The best laptop for graphic design we’ve tested is the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M3, 2023). This 14-inch premium workstation offers a fantastic user experience with its gorgeous Mini LED display, a comfortable keyboard, a gigantic haptic touchpad, and tons of ports. The display’s factory calibration is near-perfect, so you can get right to work without further calibration. The only drawback is its lack of full Adobe RGB coverage, which might be a dealbreaker for those in print graphics. Apple’s M3 Pro/Max SoCs bring exceptional performance and offer up to 128GB of RAM, making it a fantastic choice for memory-intensive workflows like 3D modeling. One notable change from the previous generation is a base M3 SoC configuration. This is a good option if you don’t need a lot of processing power but still want the ‘Pro’ features like the display and up-firing speakers. The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M3, 2023) is also a good choice if you want more screen space; it has better-sounding speakers but is more expensive and bulkier.
Our recommendation for Windows users is the Dell XPS 16 (2024), a premium 16-inch mobile workstation. This laptop offers a great user experience with its sharp 4K+ OLED display option and a sturdy all-aluminum chassis. While the OLED has a similar color gamut as the MacBook Pro’s Mini LED panel, it isn’t quite as accurate out of the box. Permanent burn-in is also a risk on the OLED panel. This laptop performs well but is slower than the M3 Max SoC; it’s configurable with Intel Core Ultra 7 or 9 CPUs, up to an RTX 4070 GPU, 64GB of RAM, and 4TB of storage. Unlike the MacBook, the storage is user-replaceable. The port selection is decent, albeit less expansive, as there’s no HDMI port. The main issue is usability. While spacious, the keyboard’s edge-to-edge keycap design, along with some awkwardly sized keys, take a while to get used to, and although the haptic touchpad simulates clicks well, the entire front deck is a single piece of glass, so you can’t see where the edges of the touchpad are.
