What’s the best laptop for illustrators and designers in 2022? This list of the best laptops for photo editing, graphic design, and illustration can help you decide which laptop will suit your needs the best. All of the laptops on this list are optimal in terms of performance, portability, and price to make them the best laptops for illustrators and designers in 2022.
Since you’re reading this, we’re sure that you’re looking to start your career as an illustrator or designer, but we understand that the laptop field can be confusing to the young and inexperienced. It seems that there are thousands of different models from dozens of different brands, each with their own pros and cons, but which one do you choose? We’ve put together this list of three laptops for illustrators and designers specifically in order to answer that question!
In the world of technology, this has been the year in which we have seen the biggest innovation in laptops. This year saw the birth of ultrabooks, which have changed our perception of what laptops can be. As we have seen them become thinner and lighter and more powerful at the same time, it’s natural that many of us are wondering which one to buy now, if you’re in need of a new laptop.
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Following Best Laptops for illustrators and designers
What’s the best laptop for illustrators and designers in 2019? In this article, we look at three laptops, from low-cost to high-cost, to help you make the right decision in picking your next work laptop. Whether you’re just starting out as an artist or designer, or you’re trying to upgrade from an old computer that can barely handle your latest graphics software, there are lots of options available to you when it comes to choosing your next notebook computer for the art world.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 | |
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No products found. Microsoft’s newest version of their classic laptop offers a premium build in their signature midnight blue color, along with an Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB SSD. The laptop does have only one USB-C port, but Microsoft’s proprietary Surface Connector is still included for charging purposes. With an i5-8250U processor, a 15.6 display, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD starting at $949; it is not just one of our favorite laptops in its class but also one of our favorite laptops overall. This model offers one of Microsoft’s newest chips, known as Coffee Lake Refresh, which provides more powerful performance in a smaller package than previous Intel processors. It has an 8th-generation Intel Core i5 or i7 processor, up to 16GB of RAM, 1TB of storage with a 128GB solid-state drive and a 13.5′′ display with 3:2 aspect ratio (the same as most drawing tablets). The battery can last up to 14 hours on a single charge.
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Dell XPS 15 9500 | |
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No products found. Dell XPS 15 9500 is a very powerful laptop, indeed, with a quality 4K display, an i7 processor and even an Nvidia graphics card. It’s not cheap but it’s still a good option if you want to buy quality. This laptop has an Intel i7 quad-core processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. It comes with dedicated NVIDIA GeForce 1050 graphics card, 14 inch 1920 x 1080p display, Thunderbolt 3 port, etc. The only downside is that it costs over $2500 in Amazon. The Dell XPS 15 9500 is a complete redesign of its predecessors, in many ways. It has very little in common with its direct predecessor, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing—this laptop is a looker, there’s no doubt about that.
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Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6 | |
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No products found. If you’re looking for a laptop that will just work, then Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6 is a good choice. It boasts up to 18 hours of battery life, which is especially impressive when you consider it also has an OLED display with 360-degree hinge. You can use it as a traditional laptop or as a tablet, thanks to its touchscreen display. This laptop is one of Lenovo’s best options. It has a beautiful touch screen, support pen, Windows 10 Professional and 2-in-1 design. It doesn’t have discrete graphics card, but works great as a design laptop with Intel HD Graphics 6000. The sixth generation of Lenovo’s popular yoga laptops are now out, with a 15-inch screen, QHD resolution and one of Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1050 Max-Q cards available. The laptop has a premium build quality, responsive keyboard and is relatively light for a 15-inch device. If you need more power or graphics capability, there’s an X1 Extreme version also available.
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GIGABYTE AERO 17 HDR | |
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No products found. This one has a 17.3-inch full HD display with a 144Hz refresh rate, Windows 10 Home, an Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, 1TB M.2 SSD, GTX 1070 graphics and USB Type-C connectivity. The starting price is $2,400 at Amazon. Designed with gaming in mind, it has an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card and features a 7th-generation Intel Core i7-7700HQ processor. It is powered by a 3 cell lithium ion battery, it measures 15.4 x 10.4 x 0.9 inches and weighs 5 pounds (1.2kg). The colors are black or silver with red accents around backlit keyboard keys. This laptop, in particular, is one of our favorites for its excellent battery life. When you’re using professional programs such as Photoshop or CAD, having a laptop that can sustain a good amount of time on a single charge is extremely useful. The 16GB of RAM also gives it an edge over other laptops.
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Acer Aspire 5 A515 | |
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No products found. This lightweight laptop is ideal for all students, not only because it’s lightweight but also because of its performance. With a large battery capacity (7200 mAh), you can enjoy up to 12 hours of battery life on a single charge. The laptop has an Intel Celeron N3350 processor with 6 GB RAM which will ensure smooth work even if you are a heavy user. The Acer Aspire 5 A515 is an inexpensive laptop that comes with a full HD screen (1,920 x 1,080), solid-state drive, 8th Gen Intel Core i5 processor, and 8GB of RAM. It also comes with lots of ports (2 USB 3.0 ports, 2 USB 2.0 ports, HDMI out port) and has a USB Type-C port as well so you can charge your computer using your laptop. This 15.6 laptop has an 8th Generation Intel Core i5-8250U processor, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB solid state drive, 1TB hard drive, and a 14 1080p IPS display with integrated graphics. This $499 model from Acer is packed with all sorts of great features like a touch screen display with multi-touch gestures.
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ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 | |
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No products found. is a powerful portable laptop, equipped with an Intel Core i7-8750H 2.2 GHz processor, 16 GB of DDR4 memory, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Max-Q graphics card with 8 GB of GDDR5 VRAM, 512 GB SSD storage capacity (PCIe), 1 TB SSHD hybrid drive and 15.6 inches Full HD display. It has Windows 10 operating system installed on it. You can buy it on Amazon at $1,997.99. There are many laptops in stores that are good enough, but only a few of them reach levels we could call unbeatable. The ROG Zephyrus G14 is one of these cases. It’s a perfect combination between style, design, power, battery life and performance that makes it unique compared to any other laptop on the market at present. (Price $1,599) ASUS has just launched a very new laptop that comes with an Intel Core i7-8750H processor, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 GPU, 16GB of RAM memory type DDR4 SDRAM 2400MHz, 512GB SSD storage drive. Other interesting features of ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 are: It comes with a 14.0-inch Full HD display panel at 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution (full HD), it weighs only 2.3 lbs.
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Conclusion
If you are looking for a laptop to use when it comes to art, design, or photography, and your budget is between $1000 to $1500, we recommend you buy one of these: Macbook Pro 15 2018, Asus ZenBook Pro UX550GE-DS74T or Dell XPS 15 9570. However, if you’re not restricted in the budget, at least get an I7 quad-core processor with 16 GBs of RAM.
If you’re looking to buy a laptop as an artist or designer, we suggest you pick one of these options: MacBook Pro 15 inches, Microsoft Surface Book 2, or Apple Macbook Air. Each of them will give you everything you need and then some. However, we recommend getting a 15-inch model because it offers better performance and screen real estate than smaller models in our opinion. Always remember that all three brands have high customer satisfaction scores, even though opinions may differ about what each company does best.
