Graphic designers have a unique set of requirements for their ‘work horse’.
In our experience, we see them need a machine that has been specifically built for graphic design and for the specialised software that is used.
For those of you who have managed to resist the lure of Apple’s irresistible marketing and go with a PC – congratulations! You will get the same or superior hardware at the same or less than cost of the equivalent Apple Computer.
Can I just buy a ready to go computer for graphic design?
Out of the box solutions are just never quite as good for graphic designers.
If you are working using Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator or InDesign then you will benefit from having a chat to us about your computing needs.
Adobe do have recommendations for the minimum level of spec a computer should have when running their programs – and we are totally across these requirements.
Trying to run your software on anything less will likely result in you being less productive than you could be.
Purchasing a branded out-of-the-box HP/Acer/Samsung etc. system from Harvey Norman or Joyce Mayne will often result in you not getting the type of hardware that you really need.
Every person’s needs are a little bit different. Maybe you dabble in a bit of video editing on the side or perhaps you are a gamer in between design fests – either way… we can put together a system that does the job.
How would you know what a graphic designer needs? You’re just a bunch of tech guys!
We also have a digital marketing division (head on over to Ignite Digital Marketing to check it out!) and so of course our staff had to have the best.
Not just because they are incredibly impatient with computers but because we all know that time means money. Sitting and waiting for the computer to process large files is a waste of time – and thus money – and is incredibly unproductive.
We also do a fair bit of video editing ourselves having purchased a couple of drones… so the more we use the Adobe Suite… the more we see what a difference having the right gear makes when processing images or video.
A ‘technical friend’ told me I need an i7 and a massive video card…is this going to cost me a fortune?
Depending on the type of work you are doing, you do not necessarily need a video/graphics card. If you are doing activities like photo editing, website design, print or stationary design (small and large format) – it is very likely that you won’t need a very big graphics card.
You will however need a decent processor (i5 or above), a good quality motherboard, a fast hard drive or even better a Solid State Drive and most importantly – Memory.
If you are using the Adobe software one thing you need is a lot of memory since the Adobe software can be very memory hungry at times. For most higher end graphic design machines we would recommend a minimum of 32GB of memory, for lower end systems 16GB should be ok so long as your work load is relatively light. If you have not heard of a solid state drive we highly recommend solid state hard drives, they will have a huge impact on the speed of your file saving/file opening and generally everything you do!
Can I edit videos on the same computer?
If you want to do any kind of video editing or rendering then this is where having the right hardware is crucial. If you want to learn more about video editing machines please have a look at our video editing machine page here.
Ok so how much do I really need to budget?
Well if this is your main source of income and this machine is going to be used daily then we would recommend spending as much as you can afford. The quicker and more responsive your computer is – the more efficient you are going to be. If you allow from $1500 you will get something that will do the job. As mentioned above though – it depends on the exact nature of your activities so call or email us today and get a quote or even just a second opinion!