1. Best laptop overall
2. Best for professionals
3. Best for creatives
4. Best for portability
5. Best for perfection
6. Best MacBook alternative
7. Best mobile workstation
8. Best for gamers
9. Best 2-in-1
10. FAQs
11. How to choose
12. How we test
If you’re looking for the best laptop for photo editing, it’s all about balancing performance and portability. Powerful enough to run Photoshop, Lightroom, and other photo editors. Yet lightweight and portable enough to go with you on any assignment.
The best photo editing PC is great when you’re based at home, in the office, or in the studio. But the lives of photographers, artists, and designers is always unpredictable, and you never know when inspiration might strike. That’s when the best photo editing laptops really come into their own.
We’ve tested the best laptops for photo editing across Windows and Mac. Our round-up even includes some of the best laptops for graphic design and best video editing laptops for smooth creative workflows.
As part of our review process, we’ve explored each device’s internal specs like CPU, GPU, and RAM. We’ve also assessed weight, portability, screen quality, and overall performance when using the laptop for photo editing software.
Best laptop for photo editing
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Below you'll find full write-ups for each of the best laptops for photo editing in our list. We've tested each one extensively, so you can be sure that our recommendations can be trusted.
Best laptop for photo editing overall
If you’re looking for the best laptop for photo editing, the MacBook Pro 16in M2 model offers outstanding performance, wrapped up in that always-sleek Apple aesthetic
We don’t hesitate in calling this “the best screen on a laptop” in our review. Its gorgeous 16in, 3456 x 2234 Liquid Retina XDR display providing a broad canvas for any photo editing project.
Driving the Apple Macbook Pro is the powerful M2 chip that we found more than capable of handling hardware-intensive creative apps. Benchmarking the machine, it hit a PugentBench Photoshop score of 1,060; Premier Pro scored 1,095; Blender, 123.97. The base configuration comes with 10-core CPU, a 16-core GPU, 16GB memory, and 512GB SSD storage. However, photographers and editors will be better off with the 32GB RAM and 1TB storage configuration.
It’s not the lightest photo editing laptop, and its larger screen makes it less portable. But the Macbook Pro is a great choice if you’re on the go, working at home, in the office, the studio, the coffee shop. Whether running plugged in or off the battery, there were next to no differences in performance during our tests.
Read our full Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (2023) review
Best laptop for photography professionals
Dell XPS 17 is one of, if not the slickest and sleekest laptops around. If it looks familiar, that’s because it’s an upgrade on the 2021 model - an equally suitable choice for photographers and content creators.
The 17in panel is a stunner of a screen rated at a punchy 500 nits, with 100 percent coverage of the Adobe RGB gamut. CPU performance will meet even the most demanding users. Our testing showed it effectively has everything you could ask for, tearing through everything from video encodes to 3D renders with ease. It’s a speedy machine, too. You’ll have no difficulty running image editors like Photoshop and Lightroom.
For working on the go, we found battery life surprisingly good for a photography laptop of this size. In the TechRadar movie test, it lasted an impressive 10.14 hours. On the other hand, it’s not the most portable laptop for photo editing. If you’re looking for a Dell laptop you can place in a bag and take to multiple locations, the XPS 13 is the better option.
Read our full Dell XPS 17 (2022) review
Best photo editing laptop designed for creatives
The Gigabyte Aero line is specifically designed as a laptop for creative endeavors like photo editing and video editing.
First impressions are great. An aluminum frame with a clean, simple design. An accurate, tactile keyboard. A striking 16:10 4K OLED display that promises plenty of room to play with images. For its size, it’s a surprisingly lightweight laptop for photographers..
Under the hood is no less impressive. You’ll find an RTX 4070 GPU, up to 4TB SSD storage, and up to 64GB RAM. A 13th-gen Intel Core i9 CPU powers the machine - and you’ll need it. Reviewing the device, we found the Aero 16 handled basic documents and web browsing effortlessly and noiselessly. When we moved on to video editing and photo editing, that’s when we noticed this laptop even start to rev its i9.
On the downside, it’s not the most affordable option on the market, even when compared with Apple Macs. The battery lasted 8 hours and 23 minutes in our testing - frankly, we expected more. And the placement of ports to the rear, usually associated with mobile workstations, took some getting used to. Still, performance was good overall, scoring 7158 on the standard PCMark test we ran.
Read our full Gigabyte Aero 16 review
Best photo editing laptop for portability
If you prize portability and performance, the MacBook Air is an exceptional choice of laptop. Weighing just 2.7 pounds (1.24kg) and measuring 11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches, it’s slim and light and comfortable enough to cart to multiple locations.
The M2 processor is smooth and powerful. If you‘re editing in the Adobe suite, you’ll find M2-native apps for more reliable performance. During tests, we even managed to edit 4K home movies in iMovie. The MacBook Air didn’t even break a sweat. We’d go so far as to say we saw no perceptible difference to the M2 MacBook Pro when used for similar tasks.
With a limited amount of rather professional-looking hues, those looking to express themselves will be disappointed. It’s also expensive compared to the previous model, despite not quite matching up to it - although it’s a close run. Think of it more as a replacement for the 13-inch MacBook Pro, and it starts to make a lot more sense. See our MacBook Air 15 review to compare the 13- and 15in models available.
Read our full Apple MacBook Air (M2, 2022) review
Best for "laptop perfection"
“The 2022 Dell XPS 15 delivers laptop perfection” was our verdict after testing this stellar laptop. Combining a gorgeous design with powerful performance across the board, the XPS 15
It’s all down to the improved specs. The Intel Alder Lake processor, the faster RAM. But what many devices do competently, the XPS 15 does brilliantly, outperforming pretty much every other laptop on the market in this range. Our tests revealed all. Single-core performance in GeekBench 5 for the XPS 15’s Core i7 was nearly as strong as the Intel Core i9-12900H in our Asus ZenBook 14X OLED Space Edition. It did even better in CineBench R23's multi-core test. With its discrete GPU, the photo editing laptop achieved exceptional results in our 3DMark benchmarks. However, as a gaming laptop, performance is solid but unspectacular.
As a 15in laptop, it’s highly portable - complemented by an impressive battery life. In our PCMark 10 test. it lasted just over 12 hours, and about two hours less in our HD movie test.
Read our full Dell XPS 15 review
Best MacBook alternative for photographers
It may look like its predecessor, but the Apple MacBook Pro 13in offers a vastly improved performance and battery life, thanks to its powerful M2 processor.
We put it to the test to prove it, and were delighted with the results. This laptop easily handled everything from photo editing to video editing. What's more is that it tackled those tasks in near-silence throughout our time with the MacBook. The fans rarely kick in to keep things cool and minimize distractions from your creative process. And yes, battery life is longer than ever, lasting over 15 and a half hours during our testing.
Those wanting to upgrade from its predecessor might be disappointed. For starters, there are still only two Thunderbolt ports. And the 720p webcam is poor. Nor does the design doesn’t stray far from Apple’s classic aesthetic - but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The smaller screen size and overall portability makes it a better choice for someone regularly on the move. If an upgrade in specs and performance is top priority, it's worth it, especially considering it hasn't gone up in price.
Read our full MacBook Pro 13-inch (M2, 2022) review
Best mobile workstation for photo editing
The Lenovo ThinkPad P16 is a big, bold mobile workstation - it’s well over twice the weight of a MacBook Air - so It’s not one to be carted around all day. But if you want a powerhouse machine, we found this one ripped right through every test we threw at it.
Outside, the casing is sturdy and feels durable, the full-sized keyboard with numpad feels comfortable to type on. And the 4K OLED display is, we found, bright and clear - even in the middle of the day, we could easily see every area on our screen.
Inside, you’ll find a serious work-horse of an engine. When we tested the photo editing laptop, with the 12th Gen Intel i9 configuration, it showed a strength for more complex creative or design projects and workflows. It’s not the absolute fastest, but it's close, scoring 7651 in our extended PCMark testing, which is comparable to similar devices.
Overall, the Lenovo ThinkPad P16 is well-built and ready for intense creative tasks, 3D modeling, and the like.
Read our full Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Mobile Workstation review
Best photo editing laptop for gamers
We weren’t kidding when we called the Razer Blade 17 “the ultimate laptop for gamers and creatives.”
The Razer Blade series of laptops have gained a reputation for offering the best of both worlds - sleek and professional look paired with powerhouse creative performance. During our testing, we used the laptop for everyday use, as well as running creative apps like Adobe Photoshop and Blender. With 32GB RAM, it never appeared to struggle.
Despite its size, it does fit into a standard-sized backpack. But it’s undoubtedly a large machine that absolutely eats through the battery. And it’s a shame to see Razer stick with the 16:9 screen ratio when other laptops for photo editing are moving to 16:10. If that’s not a concern, it’s worth consideration. See our Razer Blade 14 review and Razer Blade 15 review to compare the smaller models to this beast.
Read our full Razer Blade 17 (2022) review