Best Laptop for Instructional Designers

Question

&nbsp;

Hello! Does anyone have advice or guidelines for selecting the best laptops that meet the performance requirements for eLearning creation? Or possibly a recommend a laptop model that you've found effective for building robust Storyline projects?
As a graduate student, my current laptop, an HP Envy, serves me well. However, I do encounter lag and occasional crashes when working with Storyline 360, especially when I'm quickly navigating the system. With graduation approaching, I anticipate working on more complex Storyline projects in the future and considering investing in a high-performance laptop to meet my future needs. However, I want to ensure that such an investment is warranted and that my current laptop isn't already ideal.
If you have any tips regarding specific laptop models, minimum storage requirements, or CPU specifications, I would greatly appreciate your input!

philhaley · Answer

Hello,
My laptop at work is a Lenovo ThinkBook 14 G3 ACL. It has an AMD Ryzen 7 5700U processor rated at 1.8 GHz, 24 GB of RAM, and a 500 GB HDD. The graphics processor is integrated. I do not experience any lag, even with multiple Storyline projects open. My laptop at home, which I also use for work, is an MSI GF65 with an Intel Core i7-10750 6 Core processor rated at 2.6 GHz. It has 32 GB of RAM, a 512 GB SSD, and NVIDIA GPU.&nbsp; I experience no lag with it, either. I use both laptops with dual screens connected by HDMI. The MSI laptop, although equipped with 2 USB C ports, requires the Docking station to be connected via one of the USB 3.0 ports, while the Docking station connected to the ThinkBook utilizes the USB C port. I hope that helps!
Thanks,
Phil&nbsp; &nbsp;

sarahhodge · Answer

Hi Raeven! Looks like you're already getting some great suggestions here. I don't have a specific recommendation, but since you mentioned working in Storyline 360, I just wanted to chime in and share these software requirements.

Also, you might be happy to know that we recently released a 64-bit version of Storyline 360 for faster authoring and increased stability. You can learn more about it here.

raevenfowler · Answer

Hi Phil, this information is wonderful! Thank you for taking the time to share, I will look into these suggestions!&nbsp;

philhaley · Answer

You're welcome Raeven! I should also mention both these laptops are pretty reasonably priced. The AMD Ryzen 7 processor (8 core) scores higher on the benchmark tests than the Intel Core i7-10750 (6 core), but they both seem to work reasonably well. I've been told, regarding the ability to handle program loads easily, faster CPUs mean more than RAM, and an integrated GPU will handle most of the tasks we regularly perform. Take Care! &nbsp;

ingridcampbe285 · Answer

- Lenovo ThinkPad- 1 terabyte of RAM- solid state drive- video card- i7 processor (minimum)

Forum Discussion

Best Laptop for Instructional Designers

Related Content

Instructional Designer jokes

Practical Instructional Design Tips

How I Became an E-Learning Instructional Designer #469

Tutorials: How to Customize the Design Theme Colors in Storyline 360

Discover the Role of an Instructional Designer Through Interactive Scenarios

Newbie Instructional Design Question

Survey for Instructional Designers

What do E-Learning Designers Need to Know About Working with SMEs? #474

Oodles of Features to Improve Design Flexibility, Accessibility, and Course Distribution

Slide size & Design

Recent Discussions

Textboc Flickering

Selected State Won't "Stick"

Pausing on the video gets you out of sync with timeline

Quiz Issues

Articulate Rise font issue