Best Laptops For Blender – Reviews

A blender is an excellent tool for 3d modeling and rendering. Being an open-source application, it has become a go-to tool for a lot of people who want to get some serious modeling done.

If you’re on the same bus, then welcome aboard. In this guide, we’re going to take a look at the best laptops for Blender and also learn how to find them.

You’re going to need a solid laptop to run a modeling application like Blender. A powerhouse that comes with all the essentials and also some bells and whistles would be perfect for modeling and rendering.

The problem here is that research will take at least a couple of days, but that’s where we come in. We’ve done all the research so that you don’t have to. Without wasting any more time, let’s have a go at this list of best laptops for Blender.

Best Laptops For Blender

Our Top picks are as follows

• ASUS ROG 15.6″– Editor’s Choice
• MacBook Pro 16″– Best Mac Choice
• Acer Aspire 5 – Budget Choice

1. ASUS ROG 15.6″– Editor’s Choice

Our Editor’s choice for the best laptop for Blender is the ASUS ROG 15.6″ laptop.

This is a laptop that brings high-end specs to a device that comes at an affordable price. This notebook is accessible to a lot of people as it does not cost a ludicrous amount of money. At the same time, there is no compromise when it comes to fantastic performance.

The processor that handles everything here is an Intel Core i7 processor. This is a high-end processor that comes with 6 physical cores and 12 threads. You can have a blast when running a Blender as this processor handles it with such ease. 

The memory department loaded with 16 GB of RAM does an impressive job in handling Blender and helps in multitasking as well.

The display we have here is a 15.6-inch one that comes with full HD resolution. The picture quality is fantastic and you will have a great time working on modeling and rendering applications. The color accuracy is on point, thanks to the IPS panel underneath.

The graphics card we have here is an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650. This is a high-end graphics card that comes with a dedicated memory of 6GB that is of GDDR5 type. The graphics card removes a significant load from the CPU when it comes to rendering. With this GPU in place, you will have a pretty good time when working with graphically intensive applications like Blender.

Overall, the ASUS ROG 15.6″ is an impressive laptop that is perfect for modeling and rendering purposes. It comes at a price that doesn’t scare people off. The hardware inside does not compromise and deliver the performance expected of them. Without a doubt, this Asus laptop is one of the best laptops for Blender.

2. MacBook Pro 16″ – Mac Pick

If you are a fan of Apple laptops, then the MacBook Pro 16 is the best laptop for you to run a blunder.

The MacBook Pro 16 is a fantastic laptop when you consider the hardware inside. But before we take a look inside, let’s talk about the display. The display we have here is a 16-inch display that comes with retina resolution. This is one of the most gorgeous displays you’ll ever see on a laptop. The contrast ratio is fantastic and the truth on technology gives you the right colors depending on your ambient light temperature.

The processor that powers the MacBook Pro 16 is a hex-core processor from Intel. This Intel Core i7 processor can clock up to a maximum of 4.5 GHz which is a lot of power even for a professional. Without a doubt, this is one of the most powerful processors available at the moment and it gives you a solid user experience when it comes to running Blender.

The memory on this laptop is made up of 16 gigs of DDR4 type RAM This Ram is very fast and is one of the most efficient once you will see it on a laptop. It runs Blender smoothly without giving any performance issues. The storage on this laptop also plays a big role in it comes to total performance. We have a 512 GB SSD that gives you enough storage space and also brings a ton of performance improvements to the laptop.

The graphics card on this MacBook pro is an AMD Radeon pro 5300M graphics card. This GPU is a high-end one and it comes with 6GB of dedicated video RAM. When it comes to modeling and rendering, the graphics card does a fantastic job and you will be very happy with the way everything works out.

Overall, the MacBook Pro 16 is an amazing laptop from Apple that is perfect for modeling and rendering. If you are a Mac enthusiast, then this laptop will surely fall on your shortlist. The performance of the laptop is fantastic which makes it one of the best laptops for a Blender for the year 2023.

3. Surface Book 2 – ( 2in 1 Pick

If you prefer the flexibility of a convertible two-in-one laptop, then the Microsoft surface book2 is probably the best choice for you to run blunder.

This notebook here doubles as a tablet and gives you a complete tablet experience rather than a handicapped one. You can completely detach the keyboard from the laptop which makes it a standalone tablet and offers a Windows tablet experience.

The 15-inch display on this laptop comes with a pixel sensor resolution that translates to 3200 x 1800 pixels. This is an excellent resolution and gives you a fantastic pixel density resulting in crisp images and text. The display is perfect for running Blender as you can see all the elements on the same screen which is quite nice.

An Intel Core i7 processor powers this Surface Book 2 model. This process is high and one and comes with six physical cores and will threads. Maximum clocking frequency of 4.50 GHz, you will be running Blender as smoothly as possible without any performance issues. If you’re going to work on simple projects, then you can be sure that the process won’t even kick into a frequency higher than its base frequency.

We have 16 gigs of RAM in the memory department that comes in very handy when it comes to running modeling and rendering applications. This memory should be okay for most users but if you want to go super high-end, you can opt for a 32GB model. The storage on this laptop is made up of a 512GB SSD. It is fast, provides enough storage, and helps in enhancing the performance of the laptop.

The graphics card on the Surface Book 2 is an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card. This graphics card has a dedicated video RAM of 4GB which is pretty good answering how fast it is. You can handle small and medium-size projects on this laptop with ease. Not that this model cannot handle complex projects, but it will take a lot longer than we are doing with an older generation graphics card.

Overall, the Surface Book 2 is an excellent convertible laptop. It has a gorgeous display, a fantastic processor, and other awesome hardware that are perfect for a seamless Blender experience.

4. Acer Aspire 5 – Budget Pick

No one should be limited because of the budget. Even with a small budget, you should be able to work on your modeling and rendering. The experience, however, is going to be very different and slow but considering a budget you should be happy that you are even able to finish the process.

If you’re on a budget, then the right choice for you would be the Acer Aspire 5 laptop. This is an entry-level laptop that comes with surprisingly good specs and a price tag of under $600. The performance of this laptop is pretty impressive Which is excellent for the price.

The display we have here is a 15.6″ one with full HD resolution. This is an LED-backlit widescreen display that comes with pretty good colors and a decent contrast ratio. The images are nice and vibrant, thanks to the IPS panel and you can also see deep blacks and bright whites. The war on the quality of the display is on point with excellent viewing angles making this a good display for media consumption as well.

The process that powers this is Acer Aspire 5 model is an Intel Core i5 processor. This is a quad-core processor from Intel and belongs to the 10th generation of its chips. This is one of the most powerful mid-range processors you can find in the market right now and that’s a pretty good job when it comes to handling heavy applications like Blender. The overall performance when it comes to modeling and rendering is quite decent but does not match that of our premium laptops.

The memory department is flush with 8GB of RAM. This is the minimum amount of memory would expect in modeling and rendering device. If you are a student or someone who is just learning the craft, then this memory will be more than enough for you. But if you are a professional, then this might not be the right memory set up for you.

The Acer Aspire 5 laptop does not come with a dedicated graphics card. We only have the integrated graphics card from Intel and it does a pretty good job when it comes to handing Blender. You will be fine when you stick with simple and medium-sized projects. If you’re going to load a complex project, then you are going to have a really long and even bad performance.

This model also brings a huge surprise when it comes the battery life. With light work, the laptop can last for about 9.5 hours which is super impressive. Even when you are working on something heavy, the device can hold good to 4 to 5 hours which is going well.

Overall, the Acer Aspire 5 is an excellent notebook that comes at a super affordable price point. If you are really on a budget and want to run an application like Blender, then this Acer laptop is probably the best laptop for Blender for you.

What To Look For In The Best Laptop For Blender?

Finding the right laptop for Blender is far more challenging than you might think.

You simply can’t pick the most premium laptop as you might have to end up paying a premium. You also can’t find the most affordable laptop as it might struggle to even run the thing.

The trick lies in finding the balance and that’s what this buying guide will teach you. You need to know where you should concentrate, and where you can skimp on. This buying guide is designed to help you find the best notebook for your modeling and rendering needs.

Display

Getting a good display for running Blender is super important. We are dealing with the modeling application so you need to get the best display possible. Getting an average display will not only affect you but will also mess with the overall quality of the project.

When it comes to using a modeling application like Blender, we always recommend going for a 15.6-inch display. A 15.6-inch display is much bigger than 13.3-inch one and also brings a lot of screen real estate to the table. Most 15.6-inch displays are wide screens which means you can sometimes even have two windows side-by-side to help improve your productivity.

If you are hellbent on opting for a smaller display, then 13.3 inches would be the minimum we will go for. This should be an option only if you have a bigger high on display at your home than you can connect to. If you sold even to work on modeling on a 13.3-inch laptop, then we don’t think that’s a great decision.

Another choice would be to go for a 17.3-inch display. If your laptop is not going to move out of your office, then this might not be a bad decision. But if you want your laptop to the mobile, then this is not going to work as much as you thought it would. We would stick with a 15.6-inch laptop as that size strikes a perfect balance between portability and power which is very essential for software like Blender.

Resolution

let’s talk about resolution. Having a good resolution on your display is paramount when you’re dealing with modeling and rendering. In most cases, we suggest getting a full HD display. This resolution is 1920 x 1080 pixels which are pretty good for a 15.6-inch display. The pixel density is decent and you get good-quality images as well.

A good resolution is only half the job done. The display should also have an IPS panel. This IPS panel is much better than the alternative TN and VA panels. Having an IPS panel brings an excellent contrast ratio to the display. You can get deeper blacks and bright whites that are perfect for the nature of your work. The greyscale performance of the display will also be on nice point.

If you have a lot of money, then you can even go for higher resolution displays like a 2K or even a 4K display. These displays have a much better resolution and can show you a lot more detail. These displays will also present you with more elements on the screen which is nice to have. With a 4K display, you can even have a 4K video running natively on the display when it is rendering in real-time(depending on the laptop).

You should always go for a glossy display when it comes to modeling and rendering. A glossy display gives you a lot of reflections, but it is also the one that is the most color-accurate when compared with an anti-reflective display. You get super accurate colors and also very good brightness which will come in handy when you’re working outdoors or in places where there is a lot of light.

Processor

The processor is one of the most important components and a laptop that is meant for 3D modeling and rendering. One of the first things you should avoid when picking a processor is an entry-level processor like the Intel Core i3, Intel Pentium, Intel Celeron, and Intel Atom processors. These are fine for super entry-level laptops but they do not belong here.

You should always go for a quad-core or an hexa-core Intel or AMD processor. If you prefer Intel, then you can go with an Intel Core i5 or an i7 processor and pick the number of cores to suit your needs. We would not go with anything that has less than four physical cores. The number of cores you have has a direct effect on the performance of the laptop when it comes to running applications like Blender.

The more cores you have, the better your overall performance is. It can help in improving the rendering times and also in modeling as well. The clock speed of your processor is also very important. You need to have a good base frequency so that your processor does not turbo boost every single time.

A minimum base frequency, in this case, would be at least 2.0 GHz. This is a decent frequency and your processor will be able to do a good amount of work without having to overclock. Having said that, your processor also has to use a function like a turbo boost to clock much higher clock speeds when you need extra power. There is no way you are going to get all your work done within the base clock speed. And when you need that extra power, your processor should be able to provide it.

You also have to keep in mind the cost of the processor. While the processor is important, you don’t want to overspend on the processor and don’t have a lot of money to cover the remaining components of a laptop. A good way to save money would be to go for an AMD processor instead of an Intel processor.

Intel was believed to make better processors than AMD but recent studies have proved that both are capable of equal performance. AMD can give you the same performance for a lot less cost which is something everyone would like to have. You can also spend the same amount of money and get superior performance which is fantastic.

RAM

If you are going to be dealing with simple modeling and rendering projects, then you would be fine with 8 GB of RAM. This Ram is the absolute minimum you should go with that too when you’re dealing with simple projects.

If you are a professional and you’re going to be dealing with some complex stuff, then the minimum RAM you should get on your laptop should not be less than 16 gigs. You should go for DDR4-type RAM that comes with excellent speed and efficiency.

You can even go for 32 gigs if you know that you are going to need it. Whatever the case, you need to make sure that you can upgrade the RAM later in the future. This is very important as your needs might increase in the future and instead of completely upgrading the laptop, you can simply upgrade the lamb which would be a lot more cost-effective.

When selecting the RAM make sure you go for DDR4 and not DDR3 RAM. DDR four memory comes with much higher clock speeds and can help you do a lot more. In comparison, DDR3 looks crippled and does not have a place in modern laptops.

Storage

There are two kinds of storage namely mechanical hard drives and solid-state drives. Which storage you select will decide how the performance of your laptop is going to be.

Let’s have a breather about both storage types. Mechanical hard drives are traditional storage devices that come with moving parts and guarantee you a lot of storage at a much lesser price. what a computer 10 years ago, this was the main storage on the device.

Solid-state drives are modern storage devices and are very fast. They do not have any moving parts and are the best solid-state drives or at least 15 times faster than your average mechanical hard drive which is huge in terms of speed post. The only problem here is that solid-state drives are a lot more expensive than regular hundreds.

For a laptop that is going to be used primarily for modeling and rendering, getting a solid-state drive is probably the best way to go. An SSD will make things much faster. It can load the operating system in a few seconds and also launch applications a lot quicker than ever before. The waiting time you have when launching applications will be reduced to an absolute minimum.

Our concern with SSD is that it can increase the cost of the laptop considerably. If you don’t have a lot of money on your hands, then we suggest going for a 256 GB SSD and seeing where it takes to you. If you don’t have any problem moneywise, you can even go for 512 GB SSD or bigger.

If you are absolutely on a tight budget and cannot afford an SSD, we would still recommend getting one. But instead of going for full SSD storage, you can opt for hybrid storage. This will have a 128 GB SSD and a much larger mechanical hard drive. This way, you get a balance between performance and storage space which is great considering your low budget.

Also highly advisable to have a backup storage device. For backup storage devices, we recommend getting a cheap external hard drive. Since the secondary storage, you don’t have to worry a lot about speed as you will be copying files probably once every seven days or so.

Input device

Make sure that the laptop comes with a good keyboard and a trackpad. A good keyboard will make your everyday laptop experience a lot better. You wouldn’t notice this until the day you come in contact with a bad keyboard. That’s when you realize that you have been taking your keyboard for granted.

A proper keyboard should come with a good layout and well-spaced keys. The keys on the keyboard should give you enough feedback to make the typing experience pleasant. A good keyboard would not affect your speed or accuracy so make sure you have that in control.

Backlighting on your keyboard is an absolute necessity. This gives you the flexibility to work even in dark environments without having to search for light. Though it may look like a simple feature, it does come in handy.

The trackpad on your laptop should be smooth and should be precise when it comes to taking your input. If you’re looking for a Windows laptop, then make sure that the trackpad on this device is a Windows precision trackpad so that you can have a fine experience. If you’re looking for a Mac, then you don’t have to worry about anything else as Mac trackpads are pretty fantastic.

Graphics Card

Having a good graphics card is very important when it comes to running Blender. Integrated graphics cards have improved a lot over the last few years but they don’t even come close to the performance of dedicated graphics cards which is why you need one.

Depending on your projects, you can choose between an entry-level graphics card or a high-end graphics card. If you are a student and you are going to work on simple projects, we would recommend going with a mid-range graphics card. This way, you can learn the basics and master the art before spending a lot of money on high-end hardware.

If you are a professional who is going to work on some complex projects, then you might want to get the best GPU on your laptop. This is going to cost you a lot but you needed to have a flawless modeling and rendering experience.

We would avoid going with entry-level GPUs as they will bring much of an improvement when compared with integrated graphics cards.

We also have a question of whether to go with Nvidia graphics cards or AMD ones. The simplest answer here is the go with an Nvidia graphics card. They are much more popular and can offer you better performance when it comes to games as well as consumer applications.

But AMD Radeon graphics cards have also improved a lot over the years. Apple laptops which are known to be the device of choice for creative people come with AMD Radeon graphics cards. If it is good for Apple, then you can also make it work.

Connectivity

When it comes to connectivity, you want to have as many options as possible. Having more essential ports will come in handy when you need to deal with data transfer and other external connectivity needs.

The laptop needs to have at least one Thunderbolt port, one USB 3.1 type port, an HDMI port, an SD card reader, an ethernet port, and an audio jack. These are what we call essential ports and you will end up using them every day.

The laptop needs to have the latest wireless standards as well. Either Wi-Fi 6 or 802.11AC Wi-Fi should be available on your laptop so that you can access the internet at really high speeds. Draft a plan to benefit from having Bluetooth 4.2 or above as you will have a better range and good external connectivity without the need for wires.

Conclusion

We hope you were able to find the best laptops for Blender and hope you make great models and renders.

If you still have doubts or queries, shoot us a quick email with your requirements and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible with a good shortlist of laptops that are not on the list.