Architects, engineers and students rejoice; it's never been so easy to choose the best laptop for CAD. Why? Because we've done the legwork for you! Buying the right device for your specific needs is an important and often costly step, so it's important to do your research. For instance, a really powerful GPU isn't critical for 2D CAD workflows but may be a benefit for some 3D workflows.
That's why we've extensively tested every laptop on this list, marrying our technological expertise with our understanding of creatives needs to ensure we're only recommending the best. In acknowledgment of the various needs of different CAD users, we've featured laptops of varying power levels, price points, and operating systems, combining our own hands-on experience with expertise from our sister-sites to inform our list (see our how we test laptops guide for more).
It's worth highlighting now that not all software is Mac-compatible so you'll need to check you have a Mac version before buying an Apple device. (Note: only the AutoCAD 2024 version works natively on Apple silicon, and it still has some missing features that could be key for your workflow – see the FAQs at the bottom for more). If you need AutoCAD, you can buy it from the Autodesk website. If you're looking for a laptop for other uses, check out our guide to the best laptop for graphic design.
Quick list
Best overall
Asus's ProArt Studiobook OLED is the perfect power machine for creative pros and CAD specialists. It sports Intel's most powerful 13th Gen CPU, and up to Nvidia RTX 4070 graphics. To cap it all off there's a stunning 16-inch 3.2K OLED display and the nifty Asus Dial rotary controller. It ain't cheap, but it is awesome.
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Best Mac
The newest MacBook Pro has a lot going for it; long battery life, a beautiful display, and of course, the latest 3nm M3 Apple silicon for blazing performance. Even the M3 Pro will handle most CAD programmes with ease, let alone the M3 Max monster, and the 16-inch display is a stunner. Just make sure your preferred software has a Mac-compatible version, and be aware AutoCAD 2024 still has some missing features.
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Best touch
If you need a touchscreen in a laptop that's great for multitasking and using on the go, the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2ticks every box. The laptop’s 2-in-1 feature sets it apart from most of its competition and the implementation is impressive, as we found out in testing. With great internals and well-designed interfaces, it's a great touchscreen laptop for CAD.
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Best under £1000
You can get a great laptop for CAD and AutoCAD without having to remortgage the home. Our current top choice you can score for three figures is the Acer Swift X 16, which combines a large screen, relatively light weight and powerful components to make for a great value offering.
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Best portable
The LG gram was already a lightweight lineup, but the LG gram SuperSlim takes that to extremes. At only 990 grams, it's packed with enough power to handle any CAD task you can set it, outside the very heaviest, that is...
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Best large
With its gorgeous screen and ample workspace, the Dell XPS 17 is a brilliant option that will have your eyeballs rejoicing as you zip through demanding CAD workflows. It's impressively thin and light despite its size, and good-looking to boot.
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Best overall for CAD
Specifications
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Asus ProArt Studiobook OLED is a gorgeous, state of the art 16-inch laptop with a stunning OLED display, Intel's finest 13th Gen CPU and a powerful Nvidia GPU.
It's all wrapped up in a high-quality chassis that's designed for getting serious work done. It includes the configurable ASUS Dial rotary control, which is a fantastic asset for CAD work, and we loved using it during any creative work in our tests. The OLED panel not only supports touch input and offers 3,200 by 2,000 pixels, but it also serves up an outstanding 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 colour space, so it's super accurate, too, and will present your computer-aided designs in colour-popping detail.
ASUS has engineered in fully 160W of total CPU and GPU cooling, allowing the Intel i9-13980HX processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 graphics chip to do their thing, and as we found in testing, it's just about all the power you'll ever need.
Elsewhere you can have up to 32GB of RAM, which should cover even the most heavy-duty CAD workflows, and there are SSD storage options up to 2TB of super-fast PCIe Gen 4 spec. It's a fabulous machine for getting serious CAD work done.
Best Mac for CAD
Specifications
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The M3 MacBook Pro is a stellar option for Mac-compatible CAD (remember, the Mac version of AutoCAD is not quite the same as the Windows iteration, though the 2024 version is very close it still lacks some features that might be key for you – see more at the bottom of the page).
You can pick between the 14-inch and 16-inch versions depending on which screen size you want, and you can upgrade to the M3 Max chip if you need supercharged power. Check out the specifications of your software before you buy a Mac – many have Mac-compatible versions but there are also CAD software options that aren't suitable for MacBooks.
We lean toward the 16-inch model for that extra screen space for CAD work. But in terms of performance, you can't go wrong. As we found in our review, even the entry-level M3 in the base 14-inch is no slich and the M3 Max is an absolute monster. All MacBook Pros also offer stellar battery life that most high-performance Windows laptops can only dream of. This means you can visit clients, work on the road, and much more, all without worrying about having to plug it in. Read our full MacBook Pro M3 review for the full lowdown.
Want something thinner, lighter and cheaper, but still a Mac? Check out our MacBook Air (M2) 2022 review.
Best touchscreen for CAD
Specifications
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If you're looking for something a little different, the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio is a great choice.
Not only does it have a gorgeous versatile design, but it has an excellent PixelSense touchscreen that will make your work look its very best. The screen can also offer a zippy refresh rate of up to 120Hz. That touch screen in particular will be of interest to many thanks to its stylus compatibility (although you have to buy the stylus separately).
There's plenty more to like too. We think it's got an excellent keyboard, powerful specs (including cutting-edge integrated graphics from either Intel or NVIDIA, depending on the configuration you go for), so any CAD application runs with ease. That's especially true now that this second-gen device has been updated with Intel's latest CPUs and Nvidia RTX 40 series graphics.
We found in our tests that it also boasts very impressive battery life, plus build quality and ergonomics to die for. All in all, it's a fantastic showcase for Windows 11. For more on why we rate this Microsoft portable so highly, see our review of the Surface Laptop Studio 2.
Best under $1000 for CAD
Specifications
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If a big screen and budget top your list of laptop priorities, the Acer Swift X 16 will have a lot of appeal. And if you're just starting out in CAD or 3D modelling work you'll want something super-useable that won't break the bank.
It manages to offer a big screen and decent power for a very reasonable price, especially now that we're seeing prices dip below a grand. As we found when we reviewed it, battery life may not be stellar, and it's not the most exciting design, but it's what's inside that counts, and in that regard, the Acer Swift X 16 delivers. It's a solid laptop, with lots of connectivity options, a quality 2.5K display to view your designs in splendid detail and the keyboard offers a comfortable typing experience.
Read our full Acer Swift X 16 review for the full verdict on this capable laptop.
Best CAD laptop for portability
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Reasons to buy
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Thin and light used to mean weak and weedy, too. But not these days. the LG gram SuperSlim will impress most users. It is light, thin and really nice to look at. The inclusion of a beautiful 15.6-inch OLED display makes this device a joy to look at while working on your designs.
While it lacks a discrete graphics card, it will do nicely for the vast majority of CAD workflows. The OLED display, while topping out at 1920x1080 Full HD resolution, is bright and sharp, and our reviewer specifically pointed out that it's perfect for creators.
You also get a healthy 16GB of RAM and a fast NVMe SSD. And it's packed into an incredibly light package that weighs only 990g. That's not that much more than an iPad Pro, and this is a whole entire laptop.
Battery life is good too, if you need to work on the go, and in our tests we managed to eke out around 15 hours in between charges. Very heavy work will reduce that a little, but you'll still get through an entire workday on battery power alone. Yes, the resolution could be higher, especially for the price you're paying, and the speakers are poor, but if those aren't dealbreakers, the LG gram SuperSlim will make a very good choice indeed.
Read more in our full LG gram SuperSlim review.
Best big screen for CAD
Specifications
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Having a gorgeous, large screen with a high resolution can be a great help for using CAD applications, giving you more room to work, and to show off your projects to co-workers and clients. The Dell XPS 17 is a laptop worth considering, then, as it packs a fantastic 17-inch UHD+ screen with HDR, which is bright, vibrant and comfortable to work on, as we found out when we tested it.
The Dell XPS 17 also proves a large-screen laptop doesn't have to be big and bulky. This is an impressively thin and light laptop, with the same attractive design found in the smaller Dell XPS 13 and XPS 15 laptops. It also comes with some powerful components as well, including 13th generation Intel Core processors, up to 64GB RAM and up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, 12 GB GDDR6.
For more info, read our full Dell XPS 17 9710 review.
Most powerful for CAD
Specifications
Reasons to buy
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The MSI Creator Z17 is a large laptop made for professional creatives, and it has a lot of power inside, with options up to 64GB of RAM, oodles of storage and a large, bright touchscreen. For most CAD workflows, this laptop may arguably be overkill, but if you need to work on top-end design, especially if you need to add some motion rendering, this MSI will chew it up and grind it into a pulp without breaking a sweat. It certainly mulched through anything we threw at it in our testing.
It sports 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 gamut, and the touchscreen has a 4,096-level pressure sensitivity, if you want to work directly on the screen, and our performance tests put it on par with the M2 MacBook Pro.
On the downside, it weighs 2.5kg so it's not exactly ultraportable. Also, while the battery is big, the power demands of the internal components mean it drains faster than we'd prefer, so you will need to keep an eye on the nearest power outlet (and nearby chiropractors) if you're out and about. Unfortunately, that goes with the territory of this class of ultra-powerful Windows laptops.
See our full MSI Creator Z17 review here.
Best budget for CAD
Specifications
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Reasons to avoid
Computer-aided design on a Chromebook? Have we lost our collective marbles? Hardly. Fact is, you can not only run AutoCAD and other CAD software on Chromebooks now, you can do so without a collection of dubious workarounds or resulting in the laptop melting from the strain too.
The Acer Chromebook 516 GE is marketed as a 'gaming Chromebook', i.e. one capable of running AAA games, but that means it's also capable enough to run CAD software, including AutoCAD and Fusion 360, among others.
The large 16-inch screen and its 16:10 ratio gives you plenty of visual real estate to work on too, and with 2560 x 1600 resolution the detail is plentiful too. With 100% sRGB and 350 nits of brightness, colour reproduction and vibrancy won't suffer either, and with a price tag of under $/£600 if you're careful about where you get it from, it's a legitimate budget option for CAD work.
See our Acer Chromebook 516 review for more.
Also tested
While the options above may be our top choices for various elements of CAD and AutoCAD work, there are a lot of laptops out there worthy of your attention. We'll be constantly adding and updating the list below of other laptops we've tested that you should feel confident in using in your CAD work, so if none of the above quite do it for you, all hope isn't lost: you might just find your future workmate below.
<a href="https://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?awinmid=31726&awinaffid=103504&clickref=hawk-custom-tracking&p=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.asus.com%2Fuk%2Flaptops%2Ffor-home%2Fzenbook%2Fasus-zenbook-s-13-oled-ux5304%2F" data-link-merchant="asus.com"" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">ASUS Zenbook S 13 OLED
The screen may not be the biggest, but this ultraportable more than makes up for it with its bright, sharp OLED display, 32GB of RAM, great ergonomics and the ultimate in portability as it's only 1kg (less than an iPad Pro with a keyboard attached). Fantastic for CAD work on the go.
<a href="https://www.creativebloq.com/reviews/asus-zenbook-s-13-oled" data-link-merchant="creativebloq.com"" data-link-merchant="asus.com"">Read our 4.5-star review.
How we test
Testing a laptop for CAD work starts with considering the overall specification of the machine. Does it have a balanced setup with evenly matched core components, including the CPU, GPU and RAM? It's no good pairing a cutting-edge CPU with barely any memory and vice versa.
We then run benchmarks to ensure that the key components are delivering their full performance, so you can rely on every last bit and hertz to make the most of your CAD workflow. Laptops are much more prone to thermal and power issues than desktops, so you can't assume that a given processor or graphics chip will perform the same in every portable system. That said, there are minimum specs that you have to look out for in general. You need a 2.5GHz process (3+ GHz recommended), at least 8GB of RAM (great if it's 32GB or above), a Full HD display (1920x1080) at a minimum and at least 10GB of disk space.
Storage performance tends to be more consistent between desktop and mobile. However, laptop makers rarely provide detailed specifications for the SSDs they fit. So we test for sequential throughput and random access to make sure that a really cheap and nasty drive hasn't been fitted.
As for screen quality, the last word in colour accuracy isn't typically essential for CAD workflows. However, a screen with at least 95% coverage of the DCI-P3 colour space is always a good idea.
It's also a good idea to go with a high pixel density panel for sharp fonts and viewing fine details in designs. So, we assess all those qualities when considering how suitable a laptop is for CAD workflows.
We also assess ergonomics, build and usability, including keyboard quality, chassis rigidity, trackpad response and more. For more options, see our pick of the best laptops for game development.
How to choose
If you want to run AutoCAD, you’re best off looking at a laptop with the latest Intel Core i7 or Core i9 chips, but how powerful a machine do you need in practice? That really depends on what kind of work you're doing in CAD.
In general, the more complex and large-scale your projects, the more power you'll need and the more you'll have to spend. Especially if you’re also looking for your laptop to run heavier 3D modelling software. But many software types are less power-hungry, meaning you can get away with a less powerful computer.
The ideal machine for longevity (to ensure it can handle it all) will have high-end components, including an abundance of RAM, a multi-core processor and a dedicated graphics card that can manage complex work. However, if you're working on relatively simple projects, you’ll probably be happy with meeting the minimal requirements.
For design work, you'll also want a large screen so your eyes stay comfy and your work can be displayed to its fullest. While you'll need to consider battery life, the power in these laptops mean this is where you might need to compromise. Here, we've picked laptops with enough battery to get through the day.
FAQs
Can all laptops run AutoCAD?
In short, yes, but there are differences between how AutoCAD runs on Windows and Mac.
AutoCAD is a computer-aided design and drafting software application developed by Autodesk. Used to create computer aided designs, it's been around since 1982, and is very much the industry standard for all the professions we’ve mentioned. The requirements for the latest version of AutoCAD are as follows:
- Processor: 2.5GHz (3+ GHz recommended)
- Memory: 8GB (32GB recommended)
- Disk space: 10GB
- Display: 1920 x 1080 resolution
There is a separate AutoCAD 2024 for Mac, which closes the gap between using AutoCAD on Windows and Mac. AutoCAD can now run on Apple silicon for the first time, meaning the experience is almost exactly the same as on Windows when using M1 and M2 chip. However, there are still a few missing features such as 3D Rendering and Drawing History.
Can AutoCAD run on Mac?
Historically there has been a big difference between how AutoCAD runs on Mac and Windows, with the Mac version missing a lot of the functionality. However, AutoCAD 2024 now has a version that runs natively on Apple silicon (the M1 and M2 chips). This means that the experience on both machines is much more similar than ever before – though there are still a few key features missing from the Mac version, and the interface is different.
What's missing from AutoCAD for Mac 2024? The Mac version does not support 3D rendering, no support for Drawing History, you can't extract object data to tables, share/use data from DGN files, Navisworks and Bing Maps, apply and monitor CAD standards and there is less access to specialised toolsets. Added to that, there is a different interface.
We recommend checking thoroughly to see what your workflow demands before relying on AutoCAD for Mac.
What hardware is most important for AutoCAD?
Your CPU, GPU, RAM and screen size are some of the most important factors when considering which laptop to buy. Here's a little rundown to help you understand what is important in each category.
CPU
It's worth knowing that Autodesk recommends a 3+ GHz processor with a 4+ GHz turbo but anything above 2.5GHz will be fine. There's no need to spend excessively on the number of cores because AutoCAD majors on single threaded processes which are perfectly calculated on a powerful CPU. The latest generation Intel or AMD processors will handle AutoCAD with ease.
GPU
Having a dedicated graphics card is essential but make sure it's DirectX 12 compliant. Other than that, any NVIDIA GeForce, NVIDIA Quadro, or AMD Radeon with at least 8GB of video memory and 106 GB/s Bandwidth will be sufficient. If you are primarily working with 2D CAD tasks then consumer grade cards with enough video memory will work great.
RAM
Even though AutoDesk recommends 32GB of system memory, in reality it can function fine on as little as 8GB. Considering memory is so affordable though it would be worth aiming for 32GB or 64GB. Ensuring that it's DDR5 will help reduce power consumption while at the same time increasing bandwidth.
Screen
This will largely be personal preference. I like as big a screen as possible, ideally a 17-inch for a laptop, to make those complex designs as easy to navigate as possible. If you're going to extend your display to other monitors though, you can get away with a much smaller screen size knowing that you won't be using it for this type of work.