Photoshop is a powerful photo editing application that offers much more than simple cropping and resizing. The Adobe application lets you perform magic on your photos, including new AI features such as generative image creation and generative fill. But all that power requires the right laptop to make it all happen.
To begin with, youll want a larger display unless youre doing your work in tight spaces. Todays 16-inch laptops are great choices. Youll also want a high-resolution display with dynamic and accurate colors, specifically a 2.8K or sharper panel with wide color coverage and accurate colors. And youll want a fast processor that can churn through complex filters and layers, of course, with an absolute minimum of 16GB of RAM (preferably more).
Weve reviewed hundreds of laptops, and a handful stand out as the best laptops for Photoshop.
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 is the best overall laptop for Photoshop The Asus ProArt Studiobook 16 OLED is the best laptop with built-in Photoshop tools The Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 Gen 2 is the best portable laptop for Photoshop The HP Spectre x360 16 is the best convertible 2-in-1 for Photoshop The Asus Zenbook 14 Q425 is the best affordable laptop for Photoshop
Apple MacBook Pro 16
Best overall for Photoshop
Pros | Cons |
Strong performance | Expensive |
Exceptional build quality | Color accuracy just a little behind |
Bright and colorful display | |
Excellent battery life |
It all begins with the Apple Silicon M3 chipset. The M3 Max sits at the top of the performance food chain, with up to 16 fast CPU cores and 40 GPU cores. That chipset features a 16-core Neural Engine, and the GPU includes a new Dynamic Caching memory architecture and hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading. While those features dont necessarily impact Photoshops performance today, the M3 Max can handle the most demanding photo editing needs with room for future advancements.
Just as importantly, the MacBook Pro 16 can be configured with up to 128GB of RAM, equipping it to handle the largest images and to utilize Photoshops entire array of advanced editing tools. With up to 8TB of fast SSD storage, the MacBook Pro 16 doesnt rely on external storage to manage massive photo libraries. And even with all that power, the MacBook Pro 16 lasts for days on a charge, making for the most efficient portable Photoshop workstation.
The 16.2-inch Liquid Retina mini-LED display is sharp at a 3456 x 2234 resolution (254 PPI) and offers stunning image quality. In our testing, its colors werent as wide as some at 89% of AdobeRGB, although DCI-P3 is at 100%, and its accuracy came in at a DeltaE of 1.22, which is just a little over the preferred 1.0 or less. But thats good enough for serious photo editing while offering incredible brightness at 640 nits in standard dynamic range (SDR) and up to 1,600 nits in high dynamic range (HDR). The extremely high contrast ratio afforded by 10,000 mini-LEDs makes for perfect blacks and bright whites. The display also runs at up to 120Hz, enabling a buttery smooth interface.
Specifications | |
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Display
|
16.2-inch Liquid Retina (3456 x 2234) mini-LED, 120Hz |
Processor | Apple M3, M3 Pro, M3 Max |
GPU | Apple M3, M3 Pro, M3 Max |
RAM | Up to 128GB DDR5 |
Storage | Up to 8TB SSD |
Weight
|
4.8 pounds |
Asus ProArt Studiobook 16 OLED
Best laptop with built-in Photoshop tools
Pros | Cons |
Strong performance | Expensive |
Excellent OLED display | Poor battery life |
Useful Asus Dial | Touchpad position is odd |
Responsive haptic touchpad |
The ProArt Studiobook 16 OLED is built around the fast Intel Core i9-13980HX, a 55-watt powerhouse with 24 cores (eight Performance and 16 Efficient) and 32 threads, running at up to a blistering 5.6GHz. The GPU options include the Nvidia RTX 3000 Ada, a chip built specifically for performance and reliability in applications like Photoshop. Those are paired with up to 64GB of fast memory, and two slots allow for a massive 8TB of storage via dual 4TB SSDs running in RAID0 for maximum speed.
The 16-inch OLED display is sharp enough at 3200 x 2000 to support high-res images while providing 97% Adobe RGB and 100% DCI-P3 coverage. Its accuracy is very good at a DeltaE of 1.06. Its bright enough at 372 nits, and it has OLEDs typical high contrast and inky blacks. Asus includes a utility to help dial in the best colors and closely match photo editing workflows. The panel also runs at a fast 120Hz refresh rate.
As with the other Windows laptops on this list, the ProArt Studiobook 16 OLED cant match the MacBook Pro 16s phenomenal battery life. But, few laptops can, which is why the Apple machine is at the top of this list.
Specifications | |
---|---|
Screen Size
|
Up to 13.3-inch 2.8K (2880 x 1800) OLED |
Processor | Up to AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 7840U |
GPU | Up to AMD Radon 780M graphics |
RAM | Up to 64GB DDR5 |
Storage | Up to 2TB SSD |
Weight
|
2.87 pounds |
Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 Gen 2
The best portable laptop for Photoshop
Pros | Cons |
Good performance | Below-average battery life |
Sharp OLED display | No discrete GPU option |
Excellent haptic touchpad | |
Solid build |
Speaking of performance, the available 15-30 watt AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 7840U provides strong performance thanks to eight cores and 16 threads running at up to 5.1GHz. Its fast enough for on-the-go editing and offers AMDs AI Engine for futureproofing. The integrated AMD Radeon 780M graphics are fast enough for smooth workflows, although it holds the laptop back from the class-leading performance of the other laptops included here. Unlike many 13-inch machines, the ThinkPad Z13 Gen 2 can equip up to 64GB of RAM, and the 2TB SSD is large enough for large photo libraries. And theres plenty of connectivity for external storage.
The 13.3-inch 3.2K OLED display option is exceptional, offering support for 96% Adobe RGB and 100% DCI-P3. Color accuracy is excellent at a DeltaE of 0.75, and brightness is excellent at 484 nits. Youll enjoy the usual OLED blacks and whites, with a high contrast ratio. The panel runs at just 60Hz, which is its only flaw.
Specifications | |
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Screen Size
|
16.0-inch 3.2K (3200 x 2000) OLED, 120Hz |
Processor | Intel Core i9-13980HX |
GPU | Up to Nvidia RTX 3000 Ada |
RAM | Up to 64GB DDR5 |
Storage | Up to 8TB SSD (two 4TB SSDs in RAID0) |
Weight
|
4.8 pounds |
HP Spectre x360 16 2024
Best convertible 2-in-1 for Photoshop
Pros | Cons |
Good performance | Large in tablet mode |
Quality OLED display | GPU is underpowered |
Excellent keyboard and haptic touchpad | |
Solid build |
The Spectre x360 16 uses the 14th-gen 28-watt Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, which has 16 cores (six Performance, eight Efficient, and two Low Power Efficient) and 22 threads, running at up to 4.8GHz. Its a fast chipset that offers a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) for whenever Photoshop starts running its various AI tasks on-device. HP offers up to the RTX 4050, a discrete GPU that is as fast as youll find in a convertible 2-in-1 like the Spectre x360 16. Up to 32GB of RAM and 2TB of SSD storage will help all but the most demanding photo editors get their work done. Battery life is good for a large laptop, although still well behind the MacBook Pro 16s.
The 16.0-inch 2.8K OLED display supports 96% of the Adobe RGB and 100% of the DCI-P3 color spaces, with color accuracy coming in at a DeltaE of 1.11. Thats a little worse than we like to see but is still good enough for most photographers. The display is bright at 399 nits and has the usual perfect blacks. A 120Hz refresh rate makes for a smoother interface.
Specifications | |
---|---|
Screen Size
|
16.0-inch 2.8K (2880 x 1800) OLED, 120Hz |
Processor | Intel Core Ultra 7 155H |
GPU | Up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 |
RAM | Up to 32GB DDR5 |
Storage | Up to 2TB SSD |
Weight
|
4.3 pounds |
Asus Zenbook 14 Q425
The best budget laptop for Photoshop
Pros | Cons |
Strong performance | Display is only FHD+ |
Dynamic OLED display | Integrated graphics only |
Good keyboard and touchpad | |
Solid build |
Youll get the same Core Ultra 7 155H as in the Spectre x360 16, which offers the same fast performance for CPU-intensive photo editing tasks. The integrated Intel Arc graphics fall in between the older Intel Iris Xe graphics and the RTX 4050, meaning its not the fastest laptop in terms of graphics, but its enough to get some serious work done. As with the other laptops on this list, except for the Asus ProArt Studiobook 16 OLED, the Zenbook 14 Q425 has an NPU for speeding up on-device AI whenever Adobe bakes the capability into Photoshop.
Once again, OLED leads the way. While the Zenbooks panel is just FHD+ resolution, that shart enough on a 14-inch display. It offers 97% of Adobe RGB and 100% of DCI-P3, with excellent accuracy at a DeltaE of 0.9. The display is bright at 361 nits and has the awesome contrast OLED is known for, presenting perfect blacks and standout whites. The panel runs at 60Hz, which is one of only a few concessions made to bring the Zenbook 14 Q425 in at an attractively low price.
Specifications | |
---|---|
Screen Size
|
14.0-inch FHD+ (1920 x 1200) OLED |
Processor | Up to Intel Core Ultra 7 155H |
GPU | Intel Arc graphics |
RAM | Up to 16GB DDR5 |
Storage | Up to 1TB SSD |
Weight
|
2.82 pounds |