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Participant
January 11, 2022
Question

Laptop compatibility?

  • January 11, 2022
  • 1 reply
  • 5253 views

Hello,

I'm new to InDesign and Illustrator and have questions please. I apologise if these are basic, but I'm starting with no knowledge here.

 

 

I can purchase Adobe software throughy university for a reduced rate. However, I'm not sure whether my laptop - a HP Pavilion intel core i3 7th generation (according to the sticker.... And yup, this is how basic my knowledge is)... Can run it. 

 

Can anyone help please? Where on my xomputer do I find a run down of my laptop specifications? And how do I know if this will be able to run InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop etc? 

 

With thanks,

Ro,

1 reply

BobLevine
Community Expert
Community Expert
January 11, 2022

That's a pretty low end processor but the real issue would be how much RAM that machine has and whether you're fully updated on Windows 10 (that machine will not run Windows 11)

Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
Legend
January 11, 2022

You can find some of the computer's specs from Start / Settings.

From there, click the section labeled System.

Then select the About section and look for these items:

 

To find out the computer's hard drive / storage space, click the Storage section:

 

These screen captures are from my oldest and slowest computer in my studio and it uses an i7 processor with a speed of 1.7 GHz — that's a faster processor than your HP Pavillion.

 

It has only 8 GB of RAM memory, which isn't very much for designing complex stuff in Creative Suite. Tough to have InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator running at the same time.

 

And there's only 57 GB of available storage on the drive...not much to store work and the files needed when InDesign et al are up and running.

 

Your current computer might be OK for the time being and for small projects, but don't expect it to be workable if this is your career path. I'd use it temporarily while getting a better computer.

 

What to look for in a new Windows computer:

  • i7 or newer processor
  • Windows 11 capable (Windows 10 will eventually be discontinued, and Adobe will cease developing for Windows 10 even sooner)
  • 16GB RAM (32 GB is better)
  • 500 GB SSD drive (1 TB is better)
  • A powerful enough graphics card to handle a larger external monitor.

 

I'm a former systems integrator for digital media workstations, so I'm very picky about the hardware at my studio. I purchase moderate-to-high-end gaming computers for my designers' workstations because they have the memory and graphics capability needed for digital media.

 

Costco has a good selection, and offers extended warranties and concierge services. I've had good experiences with MS Surface Pros and Asus ROG laptops.

 

 

|    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |
Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
Legend
January 11, 2022

@Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com While we're on the subject, what do you think about the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus Laptop? Ideally, I like to simultaneously run Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, and Bridge. I'll take two out of three! I was hoping for the i9-11900 processor, but it's not available in the Inspiron so I'd have to move up to the XPS or gaming laptop, which is more expensive. I'm set on sticking with Dell. I would be upgrading the Inspiron I have now from 16 to 32GB of memory and a much newer video card. I keep waiting for something "perfect" lol.

 

  • Processor: 11th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-11800H (24MB Cache, up to 4.6 GHz, 8 cores)
  • OS: Windows 10 Pro (Includes Windows 11 Pro License)
  • Memory: 32GB, 2x16GB, DDR4, 3200MHz
  • Hard Drive: 1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive
  • Video Card: NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3060 6GB GDDR6 [60W]

@J E L those specs look decent.

Knowing that you're a graphic designer, you might see if you can pump up the RAM to 64GB to give you more capacity with heavy duty graphics, large documents, and having Indy / Illy / Pshop running simultaneously.

 

The 6GB NVIDIA ram should allow you to plug in at least one external monitor, maybe 2.  The SSD (solid state drive) will give you good response time.

 

The only additional recommendation I can make is to have a touch screen (some Inspiron models have that). I LOVE my MS Surface Pro's touch screen when I'm drawing in Illustrator or working on photos in Photoshop. It's not so helpful in InDesign.

 

As a designer, I will never buy another computer without a touch screen...sure wish Apple would hurry up and give us one! My Macs are getting on in years!

 

|    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |