Good evening. I’m new of the forum.
I’m looking for an good laptop for graphic design since i ever worked With really budget Windows computer and now i Need an good laptop that works for the next 5 years.
So doesnt matter if Windows or Mac as long It s an good PC for work good on It.
I’m totally unexpert With laptop since i ever worked With Desktop, so i Hope you can help me With this choice cause i want to avoid bad choices and to not throw Money in something isnt worth.
My budget Is 2500€.
16gb ram min
1tb hard drive min
Backup drive (internal or external)
And processor should be any mid to high end processor, and not U
Macs are pretty standard m1 or m2 these days.
Graphics card if you are doing vid/animation
Where are you buying from? 2500 is a good budget
What graphic design you doing exactly?
Im from Italy . I Need to do Graphic and Animation since i Need to make a lot of practice for to learn
In addition to what Smurf2 said…
Since you don’t care if it’s Windows or Macintosh and since you’re already using Windows, 2500€ will go further when shopping for Windows equipment than it will for Macs.
Personally, I prefer the MacOS and am willing to spend more to get it. However, since you don’t have a preference, the decision seems obvious — Windows.
PC Specialist is excellent for picking parts and screensizes etc. They have a forum if you have specific questions - I have always foudn them excellent.
Here’s an example I put together for you - and if you’re not paying VAT it would be cheaper - so you could increase.
However, if you go back a model and if you don’t need Thunderbolt 4 - this laptop works out much cheaper.
Telaio e display
Serie Recoil: Schermo 16’’ opaco QHD 240Hz sRGB 100% LED Widescreen (2560x1600)
Processore (CPU)
Processore Intel® Core™ i9 24 Core 13900HX (5.4 GHz Turbo)
Memoria (RAM)
DDR5 SODIMM Corsair 4800 MHz 64 GB (2 da 32 GB)
Scheda grafica
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 4070 - 8.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1o drive SSD M.2
SAMSUNG 990 PRO M.2 1 TB NVMe PCIe 4.0 (fino a 7450 MB/R, 6900 MB/W)
1o drive SSD M.2
SAMSUNG 990 PRO M.2 1 TB NVMe PCIe 4.0 (fino a 7450 MB/R, 6900 MB/W)
Lettore di schede di memoria
Lettore di schede SD integrato
Adattatore CA
1 x Adattatore 280W AC
Cavo di alimentazione
1 cavo di alimentazione europeo 1,5 metro (tipo C13)
Batteria
Batteria agli ioni di litio integrata (99 Wh) - Serie Recoil
Pasta termica
PRESTAZIONI DI RAFFREDDAMENTO A METALLO LIQUIDO
Scheda audio
Nahimic di SteelSeries Audio HD a 2 canali
Scheda di rete wireless
LAN GIGABIT E WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6E AX211 (2,4 Gbps) + BT 5.3
Opzioni USB/Thunderbolt
1 PORTA THUNDERBOLT 4 + 3 PORTE USB 3.2
Lingua tastiera
TASTIERA ITALIANA RETROILLUMINATA RGB RECOIL 16 SERIES
Sistema operativo
Windows 11 Home 64-bit – incl. licenza singola [KUK-00003]
Lingua del sistema operativo
Italia/Italia – Lingua italiana
Supporto di ripristino Windows
Immagine di ripristino multilingue di Windows 10/11 - Download illimitati da account online
Software Office
Prova GRATUITA 30 giorni di Microsoft 365® (richiesto sistema operativo)
Antivirus
NESSUN SOFTWARE ANTIVIRUS
Browser
Google Chrome™
Tastiera e mouse
MOUSE TOUCHPAD 2 PULSANTI INTEGRATO
Webcam
WEBCAM HD 1 MP INTEGRATA
Garanzia
Garanzia Oro 3 anni (2 anni Ritiro e reso, 2 anni Ricambi, 3 anni Manodopera)
Telaio
TongFang GM6PX7X (8GB RTX-4070, i9-13900HX, 240Hz QHD)
Consegna
3 GIORNI PER LA SPEDIZIONE IN ITALIA
Tempo di costruzione
Costruzione standard – da 3 a 5 giorni lavorativi
Prezzo: €2.568,00 IVA e consegna incluse
URL unico da ri-configurare: https://www.pcspecialist.it/configurazioni-salvate/recoil-16/2myWxtx6nv/
If you are going to be using the laptop out and about, battery life will be important. This is the one area in which the Mac M1 /M2 excels.
Yeh the M1 Pro or M1 Max or M2 would be ideal for this work.
Adding RAM really increases the price which is a worry
I’m not trying to put anyone off buying a Mac - buy one if you can afford it. But what you buy is what you’re stuck with - there are no upgrade paths.
Mac Book Airs are only 13 inch
And MacBook Pros 14 or 16 inch are starting at €2499
I can’t imagine working on a 13 inch screen or 14 inch
So in my mind it has to be 16 inch
16 inch brings the price up to €3099 min
16 inch / 16gb / 1tb drive = €3329
16 inch / 32gb / 1tb drive = €4249
Apple pricing gets a bit crazy
Again in my mind you’re not using a laptop out in the park, or somewhere without power.
You can always have most laptops on for about 2-3 hours with usage - and if you’re there that long I’m sure they wouldn’t mind you getting some juice from a socket.
On the other hand you can get a 16 inch laptop PC with all the specs you need and come under budget.
For example, this has 64gb RAM - and 2x1TB storage drives
Where the Mac has 32gb RAM and 1TB (for €4000+)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 24 Core Processor 13900HX (5.4GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair 4800MHz SODIMM DDR5 (2 x 32GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 4060 - 8.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6E AX211 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.3
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x THUNDERBOLT 4 PORT + 3 x USB 3.2 PORTS
Price: €2,242.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.ie/saved-configurations/recoil-16/J0qhE3NQ7p/
And according to a reliable benchmarking thread this processor ranks much higher than the M2 processor
What battery life is like - is a different story.
And you can configure other internal bits like wifi/browsers/etc. via the link.
I got me a
Refurbished 16" MacBook Pro Apple M1 Max Chip, 10‑Core CPU und 24‑Core GPU 32 GB 1 TB
which should be within your budget and serve you more than 5 years well.
I bought it to replace my Mac Studio to travel and use it with a side car ipad pro.
It even does well with some occasional heavy load like rendering a 3 hour video or vector distortion for mock-ups with millions of paths.
awesome display with decent print setting capabilities
according to MaxTech’s tests the 16" 24core has the least thermal throttling of all models.
The latest generation of Macbooks isn’t suitable for print design, and graphic design in general, since their displays cover only about 85% of the Adobe RGB color space. The Liquid Retina XDR is good for video editing - which it was designed for - but not for graphic design.
Instead, you should get a laptop with an OLED screen, since this kind of display covers up to 97% of Adobe’s color space.
You will also need a colorimeter to calibrate the display.
Not true.
No you don’t.
When at home I use a hardware calibrated external 99% Adobe RGB Display but more importantly one needs CMYK coverage like ISOcoatedV2.
With a laptop I wouldn’t expect anyone to do accurate preprint work for example. Starts with glossy display.
So laptops are compromise anyway. I don’t know of a laptop with hardware LUT for example.
My laptop’s OLED display covers 96% of Adobe’s color space.
With some effort, I can get an average delta E of 0.22 and a maximum delta E of about 0.95.
Speaking of color accuracy, there’s no magic here. The display must be calibrated and the software set up to simulate the output of a particular print shop as closely as possible.
Still, there’s no beating printed proof.
The same color might look different depending on the paper stock. Sometimes even two machines in the same print shop will print the same color differently.
Traditional CMYK color profiles, like FOGRA or U.S. Sheetfed, simulate different versions of the 4-color printing process, whreas some print shops use more base inks to get better colors. For this reason, photos sent to the print shop should be in their native color space (ProPhoto RGB, Adobe RGB or sRGB), so the extra color information can be used to to produce more saturated prints.
Unfortunately, currently I’m not aware of any way to simulate those wider-gamut printing processes on-screen.
Using a calibrated, color-accurate display and the right color profile will reduce the number of back and forths between you and the print shop. However, sometimes getting a 1:1 print-to-screen match is simply impossible.
yes of course. do you do hardware calibration or software calibration? which computer model do you use?
you would need to use their profile if it fits inside your displays color space.
Here’s an example calibration report:
I have a 2022 Vivobook 16X.
I calibrate the display with an i1 Display Pro Plus and a beta version of Argyll CMS 2.3.2 + the DisplayCAL GUI.
I use ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo. It’s a laptop with a dual-screen design that can boost your productivity by allowing you to run multiple applications simultaneously. It’s comfortable to use. Ultimately, the best laptop for graphic design depends on your specific needs and budget. It’s essential to consider the specifications that matter most to you and research different laptops to find the best fit.
could be software calibration therefore with quality loss because hardware calibration is usually done with software from display manufacturer.
Don’t really know what this has to do with the OPs question.
They’re looking for a laptop for graphic design in Video and Animation.
I haven’t colour calibrated a screen in about 20 years, unless you’re doing colour critical work it’s a bit of labour intensive exercise for little or no reward.
As pointed out many times - two different printing machines in the same print factory can produce 2 different colours from the exact same plates.
Getting your colours correct on screen is a bit of an exercise if you deal with multple printers and multiple print mediums.
Yes, you can see colours closely related to what may be printed, but what advantage is that?
Usually, the customer supplies files, and what they supply should match what’s printed, not what you see on screen.
The colour values in a logo should match the colour values they supply. You shouldn’t alter images/logos/branding without consent from clients and you’d need to supply colour proofs.
If the task is colour sensitive - then y ou should be getting colour proofs from the printers and have the client sign them off. As already said, two different printing machines in the same building can produce 2 different results. You always need to get signed off colour proofs.
If your work is not colour critical I fail to see what advantage having a colour accurate display has.
Along with a colour accurate display you need the correct lighting, you need to have special lamps/bulbs to simulate the correct light - or have your laptop/screen in a well lit room with natural light.
All the OP wants here is the specs for the computer to buy for wha they’re doing.
Video/Animation computers for graphic design general guideline:
High-end processor with multiple cores
32gb RAM min
Top end graphics card
Large amount of storage 1tb minimum with backup drives of 1tb min.
I’d even up to 2tb storage - vid/animation is quite heavy file content.
And I’d even add external storage.
Just to add - the only colour I check is that the PDF I produce for print match the same CMYK values that is supplied by the customer.
It’s printed as supplied - unless you need to make colour critical changes.
The only time I had to do this was work for an art gallery - and we worked in RGB right up to time of print where the conversion to CMYK was made - and chromlain proofs produced to be signed off by the customer.
Those chromolain proofs are then with the printer who makes the adjustments on press to match them.
I think that i cannot afford 2500 for an laptop? there’s something more cheaper under 2000? in this case for me it’s enough as along it have an good size monitor that i can put it together with an external 4k monitor and the laptop it’s solid enough for to can handle and smoothly the writing program that i’m using (Scrivener)
My budget Is 2500€.
I think that i cannot afford 2500 for an laptop?
Do as you please 