The best laptops for Photoshop

The best laptops for Photoshop have enough power to avoid struggling with the more power-hungry GPU-accelerate features in Adobe's software while also providing colour-accurate displays that allow you to see your photos, designs or digital art as it really looks. However, different users will have different priorities in terms of portability, screen size and budget.

As a regular Photoshop user myself, I've used the software on a wide range of laptops, and our team of reviewers has tested evne more, from budget laptops for Photoshop to MacBooks and some of the most powerful Windows laptops around in our quest to find the best. We've putting them through benchmark tests and hands-on real-world use with Photoshop itself. The result is the list below. For each device, we've evaluated display size and quality, performance, build and battery life to identify the best Photoshop laptop for different needs.

If you want to complete your Photoshop setup with an external display, also see our guide to the best monitors for photo editing. And if you don't yet have Photoshop, be sure to check our Adobe Creative Cloud discount guide and our pick of the best photo editing software.

Quick list

• Back to the top ⤴

The best laptops for Photoshop in full

The best laptop for Photoshop overall

Though the MacBook Air isn't the most powerful laptop in Apple's lineup, it's more than capable of running Photoshop workflows. MacBook Pros are overkill for most people for using Photoshop alone, and they're much more expensive, while this laptop provides the specs you need at a more accessible price. 

While it doesn't have a dedicate GPU, we found the GPUs in Apple's own silicon is to powerful and efficient, and the M3 chip can easily handle GPU-accelerated tools in Photoshop. The LED-backlit display is also a delight for working in Photoshop. It's bright enough for most situations at 500 nits (those working in HDR might want to jump down the MacBook Pro further down our list). There are also 13-inch MacBook Airs available, and they are also well worth considering for anyone who needs a more portable but device, but we think the latest 15-incher provides the best compromise between ample screen space for working across panels in Photoshop and a slim, light design.

Of course, as an Apple laptop, the build quality and aesthetics are excellent. And to top it off, we got battery life of over 16 hours in our tests, which makes this a great option if you like to edit images or design work at a cafe or other location where you might not have a socket.

See our full Apple MacBook Air M3 (2024) review for more details. If you want a more compact, portable MacBook, we still highly recommend the 2022 M2 MacBook Air 13, which is seeing some great offers at the moment.

• Back to the top ⤴

Best laptop screen for Photoshop

We rate this as the best Windows laptop for Photoshop, and indeed pretty much for anything. Available with a powerful Intel Core i9 CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 dedicated graphics, we found it made light work of large batches of photos and GPU-powered tools in Adobe’s popular app, easily handling any Photoshop task we put to it. And with up to 64GB of memory backing it up, you don't have to worry about it struggling under the weight of piles of layers.

The large OLED display is gorgeous to look at and perfect for artists working in different colours spaces thanks to customisable colour sRGB, DCI-P3, Display-P3, and Native colour profile options. We tested 100% of the DCI-P3 cinema gamut, and a Delta-E score of less than one for excellent colour accuracy. The fact that it's a touchscreen is also a plus. Its stylus support recognises 4,096 pressure levels, which is a boon for digital artists who want to work directly on the screen.

There's also a handy little innovation: the dial to the left of the trackpad. We found it took a while to get used to it being there and to start to use it, but once we had customised it and acclimatised, the dial can be used to adjust brush size, to zoom in or control things like exposure and saturation in a way that feels less awkward than using fiddly sliders.

With plenty of configuration options for storage, going all the way up to 8TB, there's little danger of running out of space with this laptop either. There are only two real downsides: it's fairly expensive, and this is a power-hungry machine (we only got around four and a half hours from a charge) 

Read our ASUS ProArt Studiobook OLED (H7604) review for more information.

• Back to the top ⤴

Most powerful laptop for Photoshop

If you're a power user, the newest MacBook Pro is a beast for Photoshop and anything else. We found the M3 Pro chip could easily handle complex video editing workflows, let alone Photoshop. We love the Liquid Retina XDR display, which reaches 1,600 nits of peak brightness (the average is 500 nits), making it a great options for artists doing HDR work. With mini-LED tech, it achieves deep blacks and bright whites, with a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio.

We love the size of this 16-inch model, but for a more compact option, the 14-inch version provides comparable specs. The M3 Pro-powered configuration is really more than you need for Photoshop alone, so the base M3 version of the 14-inch device will handle Photoshop with ease, and it's cheaper too.

Read our full review of the MacBook Pro 16-inch (M3, 2023) for more on why we rate this laptop.

• Back to the top ⤴

The best budget laptop for Photoshop

The Asus ProArt Studiobook at number 2 in our list is our favourite Windows laptop for Photoshop, and it's an all-round workstation that can handle a lot more. But if you're not looking to edit video or 3D work as well as images, you might not need all that power. We also highly rate the Asus Vivobook Pro 16 as a great value but highly capable laptop aimed at creatives.

It wasn't as capable as the Studiobook in our testing, and the screen has a more narrow colour coverage, but it's still good enough for more people's Photoshop needs, especially for non professionals. It still has an OLED display, which we found provided excellent contrast. We found the 600 nits of peak brightness were enough to make the screen comfortable to use in bright light, and the 3.2K version provided great definition in photos.

Unlike the Studiobook at number two in our list, it isn't a touchscreen, which might put off some digital artists who want to be able to draw directly on the display. However, the display provides solid colour accuracy, validated by Pantone. This makes it a candidate for both digital work and proofing photos and artwork for printing. 

See our full Asus Vivobook Pro 16 review for more details.

• Back to the top ⤴

Best Photoshop laptop for portability

The laptops I've mentioned so far are all 15-inchers and above. Generally a larger screen makes using Photoshop more comfortable since you can see different panels and compare images side by side without it all felling too cramped. The downside is that they aren't the lightest or more compact laptops for taking on the road. For that, my top pick is the Zenbook s 13 OLD, which is perfect for carrying in hand luggage or working at a cafe table, while still providing excellent performance and colour.

It's an almost impossibly light device, weighung just 1kg. And our reviewer found it had the best screen he had ever tested on a small-form laptop: 550 nits of brightness could handle work in bright daylight, while and Pantone-certified colour coverage of up to 100% DCI-P3 (we also tested sRGB coverage of 113%) ensures we can rely on what we're seeing. With a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, the OLED display also boasts excellent resolution of dark and light areas.

The design of the laptop is beautiful to look at, and despite the small size, the neat chiclet keyboard and trackpad are comfortable and responsive. Our reviewer also enjoyed watching films and TV on the device, and if you do also want to edit videos, the RAM can be configured up to 32GB. Such a thin body doesn't leave much space for ports, but there is still a USB-A 3.2, two Thunderbolt 4 (which can support a display and power delivery), HDMI 2.1 port and an audio jack.

Read our full Asus ZenBook S 13 OLED review for more details

• Back to the top ⤴

The best 2-in-1 laptop for Photoshop

If you want to use a stylus for editing images or creating digital art in Photoshop, we think this is an excellent choice. Boasting a super-sharp 3:2 screen with a slick 120Hz refresh rate and support for your choice of MPP stylus (Microsoft's own Surface Slim Pen 2 can be bought separately), the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 has unusual ergonomics that make it great for stylus input with more options than a simple clamshell laptop.

You can use the screen like a normal laptop, flat like a tablet of propped up in easel mode, which is particularly useful for digital artists using styluses. There are RAM options from 16GB to 64GB, and along with 13th Gen CPUs from Intel, you get a choice of Intel Xe graphics or an Nvidia RTX 4060 and RTX 2000 Ada professional GPUs, so there's plenty of power here, even if that does make for a slightly bulky device. 

Of course, if it's just the performance you want, you can get it for less from other laptops – but you'd have to give up the drawing and input abilities that make this such a great pick for image editors and other creative pros in the first place.

Here's our full Surface Laptop Studio 2 review.

• Back to the top ⤴

The best Photoshop laptop with a large screen

I generally like a lager laptop screen for using Photoshop since it makes it easier to work across multiple panels and to see layers tabs. I've mentioned several 16-inch laptops, but there are even larger devices available. Our top pick is the Dell XPS 17, which we found to be impressively slim for a 17-inch device.

The laptop can be configured with pretty much all the power you want, certainly more than enough for Photoshop, and the large 4K touchscreen display is a pleasure to work on. We found picture quality to be excellent, providing sharp details and accurate colours. The brightness at 500 nits, and it covered 100% of Adobe RGB and 94% of the DCI-P3 gamut in our tests.

Our review model came with 32GB RAM configuration with intel i7-11800H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060. It was very fast, resolving even GPU-intensive tasks quickly. The biggest downside is also one of the laptop's benefits: it's size. While it's very slim for a 17-inch device, it's not a laptop for a nomadic Photoshopping.

See our full Dell XPS 17 review for more details.

• Back to the top ⤴

The most versatile laptop for Photoshop

Most laptops have one screen. Why would you need more? Well, Asus makes a very strong case for having two by way of its Zenbook Duo OLED laptop. Not only does it have a bright, beautiful 14-inch OLED display up top, but lift away the keyboard and another full-size 14-inch OLED display reveals itself. 

This second screen makes it a perfect Photoshop laptop. You can move a reference picture onto it while you work on image adjustments on the 'main' display, for example. Or you can move your toolbars to the second screen and use it as a control panel. It even has built-in settings for Photoshop, as well as a slate of other Adobe apps. It has a speedy processor, too, great for lovers of double-monitors who move around a bit. 

2024 has brought us a new version of this laptop, and it has impressed us so much that we gave it a rare full house in our full review. Check out the Asus Zenbook Duo OLED review for more details on this fantastic laptop.

• Back to the top ⤴

Also tested

Some of the laptops we have reviewed come very close to beating out the laptops above when it comes to performance and fit for Photoshop. As you'll see from the linked reviews, they often score high in our tests. So here are some other great options, should you not find what you're looking for above...

<a href="https://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-8150602-15681716?sid=hawk-custom-tracking&url=https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/laptops-2-in-1-pcs/precision-5470-workstation/spd/precision-14-5470-laptop/xctop5470emea_vp" data-link-merchant="dell.com"" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Dell Precision 5470
This model handles not just Photoshop with ease, but also more resource-intensive tasks like image editing and 3D rendering with no lag or performance issues to speak of. It can give the MacBook Pro 14-inch M2 Pro a run for its money, even though that costs $1,000 more.
<a href="https://www.creativebloq.com/reviews/dell-precision-5470" data-link-merchant="creativebloq.com"" data-link-merchant="dell.com"">Read our 4.5-star review. 

<a href="https://target.georiot.com/Proxy.ashx?tsid=8429&GR_URL=https%3A%2F%2Famazon.co.uk%2Fdp%2FB0B1VV7RMG%3Ftag%3Dhawk-future-21%26ascsubtag%3Dhawk-custom-tracking-21" data-link-merchant="Amazon UK"" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Acer Swift Edge 16
The Acer Swift Edge 16 is an excellent all-around mid-range laptop. It may lack the graphics power for 4K gaming or heavy 3D rendering tasks, but it can handle basic editing in Photoshop.
<a href="https://www.creativebloq.com/reviews/acer-swift-edge-16" data-link-merchant="creativebloq.com"" data-link-merchant="Amazon UK"" target="_blank">Read our 4.5-star review. 

<a href="https://frame.work/gb/en" data-link-merchant="frame.work"" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Framework
Framework is great for Photoshop work, because you can upgrade it if you find yourself needing more power as file sizes get larger. The hot-swappable ports are super useful, especially if you have more than one place of work. For example, you can swap the HDMI port for a MicroSD port if you need to.
<a href="https://www.creativebloq.com/reviews/framework-review-a-laptop-built-to-last" data-link-merchant="creativebloq.com"" data-link-merchant="frame.work"" target="_blank">Read our 4.5-star review. 

• Back to the top ⤴

How to choose a laptop for Photoshop

Photoshop is a creative application beloved by photographers and digital artists alike thanks to its varied toolset and wide range of features. It's far from the most demanding piece of software available, but it’s certainly one of the beefiest for photo editing. This means that, although the minimum system requirements are not hugely demanding, not every laptop can do a decent job of running it. 

There are a few things to look out for when choosing the best laptop for Photoshop for you. Firstly, you’ll want a modern processor. Both Intel and AMD list CPUs in numerical order regarding power, and the rule is generally ‘the bigger, the better’, so a 9th-generation Intel i5 won’t perform tasks as efficiently as an 11th-generation Intel i9. We recommend at least a 9th generation Intel i5 or a Ryzen 5 3600 as a minimum.

Memory (also known as RAM) is also important, and most laptops provide several choices here, usually 8GB, 16GB and sometimes 32GB or even 64GB. Adobe states 8GB as a minimum, but 16GB is recommended, and our experience backs up that recommendation, particularly for more complex workflows. A dedicated graphics card can also be beneficial for certain tasks if your budget can stretch to it (see more on this below). 

You'll also want a laptop with a display that provides good resolution and good colour coverage and accuracy. All of the laptops we recommend above meet this criteria, but if you're shopping around aim for 100% sRGB and as much covered of Adobe RGB as possible. An OLED screen will usually provide better contrast and richer, deep blacks.

You'll also want to consider storage size. Most laptops offer a choice of configurations, and your needs here will depend on the size of files that you produce and whether you rely heavily on cloud storage and external SSDs. Adobe recommends having at least 100GB available to use Photoshop. For most people, we would recommend going for a laptop with A laptop with a 512GB SSD (make sure it's an SSD rather than a slower hard drive).

Aside from this, the best laptop for Photoshop for you will depend on your own priorities. Due the number of panels that it's possible have open on Photoshop, I generally prefer working on a larger screen: 15in or more. However, this means sacrificing portability, and if you're going to be working on the move a lot, you may prefer a 13-inch or 14-inch laptop, which will be easier to fit into a bag and lug about. Display size may also be less of a priority if you plan to use an external monitor.

• Back to the top ⤴

How we test laptops for Photoshop

When we test laptops for Photoshop, we first carry out a series of benchmark tests to measure the laptop's overall performance.

• Cinebench R23/2024 - this assesses the performance of a computer's CPU and GPU using real-world 3D rendering tasks

• Geekbench 5/6 - this tests the CPU's processing power, both by using a single core for a single task at a time as well as all the CPU's core to see its ability to multitask

• PCMark 10 - this test assesses a computer’s ability to run all everyday tasks from web browsing to digital content creation, testing app launch speeds, 3D rendering and even battery life

We also use a calibrator to test the display of the laptop, checking colour gamut, colour accuracy, brightness, contrast and uniformity. We also tests storage performance and assess each laptop's general ergonomics, build and usability, including keyboard quality, chassis rigidity, trackpad response and battery life. 

Finally, we test each laptop in real-world use cases by performing various tasks in Photoshop itself in order to check how it performs in a real workflow. We carry out basic photo editing using adjustment layers and masks and create digital art using various brush tools. We also test new AI tools and the GPU-accelerated tools, which can cause some laptops to struggle.

FAQs

• Back to the top ⤴