Video editing is a demanding workload for a PC, and thus, you need some powerful specs to do it. Finding the right laptop for the job can be hard, but if you're wondering whether the Dell XPS 15 is good for video editing, don't worry. The XPS 15 is one of the best Dell laptops out there, it's deceptively compact, and it can absolutely be set up as a video editing rig. However, there are some things you need to look out for.

What you need for a video editing PC

This will naturally depend on the kind of video editing you're doing, but if you're looking specifically for a good video editing laptop, it's probably because that's part of your daily life. As such, it's good to get a powerful machine to save you time. The first thing you need for a video editing machine is a powerful CPU, especially with a high core count. Most CPUs you'll find on modern laptops have at least four cores, but it's good to go a bit higher if you can.

You're also going to want a good GPU to go along with this. Video editing tools were primarily developed with a focus on the CPU for a while, but many of them support GPU acceleration now. As such, a powerful GPU can also greatly speed up video rendering times.

Two other things you'll want are a solid amount of RAM -- 16GB is probably the minimum we'd recommend -- and storage for your source video files, the project, and the final result. Making videos will quickly eat up space on your drive, so having a lot of storage is also important.

Finally, one thing that might be overlooked is having a sharp and color-accurate display. The better you can see your video while editing, the better the final result will be, and a color-accurate display helps ensure your video will look good on any device people watch it on.

Does the Dell XPS 15 have what I need for video editing?

Thankfully yes, the Dell XPS 15 meets all of these requirements -- as long as you pick the right configuration. The base configuration of this laptop includes an Intel Core i5-11400H CPU without a dedicated CPU. This being a 6-core CPU means it's not too shabby already, but you may suffer from not having a dedicated GPU as well. This will be more important if you're working with 4K video though. This base configuration also only has 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, so it's not ideal.

If you want this to be a video editing rig, we recommend upgrading to the Intel Core i7-11800H processor, along with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 and 16GB of RAM. This gives you an 8-core CPU, a powerful graphics card (even if it's not top-of-the-range), and a solid amount of RAM to boot. You also get at least 512GB of storage this way, so you can store a few more video files. However, you can be as wild as you want to be here. The XPS 15 is available with up to an Intel Core i9-11900H, a GeForce RTX 3050 Ti graphics card, and a whopping 64GB of RAM. You can also get up to 4TB of storage, so this is an incredibly powerful machine for video editing.

Then there's the matter of the display. The base configuration of the Dell XPS 15 comes with a Full HD+ (1920 x 1200) panel, which is fine, but not ideal for video editing. However, you can upgrade to a beautiful 3.5K (3456 x 2160) OLED panel, or go all the way to an Ultra HD+ (3840 x 2400) display. Both of these make it a phenomenal viewing and editing experience. The OLED panel promises 100% coverage of DCI-P3, while the Ultra HD+ model touts 100% of Adobe RGB. Both will give you very accurate colors, although the OLED panel will also give you better contrast since all of the pixels have independent backlighting.

If you've decided you want the Dell XPS 15 to be your next video editing rig, you can find it below. The configuration we're listing below includes an Intel Core i7-11800H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti, 16GB of RAM, and the 3.5K OLED panel, so you're bound to have a great experience already. However, you can fully configure the Dell XPS 15 on Dell's website if you want to adjust each of the components to your taste. If you're not convinced, check out our list of the best laptops for video editing, and if editing isn't your biggest priority, check out the best laptops in general.