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Yes, gaming laptops can be good for graphic design because they have powerful processors and GPUs that can handle the demands of graphics-intensive software.
They also usually have large displays with high resolutions. There are some caveats, such as low battery life, and not always perfect color accuracy.
We’ll cover all this, so stick around, and by the end of this article, you’ll be able to decide if you should get a gaming laptop for your graphic design work or not.
Let’s get started.
Laptops & Graphic Design | Source: pixabay.com
Table of Contents
What is the Difference Between a Gaming Laptop and a Graphic Design Laptop?
Gaming laptops have higher-end graphics cards, cutting-edge processors, and more powerful cooling systems. But they are also heavy and generally have only 3-5 hours of battery life.
There aren’t really dedicated “graphic design laptops”, but there are “creator” laptops. These laptops also need some pretty powerful hardware, strong GPUs, and CPUs. So they aren’t much different from gaming laptops in terms of internal specifications.
However, gaming laptops generally don’t have very color-accurate displays, which are very important to graphic designers. So if you are in this camp, look for laptops with 100% sRGB. Creator laptops typically have a wide color gamut.
What are the Benefits and Drawbacks of using a Gaming Laptop for Graphic Design?
- Benefits
- Large display
- Overall rich gaming experience – of course
- Robust internal components that can handle Adobe Illustrator with ease, and even 3D graphic designing software
- Drawbacks
- Insufficient battery life (3-5 hours)
- Usually heavy and bulky (~5lbs)
What to Look Out For?
Gaming laptops come with great specs, but color accuracy can be an issue. So keep an eye out for standard color space metrics, such as sRGB and DCI-P3 (Digital Cinema Initiative).
Compared to sRGB, DCI-P3 has 26% greater color space. DCI-P3 also gives a wider variety of 10-bit colors at a higher saturation and brilliance level. It’s a cinema-grade standard, used for ultra-HD visuals, like 4K and 8K. You’ll want to get as close as possible to 100%
How to Choose a Graphic Design Laptop?
Here are the essentials you need to know before buying a laptop suitable for graphic designing.
It Starts With You
What do you need the laptop for? Is it graphic design only or school and gaming as well?
The other questions to think about are how much you want to spend, how often you will use it, and whether it is for hardcore design work or a side hobby.
I’d go for the higher end of the spectrum for professional graphic designers. But, for designing as a hobby and, say, basic Illustrator use, moderate specs (nothing too crazy) will likely be sufficient.
Let’s take a look at the specific components and recommendations:
Minimum and Recommended System Requirements
For most graphic design software, you’ll need a processor with at least two cores, 8GB of RAM, and a graphics card with at least 2GB of VRAM. For storage, you’ll need at least 256GB of space. Of course, you’ll quickly outgrow this, but you can start with these specs.
| Minimum | Recommended | |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core i3 or Ryzen 3 | Intel Core i7 or Ryzen 7 |
| RAM | 8GB | 16GB or more |
| Storage | 256GB | 512GB or more |
| Display | with excellent color calibration | with excellent color calibration |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 or similar | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40-series or similar |
Processor
If you’re just starting in graphic design, an Intel Core i3 or i5 processor will do the job. Four cores are the minimum we recommend, but more cores are even better. As for AMD processors, Ryzen 3 or Ryzen 5 will work for base-level graphic design work.
For more advanced designers and professionals, consider an Intel Core i5 or i7 12th generation or newer. If you’re an AMD fan, check out a Ryzen 5 or 7, 6000 or 7000 series. I believe the Intel Core i9 or Ryzen 9 is overkill, but if you are a power user and have the budget, these are the top-of-the-line CPUs.
Memory
For newbies, you can get by with 8GB RAM. A good 16GB RAM laptop is more than fine for most advanced users, whereas 32GB is reserved for pros.
If possible, go for DDR5 instead of DDR4, since this type of RAM is significantly faster.
Graphics Card
This will probably not surprise you, but a dedicated graphics card is important when running graphics design software. A basic one is fine if you are just starting out – such as the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650.
For advanced graphic artists, you’ll want something with a little more kick, such as the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti or better. And for pros, go for the latest-and-greatest NVIDIA RTX 40-series.
Storage
Graphic designing project files can add up over time. You’d need 2GB for Illustrator alone. We’d go with 256GB to be sure you have enough space for everything.
But you’ll see that this will quickly fill up. So for advanced and pro users, we’d go with 512GB – 1TB. You can also get an external drive if you outgrow the one on your laptop. They are pretty inexpensive.
And the type of storage? SSD laptops are pretty much the norm nowadays, and rightfully so. However, if you need lots and lots of space, you could consider an SSD+HDD combo.
Display
Most gaming laptops come with a high refresh rate and high resolution because of the AAA titles. There are even gaming laptops with 4K displays.
Make sure you also get good color accuracy. There aren’t many gaming machines that sport both, but for example, ASUS ROG Zephyrus, ROG Strix and Dell XPS are among the few with excellent color calibration.
Keyboards, and Trackpads
Of course, you’ll want to input your commands easily with a comfy keyboard, and a good, responsive trackpad to accompany it.
I’d definitely go for a glass trackpad if you plan on using one, and not the mouse. As for the keyboard, it does boil down to your personal preferences, but nice key travel, good height, and large enough keycaps are always a good thing.
Create Your Masterpiece With One of the Best Laptops
There are many great laptops for graphic designing, but, the ASUS ROG Strix G16 and the Sager NP8875D are safer bets if you want to go for a gaming laptop.
We also created an article listing the best models for game development and design.