The best laptops for Cricut makers: get the most out of Cricut Design Space
As keen crafters, we've picked out the best laptops for Cricut makers – all tested to handle the brand's software.
The best laptops for Cricut makers don't necessarily need to be the most expensive or powerful. We'd recommend something with at least 8GB of RAM and a fairly fast processor to take advantage of more advanced Cricut features, and a quality display to view your work. Plenty of laptops meet these standards.
We're big Cricut fans, and have extensive experience using most of the brand's devices and have also used its software, Cricut Design space, on a range of laptops. Our top pick currently is the Asus Vivobook Pro 15 OLED, which offers generous power and a gorgeous OLED display at a tempting price.
Below, we've listed top picks based on our testing experiences, assessing the performance, design, and additional features while also considering a wide range of price points. If you don't yet have a Cricut, see our guides to the best Cricut machines and the best Cricut alternatives.
Quick list
We'll start with brief overviews of our picks. Scroll down for our full comparisons.
An Intel i9 processor, OLED display and NVIDIA GPU for around $1,200 / £1,000? What's not to love? The specs are more than you need for Cricut software, but this is a great value future-proof buy.
Read more below
A competitively priced laptop offering good enough performance for crafting, the Acer Aspire 7 is a solid budget choice. Its RAM and storage can be upgraded and it has a discrete GPU.
Read more below
For portability, we love this super-light laptop with its versatile 360° hinge, superb connectivity and vivid 2.8K OLED screen. It's Pantone-validated for colour, making it a great value option for creative work, including Cricut.
Read more below
If you prefer MacOS, we think this is ideal for Cricut on the go. It's whisper-quiet thanks to the fanless design, and we got around 16 hours of battery life. The screen is bright and offers good colour coverage.
Read more below
We found the Surface Laptop 5's 15-inch touchscreen ideal for creating projects in Cricut Design Space, as well as working in apps like Photoshop or Affinity Designer. The base model is enough for most crafters.
Read more below
The Surface Pro 9 flips between laptop and tablet for the best of both worlds. It fits nicely on top of the Cricut Maker 3 or Cricut Explore 3, and even the base configuration runs Design Space nicely.
Read more below
The best laptops for Cricut in full
The best laptop for Cricut overall
01. ASUS Vivobook Pro 15 OLED
Our expert review:
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
✅ You want a mid-size laptop: A laptop of this size provides a good amount of space for design work while still being relatively portable.
✅ You want a machine capable of general creative work: With dedicated graphics and a colour-accurate screen, this has us covered for everything from Cricut designs to photo editing.
✅ You want a good balance between specs and price: We think this laptop is fantastic value for the specs provided.
❌ You want a touchcreen laptop: Scroll down further for our pick of the best touchscreen options for Cricut.
❌ You're on a budget laptop: We think this laptop offers phenomenal value, but it provides more power than necessary for Cricut and there are cheaper options on our list.
🔎 Asus Vivobook Pro 15 OLED is our top pick for Cricut since we think it provides the ideal balance between price and specs on one hand and size and portability on the other. It can easily handle much more demanding programs than Cricut Design Space, and the screen provides great contrast and accuracy for creative work. ★★★★½
What you need to know
Vivobooks occupy the mid-range of Asus's laptop lineup. They're aimed at users who want the specs for creative work without the power and price tag the brand's professional ProArt Studiobooks. The Asus Vivobook Pro 15 OLED delivers great value as a surprisingly powerful and adaptable laptop for its mid-range price point.
Design and build: We loved the overall premium feel of this laptop. It feels strong and has a sleek metal lid and nice details like a webcam privacy shield and a fingerprint scanner on the power button. The OLED display boasts 2.8K resolution, a refresh rate of 129Hz, and 600nits of HDR peak brightness, which makes it possible to work on Cricut designs outdoors on a sunny day. It's also Pantone-validated to meet industry standard levels of colour fidelity, so you can rest assured that you designs should look like how they'll really come out.
Performance: We were impressed with the colour coverage, brightness and contrast of the OLED screen, which we found made our designs look very clear and vivid. The internals are impressive too. We tested the configuration with an AMD Ryzen processor and Nvidia Geforce RTX 4060. Suffice it to say that we had no problem at all creating Cricut projects in Adobe Illustrator and importing them to Design Space.
Pricing: We were very impressed with the specs and performance on offer for a laptop that's priced at under $1,500. The specs are more than you need to run Cricut's software, but the laptop is such great value that we think it's a sensible buy to ensure you're futureproofed for other kinds of creative work that might need to do if you intending on making crafting a business, from design to photo and video editing.
Read more: Asus Vivobook Pro 15 OLED review
Attributes | Notes | Rating |
|---|---|---|
Design and build | Strong and sleek. | ★★★★★ |
Performance | Great OLED screen and good GPU. | ★★★★★ |
Pricing | Great value for the specs. | ★★★★ |
The best budget laptop for Cricut
02. Acer Aspire 7
Our expert review:
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
✅ You want a budget laptop: The Acer Aspire 7 has the most accessible starting price out of the laptops for Cricut that we've chosen, but be sure to check for deals on the options above.
✅ You want decent battery life: While it's not as long-lasting as some heavy-hitter laptops, the Aspire 7 puts in a decent shift, battery-wise, lasting about six hours.
✅ You want a dedicated GPU: While a separate graphics card isn't necessary for Cricut, it's rare on laptops at this price point.
❌ You want a bright screen: The dim display on the Aspire 7 is a bit of a letdown.
❌ You see a cheaper deal on one of the laptops above: This laptop's biggest strength is its value, so it makes less sense if you see one of the devices above for a similar price.
🔎 Acer Aspire 7 will have a lot of appeal for anyone looking for cheap laptop for Cricut that gets the basic job done. It's not flashy, and the dim, uninspiring display is definitely a knock against it, but for the price the Aspire 7 is a workable choice. ★★★½
What you need to know
The Acer Aspire 7 is a cheap laptop with sufficient power to run Cricut's software, or whatever design program you prefer. It's a jack-of-most-trades with solid build quality and pleasing scope for customisation.
Design and build: While its build is plastic, the Acer Aspire 7 feels solid enough, and something our reviewer especially appreciated was its customisability; you can get under the hood and upgrade RAM and storage if needed. The trackpad works well and there's a decent range of ports, including HDMI as well as USB-A and USB-C.
Performance: Scoring well for rendering and visualisation and photo editing in our benchmark tests, the Acer Aspire 7 boasts enough power to handle Cricut tasks. It didn't do so well at video editing, but we're less worried about that in this instance. Having 16GB of RAM keeps things running smoothly, and there's scope to upgrade it if needed. The battery life, while unexceptional, is decent enough, putting in a good six-hour shift. However, the 15.6-inch display is a disappointment, with low 202-nit brightness that you'll struggle to see outside, and poor colour accuracy displaying only 58.1% sRGB colours.
Pricing: The most appealing aspect of the Acer Aspire 7 is its price. For a low outlay, it ticks all the boxes that Cricut designers are going to need ticked, although the poor display limits its utility for serious design work, particularly with regard to colour accuracy. Still, you don't often get a laptop with a discrete GPU at this price point, and the upgradeable RAM/storage capabilities of the Acer Aspire 7 should appeal to anyone who likes to tinker with their PC.
Read more: Acer Aspire 7 review
Attributes | Notes | Rating |
|---|---|---|
Design and build | Solid, upgradeable design, but a poor display | ★★★ |
Performance | Good battery life and adequate performance for crafting. | ★★★½ |
Pricing | Good value. | ★★★★ |
The best laptop for Cricut for portability
03. ASUS Zenbook S 13 OLED
Our expert review:
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
✅ You want a super portable laptop: The Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED is light and compact, and battery life is excellent.
✅ You're OK with a smaller screen: The bright OLED screen is the best we've experienced on a laptop of this size, but some will prefer more space to work with.
✅ You don't need a dedicated GPU: A dedicated graphics card isn't necessary for Cricut, but it's desirable if you're also doing heavy video editing.
❌ You want more working space: If you find the interface cramped on design software you may want a larger screen unless you plan to use an external monitor.
❌ You're looking for value: This isn't the most expensive on our list, but it costs more than the Vivobook Pro 16 above and MacBook Air.
❌ You need a dedicated GPU: While it's not at all necessary for Cricut, you might want a dedicated graphics card if you also edit video.
🔎 Asus ZenBook S 13 OLED is the best compact laptop we've tested. It has more than enough power for Cricut work, and the OLED screen provides excellent colour accuracy and contrast. However, the Vivobook above offers more laptop for less money. ★★★★½
What you need to know
Zenbooks are Asus's premium range of laptops. They're not specifically aimed at designers, but we think this sleek compact device is an excellent option for those who want a more portable laptop for Cricut.
Design and build: We were impressed with how much the ASUS Zenbook S 13 Flip OLED packs into its sleek, compact magnesium frame. It only weighs 1kg, which makes it a great choice if you're working on the move, for example at craft fairs and other locations. We found the chiclet keyboard and trackpad to be comfortable to use despite the compact size. Note that there are now legacy USB-A and HDMI ports, so you'll need adapters if those connectivity types are critical for you. However, we appreciated the two Thunderbolt 4 ports for super speedy connectivity.
Performance: With integrated graphics, this laptop doesn't match our first choice for power, but, as we said, you really don't need that much power to run Cricut's software. That said, while the lack of a dedicated graphics card doesn't matter at all for Cricut alone, it may dissuade those who also do more complex video editing work to promote their craft business.
We found the 13.3-inch OLED touch display to be bright and vivid, with great Pantone-certified colour coverage (we got 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 gamut and 113% of sRGB). We tested 14 hours of battery life, further backing up the case for the portability of this device.
Pricing: The ZenBooks S 13 is a little on the expensive side when you consider that it's smaller and less powerful than the Vivobook above. It's also more expensive than the MacBook Air on our list. However it makes up for that with a premium look and feel and the best screen we've used on such a compact laptop. We think it's the ideal option for Cricut users who want a portable but highly capable laptop for using on the move.
Read more: Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED review
Attributes | Notes | Rating |
|---|---|---|
Design and build | Super light and compact. | ★★★★★ |
Performance | Good all-round performance and colour coverage. | ★★★★ |
Pricing | Relatively expensive for its size. | ★★★ |
The best MacBook for Cricut
04. Apple MacBook Air (M2, 2022)
Our expert review:
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
✅ You want a compact and light laptop: The 13-inch MacBook Air is only 200g heavier than the Asus Zenbook above.
✅ You want a great price: The 2022 model of this laptop is very cheap for a MacBook and provides great specs for the price.
✅ You like Apple: There's a MacOS version of Cricut Design Space, and we think a MacBook pairs very well with a Cricut machine, but if you may prefer to stick to Windows if it's what you're used to.
❌ You want a touchscreen: Apple has yet to make a laptop with a touchscreen. See the Microsoft laptops below for options there.
❌ You want a Windows laptop: If you're used to Windows, you may not want to have to adapt to a new operating system.
🔎 Apple MacBook Air 13 (M2) is a sleek, compact laptop that fits Cricut aesthetics. It has plenty of power, and best of all, there are some great deals on the 2022 M2 model at the moment. ★★★★½
What you need to know
Apple has released new M3-chipped MacBook Airs for 2024, but we think the previous M2-powered 2022 MacBook Air 13 is the best option for Cricut users looking for value. The design is very similar to this year's 13-inch model, so, considering that the M2 chip is already more than powerful enough for Design Space and other design programs, we don't see a need to pay more for the latest iteration.
Design and build: We've long been fans of the MacBook Air at Creative Bloq, and we've given excellent reviews to almost every one that we've tested. We think the 2022 M2 model makes a great choice for Cricut software, which is available for MacOS. We loved premium build quality and the sleek, lightweight design, which really looks the part paired with a Cricut machine.
Performance: Of course, choosing a Cricut laptop is about more than just looks, and the MacBook Air also delivers portability and performance. Since it doesn't have a fan, it's whisper-quiet, and we found battery life to be excellent, giving us over 16 hours on a single charge. Beaten only by the MacBook Pro further down our list, that makes this another contender for using to work on Cricut designs on the go without having to worry about a power supply.
We found the display to be up to the job too. We measured up to 500 nits of brightness in our tests, and this was enough to see the screen clearly even when working in bright sunlight. Our only real complaint is the lack of port variety. While the Thunderbolt 4 ports are incredibly speedy, you’ll need an adapter if your peripherals don’t use USB-C.
Pricing: Another selling point of the M2 MacBook Air is its price. That might seem unusual for an Apple laptop, but since the new M3 Air was released this year, Apple has decided to keep the 2022 M2 model on sale at $100 less than it's launch price. You'll often be able to find further savings on top of that from third-party retailers, taking the price down to around $849 / £949 (see below for any current deals). That makes this one of the cheapest laptops in our list. Note that Apple does also make a larger 15-inch MacBook Air, which we also highly rate. The M3 MacBook Air 15 starts at $1,299 / £1,299.
Read more: MacBook Air (M2, 2022) review
Attributes | Notes | Rating |
|---|---|---|
Design and build | Sleek, light and compact. | ★★★★★ |
Performance | Great battery and more than powerful enough Cricut. | ★★★★ |
Pricing | Great price when discounted. | ★★★★ |
The best touchscreen laptop for Cricut
05. Microsoft Surface Laptop 5
Our expert review:
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
✅ You want a touchscreen: A touchscreen with stylus support can be handy for designs in Cricut's own software and elsewhere.
✅ You want a good all-rounder at an affordable price: The Surface Laptop 5 provides solid performance for a range of creative tasks at a great price if you find a discount.
❌ You want modern-looking design: This is hardly the most exciting laptop in terms of looks.
❌ You want a dedicated GPU: No dedicated graphics here, but this isn't a problem for Cricut in itself.
🔎 Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 is a solid all-rounder if you want a laptop with a touchscreen and stylus support. It's not the most exciting laptop, but it looks smart and feels good to use. ★★★★
What you need to know
We think the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 is a good option for Cricut users and digital crafters in general. It's big selling point is that it's available with either a 13.5-inch or 15-inch touchscreen, which we found perfect for creating projects in Cricut Design Space.
Design and build: The Surface Laptop 5 isn't the most exciting looking laptop and the relatively large bezels make it feel a little dated. However, we found it to be well built, with a slick aluminium chassis that gives it a high-end look. We found the keyboard to be a nice size, while the rubber keys felt great to write with.
Performance: As a Windows 11 device, it runs Cricut Design Space perfectly as well as Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator and other design software like CorelDRAW or Affinity Designer. The base model is a little under-powered by today's standards with just 8GB RAM. I found it can start to slow down if you're running multiple intensive apps, but I was a long away from maxing it out when using Cricut Design Space. For Cricut alone, the entry-level model should do perfectly fine. If you do tend to use lots of apps at once, you can go for a configuration with more RAM.
Pricing: We thought this mid-range laptop was a little overpriced on release, but there are some good discounts about, making it potentially a great deal. In some cases, you may be able to find it at around the same price as the MacBook Air M2 (see above), in which case your choice is likely to come down to whether you prefer Apple or a Windows device with a touchscreen.
Read more: Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 review
Attributes | Notes | Rating |
|---|---|---|
Design and build | A little dated, but well built. | ★★★★★ |
Performance | Not outstanding, but does the job for Cricut and more. | ★★★★ |
Pricing | Reasonably priced but not the most competitive. | ★★★★ |
The best 2-in-1 laptop for Cricut
06. Microsoft Surface Pro 9
Our expert review:
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
✅ You can't choose between a tablet and laptop: The Surface Pro gives you both: a Windows tablet that can connect to a keyboard to also function like a laptop.
✅ You want a portable device: With or without the keyboard, the device is light and portable.
✅ You want a touchscreen: The touchscreen feels smooth and responsive with the Surface Slim Pen 2.
❌ You want a larger screen and keyboard: Some people may find the 13in screen a bit small for working in design software. And the keyboard takes a bit of getting used too.
❌ You won't use tablet mode or touchscreen: If you don't think you'll make use of the 2-in-1 flexibility, you could get a traditional laptop for less money.
❌ You want a headphone jack: Bluetooth is the way to go here with as the Surface Pro 9 has only two ports, both USB-C.
🔎 Microsoft Surface Pro 9 is a powerful and flexible tablet-cum-laptop. We like the ability to use the touch display in a Cricut machine's tablet slot and then attach the keyboard cover when needed. ★★★★
What you need to know
The Surface Pro 9 from Microsoft is a hybrid device designed to offer the best of both a laptop and tablet. On it's own, it's basically a high-end tablet that runs windows and has it's own kickstand, but you can buy an optional Type Cover to dock it and effectively turn it into a compact laptop. And since it runs Windows OS, you can run Cricut Design Space and all the usual desktop design software programs with the convenient portability of touchscreen handheld use when needed.
Design and build: We found that the Surface Pro 9 works well in both it guises. As a tablet, it's about the size of an iPad Pro in depth (not the new 2024 models) and the perfect size to fit into the tablet slot on top of the Cricut Maker 3 and Cricut Explore 3. The touchscreen means that you can use the Surface Slim Pen 2 (not included) to draw by hand in vector design software like or to navigate the interface. That said, we highly recommend getting the Type Cover, since Windows isn't great for navigating entirely by touch all of the time. Note that there are only two USB-C ports, no audio jack and no card reader, so you'll need to use a dock or Bluetooth if you require more connectivity.
Performance: The Intel i5 and i7 models have enough power to run design software such as Adobe Illustrator or CorelDRAW. Photoshop also runs well and despite the lack of dedicated graphics, and we were even able to do video editing relatively smoothly in our tests. The less powered ARM SQ3 version of the device is more problematic. It runs Design Space just fine, but struggles with more demanding software. The advantage of the SQ3 is extra battery life and 5G connectivity, but if you're working from home on Cricut projects, I'd suggest the Intel i5 model, or the i7 if you also want to use heavier software.
Pricing: The Surface Pro 9 is relatively expensive at full price, especially when you consider that you'll probably want to buy the Type Cover and the Surface Slim Pen as well if you want to make full use of its portability. However, we see quite frequent discounts of up to around $300, which we think make it well worth considering.
Read more: Surface Pro 9 review
Attributes | Notes | Rating |
|---|---|---|
Design and build | Flexible 2-in1 form factor. | ★★★★★ |
Performance | Excellent performance. | ★★★★ |
Pricing | Relatively expensive, but there are often deals about. | ★★★ |
Also tested
The above laptops are our top picks for use with Cricut machines, but there are plenty of other contenders that have passed across our testing bench. Below are some other laptops that almost made this list, which you may also want to consider for use with Cricut makers.
MacBook Pro M3 14-inch
The entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro is cheaper than in the past, still with the benefits of a sleek chassis and a fabulous screen. It's still more than you need for Cricut, but it's a solid long term investment. The starting point is $1,599 / £1,699, but we have seen discounts of up to $150.
Read our 4.5-star review
Asus Zenbook Pro 14 Duo OLED
This is a niche machine and way more than you need for Cricut software, but the second display can be handy for things like displaying customer orders and design progress. The price is surprisingly reasonable, starting at $1,599 / £1,999 with the ASUS Pen 2.0 included.
Read our 5-star review
How to choose the best laptop for Cricut
What's the best laptop for Cricut Explore Air 2, Cricut Maker 3, Cricut Explore 3, and other Cricut machines? The good news is that the minimum requirements are met by a wide range of Windows laptops and MacBooks, including many budget models. If you're really short of cash, be aware that you don't actually need a laptop to run Cricut's Design Space. You can use a smartphone or tablet instead.
However, there are two reasons why you might want to go for one of the more expensive laptops on the market instead. Firstly, because it’s going to provide a better computing experience in general. And secondly, because some of the more advanced Cricut features, such as Offset, are not supported with the minimum system requirements but require higher system specs, such as Windows 10 64-bit. Higher specs may also be needed if you do design work in other software, such as Illustrator, or if you make videos to promote your craft business.
How we test
Laptops are technologically complex and oh so varied in features and form factors. That means numerous capabilities that need to be tested, prodded and assessed. Cricut isn't the most demanding application, but a good screen is still important, with brightness, contrast, colour coverage and pixel density all on the list.
Touch responsiveness including support for input pens is also key, with the number of pressure levels supported always an important factor. Next up we assess overall form factor, portability and build quality, which in this context means everything from conventional clamshell laptops to 2-in-1s and tablet convertibles with detachable keyboards and even foldable laptops.
You absolutely don't need an epic 16-core CPU or powerful graphics chip for Cricut, but we test laptops to ensure a decent baseline of both GPU and processor performance.
Connectivity is another key element for any laptop, which means looking out for features like Thunderbolt tom ensure plnty of bandwidth, USB-C for univrsal connectivity and the specification of wireless interfaces. Good battery life is of course always desirable for any portable drawing device.
We also assess ergonomics, build and usability, including keyboard quality, chassis rigidity, trackpad response and more to build up a practical picture of how well a laptop performs in the real world rather than merely benchmarks. That said, we do run a series of benchmark tests on all laptops we get in for review, which will be different based on the intended use for them. All the laptops in this guide have been run through the following tests (provided the OS is compatible for each one):
• 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, 3D rendering and even battery life
FAQs
What kind of laptop do you need for a Cricut?
All of the devices in our pick of the best laptops for Cricut meet the system requirements for the devices' software and then some. However, if you choose a different laptop, make sure it meets the basic Cricut system requirements below. Note that if it’s a Windows laptop, it must be running a full version of Windows, as opposed to Windows S mode.
For Windows:
- Operating system: Windows 8 or later
- CPU: Intel Dual-Core or equivalent AMD processor
- RAM: 4GB
- Free disk space: 2 GB free disk space
- Connectivity: USB port or Bluetooth connection
- Display: 1024px x 768px screen resolution
For Mac:
- Operating system: macOS 10.15 or later
- CPU: 1.83 GHz
- RAM: 4GB
- Free disk space: 2GB
- Connectivity: USB port or Bluetooth connection
- Display: 1,024px x 768px screen resolution
Do Chromebooks work with Cricut?
No, but also yes. Chromebooks use Chrome OS rather than Windows or MacOS, and Cricut Design Space will not run directly on Chrome OS. However, there is a way around that. If your Chromebook is compatible with the Google Play Store, and has Bluetooth, then you can download the Android version of Cricut Design Space on the Google Play Store, and use your Bluetooth to connect. Most Chromebooks released in 2022 meet this criteria.
If you'd rather get a Chromebook for your crafting, see our best Chromebooks for Cricut guide.
Can you use a Cricut without a computer?
Yes, you can; there's a free Cricut Design Space app for Android and both iOS and iPadOS devices. As we're about to explain though, we'd recommend opting for a laptop instead.
Is a laptop or tablet better for Cricut?
Both from a software perspective and for function, using a laptop is a better course of action when it comes to designing for Cricut makers. Not only is the app software far more limited than the laptop version, but it's just a lot handier to have the functionality of a laptop for fine details or when connecting to an external monitor.
Do I need to use Cricut Design Space?
Technically yes, the Cricut Design Space program is required in order to operate your Cricut machine. However, this doesn't necessarily mean that you need to do all your designing work on it – it's perfectly possible to create your designs in Photoshop, Canva or whichever program suits you best, and then import them into Cricut Design Space as a final step.
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Ian Dean is Editor, Digital Arts & 3D at Creative Bloq, and the former editor of many leading magazines. These titles included ImagineFX, 3D World and video game titles Play and Official PlayStation Magazine. Ian launched Xbox magazine X360 and edited PlayStation World. For Creative Bloq, Ian combines his experiences to bring the latest news on digital art, VFX and video games and tech, and in his spare time he doodles in Procreate, ArtRage, and Rebelle while finding time to play Xbox and PS5.
- Tom MayFreelance journalist and editor