technology

The specs for the laptop you listed show it only supports up to 2x16GB RAM sticks, not 64 (it still might but they didn't list it, I wouldn't risk it unless you find a specsheet that confirms it can do 64 in 2x32 sticks). Also, you'd need DDR5 SODIMMS, not DDR4. You cannot use DDR4 sticks in DDR5 motherboards/laptops and vice versa, and laptop RAM sticks (SODIMM) are smaller than desktop sized DIMMs.

The CPU and SSD it comes with will be fast enough, though maybe you'll want a larger SSD if you're working with big video files. Not sure about the 4060 mobile version, it's probably enough but don't expect it to reach desktop 4060 performance.

The biggest issue I have with the laptop you listed is the screen, some models are only 45% NTSC, which is absolutely awful colour rendering. If you don't care about colour accuracy or have an external monitor that is better, that's fine. Otherwise try to find one with 72% NTSC coverage.

If you will be learning from people who already know what they’re doing and working with them, disregard all input and get what they use. It doesn’t matter what is best, smart or in budget if youre gonna be part of a team you gotta wear the uniform.

you sure you can't dodge intel via latest amd? or is davinci shit on integrated amd graphics?

(but nvidia won't do shenanigans inside program, it's for games. also consider display resolution for video, it where shit display will matter a lot)

You will want as much RAM as possible.

Are you the computerscare from that one podcast's patreon?

im hesitant about NVIDIA’s whole boasting about their card using AI driven graphics

I think your video editing is safe, they're talking about using AI to draw intermediate frames in video games.

I'm not much of an editor (kden-live), but usually lots of RAM and a fast SSD are the main things for decent performance. The CPU/GPU is used most heavily for rendering the final video in my experience. If you are not rendering out a super long video too often, then most modern many core CPUs should be good. Maybe DaVinci has more utilization of CPU/GPU when editing than Kden. I'd focus on lots of cores (vCPUs), RAM and the fastest SSD you can get (PCIE vs SATA).

Be mindful an awful lot of laptops these days solder in the RAM (meaning it is not replaceable by you or your local computer shop). Even those that don't often have one socket soldered, the other user changeable which still presents a problem as most RAM kits are two sticks. Be extra careful checking that won't be a problem and/or be sure there is a decent return policy for the box being opened. For video editing 32GB would be the minimum you can skate by with and I'd suggest 64GB as you muse about but it is likely an area you can sacrifice on for other needs as long as you don't go below 32GB plus a video card with some RAM of its own. Also understand many laptops use low profile RAM for space reasons which isn't the same as full size desktop RAM and they are not compatible with each other.

In other words for the RAM make sure it's either not soldered in or if you can only find machines with soldered RAM you'll need to pony up for something with more RAM out of the gate (32GB should be fine in that case, they charge two legs and an arm for 64GB from the factory).

Another thing is HEAT. I am hearing a lot of things about modern laptops with the modern intel chips where they put these incredibly inadequate heatsinks on them and they throttle performance like crazy as a result and there's often not much at all you can do (some allow some modding of them but it's a pain and typically only goes so far). Just because it has an i9 doesn't mean it has heatsinks that allow that i9 to perform even as well as an i5 on a desktop with a large, efficient tower cooler. I've seen lately some people noticing the latest machines throttling merely on bursts of activity but the truth is you need a machine that doesn't throttle with hours of all cores pegged to the max as transcoding (unless done on GPU which you can if you want but it's considered worse, especially at low bitrates) will generate a lot of heat and use a lot of energy. Even if you are using GPU transcoding there are a lot of operations like filters that can only be done in the CPU so you need something that won't throttle down to a slow grind after some minutes of all cores pushed to the max. I'm admittedly unaware of if DaVinci takes advantage of GPU encoding/transcoding and acceleration or not.

I've been rocking a Thinkpad X1 for a few years, mainly because I got tired of occasionally lugging around heavier workstation laptops from HP and Dell. Thermals are an issue for intense work so a cooling stand is essential. Also if editing higher res video on a laptop, you should look into editing with proxy files or if your team is familiar with that kind of workflow.

As far as GPU AI features, you are able to toggle global/in-app as needed - it is not forced on you.

I said just use what your “team” uses in another post, and that’s still the right answer, but if you’re not gonna do that:

Get a mac if you’re gonna actually do any laptop shit with it. If you already have a laptop or seriously can’t make that jump or don’t wanna do that or have to work with a software stack that requires pc+gpu then just build a desktop pc to use as a render node or actually consider getting a mac desktop as well.

They’re very fast at what you’re describing doing.