The new 2020 Macbook Air has made the choice between a Pro and Air a bit closer. We dive into the differences and what to look for. Gone now are the dreaded butterfly keys and in is new hardware that will keep your machine running fast for years to come. Can a macbook pro run adobe premiere.
According to Geekbench Compute tests, a 16-inch MacBook Pro with AMD Radeon Pro 5300M easily passes the M1 with a score of 26781. The first Apple Silicon GPU achieves just 70-percent the speed of a dedicated GPU in the 16-inch MacBook Pro.
What You're Looking for
Whether you're a newcomer to graphic design/development or a seasoned veteran, you know that color reproducibility is a crucial aspect of design. While the most capable graphic design apps were previously only available only for Mac, that's no longer the case. Color reproducibility on the better Windows machines has caught up since then.
These days, the most important advantage that Apple's products offer is how they handle graphics, colors, and fonts. Apple focuses on making everything uniform and compatible across all their devices with minimal effort.
Ease of use is obviously an important part of any device and that's what Apple does best. They are constantly working to provide updates and improvements to the user experience.
- Sep 18, 2020 For those looking for a solid graphic design laptop that won't break the bank, but also don't want to limit themselves to budget options, the MacBook Air is a solid, mid-grade choice. This laptop retails for under $1,000, making it a less expensive option than its big brother, the MacBook Pro, but the price-point doesn't skimp out on features.
- The smaller, more affordable, Apple Macbook Pro 13' lacks some of the features of its big brother, but it still packs a hell of a punch when it comes to graphic design. For the ultimate Macbook experience, keep your eyes out for the Apple Macbook Pro 16' that's rumoured to be launching in the near future.
Another important aspect that you'll need to consider is storage space. If you're looking at MacBooks, that will probably mean having an external hard drive. Therefore, the hard disk space should be a consideration, but don't let it be the most important factor in your decision.
Macbook Air For Graphic Design
Of course, portability is also one of the overwhelming benefits of using a laptop over a desktop. That doesn't mean that a MacBook is necessarily the best choice, but if portability is a concern the MacBook Air is one of the lightest and most portable laptops ever made.
1. MacBook Pro
Recently, Apple introduced the 16-inch MacBook Pro with souped-up features from top to bottom. Some consider this the best pro laptop and it certainly has a lot of amazing features to back that claim.
This laptop has been designed from the ground up for professionals. With that in mind, Apple listened to thousands of users who plainly described what their needs were. As a result, most designers will find their workflow significantly improved for working on a MacBook Pro.
It has the processing power to make short work of even the most demanding tasks, and enough memory to edit multiple video channels at once.
Professionals in other fields will also find it to be a powerhouse. Developers will appreciate the speed with which they can compile and execute code and run multiple virtual machines. Audio professionals will also love playing around with numerous tracks and running numerous plug-ins seamlessly.
Features
For starters, the MacBook Pro has Apple's Touch ID hardware (as does the MacBook Air). Once Touch ID is set up, you can use your fingerprint to access most of your accounts, and even make purchases as long as you're logged in. Best photoshop app for macbook pro.
It also has a Touch Bar. This is an OLED display that takes the place of the function keys.
It's a touch display that changes in accordance with the task that you're working on and on to give you a variety of control options. It can let you scroll through videos, quickly adjust colors in a picture, and a myriad of other functions.
The Touch Bar can also be customized to include the most frequently-used shortcuts or the functions that you need within a specific application.
However, the Touch ID and Touch Bar are what some might call accessories. If you're wondering what's under the hood, you won't be disappointed.
Apple's Retina display is still the gold standard of display technologies and the MacBook Pro also features True Tone technology. True Tone uses multichannel sensors to modulate the color and intensity on the display in reaction to ambient light. The result is colors that appear more natural and images that look crisper and clearer.
For designers, the True Tone Retina display is probably the most prominent feature of the MacBook Pro.
It's available with an i7 or i9 4- to 8-core Intel processor that has a maximum clock speed of 4.7 GHz. The standard model will give you 16 GB of RAM and up to 64 GB. You can get up to a terabyte of SSD storage as well.
The MacBook Pro supports up to two 4K displays through its Thunderbolt 3 ports, which can handle up to 40Gb/s data transfer speeds and can connect to external GPUs as well.
Last but not least, the MacBook Pro comes with Apple's latest security hardware. It's equipped with an Apple T2 security chip that has secure booting and encrypted storage capability. The T2 chip is like a separate processor that handles some aspects of the laptop's operation and ensures that no unwanted processes are allowed to run on the machine.
For starters, the MacBook Pro has Apple's Touch ID hardware (as does the MacBook Air). Once Touch ID is set up, you can use your fingerprint to access most of your accounts, and even make purchases as long as you're logged in. Best photoshop app for macbook pro.
It also has a Touch Bar. This is an OLED display that takes the place of the function keys.
It's a touch display that changes in accordance with the task that you're working on and on to give you a variety of control options. It can let you scroll through videos, quickly adjust colors in a picture, and a myriad of other functions.
The Touch Bar can also be customized to include the most frequently-used shortcuts or the functions that you need within a specific application.
However, the Touch ID and Touch Bar are what some might call accessories. If you're wondering what's under the hood, you won't be disappointed.
Apple's Retina display is still the gold standard of display technologies and the MacBook Pro also features True Tone technology. True Tone uses multichannel sensors to modulate the color and intensity on the display in reaction to ambient light. The result is colors that appear more natural and images that look crisper and clearer.
For designers, the True Tone Retina display is probably the most prominent feature of the MacBook Pro.
It's available with an i7 or i9 4- to 8-core Intel processor that has a maximum clock speed of 4.7 GHz. The standard model will give you 16 GB of RAM and up to 64 GB. You can get up to a terabyte of SSD storage as well.
The MacBook Pro supports up to two 4K displays through its Thunderbolt 3 ports, which can handle up to 40Gb/s data transfer speeds and can connect to external GPUs as well.
Last but not least, the MacBook Pro comes with Apple's latest security hardware. It's equipped with an Apple T2 security chip that has secure booting and encrypted storage capability. The T2 chip is like a separate processor that handles some aspects of the laptop's operation and ensures that no unwanted processes are allowed to run on the machine.
Pros
- Unmatched processing power
- Retina display with True Tone Technology
- Excellent security
- The Touch Bar is indispensable after you've gotten used to it
Cons
- One of the most expensive laptops
- The processor and RAM cannot be upgraded after purchase
Who Is It for?
As its name implies, the MacBook Pro is ideal for graphic design professionals. People who just want a personal computer may find it overkill for their needs.
2. MacBook Air
The MacBook Air is one of Apple's best-selling products of all time. It's long been Apple's entry-level laptop but it recently received some interesting updates that make it appealing to professionals as well.
The Air has always been considered the lesser but more portable version of the MacBook Pro. That's still true to an extent, but the Air now has a slew of features that make it a strong contender. People who appreciate an all-in-one machine that can work as their daily driver and workhorse will love the MacBook Air.
Features
The main advantage that the Air has over the MacBook Pro is its weight and size. The MacBook Air is Apple's lightest laptop and one of the lightest on the market. Despite its size, though, the most recent model has a Retina display like its bigger cousin.
The latest MacBook Air's 13.3-inch Retina display with True Tone technology features over four million pixels of true-life color. However, it's not quite as bright and intense as the MacBook Pro's
The MacBook Air also has Touch ID technology for easy access to payment and other accounts.
Unlike the Pro, however, it does not feature a Touch Bar. That's not a huge loss, but people who are accustomed to having a Touch Bar will certainly miss it.
One of the big advantages of the current MacBook Air has over the previous is the keyboard. The keys on the Air use a new 'butterfly' mechanism that not only adds stability to the keys but also makes it one of the quietest keyboards you'll ever use.
The keyboard also has backlit keys with an ambient light sensor, so your keys will always look the same no matter the lighting conditions around you.
In lieu of a Touch Bar, the Air has a Force Touch trackpad that reacts differently to varying degrees of pressure applied to it. It's 20% larger than that of previous Air models and can be used to interact with the computer in a variety of ways.
As far as the hardware goes, the unassuming MacBook Air packs quite a punch. It comes with up to 16 GB of memory and a terabyte of SSD storage and weighs just over 2.5 pounds. It also features an 8th-generation i5 processor which is enough to handle all but the most demanding professional tasks.
It has two Thunderbolt 3 ports, like the MacBook Pro, but it can't handle quite the display load that the Pro can.
Another area where the Air outclasses the Pro is in battery life. With 12 hours of active battery life, it's good to go all day long on a single charge, assuming that you're not using it at max brightness.
Pros
- Retina Display with True Tone technology
- Very light (2.75lbs) and thin (0.61' to 0.16' at the thinnest)
- 12 hours of battery life
- Massive Force Touch trackpad
Cons
- Still expensive as far as laptops go
- Lacks Touch Bar
Who Is It for?
The MacBook Air is as much at home in a professional setting as it is for personal use. You'll find it lacking for some very high-demand tasks, though.
3. Old MacBook Air
Although the previous MacBook Air is a little outdated at this point, it's far from obsolete. Apple continues to sell it and many people are still buying it.
The thing you'll miss the most on an old MacBook Air is the Retina display. The Retina display MacBook Air is officially the third-generation that first came out in 2018. In contrast, the old model has a much lower-resolution display and looks noticeably less bright.
The processor on the old Air is also a little antiquated. That doesn't mean that it can't handle a decent strain, but you'll find it lackluster for complicated graphics processing tasks.
Perhaps most noticeably, the old Air looks older. It has thick bezels and overall a clunkier feel than the new model. On the other hand, people who were in the design space in the early 2010s will find it familiar and comfortable, like an old pair of boots.
Features
As mentioned, the old Air has one of Apple's previous generation displays. When it was released, the display was actually pretty good. However, since Retina displays have become the new normal, you'll notice a stark difference from one of Apple's new displays.
This particular refurbished MacBook Air doesn't feature the Thunderbolt ports of its successor, opting for two USB 3.0 ports – one to each side. It also has a MagSafe 2 charging connection at a headphone jack. Unlike its newer version, it's equipped with an SD card reader that's still a useful feature for many professionals.
The trackpad on the Air was cutting edge at the time and still holds up pretty well. If you're used to a traditional trackpad without Force touch technology, this will feel much more familiar. It's responsive and accurate.
The performance on the old Air is lackluster by today's standards but not horrible. It features an i5 Intel processor and 8 GB of memory. No one would call that useless but it is a little less than what we've come to expect. You can also get more recent versions with an i7 processor.
The standard model has a 128 GB SSD but it goes up to 512 GB, which is quite respectable.
The battery life is also fairly decent. It clocks in at a little over 10 hours, which is around the industry standard for even the latest laptops in the category.
Overall, the old MacBook Air may still be a good investment for many users. If you have demanding workloads, you'll find it lacking here and there but it's not a bad choice by any means. However, you should consider that buying an outdated MacBook is not exactly a future-proof decision.
Pros
- Affordable for a MacBook
- Good battery life
- Familiar look and feel
- SD card reader
Cons
- Outdated display
- No Thunderbolt ports
Who Is It for?
Realistically, the target audience for this laptop is people who have used it before or lived through the MacBook Air heyday and still want to own one of the iconic machines.
How They Stack Up
Now that you have all the specs and features, you're probably still wondering which one is the best for your purposes. Well, that ultimately depends on what you're looking for.
If you're in the market for portability at all costs, the new MacBook Air is the one for you. It's made of 100% recycled aluminum, weighs under 3 pounds, and measures 12.8 x 8.94 x 0.68 inches.
If battery life is your most important criterion, again, the new MacBook Air is the clear winner. It has an advertised 12 hours of battery life and some users report even longer stretches of use without a recharge.
If you're looking for raw performance, you want the MacBook Pro. It's easily the most powerful laptop that Apple makes and the fully-loaded model can rival any high-end PC. It can easily handle up to two additional 4K displays and has no problem running complex tasks.
If you're a professional designer, the 16-inch MacBook Pro is as good of a laptop as you can get for the money. It's also your best bet if you're adamant about storing your projects directly on your laptop's SSD, but the expanded storage options will cost you.
If you want a budget option, well, there are no true budget options when it comes to Apple laptops. The closest you'll get is the old MacBook Air and that will set you back more than many low-cost windows machines depending on the specs. Still, it has aged well and remains a solid workhorse for both professionals and casual users.
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If you are reading this article, you're probably looking for a laptop that meets your graphic design needs and falls within the budget. So allow me to tell you about the 5 best budget laptops for graphic design in today's market.
What is the best budget laptop for graphic design?
These are the top 5 best budget laptops for graphic design in 2021.
- Acer Swift 3
- HP 15
- Acer Aspire 5
- ASUS VivoBook 15
- Lenovo IdeaPad 3
Let's dig deep now and discover the minimum requirements of the most popular graphic design programs.
Laptop Minimum Requirements
2017 Macbook Pro
Most graphic designers use Adobe Photoshop, vector editor Adobe Illustrator and Adobe InDesign. To run them smoothly, you need to meet their minimum requirements.
Adobe Minimum Requirements
Photoshop minimum requirements: Intel® or AMD processor with 64-bit support; 2 GHz or faster processor with SSE 4.2 or later, 8GB of RAM.
Let's look at Illustrator's minimum requirements. You'll need a Multicore Intel processor (with 64-bit support) or an AMD Athlon 64 processor, 8GB of RAM (16GB recommended).
Adobe Indesign is the least demanding of the bunch. To run it smoothly, you will need an Intel® Pentium® 5 or AMD Athlon® 64 processor and a minimum of 4GB of RAM (16GB recommended)
Talking from my experiences here. Even though Adobe recommends 16GB of RAM, I've worked multiple years with 8GB RAM and create numerous designs with it.
So the majority of the budget laptops on this list will come with 8GB of RAM. It can be easily upgraded in the future if you'll feel that 8 gigs are insufficient for your day-to-day work.
Having a sufficient processing unit and RAM is not enough, but there other factors that you need to consider when buying a new laptop. So we're going to cover them next.
The Factors you Should Look for When Buying a New Laptop:
1. Performance
Last year, you might have come across a battle of the processor titans – AMD and Intel. Games for my macbook. At the end of the year, Apple released its new game-changing M1 chip that shook the world with its performance.
Having a bit of competition is almost always great for the consumer. Since the prices of one of the most essential hardware components will most definitely drop, so you will get more for less.
Getting the right hardware: processor, RAM, and quick SSD disk is essential for smooth, lag-free graphic design work. Otherwise, opening power-hungry software like Adobe Photoshop will take ages – literally.
2. Screen
IPS screen technology is also beneficial for a build-in laptop monitor. The IPS display panel has better color reproduction, an important feature when dealing with pixel-perfect graphics. Besides that, it delivers wider viewing angles.
3. Price
For some, this may be the least important factor about a laptop, but for most of us, it's a huge one.
If the price wasn't a factor, you could buy the latest and most expensive laptop. Still, this article is not written for people with unlimited funds. It is written to help people getting the best graphic design laptop for their budget.
A Closer Look at 5 Best Budget Laptops for Graphic Design:
1. Acer Swift 3 Thin & Light Laptop Inexpensive Laptop
Despite the fact, this laptop is 0.63 inches thin and weighs merely 2.6 lbs is packed with power. It comes with a mighty AMD Ryzen 7 4700U Octa-Core Mobile Processor, with a turbo boost of 4.1 GHz. For good measure, it comes with a 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD disk, so you can store all of your creative files on it.
Acer took care of its screen quality as well. It offers a 14″ Full HD 1920 x 1080 IPS LED-backlit display that will make your color to be as accurate as it can be. The battery life will average last up to 11.5 hours, so you can peacefully work through your day without any uninterrupted power supply.
The fingerprint reader is another excellent feature of this laptop. Not only for security reasons, but it makes your life a lot easier when you're unlocking or logging in.
During quarantine, I've learned that you need an excellent webcam and a microphone capable of capturing clear voice sounds. 2 built-in microphones with Acer Purified Voice and an HD Webcam will ensure the exceptional quality of your picture and voice.
The only drawback and I'm being a bit nitpicking here, is it's 8GB LPDDR4 RAM. Nevertheless, as mentioned earlier, it is sufficient for everyday graphic design life.
In essence, the excellent build quality and outstanding performance, brilliant IPS screen toped with a beautiful design. Acer Swift 3 is a superb choice for every graphic designer looking for an inexpensive laptop for his career.
2. HP 15 Touchscreen Affordable Laptop
When I was updating the list, I couldn't decide which laptop should be the number 1 choice, should it be HP 15 or Acer Swift. But in the end, the Swifts' price prevailed.
Although this HP laptop is the most expensive on the list, it is loaded with powerful specs. A 10th Gen Intel Core i5-1035G1 with a turbo boost of 3.6 GHz is responsible for quick program execution.
But it doesn't end here.
Let's explore the real highlight of this computer— a 16 GB RAM unit. More RAM allows computers to do more tasks at once, and in graphic design, this is an essential feature. Some might even say that having more RAM and an average processor is better than the other way around.
Not only that, a 512GB SSD can store all of your files. Combined with a huge RAM and powerful processor, it will open them with blazing speeds.
This portable computer's total weight is 5.4 pounds, which is more than some other alternatives on this list but is still comfortable enough when you carry it around.
All the performances aside, the WLED-backlit touchscreen display is the downside of this computer. The HP would use IPS technology in the perfect world, but in that case, its price would be substantially higher. Having touchscreen technology is a silver lining of this monitor and is there to accelerate your workflow.
Everything is packed in a metal body, merged with a black plastic keyboard surface. All the different materials put together make it premium looking. I must say that I really like the design of this one!
We are going to sandwich the HP 15 with another Acer laptop. So let's explore its specifications.
3. Acer Aspire 5 Low-cost Laptop
The Acer Aspire 5 was my favorite budget laptop choice in the past, but the first two options are more powerful than this one, so it lost a few places. Nevertheless, with the affordable price and good performance is still an inexpensive laptop contender.
The 10th Gen Intel Core i5-1035G1 is the brain of this laptop and will run up to 3.6GHz with a turbo boost. Fused with 8GB DDR4 of RAM, it will take care of smooth and efficient work.
It comes with all the bells and whistles as the bigger brother on this list – Acer Swift 3. It has a fingerprint reader for easy access, a backlit keyboard, two built-in microphones, and an HD camera for well-defined video communication.
On top of that, it has 15.6″ FHD IPS 1920 x 1080 pixel display that reproduces stunning colors. Also, the Acer BlueLightShield protects your eyes from blue light exposure.
Acer promises 8 hours of battery life with regular use. Still, if you push it a bit as you would with professional graphic design work, you will get an hour or two less of it. So have the charger with you if you're planning to work extra long.
The disadvantage of this laptop is its SSD memory size. It can only store 256 GB of data, which might get filled quickly with the larger files that graphic design programs can create. However, you can easily extend its memory with an external disk or cloud storage.
The lower price doesn't show the lack of materials used and overall build quality. Acer designers decided to put an aluminum top cover found in some of the high-end laptop choices.
4. ASUS VivoBook 15 Budget Laptop
ASUS produces one of the most reliable laptops on the market and continuously pushes its product innovation. Therefore it would be a crime if I don't include this excellent inexpensive option on the list.
VivoBook 15 comes with the 10th Gen Intel Core i5-1035G1 CPU capable of up to 3.6 GHz clocking speed.8GB RAM ensures trouble-free working in your favorite design software. Moreover, its beasty 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD has the capacity of storing all of your artwork in one place.
Like some choices on this list, this reasonably priced laptop comes with a backlit keyboard and fingerprint sensor. Additional ErgoLift hinge adds up to the device's ergonomics. All these little things combined contribute to the work comfort.
You know that feeling when you're rushing to the meeting, and you find out your laptop battery is almost drained? Vivos' feature of charging the battery to 60% in 49 minutes makes this inconvenience a thing of the past.
As you can see, VivoBook 15 has a lot of offer. Its only drawback is the lack of the IPS monitor panel.
Moving to the last low-priced laptop option.
This one is perfect for those who are really on the budget.It checks all the minimum requirements that a laptop needs to run the graphic design apps efficiently. However, you'll have to upgrade to a more advanced model faster than the other options on the list.
5. Lenovo IdeaPad 3 Pocket-Friendly Touchscreen Laptop
Lenovo IdeaPad comes with the Intel 10th Gen Dual-Core i3-1005G1 CPU and is not as fast as the other alternatives on the list. Even though it doesn't offer an ultra-high-speed processor, it's armed with 8GB DDR4 RAM.
You can store your designs on the 256GB PCI-e SSD, which is on the lower end of the storage capacity. However, it is enough for someone who doesn't work daily with Adobe programs that might create enormous data files.
Its 15.6″ display is not powered by IPS technology, but it offers a touch screen feature. It comes in handy for choosing different program tools and adds up to work productivity.
Let's not forget the looks of the Lenovo IdeaPad. Although it is the cheapest option on the list, it looks remarkably modern.
Now that we covered the selection of inexpensive laptops, let's compare them side by side.
Comparison Of The Best Budget Laptops
Final Words
I hope after reading this article you have found your perfect fit. Now, if all the above laptops are still out of your budget, you can go for a refurbished or secondhand laptops. They may not have been unused, but they will meet your requirements.
As mentioned before, technology changes and develops fast, which is good as the prices become more budget-friendly. So, if you find a model that is not the newest but meets the requirements, you should consider buying it!