Graphic Designer/Artist Photog. Laptop recomendations needed!!

August 01, 2017, 12:24 PM

Ronin101

My daughter starts a graphic design program next month. We are looking for a capable laptop. Her computer lab has apple desktops. But I am leaning toward a windows laptop.

I am assuming I need a computer with a good processor, ram and graphics card.

Anyone care to offer some advice on specific laptops or specific hardware I should lool at. Need help

August 01, 2017, 12:29 PM

Aeteocles

What's your budget?

August 01, 2017, 12:30 PM

H&K-Guy

quote:
Originally posted by Ronin101:
My daughter starts a graphic design program next month. We are looking for a capable laptop. Her computer lab has apple desktops. But I am leaning toward a windows laptop.

I am assuming I need a computer with a good processor, ram and graphics card.

Anyone care to offer some advice on specific laptops or specific hardware I should lool at. Need help

What is your budget?

Specifically, what programs and applications will she be running?

H&K-Guy

August 01, 2017, 12:37 PM

Aeteocles

What are her priorities? Laptops are all compromises, so you have to pick what things are important to her.

-Price
-Screen Size and Resolution
-Chassis Size and Weight
-Battery Life
-Business Grade vs Consumer Grade
-Cooling capacity vs silence

August 01, 2017, 12:59 PM

Ronin101

Photoshop..its a package that the students have to pay for per month.
Office for students or Office 365.
Desktop publishing.
Not sure of the exact program names.

was thinking 13-15" monitor and have a large montor for her room. 1400-1800 $ budget.

August 01, 2017, 01:12 PM

Aeteocles

How thin and sexy do you want it to be?

The thinner and lighter it is, the louder and more aggressive the fans will need to be to keep it cool under heavy processing.

Also, thin and light really jacks up the price for anything with a discrete video card.

August 01, 2017, 01:22 PM

Aeteocles

For thin and light laptops with a 15" screen, fast USB-C/Thunderbolt ports for a fast external SSD and screen connectivity, and a discrete video card:

The Dell XPS 15 9650 (not the 9550). Pricey. 10% off at the Microsoft Store for students.

Asus Zenbook Pro (UX501). About 25% cheaper than the Dell, as it hasn't been updated for this year yet.

August 01, 2017, 01:24 PM

Ronin101

the size is not as important as being able to handle the photo editing duties

August 01, 2017, 01:29 PM

Aeteocles

If you don't need thin and sexy...

Last years Dell Inspiron 15 7000 is a great deal.

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-In...s=Dell+inspiron+7000

15" 4k screen, NVIDIA 960M, dual hard drives, 12 gigs of ram for less than $1k. You can swap out the mechanical second HDD for an SDD for another couple hundred bucks and have a pretty good workhorse. Battery life is a complaint though...but any software that utilizes the video card will basically drain the battery anyway and you'll want to be plugged in.

August 01, 2017, 01:31 PM

Xer0

If she's going to get into the graphic design field professionally, then the standard is Apple. Just the way it is. Sure you can buy a Windows machine that will do the same for cheaper, but the super majority of people/businesses in graphics design are Apple shops.

August 01, 2017, 01:39 PM

Ronin101

quote:
Originally posted by Aeteocles:
For thin and light laptops with a 15" screen, fast USB-C/Thunderbolt ports for a fast external SSD and screen connectivity, and a discrete video card:

The Dell XPS 15 9650 (not the 9550). Pricey. 10% off at the Microsoft Store for students.

Asus Zenbook Pro (UX501). About 25% cheaper than the Dell, as it hasn't been updated for this year yet.

10 percent off on the dell site as well.. this is what I was looking at. Hoping to hear from graphic designers and specific insight.

August 01, 2017, 01:41 PM

ScorpionBoy

quote:
Originally posted by Xer0:
If she's going to get into the graphic design field professionally, then the standard is Apple. Just the way it is. Sure you can buy a Windows machine that will do the same for cheaper, but the super majority of people/businesses in graphics design are Apple shops.

I agree. My niece graduated from Savannah School of Art and Design. She works in the field now and she has always used Apple.

August 01, 2017, 01:42 PM

Aeteocles

I don't disagree that a lot of creative people out there are using Apples.

I don't know why. But that's the way it is.

However, using a PC doesn't put her at a disadvantage so long as she knows how to use a Mac as well (computer labs are Mac, right?). There used to be a time when Macs were actually faster than PCs at graphics intensive stuff, because of hardware differences. These days, those hardware differences don't exist--Intel is the CPU leader, NVidia and AMD are the standard in GPU. Screens can be calibrated to color profiles using cheap external calibrators now.

A photoshop file is a photoshop file. The only issues she might possibly have is moving hard drives from one machine to another as the file structure format might be problematic, but there are ways around that. The keystroke commands, at least in Adobe products, are pretty similar. CMD instead of Ctrl and Opt instead of Alt.

The cheapest 15" Macbook Pro with a discrete video card is $2400. The Dell XPS 15, which itself one of the priciest PC laptops, can be had for under $2k, and has specs that beat out Apple's $2700 laptop.

I've been happy with my XPS and I don't feel like it's held me back at all with my photo editing. But I also don't think it's a terrible waste of money to get her a Macbook Pro if you've got the scratch for it.

August 01, 2017, 01:45 PM

sleepla8er

.

For graphic design, artist, photographer I would prioritize the graphic card, CPU speed, RAM memory, display, hard drive size, external connections most.

Here are a couple of examples, neither of which has an internal DVD drive:

MSI GP62MVR $1,200
Graphic Card: NVIDIA GTX1060 (3GB DDR5 RAM)
CPU: (6th gen) Intel Core i7-6700HQ Quad-Core processor 2.6 GHz
RAM: 8GB DDR4
Display: 15.6" 1920x1080 High Def
Hard Drive: 1TB
External Connections: USB Type C, USB 3.0, HDMI
Weight: 4.8 pounds
www.BestBuy.com/site/msi-15-6-laptop-intel-core-i7-8gb-memory-nvidia-gtx1060-1tb-hard-drive-black/5806362.p?skuId=5806362

Lenovo - Legion Y520 $1,000
Graphic Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti graphics (4GB DDR5 dedicated RAM)
CPU: (7th gen) Intel Core i7-7700HQ mobile processor 2.8 GHz
RAM: 8GB DDR4
Display: 15.6" 1920x1080 High Def
Hard Drive: 1TB
External Connections: USB Type C, USB 3.0, HDMI
Weight: 5.2 pounds
www.BestBuy.com/site/lenovo-legion-y520-15-6-laptop-intel-core-i7-8gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1050-ti-1tb-hard-drive-black/5799101.p?skuId=5799101

Between these two laptops, the Lenovo CPU is about 10% faster than the MSI. The MSI Graphic Card is about 25% to 65% better (depending on test) than the Lenovo. For me, I would spend the extra $200 but for a student ~ that $200 might be better used towards software. Either laptop should take care of her needs for the next few years.

Best Buy offers 12 months free financing, which is a nice way for your daughter to build her credit rating. Have her make the payments for the entire year, even if you give her the money each month. It will be a gentle intro to "pay your bills on time" and she will better understand the value money as every month she keeps making these payments. If she is learning how to be responsible, make sure you review the fine print with her about whether or not missed and late payments nulls the free financing or not.

I believe Best Buy offers student discounts, your daughter will need to send them an email from her .edu college email address to qualify. This will also open up other computers where the educational discount is not shown on the Best Buy website.

To be honest, I suggest a new laptop not be rushed into just because she is starting her program. It might be worth holding off until she can obtain input from her professors regarding software that currently leads her field then selecting a laptop that best meets the software's requirements.

Keep an eye on these during the August "Back to School" sales, you might get lucky. I expect both of these systems will be on sale during Thanksgiving Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.

August 01, 2017, 01:57 PM

Aeteocles

quote:
Originally posted by Ronin101:
quote:
Originally posted by Aeteocles:
For thin and light laptops with a 15" screen, fast USB-C/Thunderbolt ports for a fast external SSD and screen connectivity, and a discrete video card:

The Dell XPS 15 9650 (not the 9550). Pricey. 10% off at the Microsoft Store for students.

Asus Zenbook Pro (UX501). About 25% cheaper than the Dell, as it hasn't been updated for this year yet.

10 percent off on the dell site as well.. this is what I was looking at. Hoping to hear from graphic designers and specific insight.

The Dell XPS 15 is very thin and very small for the size of the screen.

It is, however, VERY loud and very hot under load.

It's a travel laptop for me, so my priority was thin, light, and small footprint. If travel wasn't a priority, I think the noise and heat would bother me more.

You might consider the Asus Zenbook Pro, which is also thin and light, but is apparently quieter due to clever use of heat pipes.

August 01, 2017, 02:48 PM

Ronin101

quote:
Originally posted by sleepla8er:
.

For graphic design, artist, photographer I would prioritize the graphic card, CPU speed, RAM memory, display, hard drive size, external connections most.

Here are a couple of examples, neither of which has an internal DVD drive:

MSI GP62MVR $1,200
Graphic Card: NVIDIA GTX1060 (3GB DDR5 RAM)
CPU: (6th gen) Intel Core i7-6700HQ Quad-Core processor 2.6 GHz
RAM: 8GB DDR4
Display: 15.6" 1920x1080 High Def
Hard Drive: 1TB
External Connections: USB Type C, USB 3.0, HDMI
Weight: 4.8 pounds
www.BestBuy.com/site/msi-15-6-laptop-intel-core-i7-8gb-memory-nvidia-gtx1060-1tb-hard-drive-black/5806362.p?skuId=5806362

Lenovo - Legion Y520 $1,000
Graphic Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti graphics (4GB DDR5 dedicated RAM)
CPU: (7th gen) Intel Core i7-7700HQ mobile processor 2.8 GHz
RAM: 8GB DDR4
Display: 15.6" 1920x1080 High Def
Hard Drive: 1TB
External Connections: USB Type C, USB 3.0, HDMI
Weight: 5.2 pounds
www.BestBuy.com/site/lenovo-legion-y520-15-6-laptop-intel-core-i7-8gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1050-ti-1tb-hard-drive-black/5799101.p?skuId=5799101

Between these two laptops, the Lenovo CPU is about 10% faster than the MSI. The MSI Graphic Card is about 25% to 65% better (depending on test) than the Lenovo. For me, I would spend the extra $200 but for a student ~ that $200 might be better used towards software. Either laptop should take care of her needs for the next few years.

Best Buy offers 12 months free financing, which is a nice way for your daughter to build her credit rating. Have her make the payments for the entire year, even if you give her the money each month. It will be a gentle intro to "pay your bills on time" and she will better understand the value money as every month she keeps making these payments. If she is learning how to be responsible, make sure you review the fine print with her about whether or not missed and late payments nulls the free financing or not.

I believe Best Buy offers student discounts, your daughter will need to send them an email from her .edu college email address to qualify. This will also open up other computers where the educational discount is not shown on the Best Buy website.

To be honest, I suggest a new laptop not be rushed into just because she is starting her program. It might be worth holding off until she can obtain input from her professors regarding software that currently leads her field then selecting a laptop that best meets the software's requirements.

Keep an eye on these during the August "Back to School" sales, you might get lucky. I expect both of these systems will be on sale during Thanksgiving Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.

Yes that was my original advice. her photography instructor said the kids like to hang in the lab and work together.

She may hold off until her first semester is over. She has the money from working and grad gifts. Not excited to encourage her to use credit. I was at Best Buy today and I just don't see them as being competitive with laptops. Probably buy direct from Dell or go to Newegg.

August 01, 2017, 02:51 PM

sleepla8er

quote:
Originally posted by Ronin101:
...She has the money from working and grad gifts. Not excited to encourage her to use credit...

A teenager who works and saves their money ~ Great Job Dad!!!

You're right, Best Buy is not competitive ~ they do have a price match but other stores will have lower prices.

Building credit through an installment loan will help set up car loans and eventually home loans in the future. Overall, sounds like you are guiding her well.

.

August 01, 2017, 02:53 PM

PASig

Apple is the de facto standard in photography and graphic design and the fact that the school is also Apple should clue you in.

She needs a MacBook, not a PC.

August 01, 2017, 03:20 PM

Ronin101

quote:
Originally posted by PASig:
Apple is the de facto standard in photography and graphic design and the fact that the school is also Apple should clue you in.

She needs a MacBook, not a PC.

Not according to the instructor!!! Its still a consideration. That was the intent of this thread. Not a fan of paying 1000 bucks more for lower specs

August 01, 2017, 03:23 PM

Aquabird

My daughter is a graphic artist and has been for about 15 years. She is very good at what she does and varies what she does greatly.

She thinks Apple makes the best computer for what she needs to do.

If you need more info from her, ask your questions and I will ask her, her boys are staying with us for a week right now, so she will be back soon.