What are the best laptops for graphic designers? There is no single laptop that is best for a particular task. Some laptops excel at a variety of related demanding tasks.
When you are thinking about design, you are thinking about Photoshop, Illustrator, or CAD software. Adobe Suite is perhaps the most popular. It is a powerful design suite. Other designer suites are just as powerful. Powerful software demands fast hardware.
First of all, a designer’s laptop must be well built. You can’t expect to get an inexpensive laptop and run design software well on it. Software like design software requires power
Design software requires powerful hardware. That doesn’t mean the exterior shouldn’t look good too. It should be a reliable laptop. Most people would tell you that Apple Macbooks are best suited for designers. But then comes a matter of taste.
Mac OS provides a smooth computing experience, while Windows is easy to use but also prone to errors. During its development, Mac OS went through several optimizations that make it fast. And it is also efficient in the use of hardware.
That’s why most Apple laptops tend to get away with just the right amount of gear. The software written for them is overly well optimized and works well with what the system has to offer.
If you like Windows more than Mac OS, all is not lost. There are a few new laptop models on the market that you should consider. These notebooks include powerful hardware. They can carry fast Core i7 processors, 8-16GB of RAM, an SSD, and a dedicated GPU. Don’t let this fool you; Manufacturers designed these laptops for gaming.
Some of these machines come with IPS panels. The IPS panel offers high color accuracy, greater viewing angles, and excellent brightness.
These screens are more suitable for designers than anyone else. IPS isn’t that great for gamers, as its response times can be a bit higher than gaming-ready panels.
The type of panel is important, but the size of the screen is another thing to consider. You don’t want to run design software on small screens. The artist’s canvas should be large enough so that you can get a clear picture of everything that is happening. But also let them zoom at the pixel level and make minute corrections.
So what should a laptop incorporate for a graphic designer?
Well, it should include only recent hardware to enjoy higher speeds and energy efficiency. This means that they will carry an Intel Core i5 processor or Intel’s even better Core i7 CPU.
The RAM will be in the 8-16GB range as this will allow you to run multiple software programs in parallel.
The more RAM you have, the better multitasking. A large amount of RAM means that you can run many programs at the same time.
Photoshop and Illustrator, along with a web browser with multiple tabs open for inspiration. Multiple open browser tabs and programs are a typical setup in the designer’s workflow. This is how an artist works. They need a lot of processing power, along with a lot of memory. The software they run requires large amounts of processing.
The storage used must be an SSD. These drives are much faster than normal hard drives. Hard drives, which you can find in conventional notebooks, are outdated in today’s workflow. They cannot meet the requirements of a web designer. Also, SSDs are up to 10 times faster than normal hard drives.
