Top 10 Best Laptops for Blender
January 30, 2023
7
min read
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3D artists, VFX artists, 3D programmers, and Video Editors can really make an impact using Blender, which is a free and open-source 3D creation tool.
From novice hobbyists to professional animators, Blender has become one of the most powerful software for creating realistic characters, stunning environments, and believable effects. For those in the creative and design industries, mastering Blender has become essential for their success.
That's why finding a laptop that packs powerful processing power alongside strong graphics capabilities is essential for anyone with a career in the video editing, graphic designing, or 3D modeling realm – allowing them to take their work wherever they go!
In this guide, we shall explore the best laptops that can run Blender. We will cover a list of the 10 best laptops for Blender, including their features and prices. Whether your budget is limited or you want to spend a little extra on a powerful laptop, we got your back.
You can use Blender on any high-configured workstation.
But, the question is, what is the best machine to run Blender?
There are three main types of computers you can use to run Blender: a laptop, a desktop, or a cloud workstation. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages, so it’s not so tough to decide which one is best for you.
Let's take a look at each option in more detail.
A laptop for Blender is a great choice for users who love the portability. They are lightweight which makes them easy to take wherever you go. You can find some best laptops for Blenders that can give you top-notch performance.
But, they have limited processing power and storage space. And you cannot upgrade a laptop whenever required because of its case limitations.
Still, you can buy a laptop with a powerful processor and strong GPU to make your work easy with Blender.
A desktop is great for Blender users that need more power and storage space. When it comes to creating animated films, and visual effects, Blender needs more power. This is where a desktop becomes handy.
You can upgrade your desktop as per your requirements - making it a great choice for those who need to work with large files or complex projects. Yet, they're not as portable as laptops and can be bulky and difficult to move around.
A cloud workstation is perfect if you need more flexibility. You can use any laptop to access blender on your cloud workstation, even a cheap one because all the resource-intensive work runs on the cloud workstation.
On top of that, you have more bandwidth (3GB/s+) for faster downloads, and because of the low latency (<30 ms) provided by the newest streaming protocol, you don't feel the difference that blender is running in the cloud.
When it comes to storage, you can add more cloud storage when you need it and upgrade, downgrade, and adjust computer power and SSD to your needs.
Teams can also save a configuration (the golden image), deploy this image to other workstations, and even share their files. No more than a browser is needed to access your blender in the cloud.
According to the official Blender website, a good laptop for Blender should have the following requirements:
Getting the best laptop for Blender is a critical task since there are so many options. After much analysis, we have created a list of the best laptops for Blender that you can choose for your next 3D modeling or virtual reality project.
Let’s take a look at our top laptops for Blender at a glance -
Choosing the best laptop that meets all your needs is always difficult. As most software upgrades their requirements very often, keeping pace with them is also tough.
It would be best always to have a state-of-the-art laptop when using Blender for video editing, animation making, or 3D modeling.
And, the thing is, not everyone can replace their laptops frequently.
Unless you want to invest in new laptops or need a laptop for a one-time project, you can rent a cloud workstation like Flaneer. It is a remote workstation packed with all the possible and latest resources you may need to run complex software like Blender.
Using Flaneer, you can buy any laptop as the resource-intensive work runs on the cloud workstation and gets (high performance) streamed to your browser.
You don’t need to spend a lot setting up a new workstation based on the software’s requirements.
Whether you are considering upgrading the CPU/GPU or increasing the SSD memory, Flaneer easily customizes your environment with a few clicks.
The price starts from €37 per month. You can configure your own workstation and view the prices here.
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When it comes to the best laptop for Blender, we found the newest Razer Blade 15 at the top of our list. It has a slick appearance and an incredibly small profile. The 8-core 11th Gen Intel processor is just excellent. Additionally, 16GB of Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics is a massive upgrade.
Because of these, the laptop responded blazingly fast and offered excellent lag-free performance. Even when under extreme strain from demanding video games for gamers, this laptop always remains cool. Ideally, it was a result of its vapor-cooling chambers. No matter what kind of tasks you are planning to do on Blender, the exclusive features make it the best laptop for Blender.
The price starts from $3,200 to $3,600 depending on the store and your region.
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The Apple MacBook Pro is one of the best laptops for Blenders as well as for other high-end software. The 2021 model brings a lot of upgrades and modifications. For instance, you can either choose the M1 Pro processor (which is scary fast) or the M1 Max processor (which is scary faster).
The laptop stands out from the other options for its battery life expectancy, which is up to 17 hours. It has a thin body with outstanding build quality. With XDR brightness, you will see everything crystal clear. It is available in two tones, Space Gray and Silver.
Based on the retailer and region, the price may start from $2,499 to $3,499.
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The ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo 15 is a very powerful laptop with an additional touchpad on top of the keypad. The 14-inch additional matte touchscreen is known as ScreenPad Plus. This will provide you with endless ways to experience the next level of multi-tasking.
This is practically a good laptop for Blender since it comes with an 11th-gen Core i9 CPU and 6 GB of VRAM. As a result, you may use this laptop to run practically any modern program in addition to Blender.
There are many variants of this particular laptop. Then again, the cost may also differ based on the shop where you purchase it. The price range for this laptop is between $1,400 and $3,400.
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The Gigabyte Aorus 15P KD is one of the best laptops for Blender users and content creators because of its potential rendering capabilities. In 3D programs like Blender, the laptop can display its maximum potential thanks to the 6 GB of GeForce RTX 3060 GPU.
With a mighty Intel Core i7 processor and 16GB DDR4 memory, this laptop becomes one of the finest for rendering. Both deliver respectable results to produce a higher-end display reaction time. You can run this laptop for a continuous 9 hours, which is another great advantage.
The price of this laptop may land somewhere between $2,100 and $2,240.
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If you look for the most modern available laptops in the market, the MSI Creator 15 is one of the best laptops for Blender. You can easily work with huge files because of its excellent CPU, GPU, and dual-channel memory.
One of the greatest features of this laptop is the stunning 4K OLED display, which will provide you with the best possible view of your work. Additionally, you can connect your preferred gadgets without any issues since it has a Thunderbolt 3 port and an HDMI video port that supports 4K video @ 60Hz.
The price of this particular laptop starts from $1,800 and may end at $3,100.
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The ASUS TUF F15 is a fully-loaded gaming laptop. From our point of view, it is one of the best laptops that can run Blender. The laptop offers various CPU and GPU options. This will determine the final price of the laptop.
It is resistant to falling thanks to its military-grade structure. It is superior to endure the unavoidable knocks and bumps of daily life. You will experience 7.1-channel virtual surround sound with super quality, which is delivered by DTS:X Ultra technology. And you will love the mecha gray color.
This is an affordable laptop for Blender. You can buy this laptop for around $800 to $900.
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Although it may seem a little backdated, the Acer Predator Helios 300 is still a good laptop for Blender. The laptop was one of a kind when it was first released in 2021. With an 11th-generation processor and 8 GB of VRAM, the laptop still packs quite a punch.
What we most like about this laptop is the 15.6 inches widescreen IPS display with a 144 Hz refresh rate. On top of that, it comes with 16 GB of dual-channel memory for superior performance. Additionally, you will get 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x Mini DisplayPort 1.4, and 1x USB-C 3.2 (Thunderbolt 4, DisplayPort) which makes your Blender journey more smooth.
The Acer Predator Helios 300 is not cheap. You have to spend from $1,200 to $2,200 for this laptop.
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Despite the fact that Acer Nitro 5 only has an i5 process, it can still run Blender at a moderate setting. Additionally, the Nvidia RTX 3050 graphics processor offers a fluid experience. When using Intel Wi-Fi 6 with Killer Ethernet E2600, you may optimize the performance.
Despite a 10% increase in fan speed, CoolBoost technology might get warm if used for an extended period of time. However, the overall performance gets 25% better by cooling the GPU 9% more.
There is no doubt that it is a budget-friendly laptop to run Blender, which is available for between $800 and $1000. If you are budget-conscious, you are getting the best deal at this price point.
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The Dell Gaming G15 is the only laptop on our list that has an AMD processor. The laptop has a 2.8-4.7 GHz CPU, but its 6 GB of GeForce RTX 3050 Ti GPU improves performance. Thus, the laptop won't fall behind in terms of animators and 3D renders. Despite being a mid-range model, its performance is quite near to that of a flagship model. This is what we enjoy the most about this laptop.
The same holds true for available storage. Although it comes with a respectable 1 TB of storage and 32 GB of RAM, you can always increase it later. By far, this is one of the best Ryzen laptops for Blender.
The Dell Gaming G15 is a good laptop for Blender that is available at a price range of $1,050 to $1,200.
Choosing a good laptop for Blender is essential if you are planning to be an expert in 3D modeling or digital drawing.
But, how can you determine which laptops can run Blender without any hassle?
Well, it depends on the type of work you are going to do using Blender.
In most cases, working with Blender puts a heavy workload on the CPU. No matter — you are modeling, sculpting, or rendering, you will need a laptop with a strong CPU.
It also requires high-processing GPUs that help with GPU rendering or viewport rendering. There are also a few more things that you need to consider before choosing the best laptop for Blender.
No worries. we will give you some tips and complete buying guides for choosing your laptop for Blender.
Any graphic card with 2GB RAM is the minimum requirement to run Blender on a laptop. If you want to have a decent performance, you need at least 6GB VRAM with a good amount of CUDA Cores or Stream Processors.
GPU (Graphics Processing Unit, or simply Graphics Card) is one of the most important parts to consider before choosing the best laptop for Blender. It is important for Blender because using the right GPU can provide the necessary power to render high-resolution graphics quickly.
GPUs have hundreds of cores, which allows them to handle many tasks simultaneously, whereas CPUs have only a few cores. This makes GPUs ideal for rendering graphics, as they can complete the task much faster than CPUs.
According to some research, GPUs provide 50-100 times faster rendering than CPUs — the key benefits that every Blender user wants. Additionally, GPUs are able to render multiple keyframes and run parallel tasks to generate high-end graphics.
When it comes to Blender, having a good GPU can make all the difference. But with so many brands and price points competing for your attention, what should you look out for?
As it is hard to buy every GPU and test them, you can use Flaneer to run Blender with different GPUs and test the performance. The cloud workstations of Flaneer allow you to test a range of GPUs that you can only imagine.
Whatever, the following GPUs would be a great choice for using Blender on laptops.
If you want us to compare both AMD and Nvidia GPUs, we can tell you one thing. Go for Nvidia GPUs as they are officially supported by Blender.
Generally, Radeon Pro V520 is better to do other complex tasks. It could do better if Blender can add support for OpenCL/Vulcan—AMD technology. However, Blender is actively working with AMD to increase the more dedicated resources for AMD GPUs.
Performance matters when rendering complex 3D scenes, and a powerful GPU is key.
So, if you want a laptop for rendering, adding a powerful GPU is a must. Yet we don’t recommend trying to render complex 3D scenes using a laptop.
Unless you want to spend a lot on GPUs, you can use Flaneer’s cloud workstations for video editing, visual effects, animation, and motion graphics.
CPU (Central Processing Unit, or simply Processor) is the most important part of any laptop — no matter if you are using Blender or any other software.
But, when you are planning to deploy high-configured 3D animation, you will definitely need an advanced CPU. You also want to make sure your CPU is powerful enough to handle all of the tasks that come with 3D modeling and rendering in Blender.
In terms of which specific processor is best suited for Blender, Intel's Core-i7 9700K or AMD's Ryzen 7 3700X should provide more than enough power for most users' needs. For those looking for an even more powerful processor, the Intel Core i9 11980K or AMD's Ryzen 9 7900X will be the best choice.
Whenever you want to purchase a new processor, you should emphasize the number of cores, threads, and clock speed. Nowadays, 4 cores are the minimum for most systems even for personal use.
However, if you want to run 3D modeling software like Blender, you need to use at least 6 core processors. It’s not just about numbers though. Unless you want to face any hiccups or delays when performing dynamic simulations such as fluid effects or geometry calculations like vertex paint, go for a CPU that can run various apps seamlessly.
Here is our recommendation for Laptop CPUs for Blender:
No matter whether you are using Blender on your laptop or watching movies, a laptop screen is always an important part.
As we already know that Blender suggests using at least a Full HD display, you might be thinking about what else you should consider before choosing the best laptop for Blender.
Unless you have an external monitor, you should have a laptop screen that allows you to perform video editing, 3D blending, motion graphics, and so on.
When it comes to choosing the ideal laptop with a pre-installed screen (of course, a laptop comes with a screen), make sure you buy at least a 2560 x 1440 display.
By the way, if you are wondering if it is possible to connect a cloud workstation to multiple monitors, the answer is yes!
As we usually use Blender for advanced 3D graphics-related work, color accuracy plays a very important role. You should check the laptop’s specs and make sure that you have 99% sRGB and 99% AdobeRGB color space coverage.
And, finally, purchase a laptop for Blender that has a higher refresh rate. Choosing a speed of 3ms will give you the best picture quality while using 3D graphics.
We know that Blender needs a high-quality processor and GPU to run different 3D modeling packages. So, what about storage?
You can run any software on a laptop that contains a hard disk. Yeah, it worked fine until you would run complex software like Blender and perform 3D modeling, virtual reality, or any simulation program.
As you are going to use laptops that can run Blender, you should check the types of storage it provides. However, upgrading the storage is not that hard. You can upgrade your storage if and only if there are extra slots.
Unless you want to upgrade your storage frequently, you can use Flaneer workstations.
Because whenever you are using Flaneer as your remote workstation, you can upgrade or downgrade your SSD storage to cloud storage at any time with a few clicks. Transferring files from your local laptop to the cloud workstation is also easy. So, you don’t have to think about storage at all.
Blender requires more power than any other similar software. Unless you want your laptop to shut down or slow down while making a 3D animation, you will definitely look for a laptop that comes with the best battery life.
As rendering needs more resources, your battery may go down from 8-10 hours to 2-4 hours. In that case, make sure you are able to carry your work with the current battery life.
You should consider a laptop that has a battery optimization feature and run Blender for at least 4-6 hours, ideally, the laptop has to run 12-14 hours with moderate settings.
That’s not the ideal battery life if you are trying to create an advanced 3D project. So, what’s the solution?
You can use a Flaneer cloud workstation, run Blender there, and complete the resource-intensive tasks. This way, you would give less pressure on your laptop’s battery, and use your laptop for extended 8-10 hours (depending on the models of the laptops you choose to run Blender).
When selecting a good laptop for Blender, it is important to find the right balance between size and performance. While larger laptops usually offer greater capabilities than their smaller counterparts, they may not always be the best option if you are looking for something truly mobile.
Bigger models also tend to require bigger batteries as well as more bulky power chargers - an added inconvenience that can quickly become tiring over time depending on your lifestyle needs.
To ensure maximum portability and comfort while working from home or abroad, carefully consider all available options before making your purchase decision!
When using Blender for small projects, 16GB RAM will do fine. If you're an artist working with multiple high-end applications at the same time, 64GB or more should do the trick!
According to Blender's requirement, you need a minimum of 8GB RAM to run Blender. As Blender requires more RAM than many software to increase efficiency, you should have at least 32GB to run it smoothly.
When it comes to rendering speeds, RAM is small potatoes. It's the CPU and GPU that are the real workhorses of your computer! But if you have 4GBs of RAM, upgrading it with an extra 12GB can make all the difference!
Intel is usually better for Blender. However, AMD’s Ryzen 5000 series had a good rendering performance over Intel. If you want faster rendering, lower power consumption, and a well-threaded processor, you should go for AMD. Intel would be the best choice regarding clock rate — making them better for 3D modeling tasks.
To improve your 3D viewport performance and run Blender faster, you need to enable GPU rendering, optimize your light path settings, activate Blender’s persistence data, and reduce your Cycles X sampling count. Finally, make sure that your laptop consists of a multi-core processor and faster memory.
As Blender runs many plugins to enhance the viewport performance, it may slow down your laptop. Unless you have a high-configured laptop, turn off the plugins that you are not actually using for your current 3D project.
The best laptops for Blender are not always the most expensive ones. In fact, many of the cheaper laptops on the market can run Blender just as well as the more expensive ones. The key is to find a laptop with a good CPU and a powerful GPU.
You can also consider running Blender on a cloud workstation, which can save you money in the long run.
Blender runs perfectly on Flaneer's cloud workstations. You can use any laptop and other resources to access your project on Blender.
Unless you want to invest a lot in a high-quality laptop for Blender, considering a cloud workstation might be a better choice. You can configure & set up a cloud workstation on Flaneer in minutes. Upgrade your RAM up to 256 GB, and choose any powerful CPU according to your needs.
On top of that, you can choose any powerful GPU up to 24GB for creating 3D-printed models, motion graphics, and interactive 3D applications.
In a word, you can create your top-performance workstation for Blender with Flaneer and use it from anywhere.
