Is Macbook Air Good for Video Editing? [5 Reasons]

Last Updated/Fact Checked on May 1, 2023 by Irslan

Professional video editing can be complex, requiring a laptop with decent specifications. For video editing, your computer should have a powerful dedicated graphics card, at least 16GB of RAM, and, most importantly, a multi-core processor. 

So to answer the question, yes, MacBook Air is a good choice for video editing laptop, especially for social media content creators. It can edit videos for YouTube, blogs, or other video streaming platforms with confidence, ease, and reliability.

While an M1 chip powers the machine, 16GB RAM with at least 512GB SSD would make an ideal choice for video editing. As the screen size is reasonable, the color and resolution make for a bright display when editing a video, which is so important.

The laptop comes with M1 and M2 chips, making it a powerful and compact machine for video editing. Both have identical RAM (8GB & 16GB), storage, display in terms of screen size, exact dimensions and weight, keyboard and trackpad, and battery. We will explore in detail which is better for video editing but let us first look at the minimum requirements of a video editing laptop. 

Minimum Requirements for Video Editing

Depending upon your level of editing, below are the minimum requirements as quoted by Intel. These requirements range from very basic to certain advanced groups, correlating with the type of videos you want to edit. 

Regular (720p) Video Editing

If you are a beginner and want to edit a video for a social media post, then a multi-core CPU with a clock speed of at least 2.8 GHz, accompanied by 8GB of RAM for editing a video of 1366×766 resolution, will suffice. Storage (ROM) is also essential for installing the editing software and exporting the video post-rendering. Your laptop should have at least 512GB of internal storage.

FHD (1080p) Video Editing

If you want to edit a video for your blog or streaming platforms that require an FHD 1080p (1920 x 1080) video, I recommend a multi-core CPU with at least 3.2GHZ clock speed and 12GB RAM. The 1080p video occupies significant space in your storage, so a minimum of 1TB for this resolution is recommended. 

4K Video Editing

Professional video editors have to post the edited video on more prominent platforms like YouTube must edit the video in the 4K resolution. For 4K (3840 x 2160) video editing, you need a CPU with a minimum clock speed of 4.2 GHz and 16GB of RAM. The recommended storage is at least 2TB, knowing that one minute of 4K video is at least 750MBs. 

5 Reasons Why Macbook Air M2 is Better than Macbook Air M1

Air, released in 2020, has an M1 chip, while the latest model, released in 2022, has an M2 chip. It makes a significant difference in performance and gives a substantial edge to M2 in complex computations like video editing. Let me take you through a detailed comparison of both models and decide which Macbook Air is suitable for video editing. 

The CPU

The most significant advancement is the inclusion of the M2 chip in the latest Air variant. Both of these chips are the same in the number of cores; the M1 has 8 cores, 4 performance cores, and 4 efficiency cores each. The GPU varies by a significant margin as M1 has only 7 core GPUs while M2 has up to 10. 16-core Neural-Engine power both CPUs.

Similarly, the memory controller in M2 has 100GB/s of memory bandwidth, while the M1 can deliver a max of 68.25GB/s of memory bandwidth.

As the specs show and per my experience, the Macbook Air M2 2022 is the best option for video editing because of the more advanced and powerful processor.

A Better Display

A vivid display with crisp colors is crucial for better video editing. The Air 2022 has a much better screen than the older version. The former features a 13.3-inch LED Backlit display with IPS technology with a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels. Its latest variant is packed with a 13.6-inch Liquid Retina Display with a resolution of 2560 x 1664.

Both these displays are powered by True Tone technology. The newest variant has a better brightness with a numeric value of 500nits compared to 400nits. The M2 2022 variant of Air is a clear winner as the better display is compulsory for video editing. 

HD Webcam

A webcam might not be essential for a better video editing laptop. But certainly, if you want to edit the webcam-recorded video, then it makes a necessary utility to have in a computer. The upgrade in camera resolution is impressive, as the latest version has a 1080p resolution FaceTime HD camera. Air’s 2020 variant has a 720p resolution FaceTime HD camera.

However, both these cameras are supported by an Advanced image signal processor with computational video. I would choose the 1080p camera instead of 720p for a laptop that can perform video editing.  

Improved Speakers and Mic

Mic and speakers play a vital role in video editing. While Air with M1 has decent speakers and a mic, the latest version packed with M2 has advanced speakers and an enhanced mic. The former had stereo speakers, while the latter had four speakers. Air 2022 also supports Spatial Audio when playing music, and Dolby Atmos is also supported.

Both these features are missing in the older version. The mic in M2 is equipped 3.5mm headphone jack with advanced support for high-impedance headphones; the M1 has a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. While editing videos, it is crucial to have a noise-free voice integrated into your videos, especially for voice-over videos.

Power and Battery

There is a significant difference in the battery capacity of both models; the M1 is equipped with 49.9 watt-hour Lithium Polymer battery, and a 52.6watt-hour Lithium Polymer is integrated into the M2 2022 model. Both these batteries provide the exact backup of up to 15 hours on wireless web browsing and up to 18 hours on Apple TV app.

The M2 supports fast charging with a 67W USB-C power adaptor, while M1 doesn’t brace fast charging. Another reason for the M2 is the fast charging feature and its increased battery capacity, as video editing takes hours, and you don’t want your machine to die before finishing the task and fast charging feature. 

You might also like, Is MacBook Air a good option for Programmers?

Is Macbook Air Good for 4K Video Editing?

While video editing up to 1080p resolution is a piece of cake for Macbook Air, can it handle 4K videos editing? The answer is yes, but if you compare it with the Pro versions, you might hesitate to opt for Air. The Macbook Pro is a more advanced machine with powerful specifications and relatively high prices. 

When you edit a 4K video on Air, there are possibly two reasons that will refrain you. 

  1. It slightly heats the machine when you render heavy files and export them. It will eventually dwindle the lifespan of your laptop.
  2. With 4K files, exporting the edited videos will take a considerably longer duration of time as compared to the Pro versions of the Macbook.

Per my experience, a 3-minute, 4K file will take around 15 minutes to export on Pro. The transcoding time of 4K videos is 4 to 16 times longer on the Air version of the Macbook. 

MacBook Air Performance with Different Editing Software

You can easily edit up to 1080p videos on the Air, assuming we have tested its performance using some famous video editors. Let me present to you my findings of using different editing software. 

Final Cut Pro X

With Final Cut Pro X, video editing on Macbook Air was buttery smooth while editing 720p and 1080p videos. With 4K, the machine would start to sputter, especially while rendering and exporting the edited video. It is an excellent tool for professional-looking your more prominent platforms like YouTube. It will work surprisingly well with the M2 version and can handle the load even if running multiple apps simultaneously. 

In our testing, it handled multitasking, editing on multiple different layers, adding special effects, and rendering the video effortlessly.

Adobe Premier Pro

Adobe Premier Pro is world-famous video editing software and resource-extensive as well. In our testing, we noticed that specific CPU-extensive tasks like rendering and exporting videos take longer than usual. I also noticed that Adobe Premier Pro was not as smooth as Final Cut Pro X as I noticed lag while scrubbing through the video, and the timeline may also buffer.

iMovie

iMovie is a pre-installed video editor that is perfect for basic editing, available for free. While using iMovie for video editing, the Air performed exceptionally well. The user interface is suitable for beginners and performs decent editing with good quality that you can upload to YouTube. My Air machine had no issues at all while running iMovie. 

Pros and Cons of Macbook Air for Video Editing

MacBook Air is suitable for beginner to medium-level video editing. I would not recommend choosing the Air for professional editing. For professional video editing, the Pro versions are more appropriate, not to forget that they are pretty expensive as well. These pros and cons are generic, regardless of their models or the chip. 

Pros

There are multiple bright sides to the Macbook Air that makes it a good laptop for resource-intensive tasks like video editing. 

Battery Life

With a surprising battery life of up to 15 hours, Macbook Air is a surprise to keep you going while you edit videos. Your table doesn’t need to be your only workspace; you can edit videos anywhere with the Air, as the battery backup won’t let you down. It can give you around 5-6 hours of backup while running heavy editing software like Adobe Premier Pro. 

Sleek Design

No one can beat Air when it comes to portability. It is just 15.6mm thick and weighs only 1.25kgs. The intuitive design makes it the best choice in terms of compatibility, making it an excellent choice for people on the go. Thanks to its amazingly sleek and ergonomic design, you can edit your videos while traveling, having a cup of coffee, or enjoying a scenic view. 

Better Sound

It is equipped with much better speakers than its successors. Adding stereo speakers (four speakers in M2) with expansive stereo sound powered by Dolby Atmos playback makes it the best speaker in any laptop within this price range. It also provides 2 times more bass than its previous models providing a much fuller sound and around 20% more volume. You can detect minute noise in your edited videos while using these speakers. The bass is instrumental if you are editing a video for a party.

Dazzling Retina Display

The Retina Display in M1 (Liquid Retina XDR in M2) has a resolution of 2500 x 1600 with 4 million pixels powered by True Tone technology, which gives you a jaw-dropping result. A vibrant screen is probably the most crucial element in video editing. If you can’t see the depth of colors of your edited video, how come you expect others to like it? 

Cons

No matter how well this machine can perform video editing, there is always room for improvement. Below are some of the shortcomings of both variants of Air. 

Limited Storage Capacity

Although it has a surprisingly good processor with decent RAM, the storage is insufficient for video editing. The base model comes with only 256GB SSD storage, which is not enough. It has 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB variants, but the price increases as you increase the storage. To come up with storage issues, you can either use Cloud or may use an external hard drive.

Limited Hardware Upgrade

A significant shortcoming of the Air variant is upgradability. You can’t upgrade the memory or any other component because Unified Memory Architecture typically means that memory is in the chip and directly soldered into the motherboard. Moreover, the SSD is also soldered on the motherboard. It is better to spend a few more bucks and buy a variant that can fulfill your needs for extended periods.  

Is MacBook Air Good for Video Editing? Conclusion

For beginner to intermediate-level editing, Macbook Air performs exceptionally well. It has a better screen and enhanced speakers necessary for video editing. The RAM and CPU are decent and can edit videos up to 1080p resolution effortlessly.

I won’t recommend editing 4K videos as it might heat the machine. If you have no budget constraints, I recommend you choose MacBook Air M2 2022 for video editing, as it is a much more powerful machine.