The best laptops for photo editing can rival traditional desktop hardware in the speed stakes, and unlike laptops of old, many boast pixel-perfect displays with stunning color, as well as wide.
Read on for our pick of the best laptops for graphic design. Prefer working on a desktop PC or Mac? Then take a look at our pick of the best computers for graphic design.

Mac Laptop
Best Apple Mac Laptop For Photographers
Best Mac Pro For Photography
Best Apple Laptop For Photographers
Best Apple Computer For Photographers

Automator – The built-in automation app from Apple, which can perform a range of photo manipulation actions and be easily extended with a range of plugins. IMagine Photo – Another tool for automating your image processing workflow. You can scale, crop, blend images, apply filters and rotate. The Mac is still the best device for serious photo editing, so you need some serious photo editing apps to make an impact. The built-in Photos app on Mac offers several useful photo editing tools. You can crop, adjust lighting and color, set the white balance, add filters, remove unwanted blemishes, and a few more things. Who is the MacBook Air best for? The MacBook Air is perfect for anyone who frequently needs to carry their laptop with them, especially students, commuters, and hot-deskers.

The search for the best laptops for graphic design can feel like a never ending task if you embark on it alone. Fortunately, we've taken on the hard work for you and created this one-stop shop of information. Whether you're on a tight or limitless budget, and whatever your specialism may be, our useful guide has the perfect option for you.

Best laptops for graphic design: Top 5

01. Microsoft Surface Book 2
02. Lenovo ThinkPad P1
03. Dell Precision 3540
04. MacBook Pro (2018)
05. Huawei MateBook X Pro
Read on for more information on each of our picks

With all the options out there, it's understandable if you feel unsure of where to start. If that's the case, scroll to the bottom of this article and you'll find handy pointers on what to look for when choosing a laptop for graphic design.

Our overall pick for the best laptop for graphic design right now, taking into account its features and price, is the Microsoft Surface Book 2. Aside from being an excellent all-round laptop, it also doubles up as a ridiculously good tablet. And as a bonus, there are some great deals around on the versions that have a lower spec.

However, we understand your budget might not stretch to that high end option. If so, Dell’s new Precision 3540 (number 3) may be the right laptop for you. It’s an affordable quad-core laptop designed for graphics work, with some tasty options such as discrete AMD graphics and a FullHD display. And LG’s recently launched Gram is not only the lightest 17-inch laptop in the world, it’s also more than capable of top-end graphic design work. We were so impressed with it when we reviewed it that it has earned its own spot in our pick of the best laptops for graphic design.

If you can hold out a couple more weeks for a new laptop, it might be worth bookmarking our best Prime day deals page to see if the machine you've chosen is discounted. If not, you'll find the best prices right now on this page.

Prefer working on a desktop PC or Mac? Then take a look at our pick of the best computers for graphic design. And if battery life has you worried, then you may want to check our list of the best power banks available.

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01. Microsoft Surface Book 2

The Surface Book is the ultimate laptop for graphic design

CPU: Intel Core i7 | Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 620 – NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 | RAM: 16GB | Screen: 15-inch PixelSense (3240x2160) | Storage: 256GB - 1TB SSD

Doubles as a tablet

Expensive

Microsoft's Surface Book 2 is an incredible 2-in-1 laptop – even in its lowest spec option. If you're a designer who draws as well, this is the best laptop for graphic design you can get. It’s fast and immensely powerful, thanks to Intel’s quad-core Coffee Lake Core i7-8650 processor and 16GB of RAM. And it boasts an impressive battery life, plus a stunning, crisp display with superb colour accuracy.

It’s also incredibly versatile: use it as a graphics, video or photo-editing workstation on the go, or as a sketchbook. Just detach the screen and use it as a tablet with the Surface Pen (which doesn't come included, our one gripe) or buy the innovative Surface Dial and have an intuitive way of controlling your creative tools. Even better, flip the screen around, reattach it and you can use it to draw at a more natural angle.

Too expensive? If you can cope with less screen real estate, the 13-inch Surface Book 2 is significantly cheaper, with a similar core specification and only slightly less impressive overall performance. For even cheaper, Microsoft's original 13-inch Surface Book remains a ridiculously accomplished laptop, with a smaller price tag. But if you've got the cash, the Surface Book 2 is an utterly fantastic laptop for graphic designers.

Also read: Microsoft Surface Book 2 review

02. Lenovo ThinkPad P1

This amazing laptop is well worth the hefty pricetag

CPU: Intel Core i5, Core i7, Core i9 or Xeon | Graphics: Nvidia Quadro P1000 / P2000 | RAM: 8GB-64GB | Screen: 15.6' Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) | Storage: 256-4TB SSD

Fantastic screen

Oodles of performance

The Lenovo ThinkPad P1 is one of the most powerful Windows laptops around, and is aimed squarely at high-level content creators. It gives you the option of an Intel Xeon processor and a professional-grade Nvidia Quadro P2000 graphics, up to 64GB of memory and has all the ports you could need (two USB 3, two USB-C Thunderbolt 3, an HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort and SD card reader). This machine sports a slick design, with a slim chassis and a 4K display with 100% AdobeRGB coverage. The screen alone makes it a joy for creative work, but with all the performance it offers too, the ThinkPad P1 is a seriously good laptop for graphic designers.

03. Dell Precision 3540

The best laptop for graphic design if you're on a budget

CPU: Intel Core i5 | Graphics: Intel UHD 620 / AMD Radeon Pro WX 2100 2GB | RAM: 8GB | Screen: 15.6-inch Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) | Storage: 256GB SSD

Large 1080p display

8GB RAM may be limiting

Dell’s new 15.6-inch Precision 3540 has a specification that can handle even the most advanced features in tools such as Photoshop and Lightroom. It has an Intel Core i5 quad-core processor with a 1080P display and an entry-level discrete AMD Radeon Pro WX 2100 2GB graphics card, which will help with 3D and anything that uses OpenCL. A 256GB fast M.2 SSD, 8GB of system memory and support for Thunderbolt 3 round off a package that’s priced incredibly well as an entry-level computer for visual design.

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04. MacBook Pro with Touch Bar (2018)

The latest MacBook Pro doesn’t disappoint

Processor: Intel Core i7-i9 | Graphics: Radeon Pro 555X-Radeon Pro 560 with 4GB of GDDR5 memory | RAM: 16-32GB | Screen: 15-inch 1920x1200 IPS display | Storage: 256-4TB SSD

Very powerful

Expensive

Apple is back on great form with its 15-inch MacBook Pro 2018 with Touch Bar. If you need sheer power – and have the cash – this is one of the best graphic design laptops you can get. The new Macbook Pro offers a substantial upgrade over previous versions. Aimed at creative professionals, this is the most powerful MacBook device ever created, with more RAM, a choice of 8th-generation Intel Core processors (that Apple claims make it up to 70 per cent faster than the MacBook Pro 2017) and better discrete graphics cards. It also comes with blisteringly fast SSDs and a quieter keyboard.

On the downside, there are just four USB-C ports and one headphone jack port, so you’ll need an adapter

Best Mac Laptop For Photographers