could be caused by the limited RAM. Provided the laptop allows it, it might be worth increasing the ram to the maximum (cheap option).
What I suggest is use the editing program and at the same time fire up Task Manager (right click the task bar to get it) and see what is using the resources, and how hard the CPU is working.
Also look to see what other programs are using lots of CPU/resources, and shut them down if non critical.
Things like anti virus and web browsers are things you can stop while editing.
Also turn off the wifi as that also uses CPU.
Cheers Rob
What I suggest is use the editing program and at the same time fire up Task Manager (right click the task bar to get it) and see what is using the resources, and how hard the CPU is working.
Also look to see what other programs are using lots of CPU/resources, and shut them down if non critical.
Things like anti virus and web browsers are things you can stop while editing.
Also turn off the wifi as that also uses CPU.
Cheers Rob
Kadelle13
Active Member
thanks for the tip - i open task manager while my softwarewas running and it deeefinitely exhausted the cpu. the CPU column was blinking red and kept swinging from 89% to 100% and so forth.
I also shut down some programs (spotify, apple itunes) and then suddenly my entire screen went black (only the task manager being left) so i had to restart. dunno what happened there but at least now i know:
it's definitely the CPU and not the RAM, right? Sorry if this sounds super noob-ish. I'm really grateful for the valuable tips I'm getting!
WolfWraith
I Love YTtalk
Does Magix have the ability for you to use "temporary" footage? Like with Premiere Pro, you can make a video offline and then link it to a lower resolution video if you're struggling. This generally helps to reduce lag & strain on the system during the editing phase, especially for lower end systems. I.e. if you're using a 1080P video, you can make it offline, link it with a 480P video, edit it using that, once you're done, relink it back to the 1080P video and export.
Otherwise, yeah your laptop is pretty weak. Generally for laptops doing video editing it's best to aim for an i7-xxxxHQ CPU or if on a tight budget an i5. If you're planning on upgrading in future, keep in mind system requirements might say something along the lines of "quad core CPU" without being specific but when it comes to CPUs (now days) a quad core doesn't automatically = max power, for e.g. a quad core Atom WILL be out performed by a dual core i5.
Otherwise, yeah your laptop is pretty weak. Generally for laptops doing video editing it's best to aim for an i7-xxxxHQ CPU or if on a tight budget an i5. If you're planning on upgrading in future, keep in mind system requirements might say something along the lines of "quad core CPU" without being specific but when it comes to CPUs (now days) a quad core doesn't automatically = max power, for e.g. a quad core Atom WILL be out performed by a dual core i5.
Kadelle13
Active Member
hmm, good question! i doubt my software has those nifty abilities but it's always good to know about these tips n tricks.
okay thanks so much for telling me about these i7 / i5 labels. i never really payed much attention that that so i'll google those right away!
Dragonstar89
Active Member
Might be late to the topic, but I share a similar sorta situation - I edit with Sony Vegas Pro on my "crap"top that I got back around 2013 for around $300, and it has many other programs and such on it but I can still edit and render; just not super smooth like a high-end machine could.
Video Editing software is very resource heavy, and is super dependent on your HDD/SDD and processing power (it depends on everything, but processing and writing are the two most important). And, most of them will only work or work better only with a good graphics card; something you can't necessarily put in on a laptop. So, for any video editor (besides maybe online ones and windows movie maker), you need
-Usually 6 or 8 gigs of RAM
-HDD/SDD with a high read/write speed
-Graphics cards (there are many made for media creation purposes)
-High end processor
This is just to run something like Vegas Pro, or Adobe Premiere with no hiccups at all. But if you can't upgrade to a media-dedicated desktop, then (if your laptop hardware can call for it) you can always run your editing program technically: i.e consistently use task manager and service priority to make the program run faster and to end any tasks on your computer you don't need, as you will need all the processing power you can get.
Video Editing software is very resource heavy, and is super dependent on your HDD/SDD and processing power (it depends on everything, but processing and writing are the two most important). And, most of them will only work or work better only with a good graphics card; something you can't necessarily put in on a laptop. So, for any video editor (besides maybe online ones and windows movie maker), you need
-Usually 6 or 8 gigs of RAM
-HDD/SDD with a high read/write speed
-Graphics cards (there are many made for media creation purposes)
-High end processor
This is just to run something like Vegas Pro, or Adobe Premiere with no hiccups at all. But if you can't upgrade to a media-dedicated desktop, then (if your laptop hardware can call for it) you can always run your editing program technically: i.e consistently use task manager and service priority to make the program run faster and to end any tasks on your computer you don't need, as you will need all the processing power you can get.
Xynudu
Super Poster
It's probably a combination of both, but the CPU is obviously maxed out and will cause freezing/slow processing.
Generally the CPU should idle at about 2- 5% with no load, and go to about 70% under normal use, with an occasional spike to max.
An I7 is the best of the Intel chips for video editing/compressing, but an I5 does the job quite OK - that's what I use. However, it's worth going the extra dollars if you can afford it.
Also most modern PCs now run dual channel memory and 64 bit operating systems to get the most out of the hardware, and that makes a big difference as well.
A decent video card is also necessary, although these seem to be more common as standard in many laptops these days. Desk top models allow you to put in as powerful as you like.
I hope this helps.
Cheers Rob