Best laptops for Photoshop in 2024

The best laptops for Photoshop should offer you a seamless experience; your laptop needs powerful hardware to achieve this. You'll want a high-performance processor like an Intel Core Ultra 7 or 9, an AMD Ryzen 7 or 9, or the Apple M3 chipset to handle complex filters, large photo files, and multiple project layers. You'll also want at least 16GB of memory, but most Photoshop users will benefit from 32GB, with power users opting for 64GB of RAM. Storage is another major concern; 512 GB is the minimum I'd consider to keep your image files and project backups on hand, though splurging for 1TB or more isn't a bad idea.

Finally, you'll want to consider visuals. You'll want a crisp, high-resolution display in the QHD to 4K range with accurate color reproduction. For heavy-duty tasks like intricate filters, 3D effects, or AI generation, you may want to consider a laptop with a discrete graphics card like an Nvidia GeForce RTX, Nvidia RTX Ada Generation, or AMD Radeon RX card.

At Laptop Mag, we rigorously review over a hundred laptops yearly, testing their processing power, graphics handling, and display quality. The laptops on this list combine top-tier displays with powerful CPU and GPU combos to help you find the Photoshop powerhouse you need.

CURATED BY

CURATED BY

Madeline Ricchiuto

Madeline Ricchiuto has covered software and hardware of all kinds over the years. She joined Future in 2019 as a tester in the hardware testing lab and moved to Laptop Mag in 2024.

The Quick List

The best laptops for Photoshop in 2024

Best Laptop for Photoshop Overall

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There's little not to love about the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 16 Gen 9. It features a gorgeous display, powerful processor, solid discrete graphics, and enough memory and storage for creators of all skill levels. It even comes with decent battery life and a comfortable, bouncy keyboard. 

The Yoga Pro 9i covers 105.7% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, which is well above the premium laptop average (91.2%). Its display is far better than similar laptops like the HP Spectre x360 16 (87.1%), Dell XPS 14 OLED (79.9%), and Apple MacBook Air (77.8%).

The Yoga Pro's powerful combination of an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 graphics card provide enough power for even the most demanding projects. The Yoga Pro 9i also lasted a respectable 9 hours and 51 minutes on the Laptop Mag battery test, which is far more than many similarly packaged laptops.

The Yoga Pro 9i 16 Gen 9 base model costs just $1,482 for an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. The fully specced $2,043 version provides an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor with an RTX 4060 GPU and a 16-inch, 3.2K, Mini-LED display. Our preferred middle-of-the-road spec costs just $1,784.

See our full Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 16 Gen 9 review. 

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Best Laptop for Photoshop Under $1000

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The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (Q425) is one of those laptops that can do just about anything, and it continuously astounds us just how budget-friendly this absolute powerhouse is. With power performance, solid graphics, and almost 16 hours of battery life, we have good reason to love the Zenbook 14 OLED as much as we do.

Starting at just $799, this laptop has a powerful Intel Core Ultra 5 135H processor with 8GB of DDR5 memory, 512GB of SSD storage, and a 14-inch FHD OLED panel. But if you can flex your budget just a bit more to the higher-end spec, at just $1,049, you get an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor with 16GB of DDR5 memory and 1TB of SSD storage.

The Zenbook 14 OLED's display could be brighter and more vibrant, but with a DCI-P3 rating of 79.8%, it is comparable to most other laptops in its category, such as the Apple MacBook Air 13 M3 (77.8%) and the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED UX3405M (81.7%). 

But the Zenbook 14 OLED is more than its display panel. Surviving a shocking 15 hours and 52 minutes on the Laptop Mag battery test, it is one of the longest-lasting Intel laptops we've seen this year. Considering how budget-friendly this laptop is and how well it handles Photoshop, you can't go wrong with it.

See our full Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (Q425M) review.

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Best Laptop for Photoshop Under $1500

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With the base model now starting at just $1,499 the Dell XPS 14 is a great budget option for someone who needs a bit more 3D rendering capacity for their Photoshop needs. Combining a powerful Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor with a workhorse Nvidia RTX 4050 GPU, plus 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, creators who need a portable editing laptop will be well-served by the XPS 14.

However, if you'd like more memory, storage, and a vibrant OLED panel, you can get our preferred XPS 14 OLED configuration for just $1,999. That gets you an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, Nvidia RTX 4050, 32GB of RAM, 1TB storage, and a 14-inch 3.2K OLED display.

The display on our base XPS 14 configuration covered just 64.5% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, while the 3.2K OLED configuration covered a respectable 79.9%. The Apple MacBook Pro 14 M3 (81.3%) and HP Spectre x360 14 (85.8%) outperformed both XPS 14 displays, but the XPS 14 also offers a powerful Nvidia RTX 4050 GPU which makes it a better fit for more in-depth Photoshop work.

Based on the Laptop Mag battery test, the XPS 14 can last 9 to 11 hours. The XPS 14 OLED lasted 9 hours and 35 minutes, while the non-OLED model lasted a bit longer, ranging from 10:09 to 10:58. While that isn't the best battery life of a laptop on this list, it's not bad for a laptop packing a discrete GPU and optional OLED display panel.

See our Dell XPS 14 and XPS 14 OLED reviews. 

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Best 2-in-1 Laptop for Photoshop

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The Lenovo Yoga Book 9i Gen 9 is a dual-screen 2-in-1 laptop that gives you the absolute best option for a portable, multi-screen photo editing station. With two 13.3-inch 2.8K OLED touchscreen displays, a powerful Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD, this laptop is a clear win for Lenovo and a great choice for Photoshop enthusiasts. It has all the screen space of a portable monitor without taking up additional space in your bag.

The 13-inch 2.8K OLED display is stunning, covering 135.4% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, well above the premium laptop average of 95.2%. With an average peak brightness of 359 nits, this powerful and portable 2-in-1 has the brightness and vibrancy to make editing your photos on the go a breeze.

While the $1,999 starting price may be steep for some, getting two impressive OLED panels for just under $2,000 feels like a steal. While the Yoga Book 9i features integrated Intel Arc graphics, Intel's most recent iGPUs are capable of handling even multi-layered Photoshop work.

Unfortunately, the Yoga Book's dual screens mean the laptop gets less battery life than its single-display competitors. With both screens enabled, the Yoga Book 9i Gen 9 lasted for an average of 7 hours and 16 minutes on the Laptop Mag battery test, while the Yoga Book survived a bit longer at 8:02 when in Laptop mode with only one display enabled. While 7-8 hours of battery life is a bit low compared to some of the other laptops on this list, the versatility and vivid OLED displays of the Yoga Book 9i make it the ideal 2-in-1 for Photoshop.

See our full Lenovo Yoga Book 9i Gen 9 review.

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Best MacBook for Photoshop

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For Apple users and design enthusiasts, the 2023 MacBook Pro 16-inch with M3 Max CPU reigns supreme for photo editing. While pricey (starting at $3,499), it offers powerful performance and a seamless experience within the Apple ecosystem. Opting for a 1TB SSD and 32GB RAM configuration delivers ample storage and smooth Photoshop performance, making it a compelling choice for creative professionals.

With either configuration, you’ll get that brilliant 14-core Apple M3 Max CPU mentioned earlier, a 40-core Apple GPU with a 16-core Neural Engine, and a gorgeous 16.2-inch 3456 x 2234 Liquid Retina XDR display. Despite how colorful our review unit’s display appeared, it only earned a DCI-P3 score of 81.8%, lower than the premium laptop average at the time (97.2%). The laptop scored well on the brightness test, with an average of 560 nits, brighter than the category average of 391 nits.

The 16-inch MacBook Pro (2023) is a smart choice for Photoshop because of its beautiful, bright display and powerfully smooth internal specs. However, there’s another crucial spec to consider: battery life. MacBooks are known for having great battery life, which is a fantastic feature for those wanting to use Photoshop on the go. The 16-inch MacBook Pro lasted an amazing 18 hours and 5 minutes in our battery test, significantly longer than the premium laptop average of 10:02.

See our full MacBook Pro 16-inch (M3 Max, 2023) review.

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Best Workstation Laptop for Photoshop

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The HP ZBook Studio 16 G10 is an absolute powerhouse workstation that can handle anything from 3D rendering and neural filters to lens blur and AI generation. If you need Photoshop's more advanced AI features, you'll want a discrete GPU since Photoshop tends to run its AI workloads through the GPU rather than the CPU or NPU. A dedicated workstation GPU will do a much smoother job than a gaming-focused RTX GPU, which is why the RTX 4000 Ada Generation GPU on the HP ZBook Studio 16 G10 makes this machine more powerful than most Photoshop users will ever need.

But if you flex out of Photoshop and do some 3D rendering in Blender or AutoDesk Maya, or if you plan to use CAD, the HP ZBook Studio is a one-stop shop workstation. The ZBook Studio starts at just $3,201 tho,ugh the model we reviewed retailed for $8,905. So you can get the HP ZBook Studio 16 G10 for less than the price of a used car, but it can be configured to be the absolute top-of-the-line spec if that's what you need. 

The customization options spec options range from an Intel Core i5-13600H to an Intel Core i9-13900H processor, an optional discrete GPU up to the Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada Generation, RAM configurations from 16-64 GB, storage configurations ranging from 512GB to 2TB, and a 16-inch display at either WUXGA (1,920 x 1,200) resolution to WQUXGA (3,840 x 2,400) resolution.

Of course, with such a high price tag on this dedicated workstation, you'd expect a good display, and our lab confirmed that the ZBook Studio offers a high level of visual fidelity. Covering 117.3% of the DCI-P3 color gamut with a Delta-E accuracy of 0.34, the ZBook Studio has a much more vibrant display than competitors like the ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 (DCI-P3 83.7%, 0.22 Delta-E), ZBook Fury 16 G9 (DCI-P3 107.5%, 2.4 Delta-E), and ZBook Power 15 G10a (76.3% DCI-P3, 0.14 Delta-E).

With an Intel Core i9-13900H processor and Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada Generation GPU onboard, our review model lasted only 6 hours and 1 minute on the Laptop Mag battery test; different configurations may have a longer battery life. Then again, you're not likely to take the ZBook Studio 16 G10 anywhere you don't have outlet access because this is a workstation laptop for the Photoshop professional and not someone who just needs to lightly retouch a few vacation photos.

See our full HP ZBook Studio 16 G10 review.

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How To Choose a Laptop for Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop isn't incredibly demanding software, so you won't necessarily need a high-end, expensive laptop to create your visual masterpieces. However, there are a few key specs to look out for. When choosing a laptop for Photoshop specifically, the display specs are perhaps the most important, followed by the laptop's CPU and amount of RAM and storage. 

Working in Photoshop, color accuracy and a wide array of colors are essential. That's why Laptop Mag put laptops with high color accuracy and a high percentage on the DCI-P3 color gamut for this list. Your display size won't matter as much as the resolution, brightness, and display technology. Modern OLED displays, in particular, are fantastic at displaying rich, deep blacks and bright, vivid colors. 

We recommend buying a CPU that is at least a 13th-generation Intel Core i7 or higher. A good laptop for Photoshop should also have at least 16GB of RAM to run the software smoothly and at least 512GB of storage to store all your Photoshop creations when you're done editing. 

If you also love to play video games, some of the best gaming laptops are equally great for Photoshop. Gaming laptops typically come with a discrete GPU, which is ideal for graphics-intensive software like Photoshop but is not a requirement. You can save money by buying a laptop with integrated graphics and still produce some amazing things in Photoshop. 

If you're looking to set up a full photo studio workstation and didn't select a laptop with the best display, you could also upgrade with one of our picks for the best monitors or best portable monitors for on-the-go editing.

How We Test Laptops for Photoshop

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Every laptop we test undergoes countless lab tests before a review goes live. We look at how a laptop fairs in terms of performance, battery life, speakers, heat management, and display. While each laptop on this list has gone through every test we could run on it; there are a few specific test results we paid close attention to when choosing the best laptops for Photoshop. 

When you work with Photoshop, it’s important that the colors you’re working with will accurately translate to other screens when your file is shared. To detect a laptop’s display brightness and DCI-P3 color gamut, we use a Klein K10 colorimeter test. We also pay attention to each laptop’s Delta E score, showing how accurate a display’s colors are. 

Additionally, performance is important in a laptop running Adobe Photoshop. The Geekbench benchmark tests a laptop’s overall performance. To test a laptop’s GPU, the 3DMark benchmark determines how well a laptop can run graphic-intensive applications. Discrete graphics are ideal when selecting a laptop for Photoshop, but you might forgo a discrete GPU for a more budget-friendly laptop. 

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Our experienced team of writers and editors scour the available information about the laptop and put it through its paces to determine which is best for you. But before they start, the testing team subjects each system to a rigorous regimen of synthetic and real-world tests to see how a system handles the type of work and games you’re most likely to throw at it. 

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