10 Top Previews Pick The Perfect Laptop That You Need
RAfter Effects has seen significant improvements in the past few versions, making it more powerful and intuitive than ever before. It’s hard to imagine how much better it will be in 2023, but with this list of the 10 best laptops for After Effects in 2023, you can get an idea of what to expect from Adobe and its competitors in the coming years.
The list ranks the computers by their overall performance so that you can find one that suits your specific needs and budget. Be sure to check back regularly, as this list will be updated with new models as they become available!
Table of Contents
What are the effects recommended specs?
After Effects has been around for quite some time, and with its rise in popularity, many users have been asking the question; What are the recommended specs? The primary question that needs to be answered is whether or not your video card should support GPU rendering with After Effects. Here we will break down the basics of what you need to know about specs of after effects.
1 ) CPU
The Adobe After Effects team recommends a 64-bit Intel Core i7 processor or equivalent, as the 8th Gen Intel Core i5 is also best.
2 ) Ram
After Effects run just fine on 16GB of RAM. However, with less than that, you’ll start to experience out-of-memory errors during renders or previews.
3 ) GPU
We recommend a card with at least 4GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 or better. GPU-accelerated ray tracing is one of our rendering features that benefit from additional video memory, so we recommend more video memory than less for improved ray tracing performance.
4 ) Battery Life
If you’re using your laptop on battery power, you can expect anywhere from 4 to 7 hours of runtime. These figures will vary depending on what you’re doing with your computer and how bright your screen is set. For example, surfing and email have a minimal effect on battery life compared to watching a movie.
5 ) Display Size
It doesn’t matter how much you spend on your laptop, and it’s going to feel like a high-quality workstation if you have a high-resolution display. The idea behind higher resolution displays is simple: More pixels means more information can be displayed at once. This isn’t to say that an ultra-high-definition (UHD) monitor like 15.6 or 17inche is best will automatically help your productivity soar.
6) Storage
Make sure your computer has enough storage to handle all your video files. You should have more than 500GB of storage space available for the best results. Not only will it help with After Effects performance, but having a ton of extra storage means you’ll be able to store all your videos in one place.
7 ) Price
It does not need to be expensive. After Effects is one of those things where you get what you pay for, but you don’t need to go all out in terms of price. As long as your computer can handle it and you have a copy of CS6 (the program), there is no reason why your render should take too long.
Of course, if money isn’t an issue, then feel free to buy as much RAM and processing power as possible! It could improve performance.
Best Laptops For After Effects
I’ve created a list of the best laptops for After Effects. Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, here is my hand-picked recommendation for the best laptop for After Effects.
- Apple MacBook Pro
- MSI Prestige 14
- Dell XPS 15
- Alienware M15
- Acer Swift 3
- LG gram Lapto
- Newest Pavilion X360
- Acer Aspire 5
- Lenovo IdeaPad 3
- MSI Stealth 15M
Breakdown
1-Apple MacBook Pro (best mac laptop for adobe after effects)
- Screen Size 16.2 Inches
- Operating System Mac OS
- 3.2GHz Apple M1 Pro 10-core
- 512GB SSD
- 16.2-inch XDR mini-LED (3456 x 2234)
- BatteryUp to 21 hours
- RAM 16GB
The Apple MacBook Pro is one of few computers on the market that can handle professional-grade applications. With 16GB of RAM and a 3.2 GHz Apple M1 Pro 10-core processor, its performance will even satisfy your power user’s needs. Plus, it also has a 512GB solid state drive for increased hard drive space without sacrificing speed.
It comes with Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks installed, so you can work seamlessly from start to finish! And don’t forget about portability—the Apple MacBook Pro weighs only 4.7 pounds.
2-MSI Prestige 14 (best laptop for running adobe after effects)
- 1.8GHz Intel Core i7-10510U
- 16GB Ram
- 512GB SSD
- Battery Up to 10 hours
- 4GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q
- 14-inch FHD IPS (3840 x 2160)
MSI Prestige 14 is the best laptop for after effects. It’s one of the few compact thin & lights with a discrete 4GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q graphics chip. It’s not just a capable video editor either, and it’s also fast enough to handle demanding tasks such as AutoCAD or MATLAB.
The CPU performance is on par with the i7-10510U, and there are no throttling issues, even after the laptop runs for several hours on battery. The screen has a decent color coverage and brightness, but it would have been nice if it had a faster response time for fluidly scrolling through After Effects projects.
On top of all these, the Prestige 14 is easy to open and upgrade, and its compact form factor makes it easy to carry around without compromising on ergonomics.
The MSI Prestige 14 comes with 512GB SSD storage, ensuring that you have more than enough space for all your projects. Since this is as portable as it gets, you don’t have to worry about carrying it around as well.
It’s also a compelling one, with the latest 4GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q graphics card so that it can handle complex software like After Effects with ease.
3-Dell XPS 15 (best laptop for adobe after effects)
- 15.6″, 4K UHD InfinityEdge Touch
- 9th Gen Intel Core i7-9750H
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
- 4GB GDDR5
- 1TB SSD storage
- 16GB RAM
- Operating System Windows 10
- Item Weight 5.5 pounds
Dell’s XPS 15 is the best large Windows laptop you can buy, period. It’s powerful, with a 15.6-inch screen and a lot of ports, it has a beautiful design, and its battery life is top-notch. The Dell XPS 15 starts at $2099, but the price will rise to $3000 or more as you begin adding options.
The 4K version I tested costs $2099 and includes an9th Gen Intel Core i7-9750H processor, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 GPU with 4GB of VRAM, 16GB of RAM, and a 1000 GB SSD.
The Dell XPS 15 is one of the best laptops for adobe after effects because of its robust performance with an Intel Core i7 processor, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 GPU, and 16GB of RAM. As long as you’re not planning on playing games on this machine — casual games are fine — it should be able to handle most tasks you throw at it.
This is all packed into a skinny aluminum body that measures 0.66 inches (16.7 mm) thick and weighs just 4 pounds (1.8 kg). It has a great keyboard and touchpad too. Everything about this laptop is good except for.
4-Alienware M15 best laptop for after effects
- Core i7 i7-8750H CPU
- 16 GB RAM
- 512 GB SSD
- Windows 10 Home 64-bit
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 with 8 GB
- Average Battery Life 17 Hours
Alienware m15 is the best laptop for after effects and cinema 4d. It has a 15-inch display with 4k resolution. It comes with Intel Core I7 8750H Processor. The processor is one of the best globally as it provides six cores with 12 threads. You can have up to 64 GB RAM, which is highly recommended for After Effects and Cinema 4d.
Alienware M15 has Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 graphics card, which is best for 3D modeling, rendering, and animation work in After Effects and Cinema 4d.
Giving an overall rating of 9 out of 10, we recommend this laptop for all 3D designers and animators willing to buy a laptop for after effects and cinema 4d.
5-Acer Swift 3 (best laptop for editing after effects)
- 8th Gen Intel Core i5-8250U
- NVIDIA GeForce MX150
- 14″ Full HD
- 8GB LPDDR3
- 256GB SSD
- 9 hours of battery life
The Acer Swift 3 is a best laptop for editing after effects that offers good looks, strong performance, and nine hours of battery life.
The Acer Swift 3 is one of the most attractive laptops under $500, with a sleek design, speedy 8th Gen Core i5 CPU, and more than 9 hours of battery life. The Swift 3 has a comfy keyboard and fingerprint reader for easy logins. However, this notebook’s speakers are quiet, and its display could be brighter.
If you need more photo and video editing power, the $850 Acer Aspire E 15 includes an NVIDIA GeForce MX150 graphics card.
The Acer Swift 3 measures 12.7 x 8.6 x 0.6 inches (WHD), making it just a hair thinner than the 13-inch MacBook Pro (12 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches). It’s also lighter than Apple’s ultraportable at 2.9 pounds compared to the MacBook’s 3 pounds.
The Swift 3 has a relatively simple look that I like quite a bit. The black aluminum lid bore none of the usual logos or stickers; instead, it had just a thin silver line running down its center
The laptop sports a black island-style keyboard with white letters set against it.
6-LG gram Laptop (cheap laptops for after effects)
- 15.6″ Full HD Touchscreen
- Intel 8th Gen Core i7
- 16GB RAM
- 256GB SSD
- 18.5 Hours of battery life
- Operating System Windows 10 Home
The LG gram Laptop is the best laptop for Adobe After Effects because it has a powerful Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. It also has a 15.6-inch screen, and this model weighs 2.4 pounds. The LG gram Laptop is one of the most popular laptops on the market today.
This laptop is designed to be lightweight, so it can be carried around easily by people who need a portable computer that doesn’t weigh much at all. If you are looking for an affordable laptop with excellent performance, then this might be perfect for you!
The LG gram Laptop has an Intel Core i7 processor, making it fast enough to handle most tasks without any issues. It also comes standard with 16GB of RAM and 256GB SSD if needed, upgrading up to 512GB SSD, allowing you to store all your essential files on there without having them take up space anywhere else because they will always be safely backed up elsewhere (such as cloud storage).
The LG gram Laptop weighs just 2.4 pounds and measures 12.6 inches wide by 9 inches deep by 0.5 inches thick, making it easy to carry in your bag or pocket.
7- Newest Pavilion X360 (best windows laptop for after effects)
- 14″ HD Touch-Screen Laptop
- 10th Gen Intel Core i3-1005G1
- 8GB Ram
- 128GB Ssd
- Operating System Windows 10
The newest HP Pavilion x360, it is a new model from HP in the Pavilion line. It comes with better processors, better graphics, and a better display but still retains that convertible design. The x360 is excellent for those looking for a convertible laptop for both work and play.
It is also one of the best laptops for Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects.
The latest HP Pavilion x360 is an excellent laptop that is well designed and offers good performance. It has an attractive design and features a fantastic touch screen display that is easy to use.
It runs on Windows 10 OS and has a powerful processor, making it very fast. The laptop has an excellent battery life as well, which means you can take it anywhere without worrying about running out of power.
Editing video requires lots of power; fortunately, the X360 15t can provide it. The model I tested came with an 10th Gen Intel Core i3-1005G1 CPU and integrated Intel HD 620 Graphics. With 8GB of RAM, this convertible laptop handled 1080p video without any issues.
8-Acer Aspire 5 (best laptop for video editing after effects)
- 15.6 inches Full HD IPS Display
- AMD Ryzen 3 3200U
- Vega 3 Graphics
- 4GB DDR4
- 128GB SSD
- Windows 10
Acer Aspire 5 is best laptop for video editing after effects. It comes in a wide range of prices and configurations so that you can pick your perfect match. It’s also one of the most popular laptops on the market today, so it’s easy to find reviews and information on this machine.
The Acer Aspire 5 is a powerful notebook with an all-aluminum chassis that looks great and offers several ports. The base model starts at $300 and comes with an Intel Celeron processor, 4GB of RAM, and a128GB SSD. If you want more power, you can bump it up to an AMD Ryzen 3 3200U for $400 or $500, respectively.
While the keyboard isn’t backlit, it does have extra buttons for controlling volume and muting the speakers. The trackpad is large and has two physical buttons, which is nice if you’re used to using them when navigating through your desktop.
9-Lenovo IdeaPad 3 (best laptop for video editor after effects)
- 15.6″ FHD Display
- AMD Ryzen 5 5500U
- 8GB RAM
- 512GB Storage
- AMD Radeon 7 Graphics
- Windows 11 Home
The IdeaPad 3 was built for students and small business owners who need something more potent than the average laptop. This model comes with an AMD Ryzen 5 CPU and 8GB of RAM, which is a little more than typical. The base model has 512GB of storage, which is about what you get with budget models these days.
This would be an excellent laptop to use with Adobe Premiere Pro or After Effects.
In addition to being cost-effective, the IdeaPad 3 has an integrated graphics card that enables it to run graphic intensive applications like Adobe Photoshop and After Effects.
The IdeaPad 3 is available in 14″ and 15.6″ screen sizes.
10-MSI Stealth 15M (best laptop for after effects animation)
- 15.6″ 144Hz FHD 1080p Display
- Intel Core i7-11375H
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
- 16GB Ram
- 512GB SSD
- Thunderbolt 4
- 6 Hours battery life
The MSI Stealth 15M best laptop for after effects cs6 (starts at $1,399; $1,599 as tested) is a thin-and-light gaming laptop that delivers excellent performance and solid battery life in a chassis that’s about as thick as those on ultraportable laptops. It looks just fine for business, too, if you don’t mind the MSI logo. You won’t find a thinner 15-inch gaming laptop than this.
The Stealth 15M has an Intel Core i7-11375H processor and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 graphics chip with 4GB of video memory. It’s a potent combo that enables the Stealth 15M to handle demanding productivity tasks such as photo and video editing while delivering smooth frame rates in graphically intensive games at 1080p resolution.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Is a gaming laptop good enough for running Adobe After Effects?
The majority of computers that Adobe recommends for running After Effects will not play most games, even those on low settings. If you’re interested in using your laptop primarily for creating content, a gaming laptop is probably overkilled. But if you’re planning to do some personal gaming on an Adobe-recommended machine, you can do it.
Q. Why is it necessary to invest in a good GPU for professional-grade After Effects usage?
Although most users can get by with low-end and mid-range video cards, there is a massive difference in speed and capability between a decent and a unique graphics card. Suppose you want to do any special effects processing, 3D rendering, or compositing (effects that make one image look like it’s part of another image). In that case, you’ll need a powerhouse video card.
Q. What is the best laptop for running after effects?
These laptops are great for getting you started with Adobe After Effects. Most of these laptops will also run other software and applications, such as Adobe Photoshop, Final Cut Pro X, Premiere Pro CC, DaVinci Resolve, and much more. You just need to explore the that are mentioned above.
Q. Which version of after effects is the best for my laptop?
You’ve got a lot of options when it comes to which version of Adobe After Effects to use on your laptop.
Which version is best depends on your budget and what you want to do? If you’re new to digital video, you can get started with After Effects Expressions in the free software package Adobe Premiere Express.
If your budget is tight, you can pick up a copy of Adobe After Effects Professional at a discount or upgrade from your current version if you already have it.
However, if you’re doing professional-level work and want the fastest rendering possible, After Effects Professional is the way to go.
Q. Can we use the i5 to edit videos?
The short answer is no.
The long answer is yes, but with a lot of limitations.
The i5 has an integrated graphics card, which can handle simple video editing software. If you have an older version of Adobe Premiere or something similar that doesn’t take advantage of GPU acceleration, you might be ok.
For most video editing software, though, like Adobe CC, DaVinci Resolve, and Final Cut Pro X, you will need at least a dedicated graphics card to get any decent performance out of it. Even then, you won’t be getting anywhere near the performance from a more powerful CPU.
Q. What is the proper amount of storage for a laptop?
The answer to this question depends on what you intend to use your laptop for. If you’re using it as a secondary computer, or just something to surf the web on, then a tiny amount of storage may not be an issue.
If you’re looking for a laptop that can handle more intensive tasks, I recommend getting at least 500GB of storage. This will allow you to install multiple applications and store large files without worrying about running out of space.
If you need something even faster and more powerful than that, consider getting 1TB or even 2TB of storage.
Q. Can you get after effects on hp laptop?
Yes, you can get After Effects on an HP laptop.
After Effects is a professional program from Adobe for editing videos and creating animations.
You probably won’t do much with it on your laptop because laptops are not designed for video editing or animation. You will need a desktop computer with a powerful processor and graphics card to run After Effects or any other professional video editing/animation software.
Q. Is 16GB RAM enough for After Effects?
After Effects has always been my go-to software for motion graphics and title animations, and with each new release, it seems to get better and better.
However, I’ve always wondered if the extra cost of 32GB RAM was worth it? After running some tests, most people should be fine with 16GB RAM on their machines.
Q. Do I need graphics card for After Effects?
Yes, you do. You should have one. If you can afford it, get a higher-end card – not necessarily the most expensive today, but not the cheapest either.
⇒Final View⇐
We put all the laptops through a series of benchmarks designed to test their raw performance capabilities throughout our testing. We also used each laptop for multiple workdays to test the battery life and sample each laptop for endurance in a variety of standard usage scenarios.
While other factors can affect the overall performance of your laptop (operating system, external devices), these 10 best laptops for After Effects in 2023 represent the best combination of price, performance, and features.
