Do-it-yourself projects are becoming increasingly popular these days. Lots of people are now using a Cricut machine to create artsy DIY products such as handmade cards, party decors, windows decals, and even T-shirts.
All you have to do is select the images, load the papers, press a button, and then wait for the Cricut machine to work its magic! Although most modern-day PCs will work with a Cricut maker, you still need to choose carefully if you want the best output.
What is a Cricut machine?
Cricut machines, produced by the brand Cricut, are ultimately smart die-cutting machines. A Cricut machine works in many ways, like a printer. You select or create images on your personal computer, send them to the Cricut machine, and then wait for it to bring them to life. But instead of printing your designs, the Cricut machine cuts them out of whatever material you want!
Why do you need a decent PC setup?
A Cricut machine must be connected to a PC setup to work properly. Even though the Cricut software has relatively low hardware requirements for PCs, you will need a decent PC to work on your DIY projects.
1) Performance
A powerful personal computer not only processes everything faster, allowing you to finish your Cricut project in a shorter period of time, but it also enables you to work on other tasks without worrying about the Cricut process crashing due to hardware failure.
While downloading pictures and designs from the Cricut Design Space is an easy task for most people, some DIY projects will require you to create your own images. You may need to run big applications such as Photoshop, Lightroom, and CorelDRAW on your PC. As you know, these productivity apps don’t work very well with PCs featuring entry-level specifications.
2) Accuracy
The Cricut machine helps you create different kinds of artsy objects with great accuracy and precision, but you need to make sure the designs sent to the Cricut machine have the right colors and shapes in the first place. The color accuracy of your PC’s display plays a vital role. IPS panels tend to reproduce colors with the best accuracy and are generally more suitable for Cricut designs.
3) Precision
If you want to create more complex Cricut designs with better precision, you may also need a decent mouse, or even a digital drawing pad. There are mice designed specifically for content creators, and some drawing pads offer the same level of precision and responsiveness as the Apple iPad Pro. You can also choose a laptop/tablet convertible with a pressure-sensitive digital pen, making drawing a lot more convenient.
Budget
Budget is an important consideration when choosing a computer for Cricut. While high-end desktops are great options, they can also be expensive. If you’re on a budget, plenty of options can still be available to handle Cricut tasks. Brands like Acer, ASUS, and Lenovo offer budget-friendly laptops that can handle basic Cricut tasks. or you can choose a mini PC.
What should you look for in a PC?
1) Software compatibility
When looking for a new PC to use with the Cricut machine, nothing matters more than software compatibility. Among all operating systems, Windows and macOS have the best support for Cricut’s drivers and apps. ChromeOS and some Linux distributions may be great choices for lightweight computing duties, but they are not perfectly compatible with Cricut machines yet.
2) CPU
If you want your PC to process your Cricut projects faster, a decent CPU is necessary. While professional Cricut designers may want the latest CPU for their PC setup, for average consumers, any Intel Core or AMD Ryzen CPU released within 3 years will be good enough.
3) GPU
If you only use images and designs from the internet for your DIY products, you will be fine with even the most modest iGPU. However, creating complex Cricut images and artworks in big photo-editing applications will require relatively high graphics performance. If you can’t afford a discrete graphics card, get yourself a better integrated GPU. The Intel Iris Xe Graphics eligible and AMD Radeon Graphics are both solid choices.
4) RAM and storage
The Cricut software doesn’t take a lot of RAM to run properly, but in case you need to use the PC for other tasks at the same time, you will be better off with more than 8GB of memory. Cricut designs and images won’t take up much space in your drive, and the Circuit Design Space even allows you to store all of them in the cloud. So, for most people, a 256GB SSD will suffice.
5) Connectivity
The Cricut machine can be connected to a PC via USB or Bluetooth. Many people prefer Bluetooth connection as it keeps the PC desk neat and tidy. Laptops and mini PCs often come with Bluetooth connectivity, for desktop PCs, you may need a USB Bluetooth adapter.
Our Recommendations
1) Apple Mac mini
Product Highlights
- Apple M2 (8 cores)
- Apple M2 GPU (10 cores)
- 8GB unified memory
- 256GB M.2 PCIe Gen4 SSD
- Dual Thunderbolt 3 / USB 4 ports
- WiFi 6E & Bluetooth 5.2
- Price: $599
The new Apple Mac mini is powered by the Apple M2 chip, which is not only fast, but also extremely power-efficient. The integrated 10-core iGPU is equivalent to an entry-level discrete GPU in terms of graphics performance, allowing you to work on even the most sophisticated Cricut artwork designs.
2) GEEKOM Mini IT11
Product Highlights
- Intel Core i7-11390H (4 cores, 8 threads)
- Iris Xe Graphics eligible (EU96)
- 16GB DDR4-3200 memory (dual-channel, upgradable to 64GB)
- 512GB M.2 PCIe Gen3 SSD (expandable to 2TB)
- Dual USB4 ports
- WiFi 6 & Bluetooth 5.2
- Price: $569
The GEEKOM Mini IT11 is a mini PC built around an Intel Tiger Lake Core i7 processor. It comes with expandable RAM and storage, plenty of ports, superb networking, and is preinstalled with Windows 11 Pro.
It can be connected to a Cricut machine wirelessly via Bluetooth, saving your room from messy wires. Also, the powerful Intel Core i7-11390H CPU and Iris Xe Graphics iGPU make it possible for you to design complex Cricut images with ease.
3) Dell XPS 13 2-in-1
Product Highlights
- 13.4-inch FHD IPS display (1920*1200px)
- 10-point capacity touchscreen
- Intel Core i7-1165G7 (4 cores, 8 threads)
- Iris Xe Graphics eligible EU96
- 16GB Dual-channel LPDDR4X RAM
- 512GB M.2 PCIe Gen3 SSD
- Thunderbolt 4
- WiFi 6 & Bluetooth 5.1
- Price: $1,193
Like the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5i, the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 can also be transformed into a drawing board when needed, although it employs a different shapeshifting mechanism. Powered by a beefy Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor and 32GB of LPDDR4X RAM, the 2-in-1 laptop will handle all your Cricut projects efficiently.
4) Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5i
Product Highlights
- 12.3-inch 2K IPS display (2560*1600px)
- 10-point capacity touchscreen
- Intel Core i5-1235U (10 cores, 12 threads)
- Iris Xe Graphics eligible EU80
- 16GB Dual-channel LPDDR4X RAM
- 512GB M.2 PCIe Gen4 SSD
- Thunderbolt 4
- WiFi 6 & Bluetooth 5.2
- Price: $829
Microsoft Surface Pro series Ultrabook/tablet convertibles are often considered as the best laptops for content creators because of their form factor and pressure-sensitive digital pens. However, they are also extremely pricey.
With a stunning 2K IPS display, a detachable keyboard, a stylus of 4096 levels of pressure, a powerful Intel Core i5-1235U processor, and the capability to turn into a drawing board at any moment, the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5i is every bit as good as a Surface Pro 9, but it comes with a much more modest price tag.
5) Apple MacBook Pro
Product Highlights
- 13.3-inch 2K IPS display (2560*1600px)
- Apple M2 (8 cores)
- Apple M2 GPU (10 cores)
- 8GB unified memory
- 256GB M.2 PCIe Gen4 SSD
- Dual Thunderbolt 3 / USB 4 ports
- WiFi 6e & Bluetooth 5.2
- Price: $1,299
With Apple’s latest M2 processor, the Apple MacBook Pro 13’’ could easily beat 95% of notebook PCs on the market in CPU and GPU performance. Also, Apple’s Retina IPS Display offers tons of details and amazing color accuracy, making the Apple Macbook 13’’ the dream laptop PC for any Cricut creator. The laptop’s ultra-slim design and up to 20 hours of battery life will allow you to effortlessly create your Cricut designs on the go.
Verdict
If you love crafting and creating, get yourself a Cricut machine, and a decent PC setup, and have fun Cricuting! Don’t forget to consider mini PCs like the GEEKOM for a compact and powerful option.
