I am quite new in this forum, and I was trying to look for some advice from the earlier posts, but could not really find anything useful, yet! (I was probably blind or impatient to look through everything.) Although I am pretty sure you could help me.
I am looking for a laptop for Graphic Design; I mainly use Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator and Xd for studying. I have a pretty good desktop for all this, but I need a laptop so I can be more flexible.
My budget would be between £900-1300. Pros and cons are more then welcome if you guys have multiple suggestions.
Plus processors with U and undervolted, they have a low TDP and any sort of processing beyond the norm or that makes it heat (Thermal Design Power) will force it into the lower gears of the processor. This is known as throttling.
It’s very good for people on the go and only require very little processing, as the U processors are designed for portability ahead of production.
As you can see - 3700U vs 4800H
There is a massive difference in CPU mark.
There needs to be a cut-off at the bottom end where the specs just so low as to really start interfering with the usefulness of the computer for the job at hand. CPU speed, graphics cards, disc space, etc., are all things to weigh, but the most common thing that’s under-appreciated by many, in my opinion, is RAM.
A computer with 8GB of RAM might be OK for most people who use their computers for browsing the Internet, writing emails, checking Facebook and using MS Office apps. Consequently, 8GB is a very common configuration for many computers.
However, 8GB just won’t cut it for graphic design. It’s more or less usable, if you only open a program or two at a time, but hardly any of us work that way. Open Photoshop, Illustrator, a browser, an email client and whatever else might be running, and you’ll soon find yourself spending most of your time waiting for the computer to catch up. As already mentioned, 16GB is adequate, but if I were to buy a new computer today that I want to last for the next 3–5 years, I’d get 32GB.
I had like 30 seconds left in my break when I wrote that. LOL!
Of course all those other parameters are important too.
But like B said, I wouldn’t get one today with less than 32gigs of ram.
Indeed. But future proofing is important too.
You’re already spending a whack on them - so buy cheap, buy twice!
The most upgradeable parts in a PC Laptop is the RAM and the Storage.
So I wouldn’t skimp on the GPU to favour more RAM.
You can always maybe find a config that has a great CPU and a great GPU - but only 8gb RAM.
On that occasion, I’d favour this and buy replacement RAM.
I remember back to one of my first jobs back in nineteen-digity-two and I was working on an iMac one of those orange colour ones, but there were other colours. I had to close Quark, open Illustrator, make a change, save, close Illy, open Quark, check change, step and repeat til fixed.
I couldn’t have Quark or another program open at the same time. It was redonkulous!
Drove me mad. That computer nonetheless went on fire later that year, just burst into flames.
On a laptop, Ram may not be upgradeable. In many cases now, they are soldered in. Be very sure it’s user accessible before dropping money on 8gb.
I know we aren’t talking Macbook budget here (those are definitely NOT upgrade-able, not even by the Geniuses at the store) but some PCs are coming that way too now.
