Laptops for Adobe Photoshop need a powerful processor, high-end graphics cards, a significant amount of memory and storage. You’ll be working with high-resolution images, or even creating your assets, to get the job done.
We’ve tested and listed down our top 5 picks for the best laptops for Photoshop, so you don’t have to. Some of our choices include personal favorites, but they’re personal favorites for a reason. That being said, let’s dig into them.
Contents
Best Laptop for Photoshop Compared
| Features | ||
|---|---|---|
New Apple MacBook Pro | ||
Razer Blade 15 | ||
HP Envy X360 | ||
ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo | ||
Lenovo Flex 5 |
5 Best Laptops for Photoshop Reviewed
1. Apple MacBook Pro [Best MacBook for Photoshop]
Specs:
The Apple MacBook Pro is a top choice for Adobe Photoshop thanks to its powerful specs and the fact that it’s designed for media-specialists and professionals. The MacBook Pro takes graphic design to a whole new level.
Benefits
The new Apple MacBook Pro comes with a powerful Intel Core i7 processor. The CPU of the MacBook Pro can easily handle anything you throw at it, but if you’re willing to pay a little bit more, you can avail of the Intel Core i9.
You’re going to need enough storage to store your files and assets when using Adobe Photoshop, and this model of the MacBook comes with a 512GB solid-state drive. Paired with the 16GB RAM, you won’t have any productivity problems, as Photoshop will run without any lag.
That being said, just like the processor of the MacBook Pro, as long as you’re willing to pay more, you can opt to upgrade both the memory and storage capacity of the laptop, up to 32GB and 1TB respectively.
You’re going to need a great GPU in your laptop to properly run Adobe Photoshop without any issues. With the AMD Radeon Pro Graphics GPU, any graphics-intensive tasks, not just from Photoshop, but even from some of your favorite games on ultra-high settings.
Working with Adobe Photoshop means you’ll be spending a lot of hours in front of your screen getting your image editing, vectors, and assets done. With a 16-inch Retina Display, which is supported by True Tone Technology, you won’t encounter any problems.
The display offers a huge quantity of pixels and an almost perfect color reproduction. Not only that, but you can say good-bye to exhausted eyes after a long day of work because the Apple MacBook Pro can adjust the amount of blue light from the screen based on the time of day.
With the MacBook Pro’s TouchBar, using Adobe Photoshop becomes a lot more convenient. The TouchBar allows you to perform shortcuts and tasks much more conveniently, and you can customize it to suit your needs and your preferences.
Connectivity and file transfer are much quicker and more convenient with the MacBook Pro. You have access to three Thunderbolt ports, which goes up to speeds of 40GBPS, meaning you can transfer larger files at quicker speeds.
The MacBook Pro isn’t the lightest laptop on the list, but it’s still easy to carry around with you. Weighing in at just 4.5lbs, it’s lightweight and easy to carry around with you, so editors and designers on the go can easily carry it around with them.
Downsides
As long as you’re willing to pay more, you can purchase upgrades for your Apple MacBook Pro. Unfortunately, each upgrade you purchase for your MacBook is going to cost quite a bit of money. Not only do upgrades cost quite a bit, but repairs do too.
The MacBook Pro only lives up to half its advertised battery life, up to 5 hours long, which isn’t spectacular. There are other laptops that last much longer and offer similar if not better specs.
Despite the fantastic sound quality of the MacBook Pro, the placement of the speakers looks quite strange. It ends up looking like there is too much space around the keyboard and that the speaker placement is an afterthought.
Pros
- Powerful i7 processor
- Crystal clear Retina display with True Tone Technology
- TouchBar offers additional navigation and shortcut options
- A productivity powerhouse for graphic artists and designers
- Portable and lightweight
- Good battery life
Cons
- Upgrading to a much higher configuration is expensive
- Apple repairs are costly
2. Razer Blade 15 [Best For Photoshop & Gaming]
Specs:
The Razer Blade 15 is a top-tier gaming laptop with powerful specs. These specs are what make this laptop fantastic for Adobe Photoshop. Designers who love to play their favorite games after a long day at work will love this laptop, and here’s why.
Benefits
One of the best features of the Razer Blade 15 is that its gaming specs make it a powerful laptop to handle other software without any hiccups whatsoever. With an Intel Core i7 processor, the Razer should be able to run Photoshop with little to no difficulty.
When you spend your time creating your designs and assets, you’ll want to be able to multitask without any hiccups. With 16GB of RAM, not only will you be able to run multiple windows of Adobe Photoshop simultaneously, but also several browsing tabs and Spotify, too.
The 256GB SSD is large enough to store your programs, files, and even your favorite games. You’re going to need a large amount of storage to keep your raw and edited files, which the Razer Blade 15 provides. If this isn’t enough, the Razer Blade 15 comes with upgrade slots for both its storage and memory.
The Razer Blade 15 offers a full-HD, 15.6-inch display. It offers fantastic color reproduction, and with enough brightness to make working in bright rooms comfortable. The screen also has a matte finish, so you won’t have to deal with glare or pesky reflections while in bright light.
This model of the Razer Blade 15 comes with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti Graphics, which is sure to give you the best performance while editing your photos and creating your designs. If you’re looking for something more powerful, you can always pay a little more and opt for the RTX.
Of course, transferring your files to retrieve images and the like is important for any graphic designer, and you won’t have any difficulty with multiple USB ports and a Thunderbolt 3 port.
The Razer Blade 15 has an all-aluminum build and a very sturdy hinge that won’t wear quickly. The backlit keyboard makes working at night or in dimly lit rooms a breeze, and the trackpad is very responsive to the touch.
It’s also one of the lightest gaming laptops out on the market, weighing in at just 4.6lbs. Though it’s a little bit heavier than the MacBook Pro, it’s still easy to carry around with you, so you can carry your work (and play) around with you wherever you want to go.
Downsides
The placement of the up-arrow key is the only issue we’ve found with the Razer Blade 15. It’s placed in between the “?” key and the Shift key, which makes you prone to making a lot more typos.
Pros
- Powerful i7 processor for graphics and gaming tasks
- RTX GPU is available at a slightly higher price
- Upgradeable storage and memory
- Lightweight for a gaming laptop
- High-definition display with 144Hz refresh rate
Cons
- Arrow keys on the keyboard are placed awkwardly
- Lasts only 5 hours long
3. HP Envy X360 [Best Laptop for Students]
Specs:
Graphic artists on a tighter budget or multimedia arts students will love the HP Envy X360. With a fantastic touchscreen and stylus feature, and affordable yet powerful specs, this laptop is a great choice for users looking to run Adobe Photoshop while under a budget.
Benefits
Students and artists on a much tighter budget should look at the HP Envy X360. It comes with an AMD Ryzen 5 quad-core processor, which is good enough to run Adobe Photoshop, as AMD offers fantastic midrange processors.
While it isn’t as powerful as the other laptops here, the HP offers up 8GB of RAM, which is a decent size for students and entry-level professionals alike who need to run Photoshop to create their designs. It can also support multiple browsing windows if you need to look for inspiration, or other programs like Spotify to listen to music.
The storage capacity of the HP Envy X360 is fantastic, with a 256GB SSD, you should have enough space to store your programs and files. You can upgrade both the memory and storage of the HP Envy X360 if you’re looking to increase this laptop’s power.
You can also play some of your favorite games while you’re on a break from your coursework thanks to the AMD Radeon graphics card. This GPU is great when you’re doing some lighter loads of work on Photoshop, particularly for less experienced users.
The HP Envy X360 also features an impressive display, as well as a high screen-to-body ratio, giving you a much larger viewing area. The quality of the images and color reproduction is great on the HP, and it also is a touchscreen display.
With an IPS panel integrated into the display of the HP, you can easily view it from any angle. So you won’t have to worry about any color distortions or image warps while working long hours in front of the display.
The beauty of a 2-in-1 laptop for graphic designers and graphic artists lies in how versatile it is. The tablet functionality of the HP Envy X360 makes it a great tool for graphic artists who want to draw or color in their artwork. The HP Active Pen also costs less than $40, making it an affordable tool to add to your arsenal.
It’s also extremely portable, weighing in at only 3lbs. The battery life of the HP is also great, lasting up to 9 hours on a single charge, giving it the most impressive battery life compared to the other laptops here.
Drawbacks
While you’re sure that your screen is protected and safe thanks to the guerilla glass used, Guerilla glass is coated with a glossy finish, making it prone to glare and reflections, but can easily be fixed with a matte screen protector.
Pros
- Powerful yet affordable mid-range specs
- It is a convertible laptop
- Very easy to carry around
- Display protected by Gorilla Glass
- The battery lasts up to 8 hours long
Cons
- Glossy display can be disruptive to some
4. ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo [For Professional Artists]
Specs:
Featuring a fantastic 4K display, and a high-resolution touchscreen, the ZenBook Pro Duo is the newest addition to ASUS’ powerful ultrabook collection. This laptop is a gamechanger for professional artists looking to up their game with the functionalities of a tablet and a laptop, all in one.
Benefits
The ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo is one of ASUS’ top-tier ultrabooks, with a powerful 9th Gen Intel Core i7 quad-core processor, it can handle most tasks without breaking a sweat. The ZenBook is built for pros who know exactly what they need to do.
Multitasking is also much easier and convenient thanks to the 16GB of RAM. The ZenBook Pro Duo was built to be a productivity powerhouse, and it lives up to this. You won’t experience any slowdowns while running many tabs and programs simultaneously.
The ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo offers the best storage capacity of all the laptops on this list. With a 1TB solid-state drive, the ZenBook will easily store your programs and files without you risking running out of space any time soon.
Nothing gets much better than the dedicated NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 graphics card of the ZenBook Pro Duo. You’re sure to get optimal graphics performance from your laptop, whether creating your designs or playing your favorite games in your free time.
The display is nothing to scoff at either, offering ultra-high quality, with perfect color reproduction, crisp images, and top-notch quality. The 4K UHD display is surrounded by extremely narrow bezels and offers a massive display area. You won’t get a screen much better than this.
For the feature you’re probably most eager to hear about, the touchscreen is also a 4K UHD display, which supports both split-screen and screen extension. The ScreenPad Plus opens up the possibilities you have to create your work with Photoshop.
Each touchscreen display functions well with the ASUS Pen included with this laptop. The pen offers even greater flexibilities to graphic designers and artists, not just with Adobe Photoshop, but with other applications too. The touchscreens work well to the touch of your fingers too, so you don’t have to opt for the pen when browsing with the Pro Duo.
Downsides
There are very few drawbacks to the ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo that we can find, and these issues are quite minor. The main issue is that the Pro Duo isn’t very portable. It only lasts up to 5 hours on a single charge and weighs about 5.5lbs. You’re sure to feel its weight after carrying it around for a while.
Pros
- Powerful i7 processor can handle any intensive task
- Largest SSD of all laptops on this list
- RTX graphics card can render very quickly
- Both displays are 4K UHD touchscreen displays
- Both touchscreens are responsive to the ASUS pen and your finger
- ASUS pen is included
Cons
- Only up to 5 hours of battery
- Heaviest laptop on this list
5. Lenovo Flex 5 [Best Portability]
Specs:
The Lenovo Flex 5 is another great choice for students and entry-level professionals looking for a laptop to create their designs on. With its 2-in-1 features and tablet-mode functions, the Lenovo is another great option for users who prefer working with styluses and touchscreen displays.
Benefits
The AMD Ryzen 5 quad-core processor of the Lenovo Flex 5 can handle running Adobe Photoshop and other tasks you need to create your work without experiencing any issues. Though it isn’t as powerful as the higher-end processing chips found on other laptops, it still gets the job done easily.
With 16GB of RAM, you can easily browse the internet or listen to your favorite tracks while you work on your assets and designs. It also lets you work on multiple designs at the same time or use other design and editing software alongside Photoshop without any hiccups.
You should have enough storage with 256GB. The Lenovo Flex uses a solid-state drive for your programs and files so they’re more quickly accessible. Having a solid-state drive also means that everything is stored on a more reliable type of drive.
The AMD Radeon Graphics card works quite well with Photoshop, so you should get good graphic performance from the Lenovo Flex 5. It’s also great for playing a couple of games after a long day at work.
The Lenovo Flex 5 is another great 2-and-1 convertible laptop option for Photoshop users. With a full-HD touchscreen display, it replicates colors well, offers clear and crisp images, and doesn’t have any backlight bleed. The stylus included with the Lenovo also works well when using this laptop in tablet mode.
It has a sturdy, sleek build, and the hinge doesn’t feel loose or flimsy at all. It weighs less than 4lbs, so artists who take their work with them between home, the office, and everywhere in between won’t weigh you down.
Another plus to the Lenovo Flex 5’s portability is its battery life. It lasts up to 7 hours long on a single charge with moderate use and charges up to 100% in a little over an hour.
Getting a day’s work done with this laptop won’t be much of a problem either thanks to its battery life. It can last up to 7-hours long and is quick to charge, reaching 80% in approximately 1 hour.
Downsides
The biggest issue of the Lenovo Flex 5 is that the on-board RAM is soldered into it. If anything goes wrong with the on-board RAM, you might encounter some processing issues with this laptop.
Having a dim display makes it difficult to work in brighter rooms, and the glossy finish on the touchscreen display makes it hard to see under direct sunlight. Viewing the display from different angles might also be more difficult because of the glossy finish.
Pros
- Affordable mid-range specs
- Can handle simple designs and renders
- Sturdy hinge for the 360-degree display
- Responsive touchscreen to both finger and stylus
- Second best battery life, lasting up to 7 hours long
- Quick to charge to 100%
Cons
- Soldered in RAM
- Display not bright enough for outdoor use
Best Laptop for Photoshop FAQ
Q1. What are the system requirements for Adobe Photoshop?
To make the most of Adobe Photoshop, you’ll need to have the following system requirements, or better:
- CPU: Intel or AMD processor with 64-bit support, 2 GHz or faster processor
- RAM: 8 GB
- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 / NVIDIA Quadro T1000
- OS: 64-bit Windows 10, October 2018 update, version 1809 or later
- Screen Resolution: 720p
Q2. Is the GPU important for motion graphics?
Not really. While having a dedicated GPU is better than having an integrated one, there won’t be too much of a difference when running Adobe Photoshop. The GPU is what you need to render your designs quickly, and if it’s a static image, it won’t take too long to render on an integrated or low-end dedicated card.
Q3. Do I need a touchscreen and pen to use Photoshop?
That boils down to personal preference. Most graphic designers who create vector images and do photo editing and manipulation might find that a touchscreen and pen are unnecessary, while graphic artists who draw and color in their art might find it to be more convenient for use.
Q4. Why does my laptop heat up when using Photoshop?
Any laptop starts to heat up when used over an extended period, and how hot they get depends on the laptop’s thermal management and ventilation. All the laptops we’ve listed down on our list have great thermal management, so these don’t risk overheating while you create or render your designs.
Q5. Do I need GPU to create and render 3D models?
Yes. Much like with video editing, having a better graphics card render your 3D models much faster. This also gives you the ability to work on higher-resolution models and use more polygons as you create your structures.
Conclusion
Professionals looking for a new laptop should be ready to shell out the big bucks if they want to make off with the best of the best laptops for Photoshop. The better your specs and the features of the laptop, the more productive and creative you can become.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that more budget-friendly laptops won’t do as much, as it all depends on the user on how they plan to make do with the laptop. At the end of the day, it’s your creativity that holds you back when creating and designing.
These laptops reach a wide spectrum of criteria based on the varying needs of today’s graphic designers and artists. Whether you’re a student looking to get through your art courses, or an experienced professional, these laptops and their specs are a great basis for what you’d need to look for in a laptop.
Let us know down below if these laptops have done the job for you, or if you think the other laptops you’ve used fit the bill much better than what we’ve listed down.
Happy designing!
