I asked a friend who does videos for school events, clubs etc.
He uses Magix. Got the video delux. He said "gut und günstig". That's all he wrote, I think the guy is busy tonight

A quick check showed me, that it's available at melectronics and definitely in your price range.

These days, almost all software is some sort of subscription.

You could switch to Apple and use either the included iMovie or buy Final Cut Pro X (a.k.a FCP).

https://www.apple.com/final-cut-pro/

MacOS also comes with a simple image editor software, Photos.

DaVinci resolve is said to be quite good and almost as fast as FCP.

3Wishes,

I am cheap and usually try first the open source stuff which are free but require a bit more effort to learn how to use it.

For photo editing - Darktable

For video - Cinelerra

First created by the French, second (really professional stuff that can be used in cinematography) crated by Italians.

I mean, there are other options......just saying.

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions so far. I have plenty to research now and discuss with Mr Wishes, not just on the software side but on the hardware side.

+1 for Cyberlink. For me, it was the right balance of capability vs. learning curve at the right price point. I've used it for about 3 years now and there are a ton of YouTube how-to videos if I get stuck. They seem to have gone to a subscription based model now which I am not jazzed about, but it is still well below Adobe's Suite's price point.

I run it on a similar rig as NAT and only have issues when I try to multiply video speed too much.

I would go this route again as a beginner.

Adobe offers some consumer grade software at a very reasonable price that may be worth exploring. It’s available with a free trial as well.

Adobe Premiere Elements
Adobe Photoshop Elements

The names are similar to what you might read about through the Adobe Creative Cloud software subscription service, but the software is architecturally different. It sounds as if you want a balance between ease of use and features and these two packages do that well.

Also if your computer has an I7 and decent graphics card, increasing the RAM to 16 or 32 may offer you a pleasantly surprising performance increase. Definitely look into this. I’d be very surprised if you had to buy a new computer to increase the RAN.

Additional RAM and capable software would make a nice gift too.

Unfortunately without knowing your PC or laptop specifications I will assume that any crashing or stuttering is down to your hardware not being powerful enough. Video editing needs a LOT of resources and without a high-end quad core processor and 16GB of RAM you will likely have performance issues if he is editing high quality footage.

While I know you mean well, ideally you really shouldn't be buying him this kind of "gift" blindly without knowing anything about it. He should be doing the research himself, choosing the software he likes to use best, and then telling you which to buy. Alternatively, he just needs to spend time with each free version to see if he can get along with any of them:

https://www.digitaltrends.com/comput...ting-software/

https://www.lifewire.com/best-free-v...ograms-4128924

https://www.oberlo.com/blog/best-fre...iting-software

The best video editing software for most people that you can buy is Adobe Premiere and it is very highly rated, but you will need a monthly subscription which adds to over 200chf per year. You have to really use it a lot to get that kind of value.

For images:

I am using Capture One Pro becasue:
- license is cheap for Sony and Fuji devices
- for my use, it replaces both Adobe Bridge and Lightroom
- I was fed up with Adobe business practise (from fragmented ecosystem to unfriendly subscription model), so at least for home use, I escaped it (sadly I am still using it at work)
Capture One was developed as supporting software for Phase One cameras, so you can be sure it's professional and in constant development.


info that Apple computers are better for image editing is like 20 years old. It just depends on the specs. I am monthly killing my office iMac with big projects and than I am just taking them home to finish on my 5 years old Window PC with tons of cheap RAM. Sometimes you just need bigger hammer.

i7 should be fine. definitely at least double the memory. If the graphics card is more than three or four years old, it's worth getting a new on.

It's just one possibility - they still have lifetime licenses.

One of the problems I've had with PowerDirector is that when it comes to large video files, it gets very slow. But with the "Video precut" tool which was introduced in v17, that might be resolved. Current version is v18 - 99CHF.

Same here, probably good and easy enough for you/him.

Only just saw your post.

Have just spent an intensive few months looking into this myself, from both land and diving videography. Experimenting and testing mainly with GoPro Hero 7 with editing from the MAC side (and there's not much reliable advice available on-line).

To cut to the chase, Mr Wishes needs to be aware that it really depends on the settings he is using e.g. 4k etc. The editing software and level of cool videos he wants to create not only plays a huge difference, but also the hardware capacity available - and this can be very high for 4k videos.

I personally would double the votes on iMovie (free with Apple products for simplicity but really great results, and then Final Cut Pro x (CHF 300.-) if you want to invest the effort to progress.

But that's only on the MAC environment.

Hope that he finds the right compromise, otherwise send me a PM

This. My daughter and brother-in-law do it for a living and the price tags for their Macs are frightening! Like 10k and upwards!

Okay, dumb question, and sort of taking my own thread OT, but... I don't know much about Apple/Mac/i-whatever products at all.

Why are they often touted as being so much better for graphic design, video, etc.?

I've no opposition to Mr Wishes changing to Mac if he wants, but I'm wondering why the hype both on i-whatevers and on Macs. It's like a religion for some people, and honestly the prices are a lot higher.

That definitely was the case 20 years ago. Not so much now.



Unless your husband is editing the next Avatar, he'll be fine with a Windows computer and one of the packages recommended here.

They're all much better than Movie Maker and with many more features.

I wouldn't change to Mac. As for speed, there will be no advantage compared to windows.
I've used both Mac and Win devices, and there is the urban, but popular legend that Mac "is so much better" than Win. While this may be true in the slightly easier general use on the operating system level, IMO it's never worth it due that it is "so much more expensive", this surely is true. And second there is much less software available on Mac, IMO the main reason not to switch to it.

You can find the hype primarily among the "creatives" in print and media professionals, students, not so tech-affine women also I would say, and it seems to deliver a satisfaction of "being different". I don't think there is more in it.

You know the joke (old 30 years I guess): You know why you will never be able to fill a harddisc on a Mac? Because you won't find enough software to download ...

Same as some old people still counted Opel as great car company. Old glory. As said above, 20 years ago Macs had superior screens and hardware/software combination that was much friendlier to work with (at the time) big files. And much better colour rendering and colour matching between screens.
In between they lost and than sometimes gain back that supremacy. Screens were in between ok, than mediocre, than again good. Windows bested them with colour support, but now Os is back in game, etc. Hardware was often lagging or was hard to upgrade.

Actually the whole Apple package is good stuff for good price, especially if you count in support. For sure it is not overpriced, but if you want to get something way above average, than you have to go custom and Apple is simply not in that business.

I haven't heard Mr Wishes mention Mac at all, btw. It came to my mind as this thread started to drift into hardware as well as software. I don't think he'd want to pay the premium price unless it's light years better.

All I want is for him to be able to happily edit all his photos and movies and make vacation movies for friends and family without too much hassle. Happy Hubby = Happy Wife.

Movie Maker isn't cutting it, and it seems likely that his computer specs are a bit sub-standard for what he wants to do. I'll start looking into all these suggestions. Something is bound to tick the boxes.

Because they used to be better, they're more often used by the technology ignorant, look pretty... and are the industry standard.

If I wanted a computer that was dedicated to video editing and related activities, I'd build my own PC (from components), and install Linux on it. DaVinci Resolve runs on Linux (as well as Mac OS X and Windows). Then I wouldn't have to worry about MS screwing up an Win10 update... again...

Just give a budget and people can recommend hardware. Watching you thrash around blindly is a little painful as in the end your husband isn't going to be happy if you his wife, who know absolutely nothing about the subject at hand, make the choices for him.

1. What is your maximum realistic budget for a new laptop (ie: what you are happy/comfortable spending considering he will have it for the next few years)?
2. 15" or 17" screen size?

Answer those two questions and we will find you the best spec for your money a lot quicker and easier than you or he will. Spoiler: it won't be a Mac.

PS: Sorry if I sound blunt but after a lifetime working with technology and helping people I really prefer a common sense approach with this stuff, there is no use making tons of lengthy posts about how "you will figure it out" blah blah when you don't have the knowledge to do so. Let us do that for you.

For video editing a laptop will always be sub-optimal( probably also for photo editing). You want as much screen real-estate as you can. I use two 24" monitors. You also need rather a lot of disk space, which mitigates against a laptop. I use a mixture of SDDs and HDDs.

Good idea.