Best Cheap Laptop for Photoshop in 2017 — Choosing an ideal laptop for Photoshop is a dreary task for designers. One can easily be confused with the amount of choices left in the competing market. When it comes to professional editing or graphic designing Photoshop is the ultimate choice of so many. The software is heavy and demanding and requires good hardware for smooth running. It would be utterly frustrating if your computer happens to freeze up a lot in the middle of editing. And it costs time and money too. Even if you do photo-editing as hobby slow-responding laptop would be no fun to work.
But don't worry. We have done all the ground work for you. After heavy research we have come up with some of the best laptops to run heavy programs like Photoshop, illustrator and elements. All of these laptops come with the power and grace to run Photoshop with ease and let you concentrate on your work. And we have taken some key factors into consideration while choosing the laptops to run Photoshop. We highly recommend you to go through those specs and read our reviews before picking out a laptop for Photoshop.
Best Laptops for Photoshop in 2017
- Best Laptop for Photoshop CS6
- Best Cheap Laptop for Photoshop under $500
- Best Photoshop Laptop under $1000
- Best Mac Laptop for Photoshop
- Best Touch Screen Laptop for Photoshop
Best Laptop for Photoshop CS6
#1 Dell Inspiron i7559-7512GRY
Dell Inspiron i7559-7512GRY is the best laptop for photoshop cs6 and photo editing in 2017. The laptop houses Intel Quad Core i7-6700HQ 2.6 GHz Processor and 16GB DDR3L SDRAM and boot and launch apps in the blink of an eye.
And what we like most is the 15.6 inch Ultra HD 4K LED-lit Truelife Touchscreen display which is perfect for editing work and let you pay attention to minute details of the graphics. Plus the discrete NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M GPU with 4GB GDDR5 Video RAM makes it apt choice for video editing task. Another good reason to go with Dell Inspiron.
It comes with hybrid storage means you can use the 1TB HDD for storing all your files and documents and the 128GB SSD to install Photoshop and run it at lightning speed.
The laptop is light-weight and highly portable and has long battery life of up to 10 plus hours so you can work without interruption. Overall Dell Inspiron is a great photoshop laptop for professionals.
- 6th Generation Intel Core i7 6700HQ 2.6 GHz CPU
- 15.6 Inch UHD 4K LED-lit Truelife Touchscreen Display
- RAM - 16 GB DDR3L SDRAM
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M with 4GB GDDR5 VRAM
- 1 TB HDD 5400 RPM + 128 GB SSD Storage
- Windows 10 Operating System
Best Cheap Laptop for Photoshop under $500
#2 Acer Aspire E5 — Cheap Laptop for Photoshop
If you are looking for a budget option then we have Acer Aspire E5 for you. Priced around $500 the laptop is affordable for everyone. No matter if you are a student learning photoshop or someone at the start of your editing career you can go with Aspire E 15. Despite being cheap the laptop sports comprehensive specs. It's a quad-core powerhouse fitted with Intel Core i5 Processor with 2.8GHz turbo boost, 8GB DDR4 RAM and 256GB SSD storage for faster access.
The wide 15.6 inch Full HD Widescreen LED-backlit display gives great viewing angles and the discrete NVIDIA GeForce 940MX Graphics card with 2GB GDDR5 Video Memory makes all your editing tasks a breeze.
Besides Acer features Type-C USB connectivity for faster internet and the best part is the extended battery backup of up to 12 hours which is truly amazing for a budget laptop. Overall Aspire E5 is the cheapest laptop for photoshop with reliable performance.
- Intel Core i5 Processor with Turbo up to 2.8GHz
- 15.6 inch Full HD LED-backlit Display
- Discrete NVIDIA GeForce 940MX with 2GB GDDR5 vRAM
- 8GB DDR4 RAM + 256GB SSD Storage
- Long battery life up to 12 Hours
- Comfortable Backlit Keyboard
- Windows 10
Best Photoshop Laptop under $1000
#3 ASUS K501UX Gaming Laptop
ASUS K501UX is a good mid-range laptop for photoshop suitable for professional editing. It is powered with 6th generation Intel Core i7 6500U 2.5GHz processor with turbo boost of up to 3.1GHz. The high-end Skylake processor combined with 8GB RAM delivers the smooth lag-free photo-editing experience.
The full HD wide 15.6 inch Matte finish display is rich for designing and the discrete NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M graphics card boosts up the performance of high-graphics software like Photoshop CS6.
It also has 256GB Solid State Storage which is fast and produces less heat. Plus the Dual Fan Cooling System and IceCool Technology ensure the machine stay cool so that you can work with ease for hours.
The touch screen display is another plus for ASUS. You can edit photos on go with just your fingertips and the backlit keyboard helps you work even in low-light conditions. Highly recommended!
- Intel Core i7 6500U 2.5GHz Processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz)
- 15.6 inch Anti-glare Full HD Touchscreen Display
- 8GB RAM + 256GB SSD Storage
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M discrete GPU
- Full-sized Backlit Chiclet keyboard
- 802.11AC for Fast internet connectivity
- Windows 10 OS
Best Mac Laptop for Photoshop
#4 Macbook Pro MJLT2LL/A
Macbook Pro is the popular choice of numerous photoshop users and not without reason. The laptop features the best in-class Quad-core Intel Core i7 2.5GHz Processor with Turbo-boost of up to 3.7GHz. With four-chores and turbo-boost the laptop's performance is stunning. And the 16GB RAM is more than enough to run Photoshop and other high-graphics softwares.
The best part of Macbook Pro is the Retina display. The IPS panel display has the excellent color accuracy on all viewing angles and the big 15.4 inch screen is good enough for photo editing and portable enough at the same time. We recommend you not to settle for 13 inch display because smaller displays will be inconvenient for editing work on long run.
Besides Macbook Pro has excellent 9 hours of battery life so you can take it to school or outdoors without worrying about charging. And at 4.46 lbs and .7 inch thickness it is conveniently portable and snugly fit in your backpack. If you like Mac laptops then Macbook Pro MJLT2LL/A is a great choice for Photoshop.
- Intel Core i7 2.5GHz CPU with Turbo Boost up to 3.7GHz
- 16GB RAM + 512GB SSD Storage
- 15.4 inch IPS Retina display
- Intel Iris Pro Graphics
- AMD Radeon R9 M370X 2GB GDDR5 vRAM
- Battery backup 9 hours
Best Touch Screen Laptop for Photoshop
#5 ZenBook Pro UX501VW 4K Laptop
ASUS ZenBook Pro UX501VW is our final recommendation in the list and the best touch screen laptop for photoshop. This is the laptop for professionals. The Quad-core Intel i7 6700HQ 2.6 GHz Processor gives the power and mobility to run pretty much anything with ease. Together with 16GB DDR4 RAM and huge 512GB SSD storage the machine launches apps and run videos at lightning speed.
And the best part of the laptop is the 4K UHD display. It comes with wide 15.6 inch IPS touchscreen display with 3840 x 2160 pixel resolution. The IPS panel has brilliant color saturation and the touch-enabled screen let you edit photos with just your fingertips.
Plus there is also the discrete Nvidia GTX960M Graphics card which enhances the editing process. The laptop comes with classy aluminum uni-body design that stays cool with active and passive cooling system even on prolonged usage. It is little expensive but the best investment one can make in their career. If you are a professional editor and have the budget then go for it.
- Intel Skylake Core i7 6700HQ 2.6 GHz CPU (Turbo up to 3.5GHz)
- 16GB DDR4 RAM + 512GB SSD (1400MB/s speed)
- 15.6 inch 4K Ultra HD IPS Touch screen display, 3840 x 2160 resolution
- Nvidia GTX960M Graphics Card
- 64 bit Windows 10 Home Edition
- ASUS AudioWizard + ICE sound Software
- 1 Year International Warranty
Key Specs to Consider When Choosing the Best Laptop for Photoshop:
CPU — When it comes to photoshop laptop, processing power plays a big role. The software itself is CPU intensive and consumes fair amount of computing power. Not to mention you will simultaneously run other supporting programs for file management, reference, research etc. Obviously all these tasks put a great load on Processor. So better the processor greater the efficiency. We highly recommend taking up Intel i7 if you have the budget or at the least settle with i5. Core i7 will be future-proof and run all sorts of graphics softwares without lag. Definitely worth spending some extra cash.
RAM — RAM plays a vital role when it comes to photo editing experience. If you ask whichever is most important for a laptop's performance — Processor or RAM? I'll say both CPU and RAM go hand in hand. If you try to run photoshop with good processor but bare-minimum RAM then surely you can't unleash the full potential of a high-speed processor. Photoshop requires minimum of 2GB RAM but just understand most of the times the program eats up to 2 to 3GB RAM by itself. So you need 8GB at least but if you are a professional and wants buttery-smooth editing experience then go for 12GB or even 16GB RAM.
Display Quality & Resolution — Display is another key element to look for in a photoshop laptop. Having a display with precise color accuracy would be a boon when you edit photos. You'll need a full HD resolution. Go for IPS panel display and don't settle for less if you intend to use photoshop in the laptop.
Screen Size — Laptops comes in different sizes. A 13 inch laptop can be portable but the smaller screen makes it difficult for designing work. Having a bigger screen will let you work with precise accuracy without zooming and all. So we recommend you to go for laptop with 15 inch display or even higher.
Storage — This may not look like important. But graphics files takes up so much of space. And the storage when used to its fullest capacity will slow down the machine. So you need minimum of 1TB HDD or 256GB SSD storage. We recommend SSD since it is super-fast and produces less heat. If your budget allows you can even go for hybrid style laptop with more HDD storage and little flash storage. In that case you can use SSD for running photoshop and store files in HDD drive.
Portability — Laptops are not made bulky these days. But even then their level of portability varies with the display size, design and battery backup they offer. As a designer you may be expected to lug around laptop between work and home, to travel, to on site etc. So make sure the laptop is portable enough for you to carry everywhere.
Software — You can get a laptop with amazing specs but without good editing software it's nothing. We highly recommend Adobe Photoshop CS6 for this. The software comes with numerous useful extensions and plugins and let you edit photos like a pro with minimal effort.
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