When I was younger (a long time ago now), my mother amazed me with the things she could create with the bare minimums of materials from different colored papers, paint, yarn, cross-stitching, Styrofoam, and much much more. Only now as I've grown older have I come to realize and appreciate how talented she truly was. One of her favorite past times was just creating beautiful, intricate arts and crafts to adorn me and my brothers rooms to truly make it our own.
Well these days, with the advent of modern technology, arts and crafts time has taken a huge leap forward with the numerous amounts of machines and software which makes it ever so easy to create anything.
Gone are the days where people solely created arts and crafts with their hands. Well, not totally but you get the sentiment. Now, we have technology like Cricut and their armada of cutting machines and intricate software to help you make your own things. From models and figures, to plushies, jackets, posters, mugs, and so much more. The possibilities seem literally endless. And that's why, today, we're going to be going over some of the best laptops for Cricut Design Space to ensure DIY enthusiasts everywhere have a smooth experience with their Cricut machine of choice.
Now we say this because there are just so many to choose from. You're also able to gain access to the free Cricut Design Space software if you hadn't gotten yourself a machine just yet and start designing or checking out some of the already available projects and designs created by other DIY enthusiasts. I think that's quite enough reason to check it out on its own.
I could probably create an article all by itself just going over all the different models and functionality of the wonderous Cricut cutting machines available. But let's take a brief moment to check out some of the different Cricut models and which seems best for you.
Which Cricut Machine is Best For You?
There are just so many different machines to choose from and while most of them overlap with one another in terms of suitable materials and features, they're still varied in price and capability. Depending on your commitment and level of interest in crafting and arts, you might find a different machine more suited to your usage patterns.
By now, Cricut has 7 machines ready to start your DIY journey including: Cricut Explore 3, Cricut Maker 3, Cricut Explore Air 2, Maker, Joy, Cricut Explore Air, and Cricut Explore One.
Regardless of which you choose, be it the Air 2, Maker, Joy, or Explore Air 2, I'm sure we can find at least one that suits your preferences. We'll go over a few of these machines to better understand some of the differences between them.
Cricut Explore Air 2
The Cricut Exlpore Air 2 would probably be the middle of the road option for those who are interested in crafting, but not super keen to the point of starting a business with the things you create. Cricut Explore Air 2 is more so for hobbyists rather than the the professional level DIYers.
The Cricut Explore Air 2 features a max material width of 12-inches, compatible with 100+ materials, has 6 different tools and capabilities, and is slightly faster than the Cricut Joy.
It's a good entry point for those who want to take crafting seriously, but not to the extent of getting the heavy duty, pro level machine; the Cricut Maker series. I would assume that most consumers would check out the Cricut Explore Air models the most out of all the available Cricut machine lineup.
Cricut Maker 3
The Cricut Maker 3 seems to be the highest-end machine available, lending itself well for almost industrial use for small businesses and heavy usage patterns. Cricut Maker 3 seems to be the most competent in the lineup and is touted as a "pro-level DIY performance versatility" machine.
The Cricut Maker 3 has a max material width of 13-inches with Smart materials and 12-inches on a cutting mat, compatible with 300+ materials, has 13 different tools and capabilities, and is up to 2x faster for cutting and wiring.
For those who enjoy crafting and are seriously considering venturing into a small business selling knick knacks, clothes or other things should probably check this model out over the others. While the Cricut Explore Air 2 is versatile, it isn't as compatible or fast with this behemoth of a DIY machine. Otherwise, I'd imagine most users would be fine with the Cricut Explore Air series.
The Cricut Joy
The Cricut Joy is going to be the most accessible of the three lineups. While the Cricut Explore Air 2 is a middle of the road machine and the Cricut Maker 3 for the pro users, the Cricut Joy is going to be the entry level machine for DIYers just getting in the game.
The Cricut Joy is considerably smaller than the Cricut Explore Air and Maker series and only comes with a max material width of 5.5-inches, compatible with only 50+ materials and has only3 tools and capabilities.
As you can tell, it's much more limited than the previously mentioned Cricut Explore Air and Maker series, but still has enough functionality for everyday use and smaller projects.
Now that you're more well acquainted with the machines, let's get straight into the minimum and recommended system specs for Cricut Design Space.
Cricut Design Space Minimum Specs
The above specs are the officially stated minimum requirements from Cricut on their support page. As you can tell, you're not going to need a highly specced best laptop for Cricut Design Space software. In fact, these are pretty modest specs that most laptops these days will be able to match up to. First up, let's talk about the right operating system for you.
Operating System
Cricut Design Space mentions that users are going to need at least Windows 8 or macOS 10.15 or later as their operating system for the minimum specs. Do keep in mind though that there will be certain features that are missing if you do have just the bare minimum operating system requirements. As such, we're going to recommend that the best laptops for Cricut Explore come with the latest version of the operating system.
Processor
Now comes the part where we actually talk about the right laptop for Cricut Explore and other machines from Cricut. The best laptop for Cricut Explore will need a minimum of a dual-core processor either from Intel Core or AMD processor lineup. This is a fairly easy spec to match up to for laptops for Cricut Explore Air as there are plentiful of affordable, powerful laptop lineups in this category. You could opt for cheaper, capable processors like the Intel Core i5-8250U, Intel Core i3-8130U, Intel Core i5-8265U, etc. without feeling the effects of a dated, slower performing CPU.
One thing to keep in mind is you should probably look for a processor over the 8th Generation Intel Core lineup if you were looking for something that'll last. That means processors like the Intel Core i7-8550U or Intel Core i7-8750H, while still great processors, you could do much better with newer, longer lasting processors. Just keep the 8th Generation Intel Core lineup, be it an Intel Core i3, Intel Core i5, or Intel Core i7 as the base for our search.
RAM/ Storage
For the RAM and storage, you're only going to need a low-specced 4GB RAM variant and only 2GB of free space on your laptop for Cricut Explore Air which isn't really much to ask for. Most laptop brands come packed to the rim with higher RAM capacities and significant storage options to have to worry about this too much. But if you were looking for the best laptop for Cricut to optimize your workflow and creative process, do check out our recommended section below.
Display
Lastly, Cricut recommends your dedicated best laptops for Cricut Explore come with at least a 1024 x 768 resolution which equates to a HD display. Again, a very accommodatable spec to look for.
Now that we've seen the minimum specs, let's check out the recommended specs from both Cricut and our own personal recommendations as to what you should look for out of the best laptops for Cricut Maker or Explore.
Cricut Design Space Recommended Specs
Operating System
We already went through the operating system requirements for Cricut Design Space, but now we're going to fully recommend you find a best laptop for Cricut with Windows 10 or the latest macOS version, BigSur 11.0. This is because you'll find that most laptops are already rocking some form of Windows 10 such as Windows 10 Home, Windows 10 Pro, etc. Since Windows 10 Home is already so widely available and feature rich, it should really be your first option. If you were more keen on Apple's mesmerizing lineup of laptops and operating system, that should be your pick.
Processor
The processor is one of the biggest indicators of performance on any laptop you'll come across. The best laptops for Cricut Explore will definitely need a little extra power to ensure consisted performance in Cricut Design Space without those dreaded loading times, lag outs, and crashes. Therefore, we're recommending those looking for the best laptops for Cricut Explore find a laptop with at least an Intel Core or AMD equivalent quad-core processor.
There are many varied quad-core processors available these days with various price ranges, clock speeds, and efficiency. For ease of reference, CPUs like an 8th Generation Intel Core i5 processor, 9th Generation Intel Core i7 processor, or even 10th/11th Gen Intel Core i3 processors could meet up to the challenge.
Some examples of processors to look for include; 8th Gen Intel Core i5-8250U, 8th Gen Intel Core i7-8750H, AMD Ryzen 5 3500U, Intel Core i7-8550U, etc. These processors are very much so capable of running Cricut Design Space without any issues considering it's not too intensive of a program to begin with. Since this is a downloaded software however, keep in mind you won't be able to access it on browsers such as Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, etc. as there is only a downloaded version of Cricut Design Space as of the last couple of years.
RAM/ Storage
While the processor is an important part of being considered a 'best laptop', there are a few more specs that help round out the max performance of any laptop. Two specs in particular in this case includes both the RAM and storage capacity of your laptop. How much RAM your laptop is equipped with equals to how much it can store temporarily to ensure a smooth multi-tasking performance without having to take extra loading time between programs.
Considering that Cricut themselves mentioned a relatively high RAM requirement of 4GB, we're going to recommend users find a laptop sporting a 8GB DDR4 RAM capacity to optimize your creative workflow. It is a bit higher than Cricut Design Space is going to need, but it's never a bad idea to have a little extra RAM. While 4GB may suffice for Design Space, it may not match up to some other design software or program you may use in the future. As such, a safe bet would be to get an 8GB DDR4 RAM capacity to have a good balance of price, speed, and storage size.
In regards to the storage space your laptop comes with, this is mostly a flexible spec but we're going to recommend finding at least a 256GB SSD storage space. This is a pretty solid size and speed for a SSD storage without breaking the bank. You could opt for a little extra if you had a lot of files to store locally on your laptop storage, but otherwise, stick to at least 256GB SSD storage as your base spec.
Display
The last spec we're going to be talking about is the display the best laptop for Cricut Design Space comes with. The display is arguably one of the most important pieces of hardware on your laptop since it is what you are looking at when using a laptop for basically any task. When was the last time you used your laptop with the display off? As such, we're going to be recommending users find a laptop with at least a Full HD 1920 x 1080 display resolution.
These days, it's pretty easy to find a Full HD display considering its mass appeal and availability. This makes a Full HD display cheaper and much more accessible while maintaining crystal clear sharpness, vibrancy, and is overall much easier on the eyes. Everything will look considerably better on a Full HD display than it would on a standard HD panel with a 128 x 768 resolution.
In regards to the screen size, this is truly up to your own personal preferences. In most cases though users will be running into display sizes like the 15.6-inch most often. A 15.6-inch display, to me, is the easiest choice as it's a good balance of size, screen-to-body ratio, without being absurdly big to the point it is no longer portable. If a 15.6-inch still seems to big for you, consider smaller display sizes like a 13.3-inch or 14-inch rather than the 15.6-inch display size.
Other Features to Look For
While the above specs are arguably the most important for your Cricut Design Space experience, these additional features may add even better value for your money. Let's go over some of these features and explain why it would beneficial to look for after confirming the rest of the laptop specs and capability.
Attractive Aesthetics
I mean, do I even have to explain this one? I'm basing this off the fact that if you're reading this, you're probably in some shape or form an artist who enjoys things that look beautiful. Well, even if you weren't, I think most of us can agree that your laptop is an extension of yourself and it doesn't hurt if it looks sleek and attractive. This is a very broad 'feature' so called, but is very noticeable and is quite important for some users.
So if this does ring a bell and is something you resonate with, I'd advise finding a laptop with those killer aesthetics that match up to your style and preferences over a laptop that may seem a better 'deal'. At the end of the day, if you weren't satisfied with the purchase, what's the point really?
Battery Life
Moving on to something that's a little more tangible, we're going to recommend you find a laptop with a long lasting battery life for your uses in Cricut Design Space. The battery life of your laptop is an often understated, overlooked feature because people assume they'll always have their charger with them. It's a valid reason, but you'll fall in love with how it feels to feel untethered from your charger the whole day, using a laptop solely on its own battery life.
A long battery life gives you plenty of advantages from being more versatile and portable, to just a general sense of satisfaction with your purchase. Knowing this, we're going to recommend users find a laptop with at least 7 hours of battery life on a single charge. This should be more than sufficient for the average user's day-to-day usage patterns.
Portability
Lastly, we're going to recommend those of you looking for a laptop to pair with your Cricut machine to look for something a little more portable. These days, even bigger display laptops like a 15.6-inch are accommodating to smaller bodies and lower weights to make for a better portability experience. To know if your laptop is considered a portable or not, you're going to need to look for these three specs: the weight, how thin it is, and how long the battery lasts.
Finding the right combination of all three would result in a super versatile, portable workstation you can take with you anywhere you go (without the hassle of course). If that sounds like something you'd be interested in, do keep in mind as we go through the list.
Now that we've gone through basically every feature you could possibly need, let's get straight into the list to find the right laptop for your Cricut journey!
The 6 Best Laptops For Cricut Design Space
1. Acer Aspire 5
Starting things off, we're going to be showcasing one of the best deals you can find for a laptop with top tier specs and everything you would need to handle Cricut; the Acer Aspire 5. What makes the Acer Aspire 5 shine as a laptop is the low price barrier to entry, making for an affordable yet enjoyable experience for all involved. The Acer Aspire sports a 15.6-inch Full HD IPS display with pretty slim bezels across all four corners of the display frame. Other than the display, the laptop employs a rather simplistic design language which doesn't do too much in terms of aesthetics, but is still clean and attractive at a glance.
For its performance, the Acer Aspire 5 comes packed with some great specs for the price. The laptop comes with an 11th Generation Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor, 8GB of RAM and a modest 256 GB SSD. As per what we mentioned earlier in the article, the Acer Aspire 5 laptop hits all the right checkmarks as a best laptop for Cricut Design Space; an Intel Core i5 processor as well as sufficient RAM and storage capacities. You also get an integrated Intel Iris Xe Graphics GPU which should be useful for light gaming or editing/design software.
The Acer Aspire 5 has a few more tricks up its sleeve including a backlit keyboard, fingerprint reader, ports including USB 3.1 Type-C port, USB 3.2 Gen 1, USB 2.0, HDMI ports, Wi-Fi 6 support, and up to 8.5 hours of battery life. While all this seems pretty simplistic, the Acer Aspire 5 is actually a very good value-for-money laptop that'll satisfy most customers with its reliable performance.
Next up, we'll be featuring another bargain of a laptop, the ASUS VivoBook 14. The ASUS VivoBook 14 is going to be the cheapest laptop on the list, ranging below $500 making it the best budget laptop for Cricut Design Space. The ASUS VivoBook 14 is equipped with a standard 14-inch FHD NanoEdge display which results in a larger screen in a smaller body, and a better screen-to-body ratio comparatively. Other than the display, the ASUS VivoBook 14 is adorned by a dark blue color scheme and a sleek and light design philosophy prevalent throughout.
Under the hood, the ASUS VivoBook 14 continues to impress with quite an admirable spec sheet for the price. The first spec you'll notice is going to be the processor which is the AMD Ryzen 5 3500U which comes with a quad-core setup and a max 3.7GHx boost frequency. While the AMD Ryzen 5 is considered a 'mid-range' setup, it's still good enough to handle Cricut thanks to its supporting specs of an 8GB RAM capacity an 256 GB SSD storage capacity. For the graphics card, the ASUS VivoBook 14 comes with an integrated AMD Radeon Vega 8 graphics unit.
The ASUS VivoBook 14 has a few more extra features to offer potential customers including a backlit keyboard, fingerprint reader, port connections including 2x USB Type 2.0, USB 3.1, Type-C USB 3.2, HDMI, Harman Kardon speakers, Wi-Fi 6 support and up to 12 hours of battery life. This laptop is a great purchase for those of you looking for a bare minimums and low priced laptop that's still capable of reliable, consistent performance. While it is lacking a CPU Intel Core, opting for an AMD CPU, it's still got plenty of performance for your buck so don't get too dissuaded by the missing spec.
The next laptop on our list is going to be a heavy hitting, monster of a laptop, the Acer Predator Helios 300. Now I know that most of you probably didn't envision a 'gaming laptop' as your dedicated laptop for arts and crafts with Cricut, but hear me out, there's good reason to. First of all, considering the price point and the raw performance you get for this laptop, it's a great option for those looking to expand their arts business from purely Cricut to graphic design, image and video editing, etc. It's also a good option for those arts and crafters out there who happen to like video games. Starting things off, the Acer Predator Helios 300 comes with a 15.6-inch FHD display with a silky smooth 144Hz refresh rate. This will make everything you see on screen look much smoother which is a great bonus.
But being a gaming oriented laptop, it's clear the Acer Predator Helios 300 is built for performance. Taking control of the laptop is a 10th Gen CPU Intel Core i7-10750H, a recently released, powerful performer accompanied by 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD capacity. If that wasn't enough performance for ya, the laptop also features an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 which will be very useful if you were planning on doing some heavy design work and using intensive graphic design software.
This gaming beast has a few more extras that make it a worthwhile purchase including Wi-Fi 6 support, DTS:X Ultra Audio, ports including USB Type-C, USB 3.2, HDMI, 4-zone RGB backlit keyboard, dedicated cooling tech on-board and up to 6 hours of battery life.
The next laptop shouldn't be too surprising an entry to the list and it's going to be none other than one of Apple's latest offerings in their laptop lineup, the Apple MacBook Air. This is the absolute latest version of the Apple MacBook Air and comes with Apple's attempt at a processor in lieu of the standard Core i5/ Core i7 processor lineup. Starting things off the Apple MacBook Air features a slender build with a 13.3-inch Retina display and some stunning on-board screen tech. This includes things like a P3 wide color gamut and True Tone technology.
Under the hood, the Apple MacBook Air comes packed with some admirable performance. The impressive thing is that in comparison to other Windows laptops, this Apple lineup comes with the same Apple M1 Chip in both their MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops which means you can expect similar performance. The laptop also features an 8GB RAM capacity and up to 256GB SSD storage. All these specs together form a pretty capable laptop with a superb build quality, design, and that patented Apple ecosystem.
This laptop isn't just all looks and performance and has a few more things to offer its customer including Magic backlit keyboard, Touch ID fingerprint reader, Wi-Fi 6 support, Thunderbolt 4 USB Type-C port connections, HD Facetime camera, and up to 18 hours battery life.
Bringing things back to the Windows 10 operating system, this next laptop we're featuring is going to be one of the best in terms of a great balance of price and specs and features. The Dell Inspiron 15 5000 is a solid mid-range laptop and I think that's a great segment for users of Cricut to be in. The first thing you'll notice about the laptop besides the stunning silver color and raised display frame is the 15.6-inch FHD anti-glare display with almost non existent bezels on all sides of the frame.
For its performance, the Dell Inspiron 15 5000 comes with an admirable setup including one of the latest 11th Gen CPU Intel Core i5-1135G7 processors, 16GB of RAM and a sizable 512GB SSD storage capacity. This seems to me, to be a very effective spec sheet for even power users of intensive programs and software. For your usage in Design Space, it should be more than powerful. The laptop also features an integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics card.
The Dell Inspiron 15 has a few more features to entice potential customers including a microSD card reader, backlit keyboard, ports including USB Type-C, USB 3.1, HDMI, fingerprint reader, and up to 7 hours battery life.
The last laptop we'll be featuring on the list is well equipped, versatile 2-in-1 laptop, the Lenovo Flex 14. This laptop does land on the pricier side of things but considering that it is a 2-in-1 convertible laptop, it should be more than worth the money. The Lenovo Flex 14 features a 14-inch Full HD touch display which means you'll be able to use touch inputs on screen. This is a solid feature for Cricut users as they can use the touch display to design, navigate, and input commands easily in the tablet form factor.
For the performance, the Lenovo Flex 14 comes with a pretty admirable spec sheet including a 10th Gen Intel Core i7-10510U processor, 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD storage space. All things considered, this is a very impressive spec sheet with plentiful of performance for Cricut usage as well as even more intensive programs. But for the graphics card however, you're met with a measly Intel UHD Graphics so don't expect too much in that regard.
A few more extras the Lenovo Flex 14 comes with includes 0-80% charging in an hour, Dolby Audio, USB Type-C, 3.1 USB Type-A, HDMI, card reader, backlit keyboard and up to 8 hours battery life.
Conclusion
After going through some of the very best laptops for Cricut, we've come to the end of our search and have picked just one as the undisputed, best of the best companions for Cricut machines and Design Space around.
This time, our champion is going to be none other than the Dell Inspiron 15!
This laptop has a lot to love and does everything you need it to in terms of raw performance potential. Add in the stunningly good looks and the jaw dropping display frame and bezels, you've got quite the looker of a laptop that didn't cost you an arm and a leg, and still can perform to the level you need it to.
