Many people think that Photoshop on your laptop doesn’t require any particular features as they can edit photos on any laptop. But a professional photo editor believes although you can edit photos from any laptop there are still some basic requirements that must be included in your laptop for editing photos smoothly.
It doesn’t mean your laptop must have luxurious features as it is not necessary and not everyone can afford them especially when you are a beginner. We understand that it will be very difficult for you to choose the best cheap laptop for Photoshop especially when there is a huge variety of laptops available in the market.
To help you choose your desired product we have listed down the best laptop for photo editing on a budget along with their unique features.
Best Budget Laptops for Photoshop Under 500$
Following are the Best Laptops for Photoshop Under $500
1. Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5 13″ Laptop
- CPU: Core i3-10110U
- RAM: 4 GB DDR4 SDRAM
- Storage: 64GB Storage
- Display: FHD Touch Display
- GPU: Intel Integrated Graphics
- Battery: 8 Hours
This Lenovo Chromebook Flex Laptop comes with a 13.3-inch screen size providing a bright-colored view with a high-resolution solid display. The display comes wrapped up in small bezels on three out of four of its sides. The structure of this laptop also includes a webcam at its top with a physical slider for blocking it and a thick strip at its bottom.
The built-up 360-degree hinge in this Chromebook helps it to be flipped to 360-degree to be converted into the tablet. In tablet mode, you will find a power and volume button which makes the adjustments easier.
It is considered as one of the best budget laptops for Photoshop because of its exceptional features including 4GB RAM, 64GB storage, and a Core i3 10th generation processor. Such specs are perfect for local and even for professional photo editors. This laptop also has a built-in fan for cooling.
One other thing which is great about this laptop is its longer battery life so you can edit your photos without having any worries about getting interrupted because of a low battery. You can use it continuously for up to eight hours without having any restrictions or the requirement of recharging it.
2. Acer Aspire 5 Slim Laptop
- CPU: 3.52 GHz ryzen_3_3200u
- RAM: 4 GB DDR4 SDRM
- Storage: 128 GB SSD Storage
- Display: 15.6 inches Full HD IPS Display
- GPU: AMD Radeon Vega 3
- Battery: 7 Hours
At a first glance of the Acer Aspire 5 Slim Laptop, you meet up with a 15.6-inch screen size with the included IPS technology and LED backlight in the display. The optimum level of the backlight in the display gives you excellent quality vision with vivid and clear colors. The laptop has a backlit keyboard which is comfortable and sturdy and it is a great addition to such a budget-friendly laptop.
It also includes a smooth touchpad which will be a great help during photo editing. The touchpad doesn’t have right and left click buttons instead the whole surface of the touchpad is clickable. This is also a good thing as you can easily click during editing wherever you feel. you can easily hook up 2 monitors with this laptop with HDMI Cables.
It’s AMD Ryzen 3 3200U processor and 4GB RAM are a perfect fit for your laptop as you can run your photo editing software smoothly without affecting the speed of your laptop. With its 128GB SSD, you can install different software and can also store a large number of files including photos, videos, and much more.
In the future, if you found your memory and storage not enough then you can also upgrade them to 8GB RAM and 256 GB storage and a hard drive up to M2 and SATA drive. Its battery life is also fascinating as it can last up to more than 7 hours on one single charge.
3. Microsoft Surface Pro 3
Microsoft Surface Pro 3 consists of a 12-inch display screen size with high screen resolutions (2160 x 1440 pixels). They have worked hard on its display to make it thinner and also to improve its view angles. Because of this improvement, it allows you to have clear visuals and a sharp display even when it is placed away.
One of the best things about the Surface 3 is its Intel i5 processor with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage which are ideal features for the best cheap laptop for Photoshop. The battery life of this laptop also lasts up to more than 7 hours and because of this, you can continuously do your photo editing without any battery interruption.
Microsoft also included the type cover in this laptop because its old version’s backlit keyboard made a clicking noise when it is banged away from a full tilt. The type covers also include magnetic strips which make the laptop fold up and you can attach its top to the front of the surface.
Another great thing about this laptop is its pen as it makes your process of photo editing easier and also saves you time.
4. Lenovo IdeaPad 3 Laptop
The Lenovo IdeaPad 3 comes equipped with a 14-inch display which is covered with narrow bezels on all four sides. Its high-quality HD resolution of 1920 x 1080p provides you with a sharp and bright view. The display also includes an anti-glare lens which protects your eyes from eye strain. And eye-protective features allow you to do Photoshop without having any worries about getting dark circles from continuously looking at the screen.
It’s AMD Ryzen 5 5500U processor which is compatible with the intel i7 core processor has a powerhouse performance as it can multitask smoothly and gives you a fast response. Q-control technology used in its processor increases its performance and keeps your processor’s fan cooler and quieter.
It also includes ideal memory of 8GB RAM along with 256GB SSD Storage for fast performance even with the complex Photoshop software.
Its integrated AMD Radeon™ 7 graphics enables you to have wider viewing angles which makes the display less cluttered and give more clear visuals.
5. HP 14-inch HD Laptop
This HP laptop includes a 14-inch diagonal HD display which comes with anti-glare lenses for eyes protection. The display also comes wrapped up in the micro-edge because of small bezels. It also includes a 1366 x 768 high screen resolution which provides you to clear visuals. and it is a light weighted and portable laptop weighing only about 3 pounds and having a small screen.
It comes with an AMD Athlon Silver 3050U Processor and Radeon Graphics which help make your laptop work faster. The built-in 16GB DDR4 SDRAM is a great addition to the mid-range laptop and you can multitask smoothly as it allows you to open many chrome tabs and applications together at the same time. It also works exceptionally well even with complex software with such increased RAM.
Apart from other things, the main thing that we liked a lot about this laptop is its 512GB solid-state storage which makes data transfer from one device to another faster and can store a large amount of data conveniently.
Its battery life is also commendable which can easily last from morning to night and allows you to attend many virtual meetings you want along with your Photoshop work. And you can also enjoy movies and films in your free time with this laptop.
6. BROAGE 15.6″ FHD Laptop
BORAGE is a well-known and leading computehttps://amzn.to/3jvU4Sar manufacturing brand and they have been delivering their products with the newest technologies, especially for remote work and online studies. This BROAGE NBOOK includes a 15.6-inch laptop screen size which is perfect and large enough for remote work and photo editing.
It comes with the powerful Intel i5-8250U processor which is great for Photoshop and also for daily entertainment. Its 8GB of RAM suits its processor perfectly and responds speedily even with heavy-duty tasks. You can also multi-tasking on this laptop efficiently along with browsing windows and playing games.
And the most attractive thing about this laptop is its 6000MAH which can be used for up to 8 hours without any worries about recharging it. You can edit your photos continuously along with other tasks without any worries.
512GB SSD storage boots up the laptop speedily and also transfer the data fastly from one device to another. And with this much space, you can store as many files as you want.
7. 2021 HP Stream 14″ HD Laptop
The 2021 HP Stream Laptop has a 14-inch ideally sized display screen size which is perfect for photo editing. Its large display screen with high screen resolutions of 1366 x 768p provides impressive and vivid colors along with clear images. Its display also comes equipped with anti-glare lenses and an excellent WLED screen which protects your eyes from strains.
The Intel Celeron N4020 Processor used in it is an Ultra-low-voltage platform that comes with dual-core and it provides maximum performance with its two-way processing high efficiency. Although its 4GB RAM and 64GB eMMC storage is less than other ones it is still good enough and perfect for your photo editing skills.
It has a perfectly sized and comfortable keyboard included in it for smooth and accurate typing another great thing about this laptop is Intel UHD Graphics 600 which provides solid image quality for photo editing, casual games as well as movies.
It also enables you to attend your virtual meetings efficiently with its stereo speakers, dual-array microphones as well as HP’s true vision HD camera.
8. HP 2019 14″ Laptop
This HP Laptop includes a 14-inch large screen in its display which provides you with a sharp and clear view. It is made portable and lightweight and because of this, it will be your perfect travel companion. With its weight of around 3 pounds, you can take it with you whenever you want especially when you are traveling for business purposes.
A great thing about this laptop is the combination of its M2 Solid-state drive and 8 GB RAM. The SSD drive boots up very speedily and makes it easier to navigate things and you can also upgrade the hard drive in the future if required. Also, its 8GB of RAM gives your laptop a decent performance even with heavy-duty tasks.
The Intel Core i3-7100U 7th Generation processor included in this laptop is a smart dual-core processor which handles all the four-way processing and maintains its high-quality performance.
9. Jumper Laptop:
The build-up material used in the construction of this Jumper Laptop is metal which is unexpectedly light weighted. It comes with a 13.3-inch screen with a high-quality display screen resolution. Its display is constructed into an 82% screen-to-body ratio with wide viewing angles.
It includes an Intel Celeron dual-core processor which is great for multitasking as it can handle many tasks at the same time. It also includes 8GB of RAM which is perfectly compatible with its processor and supports it in managing your Photoshop software without any glitches.
Its 128GB eMMC works best and boots up quickly and is capable enough to share data smoothly from one device to another. Furthermore, you can upgrade your storage up to 8GB whenever you feel like it is necessary.
Another favorite thing about this laptop is its 38000mWh battery life which can easily run your laptop for more than 7 hours which is a great thing for professional photo editors.
10. ASUS VivoBook 15 Thin and Light Laptop
The Vivobook includes a display screen of 15.6 inches and 1920 x 1080 screen resolution which provides sharp images. It has a Nano edge display because of the minimal bezels present along its all sides. This Vivobook has a perfectly sized keyboard that is comfortable to type and a touchpad that is large enough to navigate things comfortably.
It is one of the best cheap laptops for Photoshop because of its great combination of Intel Core i3-1005G1 processor and 8GB of RAM which makes it a high-performance laptop. With such powerful performance, you can open many google tabs at the same time along with other applications without slowing down the speed of your laptop.
Another good thing about this is its 128GB SSD storage which is more than enough to save your work-related files and also allows you to navigate them easily and speedily.
It can easily last up to more than five hours which is not as great as the remaining product. However, it is still good enough for Photoshop as you can still edit your photos continuously for a long time without worrying about recharging it.
Buying Guide: Best Laptops for Photoshop Under $500
You might think that if you are short on budget then it is difficult to have a laptop with the required features within your budget. This is not that difficult, you just have to buy smart.
Regarding we would like to recommend you to read carefully the buying guide mentioned below and then choose your desired product.
Display
One of the most important factors in photo editing is the display as for proper designing and editing your laptop must have a great display.
By a great display, it means your laptop at least should have a high-quality HD display and the plus will be 4k screens.
Processor
The successful processing of your photo editing software without any lags and crashes like Adobe Photoshop directly depends on the performance of your laptop’s processors.
The minimum recommended processor of your affordable laptop from our side is Intel’s i3 core processor. However, if you can find more than that within your range then go for it.
RAM
The minimum RAM on your best budget Photoshop laptop should be 4GB RAM but if you are getting more than that like 8GB RAM then it will be a plus.
The larger RAM helps you in dealing with complex software smoothly without slowing down the systems so go with the laptop which has more RAM and is also within your budget.
Storage
Many of the time you have to store your edited photos and videos to use them as samples when needed so your laptop should have enough storage for storing your required data.
The minimum recommended storage is 128GB and up to 256 GB if available within your range.
Final Words
We have written all the necessary things we could find so far that should be available on a professional Photo editor’s laptop. In the above article, we have briefly explained all features of some of the best budget Photoshop laptops.
Of all of the above-mentioned laptops, the one we want to recommend to you the most is ASUS VivoBook 15 Thin and Light Laptop but you can also choose your desired one from the other above-mentioned laptops.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it possible to do Photoshop on a 2GB RAM laptop?
2GB of RAM can be used for Photoshop if you are running it on a 32-bit system. However, then your laptop can only be used for Photoshop.
You can’t do any other thing with this little RAM and it is almost an impossible thing to do therefore, recommended minimum memory is 4GB.
Which is the important factor for Photoshop CPU or GPU?
Photoshop is an entirely CPU-based application that uses GPU at a very minimum level. Therefore, for a budget-friendly laptop, your focus should be on a higher processor and more memory.
Is a good graphic card necessary for Photoshop?
No, you can also do Photoshop without the need for a good graphic card but you may have to compromise on the effectiveness of your software.
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