Using a powerful laptop can be a game-changer if your creative work uses resource-intensive software. Whether you're rendering frames for a 3D animation, editing 8K video, adding special effects or retouching hi-res photos, a laptop lacking in RAM and graphical power can really slow you down.
In this list, we've picked out the most powerful laptops, which are almost strong enough to stand alongside burly desktops, but also let you to work anywhere. Our experts have road-tested them in rigorous detail, performing both standardised tests and putting them through their paces with demanding creative software.
The MacBook Pro 16-inch with the M3 Max chip offers sleek design, great connectivity, industry-leading battery life and a stunning screen, making it our top pick as the best powerful laptop for most creatives. Read more below
If you prefer Windows to Mac, here's our recommendation. This laptop excelled in our benchmark testing. The OLED touchscreen provides vibrant colours and sharp resolution. And you also get strong battery life and the ASUS Dial. Read more below
Want a laptop that also turns into a tablet? The Surface Laptop Studio 2 give you all that, plus plenty of power. With great internals and well-designed interfaces, it's a great choice for creative pros. Read more below
The ASUS Zenbook Pro 14 OLED is a serious player among pro creative laptops, at the same time as being very portable. This is a true MacBook Pro rival, both in terms of performance and sleek design, even if the lid is a little smudge-friendly. Read more below
This high-performance workstation laptop was specifically designed to meet the demanding needs of creative professionals. And along with all that raw processing power comes a large (17.3 inch) display. Read more below
If you're looking to do a mixture of creative work and gaming, the Acer Predator Helios 18 is our top pick. A titan among high-performance laptops, it offers desktop-level power in a technically portable package. Read more below
The most powerful laptops in full
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Our reviewer spent hours benchmarking the MacBook Pro 16-inch M3 Max (2023), using power-hungry creative software, testing different workflows and speed on Apple's latest silicon, and he concluded that it's a real step up from previous iterations.
Our benchmark tests put this laptop firmly ahead of the competition. We tested it on projects using Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve and Fusion Studio, and work to be super-smooth. More broadly, the M3 Max can handle all everyday creative tasks with power to spare for editing studio-quality movies or working on the most intense rendering and effects.
A common concern with powerful laptops is the battery life, but our reviewer was impressed to get 22 hours of life on a single charge. This makes it super-portable (if the screen is a bit big for lugging around, you could go for the 14-inch version instead). Like the M2 model, the newest MacBook Pro retains a slew of beloved ports, plusan HDMI port, and there are also memory card slots.
Prefer working in Windows to a Mac? The ASUS ProArt P16 rivals even the mighty MacBook Pro for power, offering a compelling alternative for those who prefer the Microsoft ecosystem.
At its heart lies the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 CPU, boasting 12 cores and 24 threads. This powerhouse is complemented by an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU and up to 64GB of LPDDR5X RAM, ensuring smooth performance across a wide range of demanding tasks. The addition of AMD's XDNA NPU, capable of up to 50 TOPS, further enhances its efficiency and AI capabilities.
The 16-inch OLED touchscreen is another standout feature, offering 4K resolution (3840x2400) and exceptional colour accuracy with 100% coverage of the P3 color gamut. This makes it ideal for colour-critical work in graphic design, video editing, and 3D modeling.
Connectivity is impressive, too. ASUS has packed the ProArt P16 with an array of ports, including USB-C, USB-A, HDMI 2.1, and an SD Express 7.0 card reader, catering to various connectivity needs. And the inclusion of the ASUS Dial, integrated into the touchpad, provides a handy customizable input method for creative software.
On the downside, it's not the slimmest or lightest option at 1.85kg, and the touchscreen has a tendency to smudge. Battery life has seen improvements over previous models, though it still trails behind some competitors.
But the crucial question is: what's it like to use in practice? Quite simply, in our benchmark tests it excelled in benchmarks, rivaling and sometimes surpassing more expensive competitors. It handles resource-intensive tasks with ease, from 4K video editing to complex 3D rendering.
CPU: Up to Quad-core 11th Gen Intel Core H35 i7-11370H
Graphics: Intel Iris Xe or NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050
RAM: 16GB or 32GB
Screen: 14.4in 2400 x 1600p 3:2 PixelSense Flow touchscreen
Storage: 256GB – 2TB
Reasons to buy
+
Beautiful design, stunning display
+
Multiple positions for the display
+
Touchscreen
Reasons to avoid
-
Very expensive
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Poor battery life
Investing in a 2-in-1 device means you get both the functionality of a laptop with the flexibility of a tablet. But these hybrid devices aren't always the most powerful. The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2.
The device can transform between three modes: laptop, stage, and studio, thanks to its innovative hinge design. This flexibility makes it particularly appealing for artists who need both a traditional laptop and a drawing tablet.
At its core, this Windows-based laptop features a 13th Gen Intel Core CPU, with options ranging from integrated Intel Iris Xe Graphics to more powerful NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 or 4060 GPUs. RAM options span from 16GB to 64GB, catering to various performance needs.
Its standout feature, though, is the 14.4-inch PixelSense Flow touch display, boasting a resolution of 2400x1600 pixels and a 120Hz refresh rate. This 3:2 aspect ratio screen offers excellent color accuracy and responsiveness, making it ideal for digital art and design work.
In our tests, the Surface Laptop Studio 2 handled most creative tasks well, though it could struggle with the most demanding 3D rendering jobs. Its benchmark scores, while respectable, don't quite match up to some competitors in the same price range, particularly Apple's M3-equipped MacBooks. At 1.8kg, it's slightly heavier than some ultraportables. And battery life is a weak point, falling short in our tests of Microsoft's claimed 16 hours in real-world usage.
While it may not offer the raw performance of some competitors, though, its versatility and excellent display make it a compelling choice for digital artists and creatives who value flexibility in their workflow.
The ASUS Zenbook Pro 14 OLED is a serious player among pro creative laptops, at the same time as being very portable. This is a true MacBook Pro rival, both in terms of performance and sleek design, even if the lid is a little smudge-friendly.
The design is innovative, with the rear of the lid protruding a little for better air circulation. The touchscreen is gorgeous and there's an ASUS Dialpad for shortcuts, which is built into the trackpad and activated (and deactivated) with a click.
The touchscreen provides excellent colour coverage and accuracy, earning it a Pantone validation, and vivid brightness (550 nits in HDR mode). The response time is 0.2ms, you can crank the refresh rate up to 120Hz for gaming.
Weighing around 1.6kg, it's not a feather but it is compact and we didn't find it cumbersome to carry to work and back. It does lag behind MacBooks in battery life – we got over 8 hours of video playback but found it hard to get through a full day working without a charge. Other than that, this is a perfect powerful and portable laptop for any travelling graphic designer or photo editor.
This high-performance workstation laptop was specifically designed to meet the demanding needs of creative professionals. And along with all that raw processing power comes a large (17.3 inch) display, making it ideal for tasks such as 3D visualisation, video editing, and graphic design.
The Precision 7780 is formed around a 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13850HX CPU, featuring 20 cores (8P+12E) and 28 threads, with speeds up to 5.3 GHz. This processor is paired with an NVIDIA RTX 3500 Ada GPU with 12GB GDDR6 memory, providing ample power for graphics-intensive applications. The system can be configured with up to 64GB of RAM and multiple storage options, including up to 4TB of fast NVMe SSD storage.
The most obvious feature is the massive 17.3-inch display, which offers a Full HD+ (1920x1200) resolution and a 16:9 aspect ratio. While it doesn't reach 4K resolution, it does provide a 120Hz refresh rate, ensuring smooth visuals for both work and casual gaming. The large screen size is a boon for professionals who need ample workspace for complex projects.
This powerful laptop excelled in benchmark tests, outperforming many competitors, including some with Intel i9 processors. Our reviwer found it handled demanding tasks like 4K video transcoding and 3D rendering with impressive speed and efficiency.
The laptop's design is robust and functional, if not particularly stylish. At 3.05kg, it's decidedly in the desktop replacement category rather than a portable workstation. Connectivity is comprehensive, with a mix of USB-A and USB-C ports, HDMI, Ethernet, and an SD card reader.
One notable drawback is the off-center trackpad placement, which can be awkward for some users. Additionally, battery life is limited, with only about three hours of creative work possible on a single charge, emphasizing its role as a primarily desk-bound workstation.
However, for creative pros who need desktop-class performance in a (technically) mobile form factor, it offers a compelling package. For more details, read our Dell Precision 7780 review.
If you're looking to do a mixture of creative work and gaming, the Acer Predator Helios 18 is our top pick. A titan among high-performance laptops, it offers desktop-level power in a technically portable package.
Sporting Intel's latest Raptor Lake Refresh i9 processor paired with NVIDIA's top-tier RTX 4090 GPU, this powerful laptop excelled in our benchmark tests, with its GPU score in Geekbench 6 surpassing even the M3 Max MacBook Pro.
In practical terms, that meant it could transcode a 10-minute 4K video to HD in under 3 minutes, a feat unmatched by other laptops we've tested. Gaming performance was equally impressive, with the challenging 3DMark Time Spy Extreme test running at a smooth 67 fps.
The Helios 18's 18-inch WQXGA mini-LED IPS display, meanwhile, offers ample screen real estate and purportedly covers 100% of the P3 color gamut, making it suitable for colour-critical work. However, its true potential is unlocked when connected to a high-end external monitor.
All this power, however, comes with trade-offs. At 3.25kg, it's more of a desktop replacement than a truly portable device. The cooling system, while effective, can be notably loud under heavy loads. Battery life is respectable for its class at around 4.5 hours for general tasks, but drops significantly under GPU-intensive workloads.
That said, for those who need the most powerful GPU available in a laptop form factor, particularly for tasks like 3D rendering or running AI tools in creative software, this remains a serious contender. For more details, read our Acer Predator Helios 18 review.
If you need the most powerful laptop that you can take into the desert or on a similarly extreme mission, the Dell Latitude 7330 Rugged Extreme might just be the one for you. It's a laptop that comes in a flight case with an integrated carrying handle, reinforced rubber armour and rubber port covers. It boasts an IP rating of 65, meaning it's sealed against dust and particulates and can survive low-pressure water jets.
This all makes for a chunky, heavy design for a mere 13-inch laptop which is pricey for the spec. There's a lot more than just armour on show here, though. There's a lot of connectivity – the version we reviewed had an an extra USB-C Thunderbolt port along with the USB, HDMI port, Micro SD card reader, optional Express card slot and SIM card slot, all covered by rubber doors that lock closed. And on the bottom, there are doors that allow the SSD to easily be replaced.
The touchscreen works when using gloves and there's a stylus niftily located on the side of the chassis too. We found the keyboard was nice to work on, although the trackpad is small and not the most responsive, which caused us to push too firmly and trigger touch gestures unintentionally.
As for power, we tested a configuration with Intel Core i7-1185G7 processor and 16GB of RAM. That's by no means the most powerful setup in this guide, but we found it zipped along well, boosting to 4GHz if required. There is no dedicated graphics processor, however. The integrated graphics do OK providing some hardware acceleration in image and video editing but this isn't designed for gaming. Battery life was a reasonable seven hours, but then you can also swap in new batteries if you're out in the field.
MSI Creator Z17This large, heavy laptop is made for professional creatives, and it has a lot of power , with options up to 64GB of RAM, oodles of storage and a bright, 17-inch touchscreen. It's also compatible with the MSI Pen stylus so you can write or draw directly onto it. Read our 4-star review.
Asus ProArt Studiobook OLED (H7604) This laptop's powerful components makes it ideal for everything from basic image editing to 3D work in Photoshop. We love the colour accuracy of its 16-inch 3.2K OLED display and overall performance, although it's also pricey, heavy, and has limited battery life. Read our 4.5-star review
Dell XPS 17 (9710)While it's a couple of years old now, the Dell XPS 17 9710 remains a capable and powerful laptop. In our tests, it tackled graphically demanding and processor-intensive tasks well, all the time staying cool. It's also pretty good for gaming. Read our 4.5-star review
FAQs
Which laptops are the fastest?
Usually, when looking at performance, we're talking about the speed of a laptop's processor, or CPU, which means that if you're looking for one of the most powerful laptops, you'll be looking for a device with one of the latest Intel or AMD processors – or Apple's M3 range if you use a Mac.
But the CPU isn't everything. Performance is also determined by a computer's random access memory, or RAM, which is the short-term memory used to handle active tasks and apps. You'll want at least 16GB, but note that some portable workstations let you expand on the base memory, allowing you to cram more in if you need to run memory-hungry tasks. Meanwhile, a new generation of RAM, DDR5 is set to replace the current standard, DDR4, and laptop makers are scrambling to put this super-fast RAM into their devices, although it's likely to remain very expensive for now.
If you work in anything visual, you'll also want a good graphics card, or at least impressive integrated graphics. The best graphics cards now offer features like raytracing for impressive light effects and graphics upscaling.
What is the most powerful laptop in the world?
This isn't as easy to answer as you might think, despite benchmarks being published for almost every laptop and 2-in-1 device on the market to compare hardware. It all boils down to what you need the laptop for and how well it's optimised for that task.
The Dell XPS range leads the way for Windows-based mobile workstations, while the latest generation of MacBook Pros are beloved by fans of macOS, equipped that that powerful Apple M3 silicon.
If you need something for gaming then consider laptops equipped with the latest Ryzen 9 5900X processor and an RTX 3080 graphics cards, such as the Asus ROG Zephyrus G15.
A powerful laptop is nothing without also having a decent amount of RAM too, with gaming laptops sometimes offering 32GB (you only really need 16GB to enjoy even the most demanding games) and workstations from Apple and Dell configurable up to a whopping 64GB.
What should I look for when buying a powerful laptop?
A powerful laptop comes in many shapes and sizes depending on what would best suit your needs. Right off the bat, you should look at naming conventions. Workstations are available as both desktop and mobile devices and are typically optimised for demanding technical applications. If something is advertised as a workstation then it's usually been designed for creative for people who need the full power of a desktop PC condensed into a portable machine.
Similarly, gaming laptops and 2-in-1 devices also have their merits, with gaming portables packing fast processors, an abundance of RAM (compared to traditional laptops) and of course, a beefy graphics card, all of which make them well suited to tasks like 3D rendering and video editing.
2-in-1 devices are usually less powerful, but things have come a long way, and the ability to edit high-resolution images using a stylus directly on a convertible laptop shouldn't be sniffed at. To pick the right device, you should consider what you need it for: are you always in the field, therefore need a lightweight device, combined with great battery life? Or are you happy to drag around a bigger, heavier laptop if you get a 17-inch display and some seriously beefy graphics?
Picking anything on our list is likely going to serve your needs well, but only you know what area you should be paying attention to when buying a new laptop. Photographers and video editors will want to prioritise the display, as well as ports (nobody wants to keep a dongle safe) and a new, capable processor.
3D artists and game designers however might need to make sure the graphics card is capable of running demanding rendering software, and have enough RAM to cope with multiple applications at once.
Matt has been a technology journalist for over 15 years, writing for publications such as T3, MacFormat and Creative Bloq. He's a managing editor of TechRadar, Creative Bloq's sister site, where he can be found writing about and reviewing laptops, computers, monitors and more. He often writes for Creative Bloq, helping creatives find their perfect laptop or PC.
