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What is the best laptop/pc to get for a new designer?

6 years ago from Ryan Munro, Apprentice Designer

  • Jaron SaturninoJaron Saturnino, 6 years ago

    If cost effective really is your goal:

    I use a Thinkpad x220 with an IPS panel, you can find them for $200 - $300 on eBay and there's a ton of parts around. Just throw in an SSD and it's a hell of a machine. I think they're seen as more of an IT guy machine, but I have a thing for customizing Windows the way I want it to look. Affinity Designer and Photoshop will run really well on it, but you'll need to upgrade to 16gb of ram if you want Illustrator to be buttery smooth.

    I also recommend finding a 9 cell stick out battery to go with it. Combined with the trackpoint, you can carry it around the office and make a standing desk out of anything.

    2 points
    • Rick Martin, 6 years ago

      I've been a mac user for most of my adult life, and while I LOVE the software available on mac OS (Sketch in particular) I also really miss the modularity of PCs like the Thinkpad. As a consuimer, I miss being able to easily swap out RAM or a hard drive when I need to, and I resent when companies take away that option.

      If you're working in the Adobe Suite, I think a PC is fine provided that it has adequately powerful internals. One disadvantage, I think, is that you can't always try out the new design software du jour that often starts out exclusively on Mac OS.

      0 points