Being talented is not enough if you want to make a living or study as a graphic designer. You also need to get a machine that will allow you to run the very heavy programs you’ll be using. You have to use a machine that can operate multiple powerful programs at once with no slowdowns or crashes. If you’ve never shopped for an advanced machine and don’t know what you should look for in yours, here’s the type of PC you’ll need for graphic design.
Desktops Over Laptops
The first thing you have to know is that few reasonably priced laptops will be able to handle serious graphic design work. Budget laptops are out of the question here while mid-range laptops will usually be lacking in the CPU or GPU department.
So, your best bet here would be to pick a desktop as you’ll be able to get both a great CPU and a good GPU at an accessible price. Lenovo.com are a perfect option here as they have great specs and are still reasonably priced, so check their selection and see if you can find something that falls within your needs power and budget-wise.
CPU Over GPU
With that being said, we would say that you should focus more on the power of your processor than that of your graphics card. You could get away with a budget GeForce RTX card in the low 30s, even an integrated chip in extreme cases, as long as you have a good processor. That’s because you’ll mainly be working on static images. Advanced graphic cards are better for animators since they need to process moving images which are much more demanding on the GPU.
When it comes to processors, you shouldn’t even look at anything under the 3 GHz clock speed mark. You should also go with a CPU that has at least 8 cores and 16 threads, though you can never go too high here.
Good Monitor
You will, of course, also need a great monitor so you can properly examine your work and know how your creations will look on the highest resolution settings. You shouldn’t get carried away by superfluous features like built-in speakers, multiple USB ports, and TV tuners, however, as they willingly add to the price. Even the refresh rate isn’t very important since you’ll, again, be mainly working on static images.
Focus on things like resolution, color accuracy and grayscale, and the size of the screen. Don’t pick a monitor unless it’s an IPS one too. VA and TA panels are just not good enough and while they will look cheap, they will never be as precise as IPS panels. Pick one of those and you could have some unpleasant surprises when you look at your designs on a good display.
Conclusion
If you’ve been wondering what should be in a graphic designer’s PC, we hope we were able to clarify things for you. Take the time to look at as many models and reviews as you can until you find the absolute best machine for you.
