Best budget laptop for Adobe products.

[darry85]

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!

[sadistica69 · Accepted solution]

Unfortunately, The better the components in the computer.. the higher the price. I have a CyberpowerPC Gamer Ultra GUA880 Gaming Desktop - AMD FX-4300 Quad Core 3.8GHz, 8GB DDR3 RAM, 1TB HDD, 24X DVD, NVIDIA GT 720 1GB, with Windows 10 that I purchased from Amazon for $485. I, also, purchased a monitor completely separate. It is a gaming PC but it runs programs very smoothly. Personally, I love it!

However, these are the basics, that I have found in a Google search, for a photo editing computer:

PROCESSOR: Laptops for photography will need at least an Intel i3 (4th generation or better). Intel i5’s are strongly recommended and i7 will run any photography software in the world without lag.

GPU: Any GPU with at least 2GB of dedicated memory will be sufficient to run most software. NVIDIA and Radeon are top industry leaders in the GPU world.

RAM: It is very important to understand that most of the photoshop software will eat up upwards of 2-3GB RAM while they are running. 4GB RAM will NOT be enough. Photo editing laptops require RAM of at least 8GB, preferably 12GB or more for smooth editing.

STORAGE: At least 256GB of storage. It is good to have hybrid style storage with a little bit of traditional HDD and a little bit of SSD. You then can use SSD for your software and HDD to store the edited pictures. If you have to choose between a laptop with only either HDD or SSD, go for the SSD laptop.

Hope this helps!

[Eternal Warrior]

Tarah Kolb schrieb:
PROCESSOR: Laptops for photography will need at least an Intel i3 (4th generation or better). Intel i5’s are strongly recommended and i7 will run any photography software in the world without lag.
GPU: Any GPU with at least 2GB of dedicated memory will be sufficient to run most software. NVIDIA and Radeon are top industry leaders in the GPU world.
RAM: It is very important to understand that most of the photoshop software will eat up upwards of 2-3GB RAM while they are running. 4GB RAM will NOT be enough. Photo editing laptops require RAM of at least 8GB, preferably 12GB or more for smooth editing.
STORAGE: At least 256GB of storage. It is good to have hybrid style storage with a little bit of traditional HDD and a little bit of SSD. You then can use SSD for your software and HDD to store the edited pictures. If you have to choose between a laptop with only either HDD or SSD, go for the SSD laptop.

Just wanted to add my two cents to this...I know this is for a "budget" computer but:

1. Having a good processor is important but RAM, storage and GPU can still have a massive effect on "lag".
   1. Therefore try and get at least an i5.
2. I would say from my experience that even 8GB is not ideal - However, I would say 8GB is THE minimum to have - More the better!!
   1. If it's too pricey to include with the laptop buy more RAM separately and invest in better processor or SSD
3. GO SSD all the way.... Only get a hybrid or HDD if it also comes with an SSD.... then have all your programmes run from the SSD - Store all the other stuff on an HDD...
   1. If working on an intensive project - move it to the SSD while you work on it then move it to HDD or a USB stick etc when finished.
   2. The reason behind this is you don't get bottlenecks with SSD's and they run like lightning.
      1. Also rarely need the SSD version of "Defragging"
   3. Once you go SSD you will never want to go back.

Best,

EW

[gener7]

Roberto Blake has great advice for a budget design laptop: My New Asus Graphic Design Laptop | Articles from Roberto Blake

I have a Mid 2012 MBP as well. I beefed it up with a 512 GB Crucial SSD for $119 and 16 GB ram for $99 from OWC.

[jocelynstengel]

Hey Reberto, I happened upon your site today while I was deeeeep diving for good deals on a work-hours of a lap top. or desk top... I've really enjoyed your articles and I'll probably use your links to buy from any of your recommended sellers, assuming you're in the Affiliate game.

Do you mind me, as a verrrrrrry new newbie to site building, asking what you used to create your stie.  It's very professional looking but reads like a personal recommendation blog so I have the sneaky suspicion you're using tools that are wayyyy over my head lol but it never hurts to ask!!

Now to pick some bad-ass adobe programs to beef up my work!!!

your new site lurker,

Jocelyn Stengel

[personal info removed by forum moderator]

[Bo_LeBeau]

Jocelyn,

Roberto has not posted anything in this forum.

Gener7 posted a link to Roberto's external website.

If you want to post a comment or question to Roberto you need to go to his website, scroll down to access the "Leave a Reply"  and type your comments in there.

Be aware that the article in question is over 2 years ago.

[Bo_LeBeau]

Gener7

You had a good idea with upgrading your MacBook Pro 2012.

Its a shame that Apple has moved to soldering in the ram, which requires new buyers to buy the more expensive models with additional ram built in at the time of purchase.

Off topic, but has anyone been able to desolder the ram and replace it with additional ram, or is it simply not doable?

[gener7]

The upside is that I can expand and even service it. The downside is that the Intel HD 4000 is not a supported card anymore. It's also out of the running if 4k video is important to you.

As a Photoshop machine it is good.

[Eternal Warrior]

In answer to your question:

That should be OK (for a budget PC) assuming you get the i5 and you are editing with the full 2GB graphics.

But don't expect miracles - You will get what you pay for (sadly) & certain tasks may prove very intensive.

Best wishes,

EW

[mayanks11634245]

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.

[mayanks11634245]

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.

[War Unicorn]

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]

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]

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.

[Bojan Živković]

I also added M.2 recently. First of all not all M.2 will do great job. M.2 must be PCIE, NVME and should have good read and write speed. I used PassMark chart > Best value SSD 257-512GB to determine which one to buy PassMark Hard Drive Value Chart - Performance / Price of Hard Drives (harddrivebenchmark.net)

Result is that Puget Bench score increased for 50 points. Yes, M.2 will impact performance. I can not tell how much difference will create other SSD M.2 models (mine is WD Blue SN570) because I haven't tested them all but I am almost certain they are not all the same. Also there are M.2 SATA SSD which may not create big difference, just read what is read/write speed. When buying SSD check what is PCIE version supported on motherboard because ver.4 is newer and promises higher speeds, at least in the featuire. At the moment it is not offering much of the difference I think. Update: PCI Express version must match processor's PCIE version for full impact. PCIE is backward compatible but will run at lower speed. PCIE 4 will run on PCIE 3 slot if anyone thinks about later upgrade.

When it comes to memory I think that speed also makes some difference. From what I found on the internet, up to 3600 is sweet spot because beyond that latency will increase and benefit will be lost. Looking at Puget Bench scores it seems that same configuration gives better performance when running at 3600 memory speed then when running at 2666, for example. I am looking to buy Vengeance LPX 3600 2x16 CL18 DDR4 optimized for AMD. It is budget memory which is probably best value for money (11th in speed chart) according to UserBenchmark RAM UserBenchmarks - 113 Memory Kits Compared

[CzarinaNina]

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...

[SUPAHOT]

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

[Alejandro Jesus]

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.

[Ali HASSAN5C41]

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. 

[franklyng13460603]

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.

[Alejandro Jesus]

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.

[MrPW]

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.

[wowirony]

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.

[Bilal21841778qu8y]

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>

 

[Nancy OShea · Accepted solution]

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. 

Most Creative Cloud apps work on:

• Windows 11 (64-bit) or Windows 10 versions 21H2, 21H1, 20H2, 2004, and 1909 (LTSB branches are not supported;)
• macOS 12 (Monterey), macOS 11 (Big Sur), macOS 10.16 or 10.15 (Catalina).

- 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