a laptop for a graphics design under 1000 that can pair with a good drawing tablet

Question

requirements:

• less than 10 pounds since I plan to carry it around

• needs to be able to run multiple adobe apps and projects at once without excessive slowdown.

• can handle a good screen type drawing tablet or has a touch screen accurate enough to keep up.

preferences:

• at least one usb-c port

• Relatively sturdy as I am a bit of a klutz

• 15 inch or less in width and 12 inch or less in height (so it can fit in my bag) I can buy a new bag if necessary

• I'd like to keep it as cheap as possible due to not making very much money right now.

additional notes:

• I know I'm probably asking for a lot so if I am give me some advice to tone it down efficiently or how much it would realistically cost.

• I plan to buy a graphics tablet with a screen as well since I really don't trust touch screen that aren't explicitly designed for drawing.

• I already have a 16 gb ddr4 ram chip and a 1tb nvme m.2 ssd so being able to at least replace the ssd would be nice.

Answer 1

Acer Predator Helios 300 | $814 + $9.99 Shipping

I know I'm probably asking for a lot so if I am give me some advice to tone it down efficiently or how much it would realistically cost.

Actually, $1000 is a pretty generous budget considering your user case. Since you want to have multiple adobe products up at once and running smoothly, I've decided to recommend you a discrete graphics card, 16 GB of RAM and an SSD. The discrete will be able to handle visually intensive processing, the RAM multiple applications, and the SSD will cut down on application startup time.

In terms of sturdiness, the laptop is constructed primary with brushed aluminum rather than completely in plastic so it will be quite a bit more robust for people with an active lifestyle.

All in all, the Helios 300 is a well-built 15-inch gaming laptop that isn’t too heavy and big to carry around, has decent input devices and appears to be pretty sturdy with good choice of materials. We definitely recommend it in this price range if the above-mentioned properties are of great importance to you.

- laptopmedia.com

• i7-7700HQ
• Nvidia GTX 1060 6 GB
• 16 GB DDR4
• 256 GB SSD
• Actual Dimensions (W x D x H) 15.40" x 10.50" x 1.05"
• Screen Dimensions 15.6" (Diagonal) (W x H) 13.6 x 7.6"
• 5.95 lbs.
• USB 2.0 x 2 | USB 3.0 x 1 | USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type C x 1

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Regarding your parameter:

• 15 inch or less in width and 12 inch or less in height (so it can fit in my bag)

I couldn't really find any 16:9 aspect ratio laptops in this performance range that match this exact size. Going into the < 13" range massively compromises performance and/or price. If you really cannot comprise on the bag, here is a list of 300 backpacks that will be able to fit both this laptop and a drawing tablet starting from $16.43 to $170, which still puts us under 1000 dollars total:

[Compatible Backpacks sorted by price]

Also here is a good resource if you want an explanation for all the different types of weaves/materials for the backpack.