These are the laptops with the computing power artists need in 2026

As trends in digital art move, so does the hardware needed to capture them. Some artists are using the increased accessibility of 3D software to blend 2D and 3D techniques, building 3D environments to paint over. Some are experimenting with AR and VR platforms, exploring brand new ways to present their work. We’ve also seen artists finding creative uses for game-development tools such as Unreal Engine 5, Unity, and Godot.

Many of these trends are pretty demanding on your hardware – they require a computer that can keep up. Specifically, a machine with a strong GPU is increasingly becoming an essential asset for the modern digital creative. So, if you’re a digital artist, a laptop with exceptional graphical capabilities could be one of the smartest future-proofing investments you make this year.

Many of the most popular modern creative apps like Adobe Photoshop, DaVinci Resolve and Blender even have specific accelerations for NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs, amplifying performance in a way inaccessible to integrated GPUs. If you’re not sure which one is right for you, don’t worry – we’re going to break down five of the best NVIDIA 50-series laptops and show exactly how they can boost your creative output, helping you decide which is right for you.

So, let’s get into it!

Best display

While having a strong GPU is essential for ensuring your graphical and creative applications run smoothly, it’s also important to get a laptop with a display capable of showing off all that graphical splendour. The Lenovo Legion 5 Gen 10 laptops feature an absolutely outstanding 165Hz QHD+ OLED display, with unbeatable contrast and punchy colours. In great news for digital artists, it also features 100% DCI-P3 coverage, ensuring that you can see your creations as accurately as possible.

A display like this really demonstrates what the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50-series GPU inside can do. The internal hardware gives the Lenovo Legion 5 laptops the power required to work with NVIDIA Studio, ensuring that even demanding tasks like 3D rendering are buttery-smooth. Want to try out next-gen features like NVIDIA OptiX AI’s real-time, photorealistic lighting previews? You’ll have no problem on a powerful laptop like the Legion 5 – and its stunning display will let you see and inspect your results in vivid detail.

Best value

You might have previously assumed that a laptop with a powerful GPU was simply something that you could not afford. However, there are more budget-friendly options out there than you might have believed. Case in point, Lenovo’s LOQ Gen 10 series. For a reasonable price, you can get a laptop with 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage and a capable Intel Core i5-13450HX CPU.

Thanks to its NVIDIA architecture, this laptop delivers some of the best 3D performance you can get for the price. Its 3D framerates are competitive with much more expensive rivals, and the optimised speed of NVIDIA’S RTX GeForce GPU will make your workflow that much faster – ensuring that you can bring 2D and 3D creations to life as quickly as possible. Time is money for artists, and a laptop like this is an affordable way to save yourself a big chunk of time.

Best for max performance

For some artistic applications, nothing but the best will do. If you’re going to be editing 8K video, rendering 3D environments, working with ultra-high resolution files, generating imagery with the latest AI models – or, indeed, doing more than one of the above – then you need a machine that can handle the task. The HP Omen Max 16 laptops are ‘Max’ by name and max by nature, kitted out with NVIDIA’s top-of-the-line 5070, 5080 or 5090 GPUs and pairing them with high-end Intel or AMD CPUs to deliver desktop-level power. They are also designed to support overclocking, meaning you can push the performance of the graphics card still further if you need to.

In terms of speed, stability and reliability, there are few laptops to match. The HP Omen Max 16 laptops are designed to meet the needs of demanding graphical tasks. Advanced cooling technology allows the HP Omen Max 16 to keep on performing for sustained periods without overheating – so if your creative practice involves mammoth sprint sessions, it’ll suit you perfectly. This is a level of power that not everyone will need – but for those who do, it’ll deliver and keep on delivering.

Best for portability

One of the key advantages of a laptop over a desktop computer is on-the-go creativity. If this is a priority for you, it makes sense to go for a laptop that can best take advantage of that, and the Acer Nitro V15 should be high on your wishlist. Its use of NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50-series GPUs means you get all that sublime graphical performance to handle creative tasks like 3D rendering or working in game engines, but what really impresses is its standout battery life.

Tests have clocked the Nitro V15’s battery running for more than nine hours from a full charge. Naturally, if you put it through the paces of intense creative work in NVIDIA Studio, you won’t quite hit those numbers! But you’ll still get plenty of hours to work on your creations before needing to find a plug socket, giving you much more freedom to create on the go and work wherever inspiration strikes. And the relatively lightweight build of the Nitro V15 makes it easy to take everywhere with you.

Best desktop replacement

If you’re not at all concerned with portability, and want a top-tier powerful machine with its own breathtaking, high-fidelity display, then the Acer Predator Helios 16 is the RTX-enabled laptop for you. Boasting enough power to handle even an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 GPU, the Predator Helios 16 is an incredible feat of design, with sophisticated cooling tech to handle all that heat.

There is not a single task in NVIDIA Studio at which the Acer Predator Helios 16 will not excel. You’ll be able to tackle anything, whether it’s working seamlessly with 4:2:2 video, fluidly navigating 3D scenes, or generating, iterating and refining on AI imagery with the latest tools. And thanks to the class-leading 240 Hz OLED display, you’ll see it all in pristine, vivid detail.

GeForce RTX-powered laptops offer the power you need to smash your creativity goals in 2026, and keep up with the latest trends in design and digital art. The latest line of 50-series-powered laptops are perfectly suited to helping digital artists, by speeding up creative output and making you more productive as a result.

Of course, not every laptop is suited to every artist! Each of the laptops on this list offers a different feature-set for creatives, so think about your needs and your art to figure out which is right for you.