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Best laptops, desktops and tablets for designers and creatives in 2020 – CNET [CNET]
Are you baffled by the multitude of laptop, desktop and tablet options being hurled at you as a generic “creative” or “creator”? Marketing materials rarely distinguish among the widely varying needs for different pursuits. Photo editing? You need a laptop or tablet with a powerful CPU and a color-accurate high-resolution screen but can settle for a midrange graphics processor. For sketching, painting and illustration you want the same, but with a little more oomph in your GPU and likely good stylus support. And for video editing and 3D rendering, you’ll want to pull the stops out for everything you can afford. With these criteria and more in mind, I’ve culled recommendations for the best laptop for designers and creatives from products we’ve tested that stand out for performance, design and features appropriate to specific types of tasks.
What’s new
2020 has been a great year for video editing and CGI gear, specifically for desktops and monitors. That’s because AMD and Intel have been packing cores into the Ryzen and Core series processors as fast as they can, and because we’re seeing a respectable increase in the number of professional HDR monitor options with brightness of 1,000 nits or more and over 1,000 zones of local dimming.
More CPU cores directly translates into shorter final-quality rendering times (the graphics card handles real-time rendering); the top-end Ryzen Threadripper 3990X incorporates 64 of them, and even the new, more consumer-focused Ryzen 9 5950X has 16, while the Intel Core i9-10980XE has 18. Even the less-expensive Ryzen 9 3900X has delivered terrific performance in our testing. Coupled with AMD’s current and Intel slowly rolling out support for PCI 4, which promises faster internal data and GPU performance, that’s good news for anyone working with large files or high resolutions.
Read more: Best laptop backpack for 2020
That new wave of HDR monitors, including models announced at CES 2020 from companies like Lenovo, Acer and Asus, will also make it possible to edit content for higher-end HDR formats like Dolby Vision — they’re expensive, but still a lot cheaper than Apple’s Pro Display XDR. And then there’s that 17-inch MSI Creator 17 laptop with its 1,000-nit HDR display. Gimme, gimme.
Laptop screens for photo editing
The OLED displays we frequently see as an option are as color-accurate as they’re reputed to be — as long as you calibrate them yourself. For instance, even the most broadly calibrated model — the Gigabyte Aero 15 OLED XA — which came with profiles for several white points, still may still require some tweaking. And they still have weak areas: They’re not as accurate at the supersaturated areas of the gamut, which may affect you if you do game design or CGI work, for example, but they’re still quite something to look at.
I’m not a huge fan of OLED for photo editing, however, even though a most of the people I’ve spoken with are fine with it. There just doesn’t seem to be any tonal range in the shadow areas below 30% gray (even if you calibrate it properly), and between black and about 30% gray, the native white is completely different than in the rest of the tonal range. Trying to bring up shadow areas visually is painful. Also, since all the rules of thumb about calibrating for photography are based on monitors with completely different characteristics, such as smaller color spaces, dissimilar tonal response curves and even different math, you’re really on the bleeding edge when trying to match for print or sRGB.
On the other hand, calibrated IPS displays are becoming commonplace now, and can be extremely good, as long as they also have Windows profiles for the color spaces you need. For instance, I tested an Acer ConceptD 5‘s Pantone Validated, 400-nit 100% Adobe RGB display, which was great — excellent contrast, brightness, gamut, grayscale tracking and accuracy for photography — but it only had a native Adobe RGB ICC profile, so the sRGB accuracy was far less impressive. (We test most screens using using Portrait Displays’ Calman Ultimate and an X-Rite i1Display Pro Plus, but for higher-end models use the same testing gear as our TV team.)
That might not matter to some people, but when you need to verify they’ll look the way you want on most people’s screens as well, sRGB is really important. (The Nvidia Quadro RTX 3000-equipped configuration of the ConceptD 5 I tested didn’t ship in the US, so I didn’t review it. However, great screen aside, the laptop still feels like it hasn’t shaken off its gaming roots.)
If you’re looking at Apple’s shiny Mac Pro and have a budget to stick within, you might want to wait AMD’s new Radeon RX 6000 series graphics percolate into it; among other things, they have dedicated ray tracing cores and faster clock speeds, which can be a boon for CGI and video work. Although you can buy now with the cheapest solution and upgrade when the Radeon Pro versions of the cards are ready.
There are so many variations of the performance mix individuals need for power-hungry applications, so it’s not only hard to limit suggestions to a handful of certain specs, like resolution, storage and performance, it’s even harder to recommend specific configurations for each. (And note that I’ve got no budget picks here, but will probably add them in a future update.)
So here are a few rules of thumb that should help you make your choice:
- Check your software requirements. Some applications require workstation-class components, such as Nvidia Quadro chips rather than GeForce, to access some advanced features.
- Base the specs on the application you spend the most time in. If your budget demands that you make performance trade-offs, you need to know what to throw more money at. Since every application is different, you can’t generalize to the level of “video-editing uses CPU cores more than GPU acceleration,” though a big, fast SSD is almost always a good idea.
- For desktops, think about going boutique. If you’re not a victim of corporate purchasing standards, getting a custom-built system with longer battery life may be the way to go, though expect to pay a premium. Companies like Falcon Northwest, Origin PC, Digital Storm and Maingear, for instance, are known for their gaming desktops but they build workstations as well. They also offer processors and graphics cards you generally can’t find from more mass-market manufacturers, such as an 18-core Core i9, 32-core AMD Ryzen Threadripper or Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090. Plus, they’ll overclock those parts for you. Some also personalize the cases with custom artwork which should appeal to your artistic sensibility, help you decide what components you’ll need for the software you run and provide more personalized tech support.
- If you do color-critical work, focus on buying a laptop with hardware calibration. A display that supports color profiles stored in hardware, like HP’s Dreamcolor or Calman Ready models, will allow for more consistent color when you use multiple calibrated monitors. They also tend to be better, as calibration requires a tighter color error tolerance than typical screens. You usually need to step up to a mobile workstation for this type of capability; you can use hardware calibrators such as the X-Rite i1Display Pro to generate software profiles, but they’re more difficult to work with when matching colors across multiple connected monitors.
Sarah Tew/CNET
OLED displays have a combination of color gamut (100% P3) and contrast that IPS panels are struggling to match, but need calibration to keep your colors from chaos. The 15-inch Gigabyte is sleek and powerful — it’s got all the Nvidia Studio specs — it just lacks the logo — and you can download the more creative-application-focused Studio driver yourself. It has a color-profile switcher utility which is more convenient to use than Windows’, and it’s a well-designed laptop that performs solidly.
Drawbacks: The battery life isn’t great, though better than a lot of the gaming notebooks these laptops are based on, and the webcam is in a ridiculous spot. Read our Gigabyte Aero 15 OLED review.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Corsair’s “Pro” version of its compact desktop appeals both aesthetically and functionally. It’s fast and powerful, with up to a 14-core processor, 64GB memory and a GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, all crammed into a well designed and compact case. It doesn’t eke out every bit of performance from the components, but the system is quiet and stable, which can be more important for some production-level workflows. The three DisplayPort 1.4 and front HDMI 2.0 connections make it a compact system that’s especially suited for multimonitor setups and/or VR work. Plus, it’s got two Ethernet ports and Wi-Fi 6 support for when you really need the bandwidth or connections to multiple separate networks. Read our Corsair One Pro i200 review.
Sarah Tew/CNET
As long as you’re OK with tablet apps rather than desktop applications and don’t need the flexibility of a full operating system, the iPad Pro has the power and hours of battery life for a lot of the sketching, photo, graphics design and video-editing capabilities you need. It can also feed into desktop apps for the rest.
It has a great Retina display for color work, and a fine-feeling pencil for sketching. Apple improved the design over earlier models as well, letting you wirelessly charge the Apple Pencil just by attaching it through a magnetic strip on the tablet for longer battery life. It also swapped the Lightning connector for a more flexible USB-C version. I wish the Pencil had an option for a softer nib, but it seems to be good enough for a lot of people.
The iPad Pro’s iPadOS operating system introduced capabilities that make it a lot more useful for creative work than iOS. These include a file system which supports the ability to connect to cameras (and thumb drives) for browsing and downloading and the ability to use the iPad as a second screen via Sidecar — a screen with Apple Pencil support.
Drawbacks: The Pencil 2 and keyboard add to the cost of what’s already a fairly expensive proposition. The company’s current iPad, has gotten pretty powerful and supports the original Apple Pencil and starts at $599, so it could be an attractive — and cheaper — alternative. You may not be able to use some of the iPadOS features, though, because it has a Lightning, not a USB-C connector. Read iPad Pro review.
Sarah Tew/CNET
A big 17-inch screen with an 8GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super in a slim Max-Q design, this is a powerful system that weighs just about six pounds. Unless you settle for less power on the road and plug into an external GPU at the office. Razer’s not the fastest of the Max-Q 17-inch models we’ve tested, but it’s a well-balanced option. If you don’t need the GPU power as much as the CPU and screen size, you can drop to the RTX 2070 configuration and save some money.
Drawbacks: It’s expensive, heavier than some of the competition, and there’s no Core i9 configuration option, which means you’re gaining better real-time operational fluidity by sacrificing rendering speed. Because it’s the consumer GPU, you may not be able to take advantage of some advanced features that are limited to workstation GPUs in 3D software applications. And the battery life isn’t great. Read our Razer Blade Pro 17 (early 2020) review.
Sarah Tew/CNET
The Surface Pro 7 offers 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity and runs full Windows 10, plus it supports the Microsoft Dial, which can substitute some functions when you don’t have access to the keyboard for your shortcuts. There’s also an option to use the sRGB color space instead of the default make-colors-pop setting. And it boasts more hours of battery performance than previous models.
If you plan to use this graphic design laptop for painting rather than sketching, don’t skimp on the processor when you buy. Go full Intel Core i7 to get the better CPU and more storage if you can afford it. Complex brushes, color mixing and textures can slow down your speed if you don’t have enough processor power for your graphics design software. Configurations vary in pricing depending on memory and storage.
Drawbacks: At 12.3 inches, it’s portable but small, especially if you want to use the Dial. It can also get expensive, and you’ll have to pay extra for the pen, Dial and keyboard. It’s a bit low on ports, too — if you need to present your work, you may need a dongle for HDMI or DisplayPort, unless you’re one of the few with a USB-C monitor. Read our Microsoft Surface Pro 7 review.
Sarah Tew/CNET
The Microsoft Studio’s sole advantage over other all-in-ones is its big, articulated pressure-sensitive touchscreen; for everyone else, the HP Envy 32 is a great choice. It has a big, bright 32-inch 4K screen that’s reasonably accurate; discrete Nvidia RTX 2060 graphics; a very good speaker system and some clever design touches.
Drawbacks: You can’t change the height of the display (common for all-in-ones). Read our HP Envy 32 All-in-One review.
Sarah Tew/CNET
With the Surface Studio, you’re paying for the big, 28-inch broad-gamut touchscreen display that you can lay flat for different viewing angles and draw on with a pressure-sensitive stylus. The Microsoft Dial’s an extra perk if you like a fourth input device when you work (in addition to mouse, keyboard and stylus).
Drawbacks: Pressure-sensitive stylus technology has evolved, and it still only offers two-generations-behind Nvidia GPUs and mobile CPUs: the system was last updated in 2018 with discrete graphics, to a GeForce GTX graphics card, the 1070. It’s very expensive for that, especially given it’s an investment. Read our Microsoft Surface Studio 2 review.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Apple finally made some meaningful updates to its veteran-for-creatives MacBook Pro line, including a bigger, higher-resolution (but still accurate) screen and current-generation mobile AMD graphics — enough that it’s back on my recommended list after spending some time in the “waiting for upgrades” section. Plus, it’s got a better keyboard.
Drawbacks: It’s still expensive and Apple’s in the process of moving away from Intel CPUs to Apple silicon. Read our Apple MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019) review.
More system recommendations
- Best laptop deals: Windows and Chromebooks for under $500
- Best 2-in-1 PCs for when you need a laptop and tablet in one
- Best Android tablet for 2020
- Best 15-inch laptops
- Best Chromebooks
- Best gaming PCs
- Best college laptops for 2020
- The best printer for 2020
- 5 ways to share files with your team while working from home
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- 7 must-have ergonomic upgrades for your home office
Originally published in 2019. Updated regularly to reflect new product recommendations and news.
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