When looking for the best laptops for animation, it’s worth being a bit choosy. A good laptop for animators, whether professional or just starting out, needs to tick certain boxes in order to be a viable option.
The laptops on this list feature powerful processors, solid graphics cards and ample RAM capable of running demanding animation software such as Blender, Maya and After Effects. We've tested every model against industry standard benchmarking tests to make sure they all fit the bill – currently, our top pick is the ASUS ProArt P16, which boasts the necessary power as well as a gorgeous OLED display. But there are plenty more that fit the bill, and we’ve included a range of options here, at various price points.
For more options, check out our guide to the best laptops for 3D modelling, which offer the same kind of power and quality that animators require.
The ASUS ProArt P16 is our top choice today for animators. This Windows laptop is a fast worker, has a beautiful OLED screen and the famous ASUS Dial, which can help when scrubbing through animation timelines or fine-tuning brush sizes. Read more below
If you're looking to keep your spend under a grand, this large laptop offers a generous 16-inch screen, strong battery life and decent enough graphical performance for most animation purposes. It ain't fancy, but for the money it'll get the job done. Read more
When we tested this sleek device, we found it to be one of the new generation of gaming laptops that don't look like gaming laptops, aka the holy grail for creatives. Perfect for power and portability, this gaming laptop is a creative's dream. Read more
We think the MacBook Pro 16 (M4 Pro, 2024) is the best MacBook for animation overall. We found that runs even the most demanding animation programs with ease, it has a large bright screen and battery life is outstanding. Read more below
If you like the sound of a laptop/tablet hybrid, the HP OmniBook Ultra Fip 14 is a strong choice for 2D animation, though its integrated GPU means it'll struggle with anything more demanding than that. The design is lovely, but the price is fairly high. Read more below
A fantastic MacBook Pro alternative, this 16” laptop offers powerful performance with sleek design. With a gorgeous 3.2K mini LED display and a dedicated AI processing chip, the disappointing battery life is the only dent in its armour. Read more
If you want a large laptop for animation, this mobile workstation from Dell is super-powerful. It's heavy, and there's no 4K display, but if you want a beast there isn't a better Dell option. Read more
✅ You want top-tier performance: Its powerful components deliver fantastic speed for animation. ✅ You value colour accuracy: Its 4K OLED screen with 100% P3 coverage ensures your animations look flawless. ✅ You want innovative controls: The ASUS Dial offers intuitive control in a variety of creative software.
Don't buy it if:
❌ You're on a budget: Unsurprisingly, a laptop this powerful comes at a premium price. ❌ You need a high refresh rate: With just a 60Hz display, ultra-smooth motion isn't on offer here.
The bottom line
🔎 The ASUS ProArt P16 packs a powerful CPU, paired with a stunning 4K OLED touchscreen that makes it a fantastic choice for animators who like using a touchscreen. ★★★★½
Need to know: With its 16-inch OLED touchscreen and highly capable components, the the ASUS ProArt P16 is our top choice today for animators seeking a powerful and versatile laptop. Featuring handy AI-powered like StoryCube and MuseTree in its ProArt Creator Hub, workflows and file organisation is a breeze.
Design: Despite its powerful components, the ProArt P16 maintains a relatively slim profile and weighs around 5.3 pounds, making it reasonably portable for on-the-go animators. It also boasts a stunning 16-inch 4K OLED touchscreen display with 100% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage, ensuring vibrant and accurate colors crucial for animation work - though it is prone to smudging. Our reviewer also enjoyed using its innovative ASUS Dial: a physical control that allows for precise adjustments in creative applications, which is very handy when scrubbing through animation timelines or fine-tuning brush sizes.
Performance: This Windows laptop is a fast worker, thanks to an Intel Core i9 processor and NVIDIA RTX 3070 graphics, providing ample power for rendering complex animations and running demanding software smoothly. The laptop's 32GB of RAM and spacious 2TB SSD storage further enhance its performance and multitasking capabilities. Our reviewer was especially impressed with the results of our standard Handbrake test, where we encode a 10-minute 4K animation.
Battery: Considering its power-hungry components, we were fairly impressed that the ASUS ProArt P16 still offers up to 10 hours of usage on a single charge.
Price: While its £/$3,000 might seem lofty, considering how capable it is that's a pretty fair price. Plus, it has enough going for it to last even a demanding professional several years, holding its own against the likes of the MacBook Pro M3 Max in our benchmarking tests - and even outdoing it in some.
Ports: 2 x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, HDMI 2.1, 3.5 mm combo jack
Reasons to buy
+
Big but lightweight
+
Intel Arc graphics
+
Battery life is very good
Reasons to avoid
-
Integrated graphics
Buy it if
✅ You're on a budget: While it's not the most powerful, its approachable price point makes it a solid choice. ✅ You want a decent-size display: The HP Pavilion 16, as the name implies, has a generous 16-inch screen. ✅ You want a beefy battery: Lasting well on a single charge, the HP Pavilion 16 is great for long shifts.
Don't buy it if:
❌ You need maximum graphical power: While its Intel Arc graphics do a good job, a discrete graphics card will deliver superior performance. ❌ You want something small: It's lightweight, but on the bulky side.
The bottom line
🔎 The HP Pavilion 16 is a pretty standard lightweight laptop, however its large screen and decent graphical performance make it a viable option for animators on a budget. ★★★★
Need to know: If you're looking to keep your spend under a grand, the HP Pavilion 16 will tuck in nicely under your budget. It's not the most exciting laptop, but with a large display and Intel Arc graphics, it's viable for budding animators who don't need the most high-end performer. The 32GB RAM keeps things moving at a healthy clip, and we were also impressed by the generous battery life.
Design: While it's a big boy, the Pavilion 16 is pleasingly lightweight – coming in under 2kg, it's a perfectly viable laptop to take on the go with you provided you have a bag big enough. In terms of the display, the 1920x1200 is hardly exceptional in terms of quality, but its 16-inch size gives you generous room to see what you're doing, as well as providing a comfortable amount of real estate for touch and swipe gestures.
Performance: Lots to recommend here – you get plenty of ports, including two USB-C and two USB-A, as well as HDMI port and audio jack. As mentioned, the 32GB of RAM means the laptop is more than capable of handling the demands of most animation software. It's in graphical performance that you may find an issue – results in our benchmark tests were decent without being exceptional. That's about what you'd expect from a machine with integrated graphics, even if it is Intel Arc.
Battery: No complaints. The battery life of the HP Pavilion 16 held up well in our testing, even factoring in the power drain of that large display, and you shouldn't have trouble coaxing a full day's work out of it without needing a charge.
Price: Here is where the HP Pavilion 16 really shines – its value for money. You can generally pick one up for as little as $650 or £699, and in the USA we've seen it go as low as $459 with limited-time discounts. For a laptop capable of handling animation work, that's excellent value, and it cements the HP Pavilion 16 as our budget pick for animators.
✅ You need a portable powerhouse: Offering both performance and portability, it's a great option for nomadic animators. ✅ You want a great screen: The 2.8K OLED display offers sharpness and excellent color accuracy. ✅ You value battery life: For a high-performance gaming laptop, over eight hours battery life is impressive.
Don't buy it if:
❌ You prefer a larger screen: Its 14-inch display might be too small for detailed animation work. ❌ You're on a budget: High-end performance comes at a high-end price, making the HP Omen Transcend 14 pretty pricey. ❌ You need upgradability: While it's robust enough to last a few years, you won't be able to upgrade this laptop for longevity.
The bottom line
🔎 HP Omen Transcend 14 is an excellent workstation for the nomadic animator who values both power and portability. Its OLED display and long battery life (well, for a performance laptop) are great, but the smaller screen size may not suit all. ★★★★½
What you need to know: The brand-new-for-2024 HP Omen Transcend 14 is a sleek, relatively lightweight bundle of portable, powerful joy. When we tested it, we appreciated that it's another in a new generation of gaming laptops that don't look like gaming laptops; aka the holy grail for creatives.
Design: The 14-inch OLED screen is a joy, with 500 nits peak brightness (sounds average but the OLED tech makes it seem brighter) even in HDR mode. And it's got the trendy 16:10 aspect ratio, too, all without falling into the classic "gamer aesthetic" which can be offputting in professional environments. Plus, at just 1.63kg and 1.79cm thickness, it's highly portable - especially considering the level of performance it offers.
Performance: The top-spec model is magnificently powerful for the size, price and build, achieving some excellent benchmarks during our testing across creative tasks from 3D to photo editing – all of which you might need in your animation workflow. The AI tech is to thank for that, as it gives a boost to the already capable combination of the Intel Core Ultra 9 processor and NVIDIA RTX 4070 graphics. Multitasking is smooth, owing to its 32GB of RAM, too.
Battery: Despite all that power, the battery life was ample. We got around seven and a half hours with a moderately heavy workflow.
Price: This level of performance doesn't come cheap; the HP Omen Transcend 14 costs $1,599.99/£1,449 for the base model and $1979.99/£1,799 for the model we tested.
CPU: Apple M4 Pro chip, 14-core CPU with 10 performance cores and four efficiency cores
Graphics: M4 Pro, 20-core GPU
RAM: 24GB configurable to 36GB or 48GB
Screen: 16.2-inch (diagonal) Liquid Retina XDR display2; 3456-by-2234 native resolution at 254 pixels per inch
Storage: 512GB-4TB
Ports: SDXC card slot, HDMI port 3.5-mm headphone jack MagSafe 3 port, Three Thunderbolt 5 (USB-C) ports
Reasons to buy
+
Outstanding performance
+
Excellent battery life
+
Thunderbolt 5 connectivity
Reasons to avoid
-
Very expensive
-
Maybe overkill if you don't do 3D work
-
Limited upgrade options
Buy it if
✅ You prize mobility: The lightweight, portable design makes it a great choice for travel.
✅ You need exceptional performance: The M4 Pro and M4 Max chips can handle demanding animation software.
✅ You'd like a stellar display: The colour-accurate Liquid Retina XDR is perfect for detailed work.
Don't buy it if:
❌ Your software ecosystem is Windows-exclusive: Some animation tools remain tied to Microsoft's OS.
❌ You’re light on cash: The base model is pricey, and higher configurations get very expensive.
The bottom line
🔎 MacBook Pro 16-inch (M4 Pro, 2024) is a powerhouse for animators, boasting the best of Apple Silicon, a top-notch display, and great portability. ★★★★½
What you need to know: The MacBook Pro 16-inch (M4 Pro, 2024) is a dream machine for animators, excelling in both 2D and 3D workflows. Whether you’re crafting complex motion graphics or rendering high-resolution frames, this laptop delivers industry-leading performance with style.
Design:Apple’s classic unibody design remains a hallmark of quality. The 16.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display is a standout, offering vibrant colours, deep contrasts, and up to 1600 nits brightness for HDR content. The slim yet durable chassis makes it a perfect companion for on-the-go animators. Ports include MagSafe charging, Thunderbolt 5, and an SD card slot.
Performance: The M4 Pro/M4 Max chips are tailored for heavy animation workloads. Tests with industry-standard software like Blender, After Effects and Cinema 4D show remarkable fluidity, even during complex simulations and rendering. Unified memory options up to 128GB ensure seamless multitasking.
Battery: A major highlight of our testing was the 22-hour battery life for media playback and 10-12 hours of intensive animation work.
Price: It's expensive: the base model starts at £2,499, with higher spec configurations reaching up to £7,349. But when compared to equivalent desktop workstations, it's still worth the money.
✅ You want something portable and convenient: This lightweight laptop is great for taking on the go. ✅ You want something that also doubles up as a tablet: The OmniBook has 2-in-1 capability. ✅ You want AI capabilities: As a newer laptop, it is of course stuffed to the gills with AI features and a dedicated NPU.
Don't buy it if:
❌ You have significant graphical needs: It'll handle basic 2D animation, but with integrated graphics, will struggle with more intense tasks.
The bottom line:
🔎 HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 has the latest Intel processor and a sharp OLED screen, though its integrated graphics are a limitation. ★★★★½
What you need to know: It's not necessarily designed for animation first and foremost, but the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 has enough chops to handle 2D work, thanks in part to the latest round of Intel processors. It's a 2-in-1, meaning it also has a tablet mode for those who like having the option to use that kind of configuration, and it has an embedded NPU for next-gen AI features.
Design: The distinctive 'cut-off corners' look of the OmniBook is pretty stylish as far as we're concerned, and it converts between laptop and tablet modes very smoothly. The screen isn't the brightest but it does offer good colour coverage, with our testing bearing out 99% of DCI-P3, 96% of Adobe RGB and the expected 100% of sRGB. There's also a big trackpad and plenty of ports, so all-in-all, we've no complaints in the design department.
Performance: It's worth saying up front that the GPU is probably the weakest aspect of the Omnibook. This may sound like a kiss of death for animators but it's all relative – the GPU offers decent enough power for 2D animation and makes this a solid choice for anyone starting out, or for anyone whose animation needs aren't too complex or demanding. Elsewhere, the laptop puts in a good shift thanks to its latest-generation Intel chip – its scores in our Geekbench tests put it around on par with a MacBook M2 or M3, which is certainly nothing to complain about.
Battery life: You can tell that Intel has been optimising its more recent chips for efficiency rather than raw power, and the Omnibook accordingly achieves a very respectable battery showing. We managed to keep it running for 12 hours before needing a charge, and if you're animating for longer than that, you probably need a work/life balance intervention.
Price: This a tricky one, as the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 is gunning for a high pricing bracket. It goes for £1,899 (with 32GB RAM) in the UK and $1,599.99 (with 16GB RAM) in the States, and for that money you can get an M4 Mac. The HP does have a few assets of its own, like the 2-in-1 design or its generous 2TB storage, but it's still quite an ask.
Ports: HDMI 2.1, USB-C Full Function, USB-C Intel Thunderbolt 4.0, 3.5mm headphone jack, a full-sized SD card reader, two USB-A 3.2 ports.
Reasons to buy
+
Extremely powerful
+
Highly portable
+
Exceptional battery life
+
Robust, sleek design
Reasons to avoid
-
Limited ports
Buy it if
✅ You want a crisp, expansive display: The 16-inch screen is beautiful, with plenty of real-estate for animation. ✅ You like AI: If you're ready to jump on board the AI train, this machine's AI tools and optimisations are a big draw. ✅ You need a powerful workhorse: For heavier workflows, this powerhouse is near unmatched.
Don't buy it if
❌ You need long battery life: Especially if you often animate on the road, the batrtery life will disappoint. ❌ You're on a budget: While it's comparable to its competition, this laptop is still pretty pricey.
The bottom line
🔎 Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i gen 9 is a rival to the devices that top our best for animation list, let down mostly by its disappointingly short battery life. Otherwise, it will impress with its gorgeous display, ample power and excellent AI features that boost power and optimise your workflow. ★★★★½
What you need to know: It's a close call between the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i gen 9 and our overall top pick, the ASUS ProArt P16. In our review, we called it a 'must-have' for creatives, especially thanks to its beautiful display combined with the AI-boosted CPU - and the fact that it's a little more affordable than some of its similarly-specced competition. Plus, it features some useful AI tools, too.
Design: Lightweight and sleek by design, its aluminium chassis and solid hinge ensure that it's durable while still being portable. The keyboard ergonomics are fantastic, but the real hero is its 2.3K HDR 16-inch display, which has 1600 Mini-LED dimming zones that make it fantastic for animation. Unlike many modern laptops, the Lenovo Yogo Pro 9i gen 9 also offers a wide array of connectivity ports including a full SD slot.
Performance: Depending on which configuration you opt for, the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i gen 9 can get pretty powerful, making it plenty capable for animators. The model we tested proved plenty capable at handling heavy creative loads, and the AI-boosted CPU certainly helps in this department. Also of use is Lenovo's Creator Zone, which features AI tools specifically included with creatives in mind, from optimising your creative tools to offering generative image creation that can actually learn your personal visual style.
Battery life: Alas, the battery life is the concession made by this otherwise excellent all-rounder. In our gaming test (which emulates creative loads), we got only two hours of battery life. When streaming with a slightly dimmed screen, that upped to eight hours.
Price: The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i gen 9 starts at £1,635/$1,699, making it fairly comparable to other laptops of its class.
✅ You need display real estate: The roomy 17.3-inch display offers plenty of space for animation. ✅ You need ample power: The Intel i7 and NVIDIA RTX 3500 are plenty capable of handling demanding animation tasks. ✅ You use multiple peripherals: This machine offers a solid array of ports to support a wide range of peripherals and multi-monitor setups.
Don't buy it if:
❌ You need a portable device: It's weighty at 3.05 kg, making it ill-suited for those who work on-the-go. ❌ You're value ergonomics: The off-centre trackpad isn't for everyone, and might take some getting used to.
The bottom line
🔎 The Dell Precision 7780 packs a real punch in terms of performance, offering ample screen space for animators who essentially want a desktop PC dressed as a laptop. However, the trade-off is that it's less portable than other laptops. ★★★★½
Need to know: If you're looking for pure power and have money to spend, this Dell is a great option, marketed as Dell's most powerful mobile workstation. Designed with creative professionals in mind, this 17-inch beast has a seriously powerful GPU and upgrade options that give extremely good benchmark scores across heavy creative tasks. It will be too much power for 2D animators, but those working in 3D and with video will find it very capable.
Design: While the build quality is solid, with thoughtful inclusions like the 180-degree hinge for flexible viewing angles, this model is heavy at 3.05 kg and quite bulky, so it isn't our recommendation for mobile working. Its off-centre trackpad may prove contentious, and another drawback is there's no 4K display here, and the aspect ratio is 16:9 rather than the 16:10 often favoured by creators. But our reviewer was pleased as it means a slightly slimmer chassis – and we also thought the Full HD display looked great.
Performance: Packing an Intel Core i7-13850HX and NVIDIA RTX 3500 Ada GPU, you can expect fantastic performance from the Dell Precision 7780. During our benchmark testing, it even managed to outperform some Intel i9-equipped competitors in certain tasks.
Battery: The 93 Wh battery offers a pretty dire lifespan - we only managed three hours of creative work - so it's best to keep it near a power supply.
Price: The base configuration starts at $2,219/£2,924; so it's safe to stay this mobile workstation is a heavy investment. However, that's still good value for money; for the price, you get powerful components and an expansive display, which might be just what you need for animation work.
Ports: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 2x Thunderbolt 4, 1x HDMI 2.1, 3.5mm combo jack
Reasons to buy
+
Futuristic form factor
+
Powerful components
+
Fun to use
Reasons to avoid
-
Kind of expensive
-
Two screens can drain the battery
-
Picky about chargers
Buy it if
✅ You love the idea of two screens: The two displays are the obvious pull here. If you often need a monitor alongside your laptop for smoother process in your graphic design work, then this is an excellent option. Those screens are gorgeous, touchscreen and compatible, too. ✅ You like medium-high power: This can be quite powerful, but isn't quite up there with some other new laptops such as the M4 MacBook Pros.
Don't buy it if:
❌ You need an uber-long battery life: When using the two screens the battery doesn't last as long as the 12 hours we got when testing a single screen. So if you're on the go a lot and want to make the most of the displays, you'll be a bit disappointed. ❌ You want a budget option: This is not cheap.
The bottom line
🔎 ASUS Zenbook Duo OLED 2024 is one of our favourite laptops ever. It's not for everyone, as it is a quirky build, but it's been built with professional creatives in mind. Anyone who uses a additional monitor when at a desk should consider this beauty, which is a brilliant upgrade from the previous iteration. ★★★★★
What you need to know: The latest Asus Zenbook Pro 14 Duo OLED packs powerful components with an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H and could easily handle animation projects in our tests - but most notable of all itstrengths is its dual-screen set-up.
Design: The most eye-catching feature of the Asus Zenbook Pro 14 Duo OLED is its dual-screen setup – the upgraded 2024 model houses two 14in 2880x1800 120Hz OLED screens, as opposed to a smaller one over the keyboard as with the last model. That second screen gives you space to put apps and tools, so your main screen isn't interrupted - and you can draw on the second screen with a stylus.
Performance: Housing a powerful Intel Core Ultra processor and 32GB of RAM, this laptop is an absolute beast for multitasking, which can seriously speed up your animation workflow. Paired with its decent integrated graphics (which scored between an M1 and M1 Ultra in our benchmark testing), it's a pretty powerful machine.
Battery life: The battery life is much improved with this iteration – we saw over 12 hours of use with one screen on. The second screen sucks up the battery faster but it's not unreasonable so as long as you're near a plug point at some point in the day.
Price: Priced at £/$1,699-£/$2000 as of writing, this isn't an affordable laptop by any stretch of the imagination, but its unique features make it well worth the money in our view.
✅ You want a portable, powerful machine: This laptop is lightweight and sleek for digital nomads while still offering ample power. ✅ You value display specs: With a 16-inch 4K display and a 120Hz refresh rate, the MSI Stealth 16 has an excellent, clear display. ✅ You want a future-proofed machine: Offering NPU support for AI acceleration means this laptop can keep up with modern demands.
Don't buy it if:
❌ You're on a budget: As can be expected from a machine of its calibre, it's pricey. ❌ You need maximum RAM: 32GB might not be enough for more comprehensive animation work.
The bottom line
🔎 MSI Stealth 16 AI Studio perfectly pairs performance and portability, offering future-proofed specs that will last in the age of AI. It's excellent, therefore, for the modern digital nomad. ★★★★1/2
Need to know: If you don't want to sacrifice on power or portability, the MSI Stealth 16 AI Studio A1V is the laptop for you. It houses an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor, RTX 4090 laptop GPU, and 32GB of DDR5 RAM to handle even the most demanding creative workflows, making it excellent for animation. It's impressive, then, that it's (just) under 2kg in weight, and includes NPU technology for AI-accelerated workflows.
Design: Lightweight and slim at just 1.99kg and 19.95mm thick, we're truly impressed by how portable this high-performance laptop is. Being cased in a magnesium and aluminum alloy chassis does keep weight down, however, we'd hazard you'll want to invest in a case if you plan to work on the go, as the housing shows some flex. In terms of display, its 16-inch 4K (3840x2400) screen offers a 120Hz refresh rate for fantastic visual clarity, and the port selection is generous, including four USB-C ports, USB-A, HDMI, and a microSD card reader.
Performance: During our testing, the MSI Stealth 16 performed well in a range of environments, with Geekbench 6 benchmark scores of 11,504 for multi-core and 2,447 for single-core, while the RTX 4090 scored 160,998 in OpenCL tests. In Cinebench 2024, this laptop showed scores of 108 for single-core, 684 for multi-core, and 17,255 for GPU tests - in laymans terms, it's solidly capable for creatives.
Battery: While we did need to frequently charge this laptop during testing, and especially during intensive workloads, that's to be expected for such a powerhouse. You'll likely want to keep it plugged in most of the time, which does diminish its otherwise excellent portability somewhat.
Price: As you'd expect for such a premium device, the list price is high at $4,099.99/£3,684.97. However, that's comparable to other laptops in its class, so we think it still offers decent value for money.
Lightweight and portable, but chassis shows weakness.
★★★
Performance
Strong scores across a range of tests.
★★★★★
Battery life
Short life, but average for its class.
★★★
Also tested
The above may be our top picks for animation, but there are plenty of other options worth considering that we've also tested. Below you'll find some suggestions also well-suited for animation, which may be better suited to your particular needs and budget.
Dell Precision 5470It might not look like much, but this machine is a portable powerhouse that, on test, proved to be plenty capable of handling a range of creative tasks. Our benchmark tests put it close to a MacBook Pro M2 Pro. Read our 4.5-star review
ASUS Zenbook 14X OLED Housing a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card paired with a 14-core Intel i9 processor as well as 32GB of RAM, this machine rivals the MacBook Pro in power while keeping the price tag below £/$1,500. We love its beautiful OLED screen, however it's lacking in the battery life department. Read our 4-star review.
MSI Creator Z17 HX Studio Yes, it's pricey, but that nets you a powerhouse machine with a 16:10 display which supports a stylus, making it excellent for creatives. In our benchmark testing, it handled multitask whilst running creative apps with ease, however battery life left something to be desired. Read our 4-star review
FAQs
What specs do I need in a laptop for animation?
The specs you will need in a laptop for animation will depend on what software you use, and it's always worth checking the minimum specs quoted by the developer. In many cases, thee minimum system requirements are not particularly high. For example, CelAction2D states a minimum of 8GB of RAM and an Intel i5 CPU, which is fairly standard.
There is a difference, however, between minimum and recommended. To refer to CelAction2D once more, they recommended 16GB RAM and an Intel i7 processor.
Furtherrmore, 3D animation software such as Autodesk Maya, Adobe Animate and Blender, do require significant processing power for complex calculations and renderings. So if you're using tools like this ,we'd recommend a 10th or 11th generation Intel Core i7 or i9 or AMD Ryzen 7 or 9 series H. We'd also recommend going for a laptop with a dedicated graphics card.
For 2D animation, meanwhile, we recommend at least a GPU with 4GB of VRAM. For 3D animation, 8 GB of VRAM would be preferable. As for RAM, we'd recommend at least 16GB to be able to handle multiple layers and complex character rigs and provide smooth playback. Going to 32GB is likely to provide a smoother experience for extensive rendering and simulation in 3D animation.
You'll also need enough storage space to store your animation files. Solid-state drives (SSDs) are the way to go for the best read/write speeds, and you'll probably want at least 512GB.
Finally, you'll want a display with high-resolution (at least Full HD, 1920x1080) and good colour coverage and accuracy. Some animators like a touchscreen so that they can use a stylus for drawing and sketching, although there's also the option to use a graphics tablet for this.
Are gaming laptops good for animation?
Gaming laptops are some of the most powerful machines on the market, and increasingly creatives are finding themselves investing in an RGB-clad laptop to handle their processing and rendering needs - we've even included a laptop from Razer, famed for its gaming hardware, in our selection of the best laptops for animation above. Most of the best gaming laptops will be perfectly capable of meeting an animator's needs. If you're wedded to Apple, see our best MacBooks for college.
Choosing the best laptop for animation for you will depend upon what type of animation, how you work and your budget. We've tested the laptops above for use with animation software, but some are more geared to professionals while others provide more portability or better value. All have the minimum requirements of a modern processor and at least 8GB of RAM (most can be configured higher than that, and would recommend going for 16GB if your budget allows it).
With the increasing popularity of GPU render engines like Redshift and Octane, you should also think about whether you will be using your GPU or CPU to render animations. For CPU rendering, you want to look for a high clock speed so the machine can animate in real time and handle the complex calculations needed to render animations.
For more complex 3D animations, you’re probably better off using your GPU, and so we’d suggest looking at laptops with a dedicated graphics card - especially if you’re going to be attempting final-quality rendering. While these will inevitably be more expensive, the drastic impact it will have on the speed of your workflow is well worth the investment.
We have tested all the laptops in this guide hands on. We run a series of benchmark tests on each device to measure power and performance, including:
• Cinebench R23/2024 - this assesses the performance of a computer's CPU and GPU using real-world 3D rendering tasks
• Geekbench 5/6 - this tests the CPU's processing power, both by using a single core for a single task at a time as well as all the CPU's core to see its ability to multitask
• PCMark 10 - this test assesses a computer’s ability to run all everyday tasks from web browsing to digital content creation, testing app launch speeds, running drawing and animation software, performing 3D rendering, and it also tests its battery life
As well as technical benchmarking, we evaluate machines in real-world situations, using animation software such as Adobe Animate and AutoDesk Maya and also push them to the limit with multiple applications running. We evaluate power, speed, display, design and build as well as value. For more details, see our article on How we test.
Erlingur is the Tech Reviews Editor on Creative Bloq. Having worked on magazines devoted to Photoshop, films, history, and science for over 15 years, as well as working on Digital Camera World and Top Ten Reviews in more recent times, Erlingur has developed a passion for finding tech that helps people do their job, whatever it may be. He loves putting things to the test and seeing if they're all hyped up to be, to make sure people are getting what they're promised. Still can't get his wifi-only printer to connect to his computer.
