It's not easy to find laptops for video editing, which is why most aspiring filmmakers stick to desktops when they run their editing software. The truth is that programs such as Adobe Premiere and Final Cut Pro require tremendous outlays of hard drive speed and processing juice. Try running them on most portable machines and you may be met with little more than an overheated device and some frustrated users.

Thankfully, laptops are now beginning to arrive with more advanced cooling systems, longer battery life and crisp, high-resolution screens. Even longtime editors are finding hours in the day that were once devoted to transit can now be spent effectively rolling ends of clips together and laying multiple video tracks over the same audio. In short, all the things you could once do only on a dedicated Avid workstation are now available no matter where you go.

Where to Buy

It may not surprise you to find out that with the exception of Apple, the major Wintel manufacturers have yet to throw any real money behind this kind of work. Maybe it's the small consumer base, maybe the difficulty of designing hardware to such exacting specifications, but many manufacturers are leaving this niche market to the niche players. The good news is that many of them seem to know what they're doing.

Smaller laptop builders like ProStar are gaining a foothold in editing for one simple reason. Their high-end powerhouse notebooks tend to boast gigs of RAM and the very latest Pentium 4 chips, all wrapped in a speedy motherboard. For film buffs and home hobbyists, there may be no brighter choice these days.