Graphic Designs Software For Mac

  1. Whether you want to retouch photos, create graphic designs or experiment with 3D, GIMP offers it all and more. Before you fork out for an expensive graphics app, spare the time for this 78MB.
  2. Designing for print is a very specific task, so a dedicated vector-based graphic design program is often the best way forward. While there is perfectly good drawing and painting software available.

Best Free Graphic Design Software GIMP. GIMP is a free graphic design software that works on many platforms like Windows, Linux, and Mac OS. GIMP is an open-source program that allows you to change its source code and distribute the program.

BestiMac for Graphic DesignersiMore2020

When it comes to graphic design, you want a powerful machine that would be able to handle anything you throw at it in terms of visuals. And graphic design is part of the creative community, which includes graphic design, along with other industries like music creation, writing, photo and video editing, and so much more. Macs are the computers of choice for the creative community, and we think the 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K Display is the best option for serious graphic designers. That's because you get the best possible screen, great specs, and all for a reasonable price.

Best Overall: 27-inch iMac with 5K Retina Display

If you're looking for an iMac for graphic design, then you're going to want one with a stunning display to see all of your graphical work. With this iMac, you get a huge 27-inch Retina 5K display, which supports 500 nits of brightness and has a substantial 5120-by-2880 screen resolution with support for one billion colors and wide color. You also get high graphics with a Radeon Pro 570X 4GB video card for the base model, 575X 4GB for the middle tier, and 580X with 8GB for the high-end model. The high-end model is also configurable to Radeon Pro Vega 48 with 8GB of memory if you need it.

The 27-inch iMac with 5K Retina Display has a 3.0GHz 6-core Intel i5 processor with Turbo Boost up to 4.1GHz, 8GB of RAM, and a 1TB Fusion Drive. If the base stats aren't enough for you, the machine can always be configured for more memory or storage (including SSD), but the middle and high-end offerings offer more power and can also be configured.

Even though the iMac was last updated in March 2019, it's still a very capable machine that is perfect for graphic design work and more.

Pros:

  • Large 27-inch Retina 5K Display
  • Three base models to choose from
  • Reasonably priced for what you get

Cons:

  • Different configurations can be pricey
  • Only starts with 8GB of RAM
  • New model could be coming very soon

Best Overall

27-inch iMac with 5K Retina Display

Get the most bang for your buck

The 27-inch iMac comes with a gorgeous 5K Retina display and has three base models that are configurable for your needs.

Best Entry Level: 21.5-inch iMac with 4K Retina Display

The iMac with 4K Retina display is less money than the 27-inch, and the 4K display should be good enough for a lot of graphic design work. However, you will need to keep in mind that the 4K Retina display is only available in the 21.5-inch size, which is slightly disappointing. Still, the 4K display has a nice 4096-by-2304 resolution with support for one billion colors, and it also has 500 nits of brightness and wide color.

The base model for the 4K iMac starts with a 3.6GHz quad-core Intel i3 processor that's configurable to 3.6GHz 6-core Intel Core i7 with Turbo Boost up to 4.6GHz. You also start with 8GB of RAM (configurable up to 16GB or 32GB), 1TB hard drive (configurable to 1TB Fusion Drive or 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB SSD), and Radeon Pro 555X with 2GB memory. You can get the higher level 4K iMac if you need a boost in processor power or video card.

Pros:

  • Affordable price
  • Beautiful 4k Retina display
  • Less than the 5K iMac
  • Two base choices that can be configured

Cons:

  • Only comes in 21.5-inch size
  • Starts with only 8GB of RAM
  • New model could be coming soon

Best Entry Level

21.5-inch iMac with 4K Retina Display

A great middle ground

The 4K Retina Display still looks fantastic and is highly affordable. It doesn't come in a 27-inch size, though.

Source: iMore

If you're on a budget and just need an iMac for the basics, then the Non-Retina 21.5-inch iMac is a good option to consider. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a 4K or 5K Retina Display, but it has a decent 1920-by-1080 resolution, which should suffice for basic graphic design.

On the inside, the Non-Retina 21.5-inch iMac has a 2.3GHz dual-core 7th-generation Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz. It starts with 8GB of RAM that you can configure up to 16GB, a 1TB hard drive that can be configured to a 1TB Fusion Drive or 256GB SSD, and Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640.

Pros:

  • The least expensive iMac
  • Good for basic graphic design

Cons:

  • Hasn't been updated since 2017
  • No 4K or 5K Retina Display

Best Value

21.5-inch iMac (Non-Retina)

The most affordable option

This is the cheapest iMac, but its 21.5-inch display is Non-Retina. But it should still be enough for basic graphic design.

Source: Craig A. Hunter

Jumpstart typing download for mac. If the 27-inch iMac with 5K Retina Display doesn't offer enough power for you, then you may want to consider the beastly iMac Pro. That is if you can afford it — this thing isn't cheap!

With the iMac Pro, you get a 27-inch 5K Retina Display, but it has an 8-core 3.2GHz Intel Zeon W processor with Turbo Boost up to 4.2GHz with a 19MB cache. You can configure it up to 18-cores if you really need it, but that's going to cost you a pretty penny. It also starts with Radeon Pro Vega 56 graphics card with 8GB memory that you can also configure up to Radeon Vega 64X with 16GB of memory. The base RAM in the iMac Pro is 32GB, but you can go all the way to 256GB RAM if you want to. And it comes with a 1TB SSD, configurable up to 4TB.

It may be more than what most people need, but if you need a serious machine to handle tons of rendering and other graphic-intensive tasks, the iMac Pro will do nicely.

Pros:

  • Packs in a ton of power
  • 27-inch 5K Retina Display
  • Comes in Space Gray color

Cons:

  • Very expensive
  • Not for most people
  • Hasn't been updated since 2017

Best Power

iMac Pro

More power!

The iMac Pro has enough power to handle pretty much anything. And it's the only iMac to come in Space Gray. But it'll cost you.

Source: Rene Ritchie / iMore

For those who need a Mac for graphic design, but want it to be portable, then we recommend taking a look at the 16-inch MacBook Pro. The 16-inch display has 3072-by-1920 native resolution at 226 pixels per inch with support for millions of colors, 500 nits of brightness, wide color and True Tone, making it perfect for graphic design.

Not only does the display look great, but you get power too. The base model 16-inch MacBook Pro gives you a 2.6GHz 6-core Intel Core i7 with Turbo Boost up to 4.5GHz, and you can even upgrade it to 8-cores with a more powerful processor if need be. It also starts with a 512GB SSD that can go all the way up to 8TB, 16GB of RAM that's configurable up to 64GB, and you get AMD Radeon Pro 5300M 4GB graphics card that can also be upgraded if desired.

If you want a serious portable machine for graphic design, the 16-inch MacBook Pro is the one to look into.

Pros:

  • Portable power
  • 16-inch display is gorgeous
  • Configurable to suit your needs

Best Portability

16-inch MacBook Pro

Portable power

It's no iMac, but the 16-inch MacBook Pro packs in a ton of power with a gorgeous display, and you can take it anywhere.

Bottom line

The 27-inch iMac with 5K Retina Display is the best iMac for graphic designers. With the large 27-inch screen and stunning 5K Retina display that it's capable of, you're getting the most capable machine for graphic design work at a reasonable price. Plus, it has three base configurations for you to customize if need be, so you can create the 5K iMac of your dreams.

And while we seem to be due for a refreshed iMac lineup, the 27-inch iMac with 5K Retina Display was only released in March 2019, so it's still a very powerful machine. Even if you buy it now, it should run flawlessly.

Credits — The team that worked on this guide

Christine Romero-Chan has been using Macs for a little over a decade now. She has a strong understanding of what each Mac is capable of and their purpose and can give anyone a good recommendation. You can find her and various musings on Twitter, or check out her photography on Instagram.

Rene Ritchie Rene Ritchie has been covering the personal technology industry for a decade. An outspoken analyst and critic, he writes at iMore.com/vector, podcasts at applepodcasts.com/vector, and you can find his show at youtube.com/vector. Follow him @reneritchie on Twitter and Instagram.

We may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Learn more.

Kinda like this but better

Don't like Apple's Magic Keyboard? Try these alternatives

Do you like the look of Apples Magic Keyboard but want something a little different? There are alternatives.

Best Free Graphic Design Software – Graphic Design is the field, which is growing as fast as technology is growing. It is one of the fastest evolving fields. Graphic designers designs most of the digital pictures, logos, banners, posters, visiting cards etc. They use various graphic design software to make pretty and attractive designs. These programs are Free. Today in this article I’m gonna talk about Top 10 Best Free Graphic Design Software for Windows and MAC. Let’s see all of them one by one.

Contents

  • 1 List of 10 Best Free Graphic Design Software for Windows and MAC:

As internet and computers are growing each day. The need for the graphics designers and the programs for them to use as tools. So, this article would be a better choice for you to read and know about free graphic design software. I Hope, the research and result used in this article will realy help you out in seeking your goal.

Not every Program You find on the internet is free. But, Some of them are free under some license conditions. But, in this Ocean of information… You need to know the Right program for your work. Which suits all of your work needs. So, let’s start with the first one.

#1. SVG-Edit

One of the best free graphic design software SVG. The full form of SVG is Scalable Vector Graphics, which is a graphic format where the shapes are in XML. SVG-edit is fast and easy to use the program. The drawing editor is completely built on HTML, CSS, javascript etc. to make things easier for the user and editor. It also protects the source of the program from the end user. This provides better security to the source code. Most of the updated web browsers display SVG just like a JPG, PNG or GIF.

#2. Paint.NET

Paint.NET is an awesome program to edit images with Windows. It is an amazingly intuitive and innovative UI with multiple support for layers, undo, special effects, and various useful and powerful tools. Much more advanced than MS-Paint. and can think of as the competitor of Adobe Photoshop in some aspects.

#3. Blender

Blender is a 3D supportive program. You can use it for making your 3D looking images. And the fun part is that you don’t even need to pay the massive amount for this awesome program. It is free of cost. An Open-source application which Provides ability to 3D modelling, animation and rigging, compositing, simulation, CPU and GPU rendering, VR rendering etc. It is the first choice of every Animator out there.

#4. Easel.ly

Another amazing Program, which will allow you all graphic designers to do info-graphics. Easel.ly is one of the top free programs out there in the market, which will allow you to do Info-graphics and lot of graphical representations and designs. It requires very less time to do your work on this program as every plugin and setup is done in the Program templates already.

#5. Sculptris

An Easy to learn and implement windows program made by Pixologic. The program is famous from the beginner to advance level programmers. The Zbrush capabilities are highly appreciable in the program, you must give it a try to know more about this awesome free program.

#6. Inkscape

Professional vector graphics windows program, which will allow users to complete their work in no time at all. It can be assumed as the perfect competitor of the Corel Draw. While, this one is free as compared to Corel. The tools they provide are quite useful and important. The program is not only available for windows, but also for Linux. You need to have some terminal based knowledge to use it on your MAC machine.

#7. GIMP

Graphic Design Software For Mac Os Sierra

One of my favourite and free of cost graphic designing program. Easy to use for a beginner to an advanced level user. GIMP is the short form for GNU Image Manipulation Program. Where GNU is the Public license terms for using this awesome program for free. This software helps for photo retouching, image composition, image authoring etc. It is another competitor of the Adobe Photoshop program, which is paid.

#8. Daz Studio

Mac os7 firmware password hack. As Most of the graphic designers consists of animations, illustrations and 3d figures. So, Daz Studio is one of the best options for all those 3D artists out there. This awesome free program provides all the facilities that can help you create wonderful 3Ds, animations and illustrations and digital figures. Must give it a try.

#9. Sumo Paint

Amazing MS-Paint kind of application, but such advanced in functions and capabilities like Adobe Photoshop. It works in your browser window and required adobe flash player to function. The basic version offers you all the standard tools that are required for graphic designing. Once you become familiar with the basic version, you can buy the pro version for few bucks on their official website.

#10. Xara Xtreme

Top Graphic Design Software For Mac

The Final program of the list, which is amazingly full of options. When you try to edit and image in it, You can find each professional tool in the toolbar. It is considered as one of the highly valued, fast growing graphic design software. It is very easy to use, free program. One can create a huge quantity of graphic designs in this program. Have a try.

At last, I hope that you would like this Article. If you are in doubt or you have any query regarding anything related to this article. You can leave a comment below in the comment field. I will try to help you within 24 hours. Thanks.