You have to be very careful when choosing a digital art laptop as you’re making a sizable investment and, of course, don’t want to end up buying something you regret.
Before we discuss what to look for in a digital art laptop, first have your art goals set right, which essentially means you’ve penned down the tasks you intend to get out of your art lappy.
Following are a few things you need to consider before buying a digital art laptop.
- Screen
If you can afford it, your first choice screen should be a 4K screen. Most laptops come with either an HD or a 4K screen. A 4K screen will allow you to view artworks in more detail than in high-definition work.
These days, most design applications provide interfaces for higher-than-HD screen resolutions. So using these applications on an HD screen would shortchange the use of the interface and your work, eventually.
Another reason why you should go for a 4K screen laptop is the color reproduction. Some 4K screens can reproduce 100% of Adobe RGB color space while HD screens, on the other hand, can only output 75% of Adobe RGB.
Also, some 4K models come with a touchscreen, which makes it easier to draw when you are short on elbow room and can barely use the trackpad. So we prefer a 4K touchscreen to any other.
- RAM
RAM typically means the amount of information a computer’s short-term memory can store at a given time. The higher the RAM, the more the app information it can deal with at once, without the interference of the permanent memory. As a bare minimum, it is recommended to go for a digital laptop with 8GB RAM if you have a small budget.
Most drawing and design applications, however, run more efficiently on 16GB laptops. Furthermore, if you use heavy RAM usage apps like After Effects and Adobe CC, you might want to get your hands on a 32GB digital art laptop.
The bottom line here is, it depends more on your application usage. Go for a higher RAM laptop if you are someone who uses professional drawing apps requiring huge memory. Otherwise, an 8GB or 16GB RAM will do the job for you.
- Processor
Picking the processor for your drawing needs can be tricky. While the Intel Core chips are ruling the processors market, other players like AMD and other specialist processor builders have seen a resurgence in recent times in performance and popularity.
Additionally, within the Core range, you get to choose from Core i3, i5, i7, and i9 models. The i5 and i7, however, are further split among models ending with U and H or HQ or HK. Most current-generation processors are 8th gen, which can be 0.5X faster than their 7th gen counterparts.
What you want to look for in a laptop processor speed is whether it has turbo speed. Simply put, turbo speed is the speed the cores achieve. If the functionalities your applications are performing are not utilizing all the core power, the computer tends to speed up the cores in use.
Look further if the vendor sells you a product noted as turbo speed rather than base speed. Be wary if the vendor sells you a product noted as turbo speed rather than base speed.
Also, you can tell what generation and type a processor is just by looking at the code name of the processor. For instance, a Core i9-8950HQ processor is an 8th gen (the first digit after the hyphen), H series (last two digits in the code) processor.
- Storage
Most 15-inch laptops come with 1 TB storage. However, some of them offer 2 TB, which is quite pricey and unnecessary at the same time. Considering the kind of applications you can use for digital drawing, a 15-inch laptop with 512 GB is just the right option for you. Leave alone the 256 GB version as it is too small to work with.
Laptops come with either PCIe drives or SATA SSD drives which can be either striped together on one device or just two PCIe drives as in 4K video and animation laptops. Apple MacBook Pro offers 4 TB storage, possible only through the two drives striped together configuration.
- Graphics
If you work predominantly on 2D drawing software like Photoshop, Sketchbook, Illustrator, InDesign, or Sketch, you can go for a laptop with an Intel UHD graphics card. For instance, if your job includes encoding videos and animation, and layering documents, a robust Intel graphics chip is all you need.
Alternatively, you can choose one with an AMD or Nvidia graphics card for more complex 3D tasks. Working on a 3D suite of apps like Houdini, Cinema 4D, and Autodesk 3DS Max requires the most powerful graphics card one can afford.
Also, you can opt for an eGPU to enhance your laptop’s 3D performance, as long as you are not using a powerful PC.
The 11 Best Laptops for Digital Art in 2022
1. Apple MacBook Pro (Editor’s Choice)
CPU: 2.6GHz Intel Core i7 or 2.3GHz Intel Core i9 | Graphics: AMD Radeon Pro 5300M | RAM: 16 GB | Screen: 16 inch | Storage: 512 GB or 1 TB Ultrafast SSD
The Apple MacBook Pro is the greatest Apple computer for artists in 2022, capable of running every creative software on the Macintosh platform, storing the largest files and portfolios, and displaying the work in amazing detail, color, and vitality.
The MacBook Pro has an incredible screen because it can improve an artist’s work with its depth, resolution, and stunning colors.
The Apple MacBook Pro is also incredibly fast, powerful, and glitch-free. It can support any digital artist and allows them to accomplish their projects while accurately and elegantly displaying the results.
Pros Cons
Improved M1 Pro and M1 Max chips Bulky
1080p high-definition web camera Lacks Face ID
Connectivity ports and expansion
- Microsoft Surface Book 3
CPU: AMD Ryzen™ 5 3580U or AMD Ryzen™ 7 3780U | Graphics: Radeon Vega 9 or RX Vega 11 | RAM: 8/16/32 GB | Screen: 15 inch | Storage: Removable 256 GB, 512 GB or 1 TB Ultrafast SSD
The Microsoft Surface laptop is a well-built machine. It is light, sleek, and durable. It comes with a bright high definition touch screen, plenty of processing power, and memory for even the most demanding art or animation software.
The Surface Pro laptop has the fastest, latest generation processors, Radeon graphics coprocessor, and hyper-fast DDR4 RAM, making it a perfect choice for complex tasks like animation, high-resolution graphics, and professional photo editing.
It also has a removable SSD drive, which is beneficial for painters and photographers, and makes the computer easier to upgrade.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 13.5″ is also available with a smaller screen and somewhat different specs and hardware, but it’s still a strong and desirable machine for any working professional or fine artist.
Pros Cons
Sleek design Poor battery life
USB-C port is available
Fast charging
Fast processor
- Dell XPS 15
CPU: Core i5-2410M | Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 | RAM: 8 GB /16 GB / 32 GB / 64 GB DDR4 | Screen: 4-sided InfinityEdge display, 16:10 AR, 1920×1200 / 3840×2400 resolution | Storage: 512GB| Dimensions: 15” | Battery life: 8 hours and 27 minutes of streaming on a 4K+ panel with 86WHr battery
Popularly known as the Creator Edition laptop, Dell XPS 15’s NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1650 Ti graphics is something to die for. The laptop’s stunning 4K display is equipped with 100% Adobe RGB, 94% CI-P3 color gamut with more than 16 million ultra-vivid colours, and all this with Dolby Vision’s HDR imaging technology.
Dell XPS 15 sports a 15.6 inches FHD InfinityEdge non-touch, anti-glare display to reduce eye fatigue. Its sleek design and blazing-fast performance make it our choice for one of the best laptops for digital art. Basically I have used this laptop for my erp for small businesses and its working awesome.
Pros Cons
All-round performance USB-C-only support doesn’t fit for all
GPU configuration available Quite heavy for its size
Supports 3 USB-C ports, with 2 Thunderbolt 3
Large touchpad
- ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo UX581
CPU: 10th Gen Intel Core i9-10980HK 2.40GHz | Graphics: NVIDIA RTX 2060 6GB GDDR6 | RAM: 16 GB DDR | Screen: 15.6 inch | Storage: 1TB PCle SSD
Many artists advise against creating work on your laptop’s screen, but when you have an amazing machine, which features an outstanding dual screen, stunning 4K resolution, and a high-sensitivity pen, what else do you need?
While the Asus Zenbook Pro Duo is a costly computer, it is also one of the most innovative, advanced, and useful laptops ever built.
It is great for professional artists, animators, 3-D modelers, and photographers as it offers enough memory of 16 GB, processing power, and storage space of 1 TB.
Pros Cons
Two 4K touch OLED displays871 Hefty
Has eight-core Core i9 CPU Short battery life
Handles processor havely tasks well Lacks SD card slot
- HP Envy X360
CPU: Intel Core i7| Graphics: AMD Radeon R7 M265 | RAM: 8 GB | Screen: 15.6” 1920 x 1080 pixels display | Storage: 256GB HDD storage | Battery life: Up to 12 hours
HP Envy X360’s looks could make any gadget lover crave its minimalist and clean design. The aluminum body looks sublime, weighing 2.9 pounds. A notable improvement made in this model, in comparison to the 2019 model, is the bezel around the screen. With a near-bezel-less display, HP Envy X360’s keyboard almost runs from edge to edge, thereby making enough room for the mousepad as well.
One of the highlights of the HP Envy X360 is AMD’s integrated Radeon graphics. It promises amazingly high performance for not just movies and games but even for some of the most complex digital art software.
Another feature that stood out to us is the convertible screen that allows you to use it as a tablet. The downside, though, is that the laptop doesn’t come with a pen and a 4K screen 一 something every artist looks for in a digital art laptop.
Overall, HP Envy X360 is a decent presentation-friendly desktop replacement laptop and should be your first-choice big-screen convertible laptop.
Pros Cons
Super-fast 8-core Ryzen 7 CPU Does not come with a stylus
Function-packed keyboard Does not support Thunderbolt 3
Amazing build quality
Hope this article helps you proeprly.