Laptop that runs Adobe Illustrator

[SugarHouse1]

Hello, I am launching a business and need to buy a laptop. As I don’t have much money, I shall be buying it from a mail order catalogue so that limits my options. The only real requirement is that it can cope with Adobe Illustrator.

I had a bad experience with a laptop I bought from Argos, basically it couldn’t cope with AI so I wasted my money. I can’t make the same mistake again.

Would really appreciate some help. Thanks.

You need to buy a Apple Mac ideally, does the catalogue have those? MacBook Pro or MacBook Air.

Can you buy from eBay? Or just the one place?

Go to Dell outlet and something refurbished, 16gb ram and AMD or Nvidia video.

Thanks for your replies. My budget (Credit Limit) is £600 and this is what is available:

www.littlewoods.com/electricals/laptops/e/b/4873.end?sort=price,1&numProducts=100

Can somebody help me choose one please?

The options in Littlewoods are very poor value, if you have access to PayPal credit you could at least get 0% interest and a refurb with warranty for half the price.

But if you really only can go for littlewoods filter by processor, I think you need at least an i5 Intel, which would be the Asus at £615 or better option is slightly over is the Dell 15 inspiring at 680 (which would be 380 on ebay). 8gb of ram minimum.

The hard drives are small so you'll need a cheap SD card to expand and save your files on this.

What are you doing on AI. If you work with large files and lots of layers it may still struggle/slow a bit.

@Bibbleybetto thank you so much. I will be working on packaging labels, so quite small files. I can save them on Dropbox rather than on the laptop.

If they are packaging labels does it need to be AI? There are probably smaller programs that would work on a chromebook that would do the same job.

I recently got this one as part of a business we took on requires me to make brochures using Adobe Photoshop. It works perfectly for what I need and copes really well with multiple multi layer files being open.

www.argos.co.uk/product/5029976?clickSR=slp:term:hp%20laptop:19:30:1

I run Adobe InDesign on my Lenovo notebook computer. My best recommendation is to get as many GB ram as your budget will allow as this will determine day-to-day performance. Some retailers will allow you to upgrade with extra ram when purchasing a new computer.

It’s got to be really high RAM. Illustrator uses up so much, far more than photoshop.

What does RAM do?

@Bibbleybetto could you please link to the two you mentioned? For some reason, I can’t find them. Thanks.

www.littlewoods.com/asus-x415ja-ek006t-laptop-14in-fhdnbspintel-core-i5nbsp8gb-ramnbsp256gb-ssdnbspnorton-360-antivirus-included-optional-microsoftnbsp365-family-15-months-silver/1600567692.prd

www.littlewoods.com/dell-inspiron-15-3501-laptop-156in-fhdnbspintel-core-i5-1135g7nbsp8gb-ram-256gb-ssdnbspoptional-microsoftnbsp365-family-15-months-black/1600560226.prd

@Bibbleybetto thank you. The first one is only available with an additional package and they’re both quite expensive. Is there anything there a bit cheaper that could work? Thanks for your time, I really appreciate it.

Sorry I don't know AMD processors as well which would be the alternative to the Intel options I have linked.

If you google AI minimum specs and then use the filters on the littlewoods page to only pick laptops with these specs and thrn search by lowest overall price. But going back to my first point, these are all overpriced laptops buying through Littlewoods and AI may also be a higher spec program than you need if you aren't working with lots of layers/vectorised images.

Thanks @Bibbleybetto. My only experience is with Adobe Illustrator and InDesign (I am also writing a book). I might look at renting a laptop for a while.

Does it have to be a laptop or would a desktop be possible? You can get more power for less money with a desktop and you can save by getting the screen, mouse and keyboard second hand.

Does it need to be AI?

It's "heavy" software, so you're going to need a good processor - I'd have said the ones that @Bibbleybetto linked would be the cheapest ones I'd be confident would run it okay. Anything with less stats will struggle, or will likely only run it until the next update.

If you can use a "lighter" or internet based software instead of AI, you could use a Chromebook or similar that would be within budget.

Otherwise I'd second the recommendation to look at desktops, which tend to be cheaper.

DH has a Lenovo Yoga which runs the Adobe suite fine, but it was from Currys and around £800 in a deal, I think. Littlewoods tend to add a pretty big mark up, so it's unlikely to be in budget there.

@TakeYourFinalPosition which software would be suitable for labels please? I will look into that. Thanks.

You could probably use something like MS Publisher to make shipping/product labels. Def don't need something as intensive as Illustrator!

It depends what you're putting on the labels really.

Thanks guys, I bought the Dell Inspiron 15 @Bibbleybetto recommended. Mum helped with a small loan to cover the difference, bless her.