I've been helping some friends who want to get into video editing but they're working with pretty old hardware. We're talking computers with 4GB RAM, integrated graphics, and older CPUs. What lightweight video editor would you recommend that actually works well on these kinds of systems? I've tried a few but they either crash or run painfully slow. Looking for something that's truly lightweight and won't require a powerful PC.
I've been using Shotcut on my older laptop and it's been surprisingly good. It's a free lightweight video editor that doesn't need much RAM. The interface takes some getting used to but once you figure it out, it handles basic editing pretty well even on older hardware. The best part is it doesn't require a powerful PC at all.
For truly lightweight video editing software, I'd recommend checking out OpenShot. It's designed to work on older systems and has minimal requirements. I've used it on a laptop with only 4GB RAM and integrated graphics, and it handled 1080p footage okay. Not the fastest render times but it didn't crash, which is more than I can say for some other options.
In my testing, DaVinci Resolve actually has a surprisingly good performance mode for low-end systems if you tweak the settings. It's not what most people think of as lightweight video editor software, but if you turn off GPU acceleration and work with proxy files, it can run on some pretty modest hardware. The free version is incredibly powerful for what it costs (nothing).
I tried Kdenlive on my school laptop and it worked pretty well considering the specs. It's another free option that doesn't need a powerful PC. The learning curve was a bit steep at first but there are good tutorials online. For basic editing on older computers, it's definitely worth checking out.
If you're on Windows, the built-in Video Editor (the one that replaced Movie Maker) is actually not bad for super basic stuff. It's about as lightweight as you can get since it's already part of the OS. Obviously limited features but for simple trimming and combining clips on really old hardware, it might be enough.
I've been using Olive Video Editor lately and it's been working well on my low-spec system. It's still in development but the current version is pretty stable for basic editing. The interface is clean and it doesn't seem to need much RAM. Definitely one of the better free video editing software options for older hardware I've tried.