8GB RAM and dGPU Enough For Adobe and Multitasking?

[alisondmurray]

Hi all,

I'm considering purchasing the Surface Book 2 (13.5", i7, 8GB RAM, 256GB) using a personal grant I was awarded (I'm a grad student). I'm trying to keep the cost at or below $2,000 before accessories, tax, and warranty.

Are those specs, after considering the dGPU, enough for Photoshop, Lightroom, and Illustrator? The work done with these programs are not SUPER intensive, mostly doing graphic work for science education and communicating my thesis, creating posters for presentation, etc.

I would also want to multi-task while doing this, having 1 or 2 word documents open, having an Excel sheet open, and maybe 10 or less tabs in Chrome.

So, what do you think?

Thanks for any help!

 

[spicypadthai]

Should be fine, assuming your graphics work isn't real demanding.

 

[Andrea Mangano]

It would be perfect for those apps.
I use the first gen Surface Book,not performance base, and I use it with Lightroom, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, illustrator.
The 16GB config would be better in the long run and and the Adobe suite would benefit of that extra RAM.
But in that case the budget will be higher.
The 16GB version is about 2500$ if I remember correctly.
With GTX 1050 2GB and i7 8650u quad core you will enjoy it.
Just not ask too much from your machine (heavy workload with tons of layers, effect, 16 bit files, 50+ megapixel pictures, etc).

 

[xandros9]

Honestly I think it's overkill, the dGPU might not even be necessary for light work of that sort but I'll defer to you.

You'd definitely want 8 GB of RAM and probably that much storage but the i7 isn't really needed if you have the option to get an i5 and if you're looking to save a lot more and aren't attached to the Surface's flexibility and design, there's many others that can do the job for less, albeit less glamorously.