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darry85
darry85
Participant
February 9, 2017
Answered

Best budget laptop for Adobe products.

  • February 9, 2017
  • 14 replies
  • 89608 views

Hello,

I currently have a mid-2012 macbook pro that I'm looking to replace. I'm looking into PC's because I can get more for less.

My current computer has:

Processor: 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7

Memory: 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 MB

I was looking at something that is $500 or less.

I was looking into the lenovo flex 4 for running photoshop, animate and illustrator.

Is it powerful enough or should I be looking elsewhere? Thanks!

Correct answer Nancy OShea

I don't think a $600 laptop can do the job.  You'll get a lot more bang for the buck with a desktop PC.

 

Don't buy anything that doesn't have sufficient scratch disk storage, RAM, CPU and GPU.  It must support your OS, Creative Cloud and Photoshop + all other apps you use.  An underpowered computer will not give you a good user experience. 

 

Make sure your computer meets the minimum CPU & GPU requirements. Most Creative Cloud apps work on these systems, no more than 2 versions back:

  • Windows 11 (64-bit) versions 24H2, 23H2; Windows 10 versions 22H2, 21H2;
  • MacOS 15 (Sequoia), 14.7 (Sonoma), 13.6.7 (Ventura).

- https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/system-requirements.html
- https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/system-requirements.html
- https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/photoshop-cc-gpu-card-faq.html

14 replies

P
pranava_9363
Participant
April 28, 2025

According to me any good gaming laptop with at least a RTx 3050 is enough GPU for adobe products. Make sure to take a laptop with 16GB RAM at least. For this time, at least a i7 processor or Ryzen 7 processor will be amazing too.

Nancy OShea
Community Expert
Nancy OSheaCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
June 16, 2022

I don't think a $600 laptop can do the job.  You'll get a lot more bang for the buck with a desktop PC.

 

Don't buy anything that doesn't have sufficient scratch disk storage, RAM, CPU and GPU.  It must support your OS, Creative Cloud and Photoshop + all other apps you use.  An underpowered computer will not give you a good user experience. 

 

Make sure your computer meets the minimum CPU & GPU requirements. Most Creative Cloud apps work on these systems, no more than 2 versions back:

  • Windows 11 (64-bit) versions 24H2, 23H2; Windows 10 versions 22H2, 21H2;
  • MacOS 15 (Sequoia), 14.7 (Sonoma), 13.6.7 (Ventura).

- https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/system-requirements.html
- https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/system-requirements.html
- https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/photoshop-cc-gpu-card-faq.html

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert
    B
    Bilal21841778qu8y
    Participant
    November 19, 2021

    Adobe products are CPU and GPU intensive both. The minimum features a laptop must have to smoothly run all Adobe programs in the following.

     

    1. 8GB RAM

    2. AMD 6-Core Ryzen 5 4600H 

    3. NVIDIA GTX 1650Ti 4GB 

    4. 15.6" screen size to enjoy better viewing experience

    Lenovo Legion 5 offers all these features on its budget laptop.

    You can read the details from this site.

    <a href="

    https://laptopsvita.com/best-laptops-for-adobe-illustrator-in-2021-2 

    "</Best Laptops For Adobe Products>

     

    W
    wowirony
    Participant
    March 11, 2020

    I provide logo designing services on fiverr. few day back my hp laptop started to lag while using photoshop. then i started to search online for the best laptops for adobe photoshop. after searching for two day i've bought Apple MacBook Pro, which is much faster and run's adobe photoshop without any lag.

    Apple Macbook Pro has Been recommended by tenrater.

    A
    Anonymous
    April 18, 2018

    I got a MSI CX61 2PF and it does the job. I never got it specifically for Photoshop, just really an all rounder that I could use PS and other software with. I think it was around £600 roughly 3 year ago.

    Save on laptops UK was the cheapest place I found for laptops at the time. Not sure if there's a US equivalent or if they'd ship to the US.

    F
    franklyng13460603
    Participant
    April 17, 2018

    contrary to what some have said you can use some work arounds that will allow you to work with budget machines as I have done for decades. One such work around is to edit photos at a low resolution. With a monitor at least 21inchs you can get away with very low resolution. Of course some experience helps. There are others like using a series of pluggins to get the same effect as one memory intensive pluggin. Some people are uncomfortable working at a slower more deliberate pace but in the long run you will be a better editor and learn a lot more. There are other tricks you will discover in time. Don't let a slower system stop you from diving in.

      A
      Alejandro Jesus
      Participant
      April 18, 2018

      Thank you Frank. I ended up getting the Dell Inspiron 15 7000. Performs great with Adobe creative cloud apps. I  replaced the TN panel for an IPS panel and loving it. Frank, I will keep your editing advice in mind. Thank you.

        A
        Alejandro Jesus
        Participant
        March 7, 2018

        Hi everyone. I am also looking to get a laptop for photo editing since my desktop is pretty much use, these days, for video editing most of the time.

        Any suggestions on a budget laptop (under $800), capable of running Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom c.c will be appreciated. Thank you.

          A
          Ali HASSAN5C41
          Participant
          March 27, 2021

          Hey, buddy hopes you are doing great. There is a number of choices available out there but still, I would like to recommend to you the best platform for your every desire need. Where you could easily get the best laptop for your video editing purpose from these best laptops for under 800 dollars. Just click the blue text and you'll have it all. Give it a read and try to find out. However still if there are any ambiguities please let me know by your reply. I am here to help you out. 

          CzarinaNina
          CzarinaNina
          Participating Frequently
          January 30, 2018

          Haven't the other answers yet, but I work on a 2015 Lenovo with only 8 Ram, and I can use all of the functions in photoshop.

          I have eaten every inch of space and have spent a year and a half deleting unnecessary files, so I am contemplating a new laptop, but I am poor. So good and cheap is my goal.

          My point is that my 3 year old Lenovo runs it all, so I am sure a brand new one will stay usable for at least 3 years...

          S
          SUPAHOT
          Participant
          March 23, 2022

          Hey, did you end up finding an affordable laptop to run Ps with sufficient storage?

          War Unicorn
          Community Expert
          War UnicornCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          August 19, 2017

          In addition to what others have said, your biggest hurdle will be RAM; Photoshop loves lots of it. Unfortunately, there's been an increased demand for RAM (because of the latest smartphones), thereby increasing their prices.

          Windows itself likes to have 4 GB. You should be OK with 8 GB but the more, the merrier, especially with multi-layered, high-density-pixel Photoshop documents with 16-bit color and lots of effects.

          D Fosse
          Community Expert
          D FosseCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          September 4, 2017

          Warunicorn  wrote

          In addition to what others have said, your biggest hurdle will be RAM; Photoshop loves lots of it.

          Is RAM now becoming a lot less important than it used to be? The new M.2 SSDs have speeds previously unheard of, and the scratch disk should no longer be a bottleneck.

          I just built a new system with one of these, and testing my theory, just put 16GB of RAM in there. I'm ready to upgrade, but so far can't see any need. This thing runs rings around my work system with 32.

          War Unicorn
          Community Expert
          War UnicornCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          September 6, 2017

          https://forums.adobe.com/people/D+Fosse  wrote

          Warunicorn   wrote

          In addition to what others have said, your biggest hurdle will be RAM; Photoshop loves lots of it.

          Is RAM now becoming a lot less important than it used to be? The new M.2 SSDs have speeds previously unheard of, and the scratch disk should no longer be a bottleneck.

          I just built a new system with one of these, and testing my theory, just put 16GB of RAM in there. I'm ready to upgrade, but so far can't see any need. This thing runs rings around my work system with 32.

          I know RAM's becoming more expensive, thanks to the demand.  xD

          Any idea if the RAM itself is different? (DDR4? DDR3?) DDR4 coupled with the rest of the system that can take advantage of it can make a pretty good difference, even if it's less RAM than on another system.

          M.2's are sweet, if only because it attaches right to the motherboard.

          mayanks11634245
          mayanks11634245
          Participant
          August 19, 2017

          Sadly, you will get features on your laptop as per you pay. The better are the features, the more is the price.

          I am having the Acer Aspire E 15 E5-575G-57D4 laptop for Photoshop. With 8GB RAM and an i5 processor, this laptop provides great performance in terms of processing speed and battery life.

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