Advice on a graphic card

msantos

New Member
Hi folks,
I hope you are well.
I am going to study a course in graphic design. Can anyone please advise which video card is enough for me to run mainly Photoshop, illustrator, InDesign and Sketch?

1)One of the MacBook Pro I checked, it has Radeon Pro 560x with 4GB. Its 2018 released
2)Other MacBook Pro. Released May 2015. It has the combination of the following 2GB VRAM AMD RADEON R9 M37OX (games, apps etc) INTEL IRIS PRO 5200 1GB VRAM (reserved for system)

I would much appreciate your response and help

Kind regards
Manuela
 
Both should be able to run the listed programs but 1 will be overall better, and likely supported for longer, due to being the newer system.
 
Sorry to jump on the thread but I'm just thinking of putting some extra RAM in my MacBook (4GB to 8GB) as it struggles a bit with After Effects.

My son started going on to me about graphics cards and processors.
Would the extra RAM help me out or would I need a graphics card too?
 
Sorry to jump on the thread but I'm just thinking of putting some extra RAM in my MacBook (4GB to 8GB) as it struggles a bit with After Effects.

My son started going on to me about graphics cards and processors.
Would the extra RAM help me out or would I need a graphics card too?
You won't be able to do anything about the GPU or CPU in your macbook, they're soldered onto the motherboard, so the only way to improve them would be a new machine.

As to a ram upgrade, honestly I wouldn't go below 8GB ram now on pc I buy these days, ideally I'd be looking 16GB plus but sadly the prices on ram at the moment are stupidly expensive.

Defo more RAM for photoshop. Graphics card only really helps on 3D/animation/video. AFAIK.
Some functions in photoshop and after effects etc are now making use of the GPU via opencl and/or cuda (nvidia propriety code) so it can have an impact in some cases. It can also change the fps of the preview windows in some video editing programs so it is something to consider these days.
 
Yeh totally agree, had it the other day on a PC where the monitor wasn't plugged into the graphics card port in the machine, Photoshop was dead slow. I changed the cable for the mini-hdmi to hdmi and put the mini hdmi into the back of the computer, and low and behold, the graphics card was recognised in Photoshop.

It was a case years ago that RAM had more impact than the graphics card. Glad to see times move on.
 
As to a ram upgrade, honestly I wouldn't go below 8GB ram now on pc I buy these days, ideally I'd be looking 16GB plus but sadly the prices on ram at the moment are stupidly expensive.

Good to know as I didn't want to waste the cash. :D
 
2)Other MacBook Pro. Released May 2015. It has the combination of the following 2GB VRAM AMD RADEON R9 M37OX (games, apps etc) INTEL IRIS PRO 5200 1GB VRAM (reserved for system)

This is basically my spec, a 2.8ghz i7 with that card. It handles Adobe and Sketch no problem, starts up fast too thanks to an SSD. I wouldn't recommend it for games though, the fan has a tendency to kick in at max RPM and it sounds like the f*cking thing is gonna take off.
 
Both should be able to run the listed programs but 1 will be overall better, and likely supported for longer, due to being the newer system.

Hi Levi,

These are the other features of the computer I want to buy, to work at home for the course in graphic design

Do you think that will be enough to run smoothly Photoshop, illustrator, InDesign and Sketch?
Thanks
15 inches MacBook Pro/ 16GB RAM/512GB ssd/ Radeon pro 560 x with 4GB.
Processor speed 2.9 GHZ
Intel Quad-Core i7( 7th generation)
 
Hi Levi,

These are the other features of the computer I want to buy, to work at home for the course in graphic design

Do you think that will be enough to run smoothly Photoshop, illustrator, InDesign and Sketch?
Thanks
15 inches MacBook Pro/ 16GB RAM/512GB ssd/ Radeon pro 560 x with 4GB.​
Processor speed 2.9 GHZ​
Intel Quad-Core i7( 7th generation)​
Yeah that wil be fine, it's pretty much their top spec and plenty on here are using similar.

Sidenote: If you have no reason to be carrying the item around as you seem to be saying you'll be studying only at home, is there a reason you're not considering a desktop machine?
 
Yeah that wil be fine, it's pretty much their top spec and plenty on here are using similar.

Sidenote: If you have no reason to be carrying the item around as you seem to be saying you'll be studying only at home, is there a reason you're not considering a desktop machine?

Thanks Levi.

I am going to study in a college. And the laptop is to be used when not in college, either at home or in a library to do assignments and work for the college

Yes, I was thinking about buying a destok, specially for the high specifications you can get.
 
Hi Levi,

I just have another question

What is best 1Tb fusion drive or 512GB SSD, for the applications mentioned above?

Thanks
 
A fusion drive is basically a disk drive and an SSD combined. Typically you would use the SSD for installing the OS and apps, which will make start-up much quicker, and just use the disc drive for saving files. I do this with my PC, SSD for Windows, HDD for games and applications. It might be cheaper to go with just an SSD option and buy an external HDD for files.
 
A fusion drive is basically a disk drive and an SSD combined. Typically you would use the SSD for installing the OS and apps, which will make start-up much quicker, and just use the disc drive for saving files. I do this with my PC, SSD for Windows, HDD for games and applications. It might be cheaper to go with just an SSD option and buy an external HDD for files.

Hi Paul Murray!

Thanks for the explanation
Do you think the MacBook Pro with the specifications below will be enough to run Photoshop, illustrator, InDesign and Sketch smoothly?

15 inches MacBook Pro/ 16GB RAM/512GB ssd/ Radeon pro 560 x with 4GB.​

Processor speed 2.9 GHZ

Intel Quad-Core i7( 7th generation) 2017​

It costs around £1800
 
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