5 Best Laptops for Sketchup in 2021

If you are a professional architect, it is important to note that conceptual 3D designing is more important for you right now because we all know that planning a project is more important than executing it.

While execution is also important, it is of no use if the planning is not done properly. And to plan that project, most professional architects use different types of software.

There are many 3D rendering, modeling, and simulation software out there but it is important to note that Sketchup is one of the popular ones.

The reason Sketchup is most popular is that this software is easier to use, gives you a conceptual 3D visualization perspective, and has 3rd party extension support along with a great user interface and professional support in place.

If you are in a rush and want to pick the best laptop for SketchUp right away, we have listed the 3 Best Laptops as per our testing and you can pick either of them.

But we do recommend you to read this entire guide to understand all the aspects of picking up the best laptop for SketchUp rendering.

So even if you end up having queries about any parts of this software, you will be able to get help easily.

SketchUp is said to offer a better user experience and affordability which is the reason why people prefer it over sophisticated software tools like AutoDesk Maya or Blender 3D.

Now, as you would expect, SketchUp is a graphical tool and particularly used for creating 3D models which means you need a high-end laptop. But you don’t need to worry as SketchUp can run on laptops that are not too expensive.

There is a list of recommended system requirements along with minimum system requirements that are needed for you to run SketchUp on your laptop.

If you can’t wait and just want to know which laptop is the best for SketchUp according to us, we have picked Asus ROG Strix G15 as the winner.

Our list of best laptops for SketchUp will also help you make a better buying decision so you don’t end up buying a laptop that is too power deficient or one that is just too powerful and expensive.

Minimum and Recommended System Requirements for SketchUp

	Minimum System Requirements	Recommended System Requirements
CPU	7th Gen Intel Core i7	9th Gen Intel Core i7 or higher
RAM	8GB	16GB
Storage	256GB SSD	512GB SSD or more
Display	13.3-inch Full HD(1920 x 1080)	15.6-inch Full HD(1920 x 1080)
Graphics	2GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650	4GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 or higher
Battery	Up to 4 hours	6 hours or more

5 Best Laptops for SketchUp in 2021

Image	Product	Features	Price
	Asus ROG Strix G15	15.6” 240Hz FHD IPS Type Display NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Intel Core i7-10750H 16GB DDR4 RAM 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD storage	Check Price on Amazon
	2020 Dell XPS 15	15.6″ 4K UHD+ (3840 x 2400) Touchscreen display 10th Gen Intel Core i7-10750H processor 32GB RAM 1TB NVMe SSD NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti graphics	Check Price on Amazon
	HP OMEN 15	15.6-inch Full HD display Intel Core i7-10750H processor 16GB DDR4 RAM Memory 512GB SSD storage Nvidia GeForce 1660Ti graphics	Check Price on Amazon
	MSI GL65 Leopard	15.6″ FHD 144Hz 3ms display Intel Core i7-10750H processor NVIDIA GeForce RTX2070 graphics 16GB RAM 512GB NVMe SSD	Check Price on Amazon
	2020 Razer Blade 15	Intel Core i7-10750H 6-Core processor NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q graphics 15.6″ 4K OLED display 16GB RAM 512GB SSD storage	Check Price on Amazon

In the list down below, you will find five of the best laptops that can run SketchUp right now and it is worth noting that they are chosen based on their pricing as well.

It means that these laptops are just perfect for SketchUp and are not too expensive and not underpowered for sure.

Also, note that we have listed these laptops based on extensive testing by using these models with SketchUp Make and Pro versions which is what you will use in real life on a daily basis as well.

The reason behind testing these laptops was to give you an idea of how the performance will be when you buy the laptop and start using it for your professional work.

Best Laptop for SketchUp: ASUS ROG Strix G15

The best and the most perfect laptop you can buy for SketchUp is definitely the Asus ROG Strix G15. The Asus ROG Strix is a gaming line of laptops from the company and it is one of the best laptops that they have released so far.

Talking about the performance that you get on Asus ROG Strix G15 while using SketchUp, it is one of the best for 3D modeling and rendering purposes.

Coming back to the features of this laptop, you first and foremost get one of the most powerful CPUs in the market right now which is the Intel Core i7-10750H chipset. The Intel i7 10th generation processor has a max clock speed of 5GHz which is similar in performance to any desktops out there.

Apart from the powerful processor, you also get a great GPU for graphics performance which is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 GPU which comes with 8GB of graphical memory. It goes without saying that this is one of the best GPUs that NVIDIA has ever released and will be the best laptop you can find right now for your SketchUp 3D rendering and modeling.

After CPU and GPU, you also need a good amount of RAM since random access memory or RAM is the most important part used for multitasking. On this laptop, you get 16GB of RAM which is adequate for all your tasks.

You also need a high amount of storage and not just storage, you need high-speed storage because storage speed also plays a big role in how fast or slow the laptop will perform.

Back in the day, we used to see laptops coming out with HDD storage which is known to be much slower than SSD which is the latest high-speed storage in this day and age.

Asus ROG Strix G15 comes with 1TB of SSD super-fast storage which means you get plenty of storage and that too at lightning-fast transfer speeds.

We, at LaptopsMatter, have tested the SSD speeds of this laptop and they are impressive both in terms of Read and Write speeds clocking around 250+ MBps which translates to transfer speeds of 250MB data per second.

On the display side of things, there is a 15.6-inch Full HD display on this laptop that lets you use every inch of that screen to better create 3D designs on SketchUp.

The display is power-packed as well with the IPS panel having a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and a refresh rate of 240Hz. In simpler terms, the refresh rate of 240Hz means that your display is refreshing 240 times per minute.

In comparison, other laptops have a refresh rate of 60Hz or 120Hz which means they are refreshing at 60 times per minute or 120 times per minute. Obviously, it means a higher refresh rate is better for our laptops.

While you only get a 6-hour battery life on this laptop, it is understandable because you can’t get longer battery life with so much power and such a higher refresh rate at your disposal since it sucks up the juice.

Solid Runner-Up: Dell XPS 15 9500

Dell XPS 15 9500 is one of the latest laptops and it is one of the best we have in this department as well. The reason why we recommend Dell XPS 15 9500 for SketchUp is because of its gorgeous display, immaculate design as well as powerful performance.

It is worth noting that Dell XPS 15 9500 was released just last year and a new model is not yet known if it is coming or not. But the last generation of Dell XPS 15 9500 was one of the best because it was the first time that this laptop was redesigned in years.

The chassis as well as the whole body was redesigned for modern standards and it definitely shows in the looks. We can say that it looks even better than the Apple MacBook lineup thanks to its infinite bezels and razor-thin sharp body made out of metal.

In terms of the CPU, the Dell XPS 15 9500 also comes with an Intel Core i7 10th generation processor which is known to be the most powerful chip for laptops right now. This means that you need not worry about doing SketchUp sessions on this laptop as they can be done with ease.

On the other hand, a GPU is also important for a graphically intense application such as SketchUp which means that you need a good graphics card as well. So for that reason, the Dell XPS 15 9500 comes with an NVIDIA GTX 1650Ti. While this graphics card is not as powerful as the GTX 2060, it is certainly powerful enough to get the job done for SketchUp.

It also comes with 16GB of RAM and you get 512GB of super-fast SSD storage with impressive read and write speeds clocking at even 1GB per second during our tests. In terms of graphics memory, the GTX 1650 Ti included on this laptop has 4GB graphical memory as well.

The most impressive parts of Dell XPS 15 9500 are definitely its super-thin bezels, 100% RGB Adobe color range which is definitely best for SketchUp with its 16:10 aspect ratio which gives you a tall perspective rather than a wide one.

Best Affordable Laptop for SketchUp: HP Omen 15

Next up on our list is the HP Omen 15 which is a great laptop for doing your SketchUp tasks with ease. There are a few reasons why we recommend this laptop to you.

The first one is that this laptop from HP is a gaming laptop in their new Omen lineup. This means that you will definitely have the performance you need for your needs.

Along with that, you will also use this laptop for gaming which means that you can do multiple tasks with a single laptop that is affordable as well.

Coming to the specifications, the HP Omen 15 comes fully packed with all the latest and greatest parts that you will find in any other top-end laptop.

For processing power, you get the 10th generation Intel Core i7 processor which is nothing short of a beast when it comes to performance.

But it is worth noting that the CPU is not everything and you also need a good graphics card, excellent storage, and many other things for great performance.

And you do have that in the HP Omen 15 since the laptop comes with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 GPU which is one of the best selling cards from the company.

After the excellent CPU and GPU, you also get an abundant amount of superfast storage on this laptop thanks to the 512GB SSD and the 32GB of additional Optane memory on this laptop.

There is 16GB RAM on this laptop as well which complements the laptop very nicely and handles anything and everything you throw at this machine like a professional.

Last but the most important part of any laptop is its display and the HP Omen 15 does not disappoint in this department as well.

Because you get an excellent 15.6-inch Full HD 60Hz 1080p resolution display which comes with 1920 x 1080 pixels.

While it is not a 4K display or comes with a higher refresh rate, it gets the job done and the color reproduction on this laptop is also stellar which is what you need for doing SketchUp work on this device.

Great Performance: MSI GL65 Leopard

While we do recommend the HP Omen 15 to you, it is also worth taking a look at the MSI GL65 Leopard which is a stellar codename for a laptop, to be honest.

The main reason why we want you to have a look at the MSI GL65 is that you get the same awesome processor as the HP Omen 15  but on this laptop, you get a better graphics card.

Yes, that is right because on the MSI GL65 you get the 10th generation Intel Core i7-10750H processor but there is icing on the cake.

Instead of the NVIDIA RTX 2060 GPU on the HP Omen 15, you get an NVIDIA RTX 2070 GPU on this laptop.

This means that both of these laptops are in direct competition with each other in terms of price, performance as well as a few other things.

On top of that, the MSI GL65 is better in the display department as well because it has a 144Hz refresh rate that has just a 3 millisecond response time as well.

In contrast, the HP Omen 15 comes with a standard 60Hz refresh rate and a sub-10sec response time.

The similar things about the HP Omen 15 and the MSI GL65 are its processor, storage, and RAM memory.

As we mentioned earlier, both these laptops have a 10th generation Intel Core i7 processor. Along with that, they both have 512GB SSD storage and 16GB RAM.

The only difference is the extra 32GB Optane memory on the HP Omen 15 but that does not make too much difference.

Best OLED Laptop for SketchUp: Razer Blade 15

We finally get to the best display laptop in this list of best laptops for SketchUp and this one is special. That is because we are talking about an OLED laptop and that too from Razer.

In this day and age where we find it hard to get 4K or even 2K resolution displays, Razer has come out with a laptop that has an OLED display.

For those who are unaware of an OLED also known as an AMOLED display, it is the same quality display that we see on most high-end smartphones nowadays.

AMOLED displays are quite common on Apple iPhones, Samsung flagships, and other flagship devices. But to include an OLED display on a laptop is quite huge because it is known to save a lot of battery.

The display on Razer Blade 15 is a 4K OLED panel that comes with 3840 x 2160 pixels and has a 100% DCI-P3 color gamut range which is excellent in color accuracy.

Along with that, Razer has not skimped on any other part of the laptop because the whole device is packed with top-of-the-line performance.

You get the 10th generation Intel Core i7-10750H processor on this laptop along with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 GPU on this device.

Along with that, there is the excellent and evergreen combination of 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD that you get on this laptop as well as so many others on our list.

The cherry on top with this Razer laptop is that it has a CNC Aluminium build which is made out of quality materials. It has Thunderbolt 3 support too which lets you plug Thunderbolt 3-supported monitors into this machine and its keyboard comes with Chroma RGB backlighting.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you need a dedicated graphics card to use SketchUp?

Yes, you are advised to get a laptop or even a PC that comes with a dedicated graphics card because SketchUp does utilize a dedicated graphics card for better performance.

In fact, the SketchUp developers have also recommended having a dedicated graphics card from NVIDIA or AMD to get the best out of the software.

Also, SketchUp developers say that NVIDIA GPUs work best with their software.

Which is the best rendering plugin for SketchUp?

Octane Render and V-Ray Next are two of the best rendering plugins that you can use with SketchUp.

Why do professional architects prefer SketchUp over other rendering programs?

SketchUp is known to have the best user interface as well as more interactiveness than the other high-end programs which is why it is preferred by professionals.

Which laptop is recommended to extract the best performance from SketchUp?

We have already mentioned in our guide that we have listed five of the best laptops that you can use for SketchUp.

You can go with either of these laptops listed above as none of them fall short in any department whatsoever.

The only thing you need to keep in mind is to go with a laptop that has an Intel Core i5 or i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, 512GB or 1TB SSD storage and comes with an NVIDIA RTX 2060 or 2070 GPU.

The Conclusion

This is the best buying guide that you will come across on the internet if you are looking to get the best laptop for SketchUp.

We have picked up the ASUS ROG Strix G15 as our winner because it is available at an excellent price and gives you the best performance for its cost.

However, if you prefer display quality and still need solid performance and are willing to spend more then you can get the Razer Blade 15 that comes with an AMOLED display and 4K resolution.