Will DaVinci Resolve work comfortably on the new Surface in 2021?

Question

Along with the start of Windows 11, the new Surface will be released in the fall of 2021. Will DaVinci Resolve work smoothly?

Answer

(For fear of misunderstanding, let me first point out that the person writing this article is a Windows user.)

It seems that the MacBook Air with the M1 chip is said to be a rival for the time being, but
in conclusion, I think the next choice is better.


  • Choose a MacBook Air with M1 chip (16GB memory configuration) using the free version of DaVinci Resolve
  • using the paid version of DaVinci Resolve Studio
    (16GB memory configuration)
    or
    Surface Laptop Studio GeForce RTX™ 3050 Ti (4GB) or RTX A2000 (4GB) model

Considering the comparison on the premise of using the free version...

The free version of DaVinci Resolve is limited to the Windows version, and GPU processing during decoding/encoding is limited. The size of the MacBook Air is also higher. There is no need to compare specs.

Comparison based on the premise of using the paid version

FullHD is comfortable with Surface Laptop Studio's GeForce RTX™ 3050 Ti (4GB).
His graphics memory is 4GB, so it's a little worrisome when doing heavy processing in 4K, but with optimized or proxy media it's mostly fine. This is the same as handling 4K material on a MacBook Air with an M1 chip. Core™ i7, 1TB SSD, main memory 16GB or 32GB RAM, this is enough performance.
32GB is recommended if possible. Graphics NVIDIA ® RTX A2000 (4GB) is a Quadro system, so 3D CAD applications are the main customer models. It also works here, but compared to the GeForce RTX™ 3050 Ti (4GB), the cost performance should not be good. (Since the price of the corporate model is unknown, it is assumed at the price of a general Quadro model.)

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Other models of Surface have poor graphics performance and are not recommended for purchase for DaVinci Resolve.

After all, 4GB of graphic memory is a concern. I'm a little worried about scenes that use a lot of GPU memory, such as rendering processing. 8GB of VRAM is recommended for 4K. I'm worried about memory, but the processing power of the latest 3050 Ti and RTX A2000 itself is super powerful.

However, if you mainly use cut editing, there is no problem. A notebook PC with VRAM (video memory) exceeding 8GB will be a heavy workstation notebook and is not recommended. So the Surface is a good compromise for the thinnest and highest specs available today.

Unless the price you care about is several percent cheaper than the MacBook Air with the M1 chip, I can't recommend it as a dedicated DaVinci Resolve.
If you buy a MacBook Air with an M1 chip, we strongly recommend purchasing the 16GB model instead of the 8GB memory. Especially with 4K editing, 8GB is unreliable. Version 17.3 has been optimized for MacBook Air with M1 chip, greatly improving comfort. In addition, the processing power of the M1 chip itself is also high, so it is considered that there is not much difference even with the Surface Laptop Studio equipped with a GPU.

Conclusion

The free version is a MacBook Air with an M1 chip (memory 16GB).

The paid version is MacBook Air with M1 chip (16GB memory) or GeForce RTX™ 3050 Ti (4GB) with Surface Laptop Studio.

Of course, if you prioritize the operation of other Windows apps in any case, I think Surface Laptop Studio will be the only choice.

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