Best laptop for game development, gaming and graphic design by Reach6781 Mar 5, 2015 10:07AM PST. Hello everyone, It's extremely vital that i purchase a laptop for game developing, something that. Select from full list of AMD or Intel desktop CPU family and compare a processor to game system requirements performance. Core i3 6th Gen.
The Asus ROG G751JT is the best gaming laptop you can buy. And the ability to play most graphics-intensive games on high settings. It's also got a gorgeous. At the one library computer that had internet access, and I completed the tutorials at home. The source codes of turn-based web games, JavaScript tidbits and HTML page snippets were carried around on a 3.5″ floppy disk. Later, when I started coding professionally around age 17, I finally bought my first laptop.
Laptops are versatile gadgets that allow you to work and play wherever you are. However, they lack the configurability of a desktop PC which makes buying them a lot more time consuming. For something like game development, a laptop can be good but you need to be able to use it comfortably without a big screen.
You'll also have to make sure it meets all your requirements upfront as swapping out components is costly and difficult. Depending on your budget and what type of game you're trying to design – VR, 2D, 3D, etc. – there are various choices. Check out our picks for the best laptop for game development.
Comparison Chart
Best Laptop for Game Development Reviews
ASUS FX504
ASUS laptops are some of the most popular on the market. Minecraft pc prix. They're a bit cheaper than Dells and tend to outclass Acers in terms of cooling.
Review
The bread and butter of this laptop is the Intel I7-8750H processor. It can be turbo boosted to 3.9GHz which is enough for 2D and 3D game development. The GeForce 1050 Ti 4GB graphics card is a good starter option for someone that's learning the ropes. However, although the card is VR game-ready, it's not the best option for VR game development if you're shooting for fancy graphics.
On the memory side, you get 8GB of DDR4 RAM running at 2666MHz. This is a high-enough frequency for running some triple A games on max settings. The M.2 SSD only has 256GB. It won't be enough for Unreal Engine or Frostbite but it will allow the laptop to run smoothly.
Seeing as gaming and game design make systems run through hoops, the dual-fan setup on the ASUS FX504 is most welcomed. It is certainly better than most Acer gaming laptops that put the fans under the laptop.
With an 8th Gen Intel processor and a mid-range Nvidia graphics card, the ASUS FX504 is a solid choice if you're serious about game development. You just need to manage your expectations. You can make the next big-hit platformer on it but you won't make a battle royale sensation because it has modest components.
- Reasonably priced
- Good cooling
- Quality 8th Gen Intel CPU
- 2 SSD
- Windows OS included
- Not powerful enough for VR game design
- Only 8GB memory
HP Omen 15-dc0045nr
HP laptops may not be cheap but they do come with an impeccable build quality most of the time. Also, HP knows how to build laptops so that users don't have to worry about certain components not fully meshing with each other.
Review
The Intel I7-8750H seems to be the most popular CPU for gaming and gaming development laptops. It's a solid multi-threader, and unlike AMD CPUs, it also shines in single core performance, for when it's time to test your progress.
This laptop is not cheap but that's because it is loaded with great components. Take the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 card for instance. It's still one of the best cards on the market and much more cost-effective than the 1080 or 1080Ti. And, given the way game development still works, it's miles better than the Nvidia RTX graphics cards which have yet to have found their niche.
The 32GB of RAM is more than you probably need. It's enough to handle anything including high-quality VR game development. But what's more impressive about this system is that it comes with a 144Hz 15' display. The display is not large but the refresh rate makes all the difference if you're trying to make something that resembles modern games, and you're not looking to make Billy the Kid-style arcade games.
As you get better or your work gets more demanding, you can upgrade the HP Omen. It has room for two more 2666 RAM cards. Bringing the total to 64GB would make this laptop a true beast in every sense of the word as the CPU will still be relevant for a few more years, if not for gaming at least for gaming development.
- 32GB RAM
- Two empty memory slots
- 512GB M.2 SSD
- GeForce GTX 1070 8GB
- Intel I7-8750H
- 144Hz display
- Expensive for beginner game designers
- Small display
MSI GT63 Titan-052
If you're familiar with the quality work MSI does on graphics cards, monitors, and motherboards then you probably won't question this laptop's durability.
Review
The GT63 Titan-052 is another monster laptop a game developer would be lucky to have. The first thing to appreciate about this model is the fact that it's made by MSI. Performance-wise, there's nothing bad to say.
The graphics card is a GTX 1080 8GB which at the moment shreds anything you throw at it, given the right configuration. And, because it's paired with an Intel I7-8750H CPU, you won't have to worry about bottlenecking.
The 16GB of RAM may not sound like enough but, with the powerful CPU and GPU components, it may just be more than you need. Nevertheless, you can upgrade the laptop as it supports up to 64GB memory.
The display is 15.6' full HD. It's also a widescreen (1920 x 1080) which makes it great for working on game animations and cutscenes. The 120Hz refresh rate is quite good for a laptop.
In terms of storage, you get a 1TB 7200RPM HDD and a 512GB M.2 SSD. Read/write speeds just don't get any faster on a laptop. As an added bonus, the GT64 Titan-052 also comes with a mechanical keyboard. This is a major quality of life feature, not so much for writing code, but when you're working with blueprints and rely on keyboard combinations to save time
- GTX 1080
- Intel I7-8570H unlocked
- 1x 16GB 2666Mhz RAM
- 512GB M.2 SSD
- 1TB 7200RPM HDD
- True mechanical keyboard
- Expensive for anything short of developing triple A games
- Only 16GB RAM
Conclusion
As you can probably tell by now, a lot of these game development laptops are essentially gaming laptops. But since theoretically you don't need amazing specs to create a game, you don't always have to aim for top-of-the-line laptops.
It will ultimately come down to your game design requirements – as in what you're trying to create and what game engine you're using. Frostbite, for example, has lower system requirements but Unreal makes it easier to design games even if you're new at this. Our top three picks cater to any type of game designer, whether you're working in your spare time at home or for a big company.
How fast does your MacBook need to be to comfortably code iOS apps with Xcode? Is a MacBook Pro from 2-3 years ago good enough to learn Swift programming? Let's find out!
Here's what we'll get into:
- The minimum/recommended system requirements for Xcode 11
- Why you need – or don't need – a fancy $3.000 MacBook Pro
- Which second-hand Macs can run Xcode OK, and how you can find out
I've answered a lot of 'Is my MacBook good enough for iOS development and/or Xcode?'-type questions on Quora. A few of the most popular models include:
- The 3rd- and 4th-gen MacBook Pro, with 2.4+ GHz Intel Core i5, i7, i9 CPUs
- The 2nd-gen MacBook Air, with the 1.4+ GHz Intel Core i5 CPUs
- The 4th-generation iMac, with the 2.7+ GHz Intel Core i5 and i7 CPUs
These models aren't the latest, that's for sure. Are they good enough to code iOS apps? And what about learning how to code? We'll find out in this article.
My Almost-Unbreakable 2013 MacBook Air
Since 2009 I've coded more than 50 apps for iOS, Android and the mobile web. Most of those apps, including all apps I've created between 2013 and 2018, were built on a 13″ MacBook Air with 8 GB of RAM and a 1.3 GHz Intel i5 CPU.
My first MacBook was the gorgeous, then-new MacBook White unibody (2009), which I traded in for a faster but heavier MacBook Pro (2011), which I traded in for that nimble workhorse, the mighty MacBook Air (2013). In 2018 I upgraded to a tricked out 13″ MacBook Pro, with much better specs.
Frankly, that MacBook Air from 2013 felt more sturdy and capable than my current MacBook Pro. After 5 years of daily intenstive use, the MacBook Air's battery is only through 50% of its max. cycle count. It's still going strong after 7 hours on battery power.
In 2014, my trusty MacBook Air broke down on a beach in Thailand, 3 hours before a client deadline, with the next Apple Store 500 kilometer away. It turned out OK, of course. Guess what? My current MacBook Pro from 2018, its keyboard doesn't even work OK, I've had sound recording glitches, and occasionally the T2 causes a kernel panic. Like many of us, I wish we had 2013-2015 MacBook Air's and Pro's with today's specs. Oh, well…
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That 100 Mhz i486 PC I Learned to Code With
When I was about 11 years old I taught myself to code in BASIC, on a 100 Mhz i486 PC that was given to me by friends. It had a luxurious 16 MB of RAM, initially only ran MS-DOS, and later ran Windows 3.1 and '95.
A next upgrade came as a 400 Mhz AMD desktop, given again by friends, on which I ran a local EasyPHP webserver that I used to learn web development with PHP, MySQL and HTML/CSS. I coded a mod for Wolfenstein 3D on that machine, too.
We had no broadband internet at home back then, so I would download and print out coding tutorials at school. At the one library computer that had internet access, and I completed the tutorials at home. The source codes of turn-based web games, JavaScript tidbits and HTML page snippets were carried around on a 3.5″ floppy disk.
Best Laptop For Game Development 2020
Later, when I started coding professionally around age 17, I finally bought my first laptop. My own! I still remember how happy I was. I got my first gig as a freelance coder: creating a PHP script that would aggregate RSS feeds, for which I earned about a hundred bucks. Those were the days!
Xcode, iOS, Swift and The MacBook Pro
The world is different today. Xcode simply doesn't run on an i486 PC, and you can't save your app's source code on a 1.44 MB floppy disk anymore. Your Mac probably doesn't have a CD drive, and you store your Swift code in a cloud-based Git repository somewhere.
Make no mistake: owning a MacBook is a luxury. Not because learning to code was harder 15 years ago, and not because computers were slower back then. It's because kids these days learn Python programming on a $25 Raspberry Pi.
I recently had a conversation with a young aspiring coder, who complained he had no access to 'decent' coding tutorials and mentoring, despite owning a MacBook Pro and having access to the internet. Among other things, I wrote the following:
You're competing with a world of people that are smarter than you, and have better resources. You're also competing against coders that have had it worse than you. They didn't win despite adversity, but because of it. Do you give up? NO! You work harder. It's the only thing you can do: work harder than the next person. When their conviction is wavering, you dig in your heels, you keep going, you persevere, and you'll win.
Winning in this sense isn't like winning a race, of course. You're not competing with anyone else; you're only really up against yourself. If you want to learn how to code, don't dawdle over choosing a $3.000 or a $2.900 laptop. If anything, it'll keep you from developing the grit you need to learn coding.
Great ideas can change the world, but only if they're accompanied by deliberate action. Likewise, simply complaining about adversity isn't going to create opportunities for growth – unless you take action. I leapfrogged my way from one hand-me-down computer to the next. I'm not saying you should too, but I do want to underscore how it helped me develop character.
If you want to learn how to code, welcome adversity. Be excellent because of it, or despite it, and never give up. Start coding today! Don't wait until you've got all your ducks in a row.
Which MacBook is Fast Enough for Xcode 11?
The recommended system specs to run Xcode 11 are:
- A Mac with macOS Catalina (10.15.2) for Xcode 11.5 or macOS Mojave (10.14.4) for Xcode 11.0 (see alternatives for PC here)
- At least an Intel i5- or i7-equivalent CPU, so about 2.0 GHz should be enough
- At least 8 GB of RAM, but 16 GB lets you run more apps at the same time
- At least 256 GB disk storage, although 512 GB is more comfortable
- You'll need about 8 GB of disk space, but Xcode's intermediate files can take up to 10-30 GB of extra disk space
Looking for a second-hand Mac? The following models should be fast enough for Xcode, but YMMV!
- 4th-generation MacBook Pro (2016)
- 3rd-generation Mac Mini (2014)
- 2nd-generation MacBook Air (2017)
- 5th-generation iMac (2015)
When you're looking for a Mac or MacBook to purchase, make sure it runs the latest version of macOS. Xcode versions you can run are tied to macOS versions your hardware runs, and iOS versions you can build for are tied to Xcode versions. See how that works? This is especially true for SwiftUI, which is iOS 13.0 and up only. Make sure you can run the latest!
Pro tip: You can often find the latest macOS version a device model supports on their Wikipedia page (see above links, scroll down to Supported macOS releases). You can then cross-reference that with Xcode's minimum OS requirements (see here, scroll to min macOS to run), and see which iOS versions you'll be able to run.
Best Laptop For Game Development 2015 2017
Further Reading
Awesome! We've discussed what you need to run Xcode on your Mac. You might not need as much as you think you do. Likewise, it's smart to invest in a future-proof development machine.
Whatever you do, don't ever think you need an expensive computer to learn how to code. Maybe the one thing you really want to invest in is frustration tolerance. You can make do, without the luxury of a MacBook Pro. A hand-me-down i486 is enough. Or… is it?
Want to learn more? Check out these resources:
Learn how to build iOS apps
Get started with iOS 14 and Swift 5Sign up for my iOS development course, and learn how to build great iOS 14 apps with Swift 5 and Xcode 12.
