Help with 4k UHD video workflow

Okay I have a Panasonic camera that records in 4K UHD, I am looking for a workflow that is straight forward and I don't compromise on quality to much. I am just using a macbook book air so I don't have the fastest processor in the world but I can get by. I am quite happy to use iMovie, I have used FCPX on this computer but its a bit over the top for my needs and its slow which I understand I have noticed that when I import the original 4K UHD video in FCPX in the past & iMovie the picture looks like its lacking top quality and its lost that look that i originally shot in however when I play it using Quicktime its great. I have read lots of different stories about and different programs that you need & what the process is but I am not 100% entirely convinced. I am just looking to put my stuff on Youtube and thats its, its not very anything professional however if I have the 4KUHD I may as well use it instead of 1080p. If there is somebody who could help me do this right the first time around. Its seems that the technology is a bit ahead of the tools at my level anyway. I think I know about the exporting although I can't be working with 8Gig files at a time

Unless you're exceptionally patient, 4K on a MacBook Air is ... well it's just not going to work very well. I'm surprised to hear that you can make it work at all -- the limited RAM and boot space on the MBA would make that proposition fairly untenable. At minimum I'd have suggested a top-of-the-line MacBook Pro with large-capacity SSDs (internal and external) for smooth operation, or ideally (and one of only two Macs actually designed for 4K work) an iMac 5K Retina.

Thanks Chas, Those MBP are not cheap but I am sure I will reap the benefits, that said I could always buy second hand I suppose.

With what you want Chas_m is correct - you need a beefier computer. You are looking at large files and a lot of encoding time. 5k iMac or a mac pro with as much memory and ssd drives would get my vote.

Lisa