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system requirements

New Here ,
Feb 21, 2023 Feb 21, 2023

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Hello, I will purchasing a PC laptop for home and wonder what system requirements I need to run only Adobe In Design. Thanks

 

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Community Expert ,
Feb 21, 2023 Feb 21, 2023

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There have been several discussions on this in recent weeks. You might do a quick search of the forum and review the arguments discussion. 🙂

 

Of the Adobe suite tools, though, InDesign is among the least demanding. It uses only one CPU core, so the number of cores you pay for will be more relevant to Photoshop, AfterEffects, Premiere and things like games. Any i7 CPU should be fine; one that's a little further up the power spectrum would not be money misspent. (That said, I am in the camp of buying at the "moderate" point on whatever the current CPU curve is; at the top of the peak, but not out on the leading edge where prices triple for power increases not generally proportional to cost.)

 

RAM is crucial. Most modern apps (and games) really demand 32GB for most purposes. 64GB is overkill unless you're going to work with very large Photoshop and AE projects. But 16GB won't really do it any more.

 

Fast SSDs are essential as well. HDDs are no longer a good buy except for bulk storage of things like video projects and archives. You want a fast SSD for boot, apps, scratch disks and working projects. A second SSD for project data files is a nice thing to have.

 

Video: almost any system with a name-brand video adapter (Nvidia or AMD) is good enough for InDesign. You will want the ability to drive an external 4K monitor, and (again) for the more power-hungry tools, a GPU that's up the curve will be a nice asset. InDesign does not use GPU acceleration (under Windows), but some of the other apps do. (Teh jump from no-GPU to modest-GPU is MUCH larger than from modest-GPU to mega-GPU, though, so don't go overboard unless you're going to dock into multiple desk monitors.)

 

Decent i7. 32GB RAM. Two SSDs with 2-4TB each. Decent name-brand (that means not "Intel Business Graphics" or some such) video adapter. At least one video port (DP or HDMI). That'll do ya.

 


╟ Word & InDesign to Kindle & EPUB: a Guide to Pro Results (Amazon) ╢

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New Here ,
Feb 21, 2023 Feb 21, 2023

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This helps, thanks so much. And I'll search around in the Forum.

Deb

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Community Expert ,
Feb 21, 2023 Feb 21, 2023

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Just to echo what has been said already

 

Processor: Adobe InDesign is a CPU-intensive application, so you should aim for a processor with at least 6 cores and a high clock speed. A good option would be an Intel Core i7 or i9 processor or an AMD Ryzen 7 or Ryzen 9 processor.

 

RAM: InDesign can be quite memory-intensive, especially when working with large documents. So, it is recommended to have at least 16 GB of RAM. If you work with extremely large or complex documents, consider getting 32 GB or even 64 GB of RAM.

 

Storage: InDesign files can take up a lot of space, so a fast and large SSD is recommended. A 500 GB or 1 TB SSD would be ideal for storing your InDesign files and the operating system.

 

Graphics card: While InDesign does not rely heavily on graphics processing, having a dedicated graphics card with at least 2 GB of VRAM can help speed up tasks like rendering previews and exporting files. A NVIDIA GeForce or an AMD Radeon graphics card would be a good choice.

 

Monitor: A high-resolution monitor is crucial for graphic design work. A 24-inch or 27-inch monitor with a resolution of at least 1920x1080 pixels would be suitable. A larger screen with a higher resolution, such as a 4K or 5K display, would provide an even better user experience.

 

Overall, a good setup computer for InDesign would be a high-end workstation or gaming PC with a powerful CPU, plenty of RAM, a fast SSD, a dedicated graphics card, and a high-resolution monitor. However, keep in mind that the specific requirements may vary depending on the size and complexity of the projects you work on.

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Community Expert ,
Feb 21, 2023 Feb 21, 2023

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Eugene, I don't disagree with any of what you've said, especially the conclusion. I build most of my systems to specs that would make all but a pro AAA gamer smile, and that's a good basis for any graphics-intensive use: publication, images, video, CAD. (And the occasional game. 🙂 )

 

But your first recommendation is off-target in that while nearly all modern CPUS are at least four-core, with eight being the median, I think... InDesign is resolutely a one-core app. It will take a MAJOR overhaul to go multi-core, so it's not going to happen with the next minor rev or two. So while it's neither here nor there, and most other apps (and games) will make glad use of those multiple cores... it's irrelevant to ID, and you can only scale up CPU power and cost so much to try and get better one-core app performance. So for ID, "almost any i7" is an adequate guideline. More money should only be put into the CPU for much, much more demanding apps, if any.

 

IMHVO. 🙂

 


╟ Word & InDesign to Kindle & EPUB: a Guide to Pro Results (Amazon) ╢

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Community Expert ,
Feb 21, 2023 Feb 21, 2023

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Let me clarify that - sorry for the confusion.

 

Some tasks are multiple threads, like exporting a document, or generating PDFs.

 

But overall, layout, formatting, rendering text and images etc. are primarily handled by a single CPU core.

 

Adobe has made efforts to optimize InDesign for modern CPUs and operating systems, and the software does make use of multiple cores for some tasks.

 

When you opt for a lower cpu in buying you're likely opting to buy lower specs for other components, like RAM and graphics card - unless you're building for yourself - and if you're building for yourself you're not going to be asking here.

 

Who knows how Adobe are improving the software and maybe multicore support will be beneficial in 3 or 5 or 6 years time. 

Longevity is key to buying a computer. 

 

I apologise for the confusion. Hope that clarifies my reasoning and my opinion.

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New Here ,
Mar 02, 2023 Mar 02, 2023

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Thank you both for your recommendations.
Just to clarify, I am retired from a marketing background where I use the
whole Adobe creative store on a weekly basis.
Now I want to make the occasional family party invitation, Christmas cards,
and postcards with my artwork. I don’t think these files would be too
large.
With that said, I was recently looking at an Intel i7, 16 gb memory and 512
SSD with GelForce Graphics.

What are your thoughts?
Thanks in advance!

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Community Expert ,
Mar 02, 2023 Mar 02, 2023

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Hello - when replying by email can you please turn off your signature as it's being added to the forum with your personal information.

 

It's difficult to know if that computer would be good enough, there's many models of i7 some built for different purposes, portability where power is kept low to conserve battery  vs desktop power where there is no throttling.

16gb is good enough - and graphics card again hard to know so many models. 

 

Have you got a link to that computer? Can you post it here?
Also what would be the budget? 

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Community Expert ,
Mar 03, 2023 Mar 03, 2023

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Almost any i7 should be adequate. 16GB is adequate for most work up to mid-scale projects; I think more would only be useful for fairly heavy image and video editing.

 

I'd upgrade to at least a 1TB SSD, though, or better yet, a second one. From the OS and apps up, half a gig gets eaten up pretty rapidly even by a casual user. Leftover files and cache data and the like will fill space quickly and you will hate having to "purge" the system every few months when space gets tight.

 

Any GEforce video system (Nvidia) on a new system should be fine, but you might want to specify which system (by number) as some might have trouble with an external monitor of higher resolution.

 


╟ Word & InDesign to Kindle & EPUB: a Guide to Pro Results (Amazon) ╢

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Community Expert ,
Mar 03, 2023 Mar 03, 2023

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It's a leap to say all are adequate it would depend on the model number. A 1st gen i7 is not equal to a 7/8/9/10/11th gen i7.

 

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Community Expert ,
Mar 03, 2023 Mar 03, 2023

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Context is that it's a new system. I'm discounting any but double-digit generations, here, which seems safe.

 


╟ Word & InDesign to Kindle & EPUB: a Guide to Pro Results (Amazon) ╢

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Community Expert ,
Mar 04, 2023 Mar 04, 2023

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If you need to do occasional postcard - Adobe CC will be overkill 😉 there is a lot of free stuff available for that...

 

▒► ID-Tasker / ID-Tasker Server - work smart not hard ◄▒

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New Here ,
Feb 21, 2023 Feb 21, 2023

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This is very helpful, thank you!

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Community Expert ,
Mar 04, 2023 Mar 04, 2023

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OP needs laptop 😉 

 

▒► ID-Tasker / ID-Tasker Server - work smart not hard ◄▒

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