Quick Processor Advice

[zac_dilone]

I'm buying a laptop for editing on the go (I travel a lot for work). I have a smokin' desktop at home for Premiere Pro CC, and don't need something as powerful for mobile use, just something that won't give me headaches.

I'm on a limited budget, so I'd appreciate your quick advice. In your opinion, which of these will serve me better in a laptop?

1)  Intel Core i5-8250U (Quad-Core) 1.6GHz with integrated HD 620 graphics

2) Intel Core i5-6200U (Dual-Core) 2.3GHz with a dedicated AMD Radeon R5 M430 GPU

Both machines have 8GB of DDR4 RAM (which I would plan to upgrade)

I know how vastly different the processors are, but I'm wondering if the dedicated GPU makes enough of a difference to go with the older, slower CPU.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[kglad]

[moved from Adobe Creative Cloud to Hardware Forum]

[Peru Bob]

I wouldn't recommend either one.

[RjL190365]

I also agree with Peru Bob, for some more detailed reasons:

1) The first combo requires you to upgrade the RAM right away before you can even run Premiere Pro CC at all because any integrated graphics will leave you with less than 8GB of free, usable RAM due to such graphics stealing a portion of that RAM for itself.

2) The second option not only has a weakling CPU, but also a weakling GPU: It is a cut-down version of a GPU that dates back six years. Combine that with crummy, extremely-low-bandwidth DDR3 VRAM (only 14.4 GB/second), and you have a discrete GPU that's no better than the integrated Intel HD Graphics 520 that's on that CPU as far as GPU-accelerated performance in Adobe Premiere is concerned.

And in both of those systems, you're at the mercy of either software-only MPE or OpenCL-accelerated MPE that's still significantly slower than CUDA-accelerated MPE (which neither of those two laptops supports at all) – all because Adobe has not significantly updated the MPE in the past several years now.

The end result is that both of those laptops will give you severe headaches when it comes to video editing performance.

Randall

[Bill_Gehrke]

I have to agree with the above comments and I would not consider anything less than something like this refurbished Asus laptop

after doing a little searching.  Also found this used unit on EBay for $570.  It just so happens to be a slightly later version of what I am using and am delighted with..  One of the neat things about this is it is very easily upgradeable as you go on.  It of course is considerably more expensive at $770 than your units but it has a reasonable speed i7 quad core CPU with hyperthreading, an nVidia 860M 2GB CUDA GPU and very simple memory upgrade ability.  Also it has two disk capability so you can install a SSD and clone your operating system on it for faster bootup time.  Here is the picture of my G750JW showing the readily availability of the RAM slots anf the two disk drive places.

[Bill_Gehrke]

zac_dilone  wrote

I know how vastly different the processors are, but I'm wondering if the dedicated GPU makes enough of a difference to go with the older, slower CPU.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Second thoughts:  No GPU will ever compensate for a weak CPU!

[RjL190365]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Bill+Gehrke  wrote

Second thoughts:  No GPU will ever compensate for a weak CPU!

That's correct, when it comes to performance on a real life project. You see, relatively few rendering features use the GPU heavily; most use only the CPU while some use a combination of both (a lot of CPU with some GPU usage).

The OP is really stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to the choice of laptop configurations. Either the CPU is too weak - period (in the case of the second listed laptop), or the relatively strong CPU is let down seriously by subpar graphics performance (in the case of the first system).

[marks99851002]

Hi Zac --

Did you ever finally buy something?  I have a similar question wondering if an i5-8250U laptop w/ 16GB and SSD would be workable for occasional light use of Premiere when I travel.  This 8th Gen 4-core chip should perform very differently from an i5-7XXXU -- and I would love to get a report from the real world

Thanks,

Mark

[RjL190365]

Mark,

I do not have an 8th-generation i5- or i7-8xxxU CPU-based laptop. Unfortunately, unless the laptop manufacturer either disables or provides a way in the UEFI to disable the integrated Intel graphics, you'll be stuck with software-only MPE in Premiere (which almost always means excruciatingly slow rendering) because currently available Intel graphics drivers do not work properly for OpenCL on any 6xx-series HD or UHD graphics.

[marks99851002]

Thanks!  I definitely understand your point.  And understand the value of GPU processing.

I am still trying to find some user report about their experience with light editing on a i5-8XXXU or i7-8XXXU laptop w/ no added GFX card, just the built-in UHD 620 graphics.   No doubt, renders times could be long.  But I'm wondering if general editing, trimming, timeline playback, etc. be "OK" for cutting and reviewing simple sequences w/ compressed 4K footage.