The best photo-editing laptops for photographers in 2024 (2024)

The best photo-editing laptops won't just be the perfect tool for photographers needing to do some photo editing. A machine with a fast processor, plenty of RAM, and a large storage drive will also give you a computer ideal for home-working - these slimline marvels will quite likely outperform that dusty old desktop tower in your office!

What's more, the addition of a quality screen with consistent color and contrast will not only bring images to life, but it can also help reduce eye strain and fatigue.

These days pretty much every major laptop manufacturer offers a model sporting a top-spec 4K screen with 100% sRGB color space coverage and wide contrast to keep highlight and shadow detail consistently visible.

The latest MacBook Pro models are still a force to be reckoned with for sheer photo-editing power, or just general home working. The current MacBook Pro 14 (M3, 2023) is stupendously fast, while also boasting stunning screen quality so you can edit images with the best possible accuracy.

Don't ignore the latest crop of Windows PC laptops, though. The market is fierce, producing some excellent all-rounders like the Razer Blade 15, Microsoft Surface Laptop, and Dell XPS 15.

Of course, the right laptop for you depends on many factors: will this be your main machine, or is this a secondary device? How important are power and speed versus portability and battery life? We’d recommend a 15-inch screen size as the best balance between portability and having a versatile Photoshop workspace, while 16-17 inches offers a super-comfortable screen real estate and is worth the extra weight penalty if you'll be predominantly working from home.

Here are the best photo-editing laptops you can get right now…

Ben Andrews

Ben is the Imaging Labs manager, responsible for all the testing on Digital Camera World and across the entire photography portfolio at Future. Whether he's in the lab testing the sharpness of new lenses, the resolution of the latest image sensors, the zoom range of monster bridge cameras or even the latest camera phones, Ben is our go-to guy for technical insight. He's also the team's man-at-arms when it comes to camera bags, filters, memory cards, and all manner of camera accessories –his lab is a bit like the Batcave of photography!With years of experience trialling and testing kit, he's a human encyclopedia of benchmarks when it comes to recommending the best buys.

The Quick List

The best photo-editing laptops in 2024

Most powerful laptop for photo editing

What the M2 Max gives you in terms of photo editing power is astonishing, the MacBook Pro 16 with M2 Max is an absolute demon of a laptop, it will tear through any photo editing you can throw at it and still be ready for more. It handles Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom without breaking a sweat and allows you to carry on with your other work at the same time.

Unfortunately, it also comes with a monstrous price that is truly quite hard to recommend spending, and photographers might be better served by the M2 Pro, which is available in the 16 and 14-inch MacBook Pro. But for those who want a bigger MacBook to see more of their images, the 16-inch is the way to go.

The MacBook Pro 16 is a fantastic laptop, with a lot going for it from the beautiful color-accurate screen, booming speakers, sharp webcams, and excellent keyboard and trackpad, it is a very worthy upgrade for anyone using Intel-based MacBooks.

See our full Apple MacBook Pro 16 M2 Max review

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Best photo editing laptop for portability

Though it isn't a huge performance upgrade from previous M2-based 14" MacBook Pro models, we still found the latest M3 edition to be a joy to use. Editing is a breeze, as it handles Photoshop, Lightroom, and Premiere with ease, barely slowing down as you push the laptop to do more.

The base 8GB RAM option is low though, as you won't be able to add memory after purchase should you ever need more. We'd recommend speccing 16GB for peace of mind, or even 24GB if you want really be future-proofed.

The M3 MacBook Pro is packed with all the ports a creative will need, including three Thunderbolt 4-enabled USB-C ports, HDMI, and an SD card slot. What's more, it has super fast WiFi 6E for uploading and downloading large files, and improved speakers and webcam. This might just be the best MacBook Apple has ever made.

Read our full MacBook Pro 14 (M3, 2023) review

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Best Windows photo editing laptop

Portable power like this is ideal for anyone shooting photos or videos in the field. It’s got everything you need in one package, including enough storage to empty your memory cards into.

In our benchmark tests, the Asus performed extremely well, and Photoshop and Lightroom worked at an impressively fast speed, We noted that the 32 addressable threads of this laptop allow parallel tasks in Lightroom, such as exporting and generating smart previews, are given an extra speed boost.Battery life, however, is a disappointment, which is to be expected given the power-hungry nature of the Asus's components.

However, all this power comes at a price, with the laptop, especially at higher spec models troubling most bank balances. Although as a laptop that’s versatile, portable, powerful, and with the Dial and touchscreen, has features that a comparable MacBook Pro can’t deliver it must surely rank as one of the best laptops for photo and video editing right now.

Read our full Asus ProArt Studiobook 16 OLED review

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Best photo editing laptop for a large screen

The Razer Blade 17 is one of the best of the best when it comes to high-performing laptops for gamers and creatives – and that means it comes with a hefty price tag attached. The cost will be prohibitive for many people, but there's no doubting the power of this laptop.

The configuration of the Razer Blade 17 that we had in for review was retailing for around $4,000 or £4,000 at the time we were writing this review, which gives you some idea. Yes, that's a lot of money to be paying for a laptop – but you get levels of performance are above just about everything else on the market.

If you have the budget to get the best there is then the Razer Blade 17 is certainly a contender for that slot, whether you're planning on using it for high-end gaming on Steam, large video editing projects, or both. That retail price is going to go a long way to determining whether or not this is going to be your next laptop upgrade.

Read our full Razer Blade 17 review

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Best MacBook Air for photo editing

The Apple MacBook Air 15 is probably the best laptop currently on the market for most people, and a superb decision for any photographer, videographer, or creative who wants a larger gorgeous screen, combined with enough power to comfortably run the latest editing software, and all wrapped up in a lightweight package that can easily slip into a backpack.

There are more powerful Apple options for the most demanding editing situations, but for most people, the M2 chip inside the Air 15 will provide more than enough oomph to edit comfortably.

The lack of abundant ports, and the absence of an SD card slot, holds this laptop back from being the ultimate laptop for content creators though, with the MacBook Pro holding a dongle-free existence hostage for now.

Read our full MacBook Air 15.3-inch M2 (2023) review

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Best for photo editing on the move

The Microsoft Surface Pro 9 is deceptively powerful from its compact laptop-tablet hybrid form factor. Not struggling to get through any productivity tasks thrown at it, it can also handle a good amount of photo and video editing with gusto.

The Surface Pro 9 is still a device that is hard to pin into any category. It is a very well-built and beautiful device with a kickstand and hinge that still reigns supreme in the 2-in-1 world.

If you choose to buy the Surface Type Cover and Surface Slim Pen (which you really should) then this is a fantastic productivity device for on the go.As it is designed for travel, there are only two USB-C ports for plugging in peripherals - but if this an issue you can opt to get a USB-C hub.

It is not the most powerful device for photo editing, but it is the perfect device for editing while on the move, or for setting up quickly on shoots.

Read our full Microsoft Surface Pro 9 review for more details

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Most affordable MacBook for photo editing

The Macbook Air released in 2022 is the direct replacement to the Macbook Air of 2020. While it looks incredibly similar to its predecessor, it has been redesigned and is now powered by a more powerful M2 chip (rather than 2020’s M1).

The base M2 chip packs an 8‑core CPU and 8‑core GPU, which can be upgraded to a 10-core GPU for an additional cost. You also get 8GB RAM and 256GB of SSD storage as standard, but photographers and other creatives will almost certainly want to get at least 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD storage.

With our 16GB test machine, we were astounded at how this little laptop could keep up with our most demanding image processing requests and not break a sweat. There are no fans to whir and it doesn’t seem to heat up under pressure. A crystal clear display and comfortable trackpad and keyboard are complemented by a Magsafe power connector and two USB-C ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack for a minimal but utilitarian finish.

All in all, this is an incredible machine for on-the-go image or video editing. We'd still go for the 16-inch MacBook Pro (2021) model for its more comfortable screen size, but the new M2 Air is still an awesome machine.

Read more: MacBook Air M2 full review

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Best budget Windows

If you want the most amount of performance for least amount of cash, the Asus TUF A16 is well worth considering. Though designed for gaming, that just means it's also got plenty of firepower for heavy duty image editing, courtesy of a powerful 8-core AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS processor, paired with 16GB RAM.

Of course there's no point having plenty of power without being able to see exactly what you're editing, but thankfully Asus hasn't skimped on the screen specs here. The 16-inch IPS LCD display is comfortably large to work on, while its 2560 x 1600 resolution is plenty high enough, even if it isn't 4K.

Surprisingly, given the potent processing hardware, we even found battery life to be impressive during our time testing the TUF A16. Sure, if you're a heavy user it'll plummet, but we managed over 10 hours of light use and video playback.

You could spend two or even three times the cost of this laptop and still not get appreciably better performance, making the TUF A16 a real bargain.

Read more: Asus TUF A16 full review

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Best hybrid design photo editing laptop

The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio is perhaps the slickest touchscreen laptop specifically aimed at designers and those in other creative fields.

It features a hybrid design, so can convert from a laptop into a tablet, but it doesn't do so via the usual 360-degree hinge. Instead, the Surface Laptop Studio has a dual hinge so it can open up like a normal laptop, with a secondary hinge around the center of the display that lets you pull the screen forwards so the bottom locks in place magnetically just above the touchpad. Or it can sit flat where the lid would usually be.This gets you the “fat tablet” style of a 360-degree hinge, without leaving the keyboard sitting awkwardly underneath.

Inside, 11th-gen Intel processors and up to 32GB of RAM make light work of image editing, though the Surface Laptop Studio is far from the most powerful laptop on the market. However, like other Surface computers it excludes quality throughout, including parts workstations tend to neglect, such as the speakers and webcam.

Just be careful when it comes to ticking the option boxes when you buy, as the price can quickly increase to levels that are tough to justify for the performance you'll get.

Read more: Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio full review for more details

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Best MacBook alternative for photo editing

Microsoft's Surface Laptop 5 is a fantastic option for anyone design-conscious, who wants a traditional clamshell design Windows laptop that is oozing with style.

With a big, sharp, and colorful screen, a fantastic keyboard, and a large trackpad, the Surface Laptop 5 is a joy to use. Although a design overhaul wouldn't go amiss, with its chunky bezels needing reducing and a couple more ports squeezed in.

The Surface Laptop 5 performs very well at productivity tasks, easily handling Office apps for work or school, intensive web browsing, and video streaming, and photographers can be confident in performing light photo editing in Lightroom or Photoshop.

When it comes to video, the Surface Laptop struggles and keen filmmakers might want to look at options with a dedicated graphics card - or that sport an Apple logo.

Read our full Surface Laptop 5 review

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How to choose the best photo-editing laptop

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How we test the best photo-editing laptops

When reviewing a laptop, we assess its internal hardware features, build quality, ergonomics, performance in a variety of usage scenarios, value for money, and its overall suitability for its target buyer. Although we'll evaluate a laptop with a typical user in mind, we will also pay particular attention to the perspective of photo and video enthusiasts, with special focus given to screen quality and color space coverage. Where possible, a monitor calibrator will be used to measure a laptop's display performance to assess whether it matches a manufacturer's claims, and software benchmarks like GeekBench are used to measure a laptop's processor and graphics card capabilities.

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