Dedicated Graphics Card

[Lynne2904678705x5]

Hi

I am about to upgrade my laptop.  I am hoping to use both Indesign and possibly Adobe Premiere Pro - should I be buying a machine with a dedicated graphics card.  The Asus laptop I've seen comes with an IrisXE graphics card.

I would welcome any advice you have,

Thanks

Lynne

[Peter Spier]

InDesign isn't all that intensive a user of graphics power, but Premiere Pro certainly would be and it's never a bad idea to have a dedicated graphics card, and as much RAM as you can afford.

[Lynne2904678705x5]

Many thanks Peter
Really appreciate you getting back to me so quickly.
Thanks
Lynne

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

You definitely — I'd say always — want a brand-name video subsystem from the current middling-power lineup. This usually means Nvidia or AMD. Never buy a laptop that's so cheaply configured it's using Intel or base chipset graphics — this "business" level of display is, as it implies, good for Word, Powerpoint and browsers, and not much more. I'd venture that a laptop with Nvidia 2xxx graphics is still in a modest price tier, and all you need for InDesign and moderate Premiere work.

RAM pays off, though. 16GB is a minimum these days. And I don't think many laptops still come with HDDs, but an SSD makes a HUGE difference in performance, so don't save those few dollars of extra cost, if necessary.

[Lynne2904678705x5]

HI James
I hugely appreciate your feedback. I know I'm probably odd but Ive never
got on with Apple, even though a Macbook might seem the sensible way to go.


I have seen a

Dell XPS 15 9520
Corei7 - 12700
16GB 512GB
RTX 3050 Ti 4GB

Do you think that might do the trick? Perhaps I should be looking at 32GB
instead?

Many thanks
Lynne

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

It's been a long time since the hardware/OS made any difference. Probably 15 years since "you had to do this on a Mac." (But let's avoid that ancient and pointless argument.) A Windows laptop will be an excellent choice.

Yes, 3000-series graphics are that much better. 16GB is enough on a laptop; I'd argue for 32 on a desktop system simply because it's cheap there. CPU is more than muscular enough. You might want to up that SSD to 1TB, and at least have a slot for a second one if you're going to work entirely from this machine. OS and apps take up a lot of space, and 512 might get a bit tight even with a modest amount of stored work and resources.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

I have an XPS 15, however, if you expect to keep this system for a while, I would suggest the following in order to future-proof your purchase:

i9 processor

64 GB RAM (for video)

2 TB SSD

Ge the best video card they offer for the model you select. The model I was looking at offered an RTX 4070 with 8GB.

Also, Dell offers multi-year hardward and accident coverage. I usually get 4 years on my systems.