HOW TO CHOOSE A LAPTOP FOR GRAPHIC DESIGNERS
Whether you are a professional graphic designer or still a newbie to the world of designing, a laptop becomes the very essential part of your life.
The people who are already familiar with different laptop requirements like RAM, Graphics Card, HDD, SSD and much more won’t have much problem in finding a good laptop, people who are not familiar with these terms and their usage might have some difficulties.
Choosing a good laptop becomes a daunting task for these people because the cost of laptops that is used for designing is quite expensive and after you have bought one, there’s no going back.
This creates serious nervousness in the mind of many people while going to buy a laptop.
However, to help these people out I will present some wondrous tips from my experience that have helped me in finding the best laptop for me which I have been using for 2 years now without undergoing any complications or problems at all.
TIPS TO FIND A GOOD LAPTOP
1) Check the System Requirements for Software
The first tip is to check the system requirements of the software that you are going to use. Usually, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe After Effects are used by most beginners and many intermediate designers for designing and animation. And the requirements of these software’s are easily available on the internet for us to gain. By checking their system requirements you can easily get a rough idea of the system specifications you are going to need.
2) Recommended by Professionals and Colleagues
The most help I got while searching for a designing laptop was from one of my colleagues. He gave me the rough ideas for most of the things I need to look for in a laptop and that helped me quite a lot. Now you might not have many friends in this field, but you might have friends that are familiar with the world of technology and knows the different requirements you need for designing.
Even if they are not familiar with designing, you can ask them about gaming laptop’s requirements because the graphics designing software and heavy laptop games require similar specifications. By asking your friends or colleagues who already know about most laptop functioning, you can easily find a good laptop for designing.
I am also adding some common requirements that I found after researching for a good designing laptop.
- Ram should be 8 GB or more for faster processing
- A good Processor like Ryzen 5 or higher
- The SSD is much more important than HDD and you should choose a laptop that gives at least 256 GB SSD or higher
- You should not compromise on the Graphics card and should go for a well-known company and get a 2GB or higher Graphics Card
- RGB color keyboard might look fancy at first but it gets tedious later and decreases the battery life of your laptop, choose wisely
- Choose a laptop that provides higher color accuracy
3) Reviews
After you have selected a laptop or its specifications, now it’s time to research it on the internet. Many websites provide every specific detail about most laptops and also provides you with the reviews of the users that have already purchased the laptop.
This can help you to find out both the pros and cons of the laptop and can help you make a better decision.
4) Stay Updated
Many people make the mistake of not staying updated while buying a laptop. Technology is growing very rapidly every moment and it’s important to find out if the software you are going to use just got a new version and requires different system requirements now. Staying updated is necessary while buying a laptop and can help you to prevent making a mistake while purchasing.
Bonus Tip: Comparing
While buying a laptop, one of the important things that can help you choose a better laptop is to compare the laptops. Comparing laptops that are in the same price range, and their benefits and specifications are also similar to the one you are thinking of buying is very important. Don’t just go for some parts like battery backup, or a higher number of Ram, rather check all the components and find out which provides you more value for your money than the other.
Now I will answer some common queries many laptop buyers have
- A LAPTOP OR A PC?
If you are a beginner or haven’t owned a pc or laptop before, it might be hard for you to choose between the two. Many people will also confuse you because some advantages make pc superior to the laptop and some disadvantages make it less superior.
My advice is to choose the one that suits your needs rather than what others tell you. Most designers that work from home or are mostly freelancers will choose a pc over the laptop because they can be upgraded easily most of the time and they also provide higher performance than most laptops.
Other designers that work as an employee in the company or travel frequently while designing will mostly prefer a laptop because they can be carry it easily from one place to another without any difficulties.
In the end, it’s the choice of the buyer to choose between the two as everyone has different needs, and choosing according to needs helps in making a more solid decision.
- WINDOWS OR MAC
Most of the people have this trouble while searching for a good laptop and the reason behind this is there is quite tough competition between these two renowned companies.
However, you can easily decide which one to choose if you look at your budget. The price range of windows and MAC differs by a ton and when you want to buy a laptop for designing, the prices go sky-high. Choosing a laptop that not only suits your needs but your budget as well makes this decision quite easy.
- BUY ONLINE OR OFFLINE?
Instead of spending your time thinking about whether you should buy online or offline why not use both of these sources for your advantage. You can go to offline stores to get a rough idea of the laptop specifications or a laptop model. Later you can check about the laptop or its specifications online and find out the reviews of the people.
Then you can go for the platform that provides you a better deal than other as most trusted laptops company that have their e-commerce store provides regular discounts to their customer online.
CONCLUSION
Choosing a laptop for designing requires time to properly check and compare different laptops. Not only time, but a graphic designing laptop also requires a good budget because most software’s that helps in designing requires heavy system requirements.
However, the cost and time you spend on the laptop is only one percent of the benefits you may gain through it.