The best workstation laptops are the only laptops that can handle crunching hordes of data or video-editing large files in 4K.
Of course, the best workstation laptops are targeted toward professional users who need to run graphics-intensive apps. The key difference between some of the best gaming laptops around and a workstation is its GPU, as it’s primarily optimized for tasks such as design and 3D rendering instead of sheer gaming performance. And workstations generally have stronger CPUs as well, like an Intel Core i9 or Intel Xeon processor, instead of the typical Core i7 you’d find in most gaming laptops.
To speed up your workflow in apps like Adobe Premiere or Blender, your workstation needs a beastly processor (such as Intel’s Xeon series); a vibrant, color-accurate display; and a powerful GPU. We recently reviewed the Asus ProArt StudioBook 15 and the Acer ConceptD 7 Ezel, which are a solid workstations. If you’re looking for a beast with a 30-series GPU, see our beginner’s guide to Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 series mobile GPUs. And if you’re looking for killer performance and something that can game, check out our Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 (GA503Q) review. And if you’re looking for something affordable, see our recent Gateway Creator Series 15 Performance Notebook review.
While the quest to procure the best workstation laptop is no feeble task, we will help you pick the best system for your needs and budget. Whether you need a huge, vibrant display or an affordable powerhouse, here are the best workstation laptops you can buy right now.
What are the best workstation laptops?
The best workstation laptop that you can buy right now is the MSI WS65 9TM. The WS65 packs a powerful 9th-Gen Core i7 processor and Nvidia Quadro RTX 5000 Max-Q GPU into a superslim, durable chassis. Top that off with solid battery life and a gorgeous 15.6-inch, 4K display. Meanwhile, the HP ZBook Studio x360 G5 is also an excellent choice, as you’ll get an indomitable beast with an Intel Xeon processor and a Quadro P1000 GPU. Between its dazzling 4K display, bouncy keyboard and long battery life, the ZBook Studio is quite amazing all around. Not to mention that its chassis is military-durable and pretty sexy at the same time.
If you’re looking for a 17-inch workstation, you can’t go wrong with the Asus ProArt StudioBook Pro W700G3T. The StudioBook Pro has one of the most stunning designs I’ve ever seen on a laptop. In its gorgeous, 0.7-inch-slim design lies a strong Intel Xeon E-2276M processor and an Nvidia Quadro RTX 3000 GPU along with a vivid, 17-inch, 16:10 display and a comfortable keyboard.
If you need a gaming laptop that can double as a workstation, then look no further than the Alienware Area-51m. Armed with a desktop Intel Core i9 processor and one of Nvidia’s superpowered RTX GPUs, it absolutely demolished every test we put in front of it with graceful aplomb. It will also make a big dent in your wallet. But if you consider that this is the first future-proof gaming laptop, it seems a small price to pay for a truly upgradable system and what Alienware is calling its first real desktop replacement.
The best workstation laptops you can buy today
The new generation of best workstation laptops is here. The MSI WS65 9TM is blasting through fools with an Intel Core i7-9750H processor and a beastly Nvidia Quadro RTX 5000 GPU with 16GB of VRAM. On the Geekbench 4.1 overall performance benchmark, the MSI WS65 scored 22,876.
Combo that with a superslim and lightweight design, a ridiculously vivid 4K display and a decent battery life. Although the MSI WS65 is skinny and light, it doesn’t sacrifice the durability that consumers can expect from a workstation. It surpassed several MIL-STD 810G tests, so it can withstand sand and dust, vibrations, shocks, low- and high-pressure altitudes, even extreme temperatures. Regarding security, the MSI WS65 packs both a discrete TPM 2.0 chip and a built-in fingerprint reader, located within the touchpad. Yeah, the MSI WS65 9TM is a straight up beast.
See our full MSI WS65 9TM review.
Armed with an Intel Core i9 processor and an Nvidia RTX 2070 Max-Q GPU, this workstation is ready to take on all challengers. Wrapped in a sleek, svelte chassis, the laptop is easy on the eyes, but thanks to MIL-SPEC certification, it can take a bump or two. Plus, you’ve got a captivating 4K OLED touch panel that serves up breathtaking picture quality.
At $4,559, HP ZBook Create G7 is pricey, but you’re getting premium performance, so it’s money well-spent production pros. Still, for all the money you’re forking out, I would prefer a brighter display and the battery life could definitely be longer.
See our full ZBook Create G7 review.
What drew me in about the Asus ProArt StudioBook Pro W700G3T, apart from its exhaustively long name, is its stunning Turquoise Gray design and its vivid 16:10 display. Its 17-inch screen nailed 162% of the sRGB color gamut and emitted 292 nits of brightness. The StudioBook Pro also killed it on the Geekbench 4.1 overall performance test, scoring 21,359 with its beefy Intel Xeon E-2276M processor and 32GB of RAM. Top that off with a comfortable keyboard, and the StudioBook Pro makes it one of the best workstation laptops around.
Like most workstations, the ProArt StudioBook Pro is a tank. It passed multiple MIL-STD 810G tests, so it was able to survive extreme high and low temperatures, humidity, altitude and vibrations. On the security side, you get a fingerprint reader with Windows Hello support, and that’s about it.
See our full Asus ProArt StudioBook Pro W700G3T review.
Sleek, metal and unashamedly rectangular, the MSI WS66 10TMT reminds us of a retro sports car. The image of a DeLorean (the Back to the Future car) surfaces in our mind whenever we glance at this square hunk of aluminum. On top of that, passed several MIL-SPEC durability tests and even has a decently long battery life for a souped up workstation.
With a beastly Nvidia Quadro RTX 5000 GPU and 16GB of VRAM, the MSI WS66 10TMT is a kick-ass video editing machine. Our workstation benchmarking gauntlet was no match for the WS66 10TMT, nor were its direct competitors. The WS66 scored a monstrous 6,735 on the Geekbench 5.0 test, surpassing the ProArt StudioBook 15 (6,076, Core i7-9750H), the WS65 9TM (5,573, Core i7-9750H) and the workstation average (4,178). The MSI WS66 also took a speedy 8 minutes and 28 seconds to complete our HandBrake benchmark.
See our full MSI WS65 10TMT review.
With its raw power and pure sRGB, the Dell Precision 7730 is one of the most powerful workstations with the most colorful display you can find. Its Core i9-8950HK CPU destroyed the competition on Geekbench 4.1 with 24,800. And its 17.3-inch, 4K panel covers a ridiculous 211 percent of the sRGB spectrum. In addition, it offers up to a Nvidia Quadro P5200 GPU with an awesome 16GB of VRAM, leaving plenty of room to run the most graphically intensive programs. And although the chassis is kind of chunky, this laptop offers a comfortable typing experience.
Don’t worry about your arms giving out when you hold the Precision 7730; this tank can survive a fall. The business laptop passed 15 MIL-SPEC durability tests, including those for high altitudes, extreme temperatures, dirt, shock and drop, according to Dell. The Precision 7730 also has safeguards to protect your sensitive data. You have the option to add a FIPS fingerprint sensor in the palm rest to go along with a standard smart-card reader and an NFC sensor for contactless smart cards.
See our full Dell Precision 7730 review.
For content creators on the move, it’s hard to beat the HP ZBook x2, which is a powerful detachable 2-in-1 with a slick Bluetooth keyboard. A major selling point is the six shortcut buttons on either side of the display, which can be programmed for Photoshop to change color hues or even increase the size of your brush, giving artists a more streamlined experience.
It also comes with a comfortable stylus that feels identical to a WACOM pen, and it offers 4,096 degrees of pressure sensitivity in both the tip and eraser. The HP ZBook x2 makes it easy to visualize your creations with its 14-inch, 4K panel that envelops you in vivid colors — 188 percent of the sRGB, to be exact. While its Quadro M620 GPU isn’t the strongest around, the ZBook x2 offers plenty of unique features to stand out on its own.
See our full HP ZBook x2 review.
Allow me to introduce you to the king of gaming, and the most powerful machine on this list: The Alienware Area 51-m. Armed with an overclockable 9th Gen Core i9 desktop processor, the Area 51-m blasted through Geekbench 4.1 with a score of 32,591, and its RTX 2080 GPU tore through Rise of the Tomb Raider at 92 frames per second on the highest settings.
On our file copy test, the Area-51m’s pair of 1TB PCIe M.2 SSDs in RAID 0 configuration took only 4 seconds to duplicate 4.97GB of multimedia files. That translates into a blistering transfer rate of 1,272.3 megabytes per second. All of that power is paired with a gorgeous design and the ability to upgrade the Area 51-m’s components. Keep in mind that this isn’t a business laptop, so you’re not getting a mil-spec chassis or very many security features either.
See our full Alienware Area-51m review.
The term desktop replacement gets thrown around too lightly at times, but the Lenovo ThinkPad P15 certainly earns it. That’s not surprising when you see the price ($2,449 starting; tested at $4,570) or the size of this workstation, at 1.2 inches, it’s roughly as thick as any two laptops stacked on top of one another.
Housed inside that expensive and expansive frame are top-of-the-line components, including a 10th Gen Intel Core i9-10885H CPU, Nvidia Quadro RTX 5000 Max-Q GPU and 32GB of RAM, which deliver outstanding performance. Naturally, it doesn’t stop with the internals, the P15 boasts a bright 4K display, a vast array of ports and a comfortable full-size keyboard with a number pad.
While there are a number of standout features for the ThinkPad P15 Gen 1, a few drawbacks might have you giving some of the other best workstation laptops on the market a look.
See our full Lenovo ThinkPad P15 review.
The Dell Precision 5540 has the full spirit of a workstation in the chassis of the Dell XPS 15. Packed under its thin aluminum hood is an Intel Core i9-9980HK processor, an Nvidia Quadro T2000 GPU and 32GB of RAM. On the Geekbench 4.1 overall performance test, the Dell Precision 5540 scored an awesome 29,023. Its 15.6-inch, 4K OLED panel is nails 200% of the sRGB color gamut and emits 384 nits of brightness, so it’s awesome for any content you’re working with.
The Dell Precision 5540 passed 15 MIL-STD 810G tests, which means it can withstand extreme temperatures, altitudes, sand, dust, humidity, shock and more. On the security side, the Precision 5540 offers an IR camera for Windows Hello and a TPM 2.0 security chip. You can also get it with vPro for remote management.
See our full Dell Precision 5540 review.
How much does a workstation laptop cost?
Workstations start around $1,000, but many models at that price lack the discrete graphics card you’ll need to take on tasks like video editing or 3D modeling. And it’ll most likely have a 1080p display at that price range, so you might want to spring for a 4K model if your work involves editing high-res photos and videos.
You can get some work done with one of the top cheap gaming laptops, which has a GPU like an Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti or greater, but they’re not optimized specifically for media creation like Nvidia’s Quadro GPU is. If you’re looking to get some real work done, you’ll need a workstation with a Quadro GPU and a colorful, high-resolution display, which will most definitely run you over $2,000. While it’s not necessarily a workstation, the Asus ZenBook Pro Duo can handle rigorous tasks with multiple screens all for $2,999.
How to choose the best workstation laptops for you
Choosing the right workstation for you comes down to why you need it in the first place. You can pick up an affordable workstation to do some heavier work than your average laptop, but if you need a straight up tank to handle taxing programs, you’re going to pay a hefty price. If it’s the former, we recommend looking at something like the Lenovo ThinkPad P1 or Dell Precision 5540.
If money is no object, you can pick up some beastly workstations like the MSI WS65 9TM and the HP ZBook Studio x360 G5, which are incredibly powerful and durable machines that can withstand most tests that you’ll throw at them. The WS65 9TM is great if you want your display to be super colorful and bright, but the ZBook Studio x360 is better if you need a stylus to get into graphic designing or something else.
How we test the best workstation laptops
We put each laptop through extensive benchmark testing — both synthetic and real-world — before they end up in the hands of our reviewers. We evaluate each aspect of the laptop, including its performance, battery life, display, speakers and heat management.
In our benchmark testing, we use a Klein K10 colorimeter to detect the brightness and sRGB color gamut of the laptop’s display. For performance testing, we run the laptop through a gauntlet of benchmarks, including Geekbench 4.3 and 5.0 and 3DMark professional graphics tests.
To determine real-world performance, we task the laptop to convert a 4K video to 1080p resolution and to duplicate a 4.97GB multimedia file. Our real-world graphics test is the Dirt 3 benchmark with medium settings at 1080p resolution.
We also run heat tests by playing a 15-minute full-screen video and measuring temperatures in different areas of the laptop. Last but not least, our battery test consists of continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness. For MacBooks and premium Windows 10 laptops, a runtime of over 9 hours is considered a good result whereas gaming laptops and workstations that can stay powered for longer than 5 hours deserve praise.
These tests are complemented with extensive hands-on testing from our reviewers who critique everything from the laptop’s materials to the feel of its touchpad.
