UI/UX Graphic Designer Laptops
UI/UX designing is one of the graphic designing types. It mainly focuses on user interactions and user experience of a service or a product.
Based on usage, we can consider laptops with medium to high specs. Let's see the basic things to keep in mind while buying a laptop for UI/UX designing.
Display - I feel that buyers should not compromise on display for graphic designing. Crisp display is need while designing to get better output. Display should output perfectly balanced colors and it should not strain your eyes. Screen dimensions are one’s own choice. Few people like to have small compact laptops and few like big screen laptops for better visibility.
Processor - For UI/UX graphic designers, having a decent processor is sufficient to get work done. Intel Core i5 processors or above are recommended.
RAM - Minimum 8GB of RAM is required. If you open many browsers tabs, play songs in background or run other applications in background while working, even more RAM is recommended. If you are on a tight budget, then 8GB of RAM is sufficient.
Storage - At Least 256GB of SSD storage is recommended.
Ports - At Least three USB ports are recommended. If you want a portable laptop, then usage of external hubs are required for connectivity. It is a personal choice for the ports category.
Battery - Having at least 6 Hours of battery backup is recommended. But different laptops will have different battery backups. This one is also a personal choice.
Above are a few points to note while buying a UI/UX Laptop. Keeping the above points in mind, I listed a few laptops which should be added to your laptop buying list.
If you are an Apple user, you should consider this MacBook Air with M2 chip. Up to 18 hours of battery life, M2 processor with one of the highest CPU benchmarks, Liquid Retina Display and slim design are its features.
MacBook Air laptops with at least 8GB RAM are enough for UI/UX designers.
If you are on a tight budget and wish to use an Apple laptop, check this 2020 13 Inch Apple MacBook Air laptop. It has an M1 chip with 8GB RAM and 256 GB SSD storage.
I recommend this laptop over other windows laptops cause this is packed with M1 chip and Retina Display. But keep in mind that this laptop will get updates only for 3 more years.
The 512GB SSD gives plenty of space to store projects. This laptop comes with i7 Processor and 12GB of RAM. The downside is its display. Its HD display does not match our minimum requirement of full HD display but other specs are good for its price tag.
If you want more storage, RAM and an awesome processor for less than 550 US Dollars (at the time of writing this post), consider this laptop.
One of the best specifications for a laptop under 500 US Dollars (at the time of writing this post). This laptop features a 15.6 Inch Full HD display, AMD Ryzen 5 5500U processor, 16GB RAM and 1TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD all under $500.
32GB of RAM, 1TB SSD and full HD touch display around $500 (at the time of this post) makes this laptop one of the best UI/UX graphic designer laptops.
There is a new version of this model but this 2023 model is enough for its decent specs and costs under $550(at the time of this post). The 8 core AMD Ryzen 7 5800HS CPU is faster than most of the previous Intel i7 processors, 12GB of RAM and 512GB SSD are the specs to look at.
Downside is its 1600 x 768 HD display. Other than the display, this laptop is good for designers.
15.6 inch full HD laptop with Intel Core i5-1335U processor, 16GB LPDDR5 (LPDDR5 type gives better battery life) RAM and 512GB SSD.
Conclusion
Laptops mentioned here are for designers who use moderately power hungry applications. Listed laptops are good for Figma, Adobe illustrator, web browsing with many tabs opened, playing songs in the background etc.
These are budget friendly laptops for UI/UX designers. If you want more powered laptops even for graphic designing, please take a look at Programming Laptops or Gaming Laptops. They are the best laptops to have for heavy tasks.
If you find better deals with Intel Core i5 11th Generation or above, AMD Ryzen 5 or above, at least 8GB of RAM and at least 256GB of storage, you may grab that deal. Also check which laptop brand's service center is nearest to you before buying.