Graphic Designing: Laptop vs. Desktop 

Choosing the right appliance for your graphic designing career isn’t’ going to be easy. The first question to ask yourself is simple: Laptop or Desktop? Now, it all comes down to personal choice and convenience for both. While a laptop is more portable, energy-saving, and budget-friendly, there’s no question about the performance of a desktop. So, how do you determine whether you need a laptop or a desktop? Let’s get into it. 

1. Portability 

If you’re a student taking a graphic designing course, there’s no point in this; a laptop is precisely what you need. On the other hand, if you’re a professional who mostly works from home via the internet, portability might not be that big of a requirement for you. If you need to frequently go between clients or if you’re big on traveling, then getting a laptop is probably a better idea. However, if the frequenting between clients requires only a visual presentation of the work, then you can even invest in an external hard drive for all the work. Though, if you want work done faster and on the go, investing in a good laptop is probably a good idea.

2. Budget 

In this world, there are very few things that are not dictated by our financial status; a laptop is not one of them. If you don’t want that big of an investment on the get-go, then the laptop is the way to go. However, if you want to go for something very good and built for a lot of work, and you are willing to pay more than 700 dollars, then you can go for a decent-sized monitor. The problem with that, though, is that it’s either very expensive and brilliant or an absolutely terrible desktop that doesn’t last more than a year. So unless you’re prepared to make a big and serious investment, a desktop is not what you need. 

3. Part-time vs. Full-time 

If graphic designing is currently a hobby or side project thing for you, it wouldn’t exactly make sense to spend a small fortune on it. Unless you’re a professional graphic designer who needs only the highest quality and the largest memory, a desktop isn’t quite suitable for your purpose. Even if you aren’t a full professional, you can still go for a desktop, the question comes down to the wisdom of that decision. Thorough, you can obviously use that computer for other purposes, investing in a CPU, monitor, keyboard, mouse, a graphic drawing tablet, and a stylus seems a bit of a waste. Realize why you need it and what you need it for. 

4. Performance 

A desktop generally performs a lot better than a laptop in terms of graphic design. All hardware components give off heat while running, however, heat dissipation is a lot harder on laptops than in desktops. This results in the laptop running a lot slower as compared to a desktop in order to prevent excess heat from being created. Laptop CPUs generally have 40 to 50 percent of the performance that is offered by a computer CPU. Additionally, due to more slots being available, you can also upgrade it with more RAM. Along with that, desktop GPU cards are also of much higher quality and function up to 30 percent better than Laptop GPUs. 

5. Durability 

In reference to durability, it is important to note that while desktops are a heavy investment, it’s usually a one-time thing. You won’t have to get it completely replaced if something burns out, a simple replacement part will suffice. However, with laptops, you have no idea how long they’ll last. They are also not very easy to repair since you can’t just buy a replacement part. In laptops, it’s also pretty common for one thing to get out of hand and lead t another problem which lowers the overall durability of the laptop itself. 

In conclusion, laptops are great if you need something portable, convenient, light-weight, and budget-friendly. However, if you want to one-up your graphic designing, a desktop is probably the way to go. This isn’t to say that laptops aren’t good for graphic designing- they’re great; the problem lies solely in technicalities. For the common man or even a professional, a laptop is a great idea. Desktops are usually suited for self-employed freelancers operating mostly virtually. 

Guest article written by: Kashif Ahmad

3 thoughts on “Graphic Designing: Laptop vs. Desktop ”

Leave a Comment