Best Laptops for Photo Editing in 2020

The best laptop for photo editors should be a content creator's dream come true. It should be a powerful machine that's equipped with a zippy hard drive, stocked with artist-friendly ports and jam-packed with relevant photo editing software. It should also have adequate storage to maintain a large library of photo files and a GPU that can handle graphics-intensive applications.

As a photo editor, you'll also need a beautiful display that's capable of accurately reproducing a wide range of colors. At Laptop Mag, we've reviewed a swath of best laptops for photo editors, so we know which devices are perfect for content creators. We also test for benchmarks that are important for photo editors, including Delta-E scores, sRGB gamut volume and graphics performance. Armed with these metrics, we've put together a list of the best laptops for photo editors.

For those who also dabble in video, check out our best video editing laptops. If you prefer to edit photos on a touch screen using your finger or a stylus then head over to our best touch screen laptops and best 2-in-1 pages for more specific recommendations.
What is the best laptop for photo editors?

The best laptop for photo editors is the HP Spectre x360 15. One of the most striking features of this laptop is that it reproduces a whopping 256% of the sRGB color gamut, which means which means you'll get rich, luxurious colors with sharp details and contrast.

Covering such a wide spectrum of the color wheel, imagine the heart-stopping visuals we've seen on the HP Spectre x360 15 when it came through our lab. The 4K OLED display on the x360 15 is absolutely stunning. Photo editing on the HP Spectre x360 15 will be an absolute treat with the laptop's discreet graphics card, which will help you run some of the most demanding photo-editing software on the market.

The MSI Prestige 15 is one of the best laptops for photography. It's perfect for those who collaborate with other artistic teammates in the office. Its innovative flip-and-share mode makes the laptop an easy pick for collaborative content creators.

While the HP Spectre x360 15 is our favorite laptop for photo editing, there are many photo-editing capable laptops that have came through our labs that have impressed us to the core.  Like any laptop, there may be some downsides, but depending on your needs and desires, those flaws may not be an issue for you, especially if the pros outweigh the cons.

In this buying guide, we've outlined the pros and cons of the best laptop for photo editors so that you can get a good overview of which laptop is the best for you.

The best laptops for photo editing you can buy now

  1. HP Spectre x360 15
  2. Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Yoga (4th Gen, 2019)
  3. Apple MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019)
  4. HP ZBook Studio x360 G5
  5. Dell XPS 13 2-in-1
  6. Microsoft Surface Pro 6
  7. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme
  8. Lenovo Legion Y7000
  9. HP Envy 13 (2019)
  10. Microsoft Surface Laptop 3
  11. Dell XPS 15 (2019)
  12. LG Gram 17
  13. Asus ZenBook Pro Duo
  14. MSI Prestige 15