Jun
25
Whether you’re creating a sleek new logo for your company or a magazine cover that’s popping with bright colors and interesting shapes, graphic designers need the right kind of laptop to get the job done. The most important thing is powerful hardware. For tasks like 3D modeling, you’re going to need a powerful CPU and a good amount of RAM. Depending on the size and complexity of the project, you may need a processor with multiple cores. Another essential piece of hardware is the graphics card. This is important if you’re working with massive textures.
If you’re not sure where to begin your search, don’t worry. We’ve assembled a list of top picks. Not only are these machines graphically powerful, but they’ve also got awesome screens for those times when detail and color accuracy are paramount. We’ve also included options at different price points. So, whatever your budget may be, we’ve got something for every type of graphic designer. If you’re looking for something different, be sure to check out our comprehensive roundup of the best laptops for all purposes.
Asus VivoBook Pro 16X OLED – Best overall
Pros
-
Beautiful 4K OLED displays
-
Long battery life
-
Useful DialPad tool
Cons
-
Design lacks flair
-
Lackluster webcam
Graphic designers need a high-quality display for their projects, which is why you should consider picking up the Asus VivoBook Pro 16X OLED. The 4K OLED display is absolutely stunning, as it produces vibrant colors and deep blacks. It’s also a good option for those who suffer from eye strain and tension headaches. If you’re to spend hours peering into a display, it might as well be a top-quality one. The VivoBook also packs a decent punch in the processing department.
The CPU is the Ryzen 9 5900HX, which should be plenty zippy for basic graphic design needs and general use. It also has 32GB of RAM and a whopping 1TB of PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD storage. That’s sufficient enough for multitasking or firing up a couple of applications simultaneously. There are a couple of trade-offs you should be aware of like the lackluster webcam and the temperamental fingerprint reader. Those drawbacks are fairly small, though. Overall, the VivoBook Pro is a great machine that any graphic designer would love.
Read our full Asus VivoBook Pro 16X OLED review
MSI GF76 Katana – Best value
Pros
-
Decent CPU performance
-
Interesting design with plenty of flair
-
Comfortable keyboard and trackpad
Cons
-
Lackluster GPU performance
-
The display lacks brightness
-
Audio produces less-than-stellar bass
If you’re working with an inflexible budget, the MSI GF76 Katana is the best bang for your buck. It comes with an Intel Core i7-12700H CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050Ti GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of PCle 4 SSD storage. In other words, this machine should be able to handle most design tasks with relative ease as well as everyday workloads. The GPU is a little underwhelming when running newer games, but MSI offers up to seven different configurations, so you can
