I am a designer myself. And I have been searching for a new laptop to replace my dying 12-year-old ACER the past couple of months.
I am agreeable with Henabi's recommendations. Though his recommendation of 32gb is a bit rare, unless probably you have to specifically upgrade the RAM upon request, but 16gb is enough for design and multimedia purposes.
As a design student (I came from NAFA), we were taught in classes to use Macs. And when you come out to work, 98% of the companies out there (advertising, desktop publishing, printing, design houses etc) using Macs.
I personally don't like Apple, but when it comes to work, no choice. Out of office, my choice is still Windows.
Just telling you what the expectations of her future employers are, as many jobstreet and jobsdb ads do indicate "Mac working environment" as a requirement.
Anyway, back to topic, I am wondering are the gaming laptops your choices or your girl's? Because gaming laptops tend to be bulky and heavy. Unless your girl is a dragonboat rower or aspiring to be Jojo Sinclair, I think it would be a hassle for her to lug it around on the long run. Carrying it on arm to act young (like me) will feel tiresome (My Acer Aspire 14" was considered slim in those times, a tad thicker than ultrabooks now, and I can also feel the strain carrying it last time, to the extent during weekdays I rather leave the laptop in office instead of bringing it home), and putting it at the backpack is a strain on the shoulders.
My girlfriend, who has a 13" Dell, which is a latest model, still considered it heavy and I would be the one carrying for her every time we meet, until recently she got herself an iPad Pro and she ditched her laptop at home
So form factor and weight plays a part. If she doesn't mind training her biceps, then gaming laptop is ok.
Another thing to point out - she has to figure out what design she is going for. If it is just 3D and mutlimedia related, a normal laptop is enough.
If she is doing more on illustration, playing around with Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator for sketching, she might be interested in a 2 in 1 convertible which comes with stylus so that she can draw on the screen rather than have to buy a Wacom tablet as extra accessory?
Sad to say, she might need at least a 14" laptop, because from what I know, a lot of 13" are too small to have space for dedicated graphic card slot. Though now they advertise that Iris XE graphics can handle Photoshop and video editing etc lah, but I cannot comment because I am using Intel UHD Graphics.
Iris XE benchmark score is more than 200% better than Intel UHD. Still, a dedicated graphic card is recommended, if you don't want 13" laptops.
You also will need to double check if the RAM of the particular model your girl is aiming is soldered on or not. If it is soldered on, it means you cannot upgrade the RAM in the future. So you gotta choose the spec with the highest RAM they can offer you to 'future-proof" it.
That being said, those I mentioned should not be a trouble for the gaming laptops you are aiming for, as they confirm have graphic card and upgradeable RAM options.
I am just telling you the pros and cons between choosing whether you want a Mac/Win, Slim/Bulky, Stylus support touchscreen ones.
It is also good that when you have the models in mind, you Google for reviews and also go youtube and find video reviews for the pros and cons. Every machines sure have flaws. You just have to weigh the differences and choose.
For me, I ultimately settled with a laptop with these specs:
- 13.3" screen
(I tried Lenovo's 15" Yoga. Though it had a dedicated graphic card, but the size was too big and heavy for me to hold on 1 hand in tablet mode when I need to draw or write. So NO)
- Touchscreen.
Better to illustrate with natural line strokes rather than even lines. Having to buy a Wacom tablet is a an extra load of accessory to lug around as well.
- Rechargeable Active stylus. WITH A PEN GARAGE
A lot of models offer active stylus, but they are mostly battery operated. The thing about this is, THEY ARE AAAA BATTERIES. Friggin hard to find. Need a dedicated space to keep the stylus also, else will lose it. My tablet stylus uses AAAA battery, and I have lost altogether 3 of them because no dedicated space to hold them.
- 512gb SSD
not enough budget to buy 1TB. Luckily got mircoSD card slot for me to use as expansion like how we do for tablets and smartphones.
- miroSD card slot
not just for memory expansion, but because many devices these days use microSD (phones, tablets, cameras etc), it is for easy file transfer
- Thunderbolt 3
can use for charging power and video connection using USB Type C. Like that no need to bring the standard bulky charger with thick cable out. I bought a 65W GaN PD charger using a 3meter USB type C charging cable. Works fine. Can use it to charge my phone, tablet etc too). And yeat, you can use your tablet as a powerbank with Thunderbolt 3 port too)
The rest are the standard stuff like USB port, microphone jack, HDMI output etc which are good to have but not essential, though USB port is still very much a safe option.
Hope you can help your girl get her dream machine!
