Best laptop for school, Photoshop, and 3D work?

Hey everyone.

I'm looking to pick up a new laptop—primarily for heavy lifting in AutoCAD, Photoshop, and various 3D modeling software.

Right now, I'm torn between these two options:

Which one would you go with? And more importantly, why?

If anyone has other suggestions within a $2500 budget, feel free to chime in.

Not one of them!

The issue here in the States is that we rarely see Dell's models equipped with H-series or HQ processors and high-end GPUs like an Nvidia GTX. And honestly, those specs are the absolute baseline for the kind of work you're talking about.

You could settle for something cheaper, but if you’ve already set aside a $7,500 budget, then this Pavilion would be a killer choice. Ignore the "gaming" label—around here, people tend to slap that tag on any laptop with decent graphics and a fast CPU, mostly because gaming is actually one of the most resource-heavy things you can do.

This thing has everything. A lightning-fast i7, fast storage via both HDD and SSD, and a beastly GTX960m with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory... basically everything you need to make sure your target tasks run flawlessly.

I'd just suggest a quick RAM upgrade, which fits easily within your budget. You should pull out those 2x4GB sticks immediately and swap them for 2x8GB; once you do that, it's perfect. That's roughly $133 difference compared to what comes pre-installed.

If you don't want to wait for that one to arrive at the end of the month, go with this Asus.

Now, if you aren't obsessed with pinching every single penny, you can definitely handle those jobs with more affordable options:

ranging down to these:

And look, you can beef up any of these—some easier than others—by simply adding more memory or installing an SSD if you feel like it...

darkowl72 said:None!

Because we don't exactly have Dell's with H-series or HQ processors and beefy GPUs like an Nvidia GTX around here. And that's the main thing you need for the kind of work you're talking about.

You could get by with something cheaper, but if you've already budgeted $7,500, then this Pavilion would be a solid pick. Ignore the "gaming" label; around here, people slap that tag on any laptop with decent specs just because gaming is arguably one of the most demanding tasks out there.

This one hits all the marks. Fast i7, quick HDD, SSD, and a beastly GTX960m with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory... everything you need to make those target tasks fly.

Just a small tweak to the RAM—with your budget, you can afford it. You should pull those 2x4GB sticks immediately and swap them for 2x8GB, then it'll be perfect. That's roughly $133 difference compared to what's inside.

If you don't want to wait for that one to arrive at the end of the month, go with this Asus.

Wouldn't it be better to grab something with a 17-inch screen if there's no intention of using an external monitor? 😁

Yeah, actually. If you aren't chasing top-tier performance, you could probably piece something together that fits within the budget here:

A couple of my colleagues recently picked up these two laptops, so I’m just "transcribing" their specs here. 😉

My goal is to find the best value—I want to stay under $750—essentially trying to squeeze the most performance possible out of what’s currently sitting on the shelves at stores like Best Buy or Target.
I'm sticking with a 15.6" screen; portability is the priority right now, so I don't want anything too bulky. I have a desktop setup at home for the heavy lifting, so screen size isn't a dealbreaker, though I wouldn't go any smaller than 15.6".

I'll look over the suggestions you've provided and reach back out if I run into any more questions. Thanks a lot! 🙂