The Best Laptops for Animation in 2022

In this article we will discuss the best laptops for animation that will help you hone and master your skill as an animator. As the years progress, technology is becoming more and more advanced, causing the demand for content to grow. As a result, the animation market is skyrocketing, giving opportunities to animators across the globe in either film, video gaming, or television. With the demand for more complex and detailed content, animators need a system that can keep up with the demand. 

Animation requires creativity and skill and having a system that cannot keep up with its motions or crashes in the middle of a project can be extremely frustrating. As an animator, you want to have the best system possible to create your pieces seamlessly.

Desktop or Laptop?

You might be wondering if it is better to get a desktop PC or a laptop. According to a survey conducted in 2014 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics states that a little over 50% of animators are self-employed. Due to the rapid shift to remote work, this rings true now more than ever. As an individual working strictly from home, no one wants to be cooped up in their house all day long. Laptops are lean and portable. With that being said, a laptop will allow an animator to work from anywhere, whether it be a restaurant, coffee shop, airplane, or even from the comfort of their own bed. 

What Does the Laptop Need to Have?

Not all laptops are compatible to be used with animation software. When shopping for the best laptop for animation, the first thing you need to do is check to see how powerful it is. It needs to be powerful enough to function at a fast pace and to power through the mouse’s complex movements without overheating and crashing. 

To ensure you pick the best laptop for animation, your search must focus on a few crucial specifications. You need to check the RAM (computer memory), processor, size of the screen, ability to upgrade, and battery life. You also need to determine if you’ll be doing more 2D or 3D animation work. With 2D animation, you will be working with flat objects with just height and width, while in 3D animation, you are using height, width, and depth.

2D animation is less power-intensive, while 3D animation uses a lot of memory, processing cores, and speed. These core differences will determine whether your new laptop is suitable for animation or if it’s just a typical gaming laptop. 

How Do I Know Which Animation Software I Will Be Using?

If you are unsure whether you will be using 2D or 3D animation more, you will most likely want to go with a laptop that can handle both systems. That way, you can switch back and forth between the two. Below are some popular choices for animation software that will help you determine whether you’ll be creating 2D or 3D animation, or both.

2D Animation Software: 

·    Pencil2D

·    Blender 2D

·    CrazyTalk Cartoon Animator

·    Synfig Studio

·    Toon Boom Harmony

3D Animation Software:

·    Autodesk Maya

·    Autodesk 3ds Max

·    Cinema 4D

·    Seamless 3D

·    Massive

If you see that your job mentions using one of these applications, particularly one of 3D animation software, you want to make sure that your laptop will be powerful enough to manage and function with the software. The best laptops will allow you to create all your animation projects on one device.

RAM

The best laptops for animation will have modern processors and plenty of RAM. It is recommended that you get a laptop with at least 8 GB, but preferably 16GB or more. 8GB is sufficient and could be used for beginners just starting in animation. In comparison, 16GB is the perfect amount for more experienced animators and everyday mid-sized scenes and 32 GB for highly complex projects. 

You want to make sure you have enough memory to store your files, especially since digital media files take up a lot more space than a word document. You might be wondering why this matters so much if the files could be stored in the cloud or a portable hard drive. You do not want to go back and forth between the two trying to edit an animation; it’s time-consuming. Also, when you don’t have enough storage, your system will start swapping working files to disk, causing everything to come to a halt. 

Processor

It is more important to look at the processor’s clock speed rather than the number of cores. You should be concerned about the clock speed because if your clock speed is slow, then your viewport will be slow, and therefore, you will not be able to animate in real-time. A powerful processor is a must-have for professional animators, graphic designers, and animation students.

Additionally, you’ll want to look into what projects and software you’ll be working on most of the time. For example, if you will be doing a lot of complex 3D animation work, you might want to look into a laptop with a dedicated graphics card. Usually, those laptops are more expensive, but wouldn’t you want to spend more just to avoid a headache and frustration?

Screen Size

When staring at a screen for extended periods of time, some people’s eyes begin to feel tired, even hurt, especially when working with small detail.

Digital eye strain occurs when you spend too much time staring at a screen, and it can result in everything from headaches and neck tension to dry eyes and blurry vision. Plus, it’s relatively common: According to the Vision Council, over 27 percent of people have experienced headaches due to digital eye strain.

Trying to watch the details on a small screen can cause eye strain and, as a result, cause headaches. When working on a complicated piece, the last thing you want is to have to stop because you are getting an ocular migraine. You also want to make sure the resolution is high enough for you. A good baseline to use would be a Full HD Resolution (1920 x1080). However, higher resolutions, such as the 4k, can fit considerably more detail onto the screen.

Ability to Upgrade

When also looking for the best laptop for animation, you want to see if the computer has the ability to be upgraded. With technology progressing so fast, your laptop may not be up to speed with all up-to-date developments in a couple of years. If you can upgrade your laptop, this will allow you a little more time before having to buy a new one. When you are looking to buy a computer, you, of course, want it to be able to last you as long as possible before having to purchase a new one.

You might be curious to know what parts of your laptop could be updated to have it kept up to speed. According to cgdirector.com, the SATA/M.2 storage and the RAM can usually be updated at most repair shops.

Battery Life

When looking at laptops and determining the best laptop for animation, you need to check how long the laptop’s battery life will last. 

Just think, you’re working on a complex, detailed project, you are in the middle of swiping the mouse to move one of the last pieces, and then your screen goes black. Sometimes projects for animation take hours to complete, and you want to have a laptop that can work with you without having to be plugged in for the majority of that time. 

When it comes down to the best laptop for animation, the longer battery life, the better.

The Best Animation Laptop of 2022: Mac or PC?

When it comes to animation, both a Mac and PC can complete the tasks and motions necessary to animate proficiently. Along with both laptops being able to complete the task, both the Mac and PC have their own sets of cons. 

For Macs, the more updated versions do not have the ports to connect outside devices. With that being said, if you like to work with a portable mouse, you would have to buy an adapter, so you can use a USB port for a mouse, or if you have content on a flash drive, you are attempting to upload. Apple MacBook Pro laptops are not upgradeable unless you buy a new computer, so if you run out of storage, you’ll have to spend another pretty penny to get some more. 

For a laptop PC, the primary concern is the battery life. Unlike desktop PC, laptops rely heavily on their battery life. Some models have considerably shorter battery life when compared to others. Some PCs have a battery life that lasts only for 5 hours! For an animator working on a long, extensive project, a dying computer is the worst nightmate, especially when working on intricate details, so long battery life is a must! Some PCs can also overheat, causing the laptop to shut off entirely and interrupt your animation tasks.

Our Recommendation for the Best Animation Laptop of 2022

There are core differences between an everyday use laptop, gaming laptops, and those used for graphic design and animation. Through extensive research and first-hand experience, we have curated a comprehensive list of the best laptops for animation. Below are various choices for fans of either operating system. These animation laptops are up-to-date with the latest technology and are often the top-recommended choice by professionals in the industry. 

PC 

1. Razor Blade 15

CPU: 2.6GHz Intel Core i7-10750H

RAM: 16GB

Storage: 512GB SSD

Display: 15.6-inch 4K UHD OLED Touch (3840 x 2160)

GPU: 8GB NVidia GeForce RTX 2070

Battery: Up to 8 hours

Reasons to Buy: Very powerful processor, brilliant screen

Reasons to Avoid: Not everyone needs this much power

2. Acer Predator Helios 300

CPU: 2.6GHz Intel Core i7-10750H

RAM: 16GB

Storage: 512GB SSD

Display: 15.6-inch FHD IPS (1920 x 1080)

GPU: 6GB NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060

Battery: Up to 6 hours

Reasons to Buy: Storage is upgradable; it stays cool due to the 4th Gen AeroBlade 3D fan

Reasons to Avoid: Thunderbolt 3 is missing; only one USB 3.0 connector

3. Acer Nitro 7 Gaming Laptop

CPU: Intel 8-Core i7-11800H(up to 4.6GHz)

RAM: 32GB DDR4

Storage: 1TB PCIe SSD

Display: 15.6″ Full HD IPS Display

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti

Battery: Up to 7 hours

Reasons to Buy: Reasonable price; nice display

Reasons to Avoid: Can run hot

4. Lenovo ThinkPad P15S

CPU: 2.8GHz Intel Core i7-1165G7

RAM: 16GB

Storage: 512GB SSD

Display: 15.6-inch FHD IPS (1920 x 1080)

GPU: 4GB NVIDIA Quadro T500

Battery: Up to 7.5 hours

Reasons to Buy: Good speaker quality and battery life; crisp and clear display

Reasons to Avoid: Micro SD card reader is missing

5. Dell Gaming G3 15

CPU: Intel Core 5-10300H

RAM: 16GB

Storage: 1TB PCIe SSD 2TB HDD

Display: 15.6 inch FHD(1920×1080)

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650

Battery: Up to 5 hours

Reasons to Buy: Fast performance; good selection of ports

Reasons to Avoid: Color contrast looks muted; short battery life

6. Lenovo Ideapad L340

CPU: Hexa-Core i7-9750H Up to 4.5GHz

RAM: 8GB

Storage: 512GB M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD

Display: 15.6-inch FHD IPS (1920 x 1080)

GPU: 4GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650

Battery: Up to 6.5 hours

Reasons to Buy: Reasonably priced; upgradable RAM; a stunning display

Reasons to Avoid: No thunderbolt port; SD card slot is missing

7. Asus TUF 15.6″

CPU: 11th Gen Intel Core i7-11800H

RAM: 16GB

Storage: 512GB SSD

Display: 15.6 FHD Gaming Display

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti

Battery: Up to 12 hours

Reasons to Buy: Long battery life, quiet cooling fans

Reasons to Avoid: No USB-C and card reader 

Mac 

8. Apple Macbook Pro

CPU: M1 Pro CPU with 10-cores

RAM: 16GB

Storage: 1TB SSD

Display: 14-inch FHD IPS Retina (3072 x 1920)

GPU: Apple 14-core GPU

Battery: Up to 21 hours

Reasons to Buy: Long Battery Life, Plenty of Ports

Reasons to Avoid: On the bigger side

You might be looking at this list and be thinking to yourself, why there are so many windows/PC options but few Mac for the best laptop for animation. While they are all great systems, windows/PC has many different brands of technology that can be used for animation, while the Mac laptops are limited to Macbook Pro and Macbook Air. 

When choosing the best laptop for animation, it all comes down to your preference of the operating system, so if you are a diehard Mac user and feel more comfortable using the operating system, then, by all means, stick with the Mac. But, if you’re a longtime PC user, it can be easier to work on a system you’re familiar with. If you want to try something different, you can alternate between the two. 

Should I get an External Screen to Join My Laptop? 

Once finding the best laptop for animation, you may be wondering whether an additional screen is needed? The answer to this question is entirely up to you, mainly because everyone has a different working style.

 Some people might like having multiple screen options to quickly move files and look at one file while editing another. Other people may want to stick to one screen; it’s all about preference. An external monitor is beneficial in many ways since it does allow the animator to see more detail and gives the animator ease when switching between files; however, the one downside is that if you want to work from anywhere, the external monitor would not be able to travel with you. 

Survey Says, the Best Laptops for Animation Are…

Listed above are suggestions that are meant to guide you in the direction of a system that we feel will help you create animations to the best of your ability. How you animate, what operating system you prefer, and the environment you like to create animations varies with each animator you meet. 

While for some, the best laptop for animation features an extremely long battery life, for others, video editing capabilities make for a powerful laptop. 

Your personal preference plus the information given to you in this article will help guide you to the best laptop for animation.