Best workstation laptops in 2025: 6 mobile performance champs based on our testing and reviews

If your workflow requires you to edit 4K videos, run complex simulations, or render 3D graphics, you'll need one of the best workstation laptops. These machines are built to handle almost anything you can throw at them while maintaining a laptop form factor.

While some creatives can get away with using one of the best gaming laptops instead, creative professionals can accept no substitutions. The laptops on this list feature workstation-optimized Nvidia RTX A-series or Ada Generation GPUs and powerful CPUs like the Intel Core i9, Core Ultra 9, AMD Ryzen 9, or Apple M series processors for demanding creative applications like Adobe Premiere Pro, Blender, or DaVinci Resolve.

Most professionals who need workstations require quality visuals, so these laptops also feature stunning, highly color-accurate displays. However, be prepared for a hefty price tag.

My current top pick is the Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 7, which offers robust performance, a long-lasting battery, and a relatively affordable price. Depending on your budget, macOS fans may consider the 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Pro or MacBook Air M3.

At Laptop Mag, we review over a hundred laptops yearly, rigorously testing processing power, graphics, and display quality. The workstations on this list combine top-tier displays with powerful CPU and GPU combos for the most demanding users.

The quick list

CURATED BY

CURATED BY

Madeline Ricchiuto

Madeline Ricchiuto has covered software and hardware of all kinds over the years. She joined Future in 2019 as a tester in the hardware testing lab and moved to Laptop Mag in 2024.

Best overall

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The Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 may not have the most powerful CPU on this list, but its Intel Core Ultra 7 165H and Nvidia RTX 1000 Ada Generation GPU offer incredible workstation performance regardless. The ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 offers impressive performance without being prohibitively expensive, which makes it an easy choice for our top pick for most users.

Madeline Ricchiuto said in our review, "While it may not be the most powerful workstation we’ve ever seen here at Laptop Mag, the Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 has enough power and performance to handle photo and video editing, 3D rendering, or heavy data analysis you’d want out of a workstation machine."

As far as performance, the ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 has a Geekbench 6 multicore average of 12,974, a file transfer rate of 2,071 MBps, and can compress a 4K video to a 1080p 30fps format in just 4 minutes and 22 seconds. While its performance isn't quite up to par with workstation powerhouses like the HP ZBook Studio 16 G10 or Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M4 Pro, 2024), it is far more capable with high-performance tasks compared to more budget-friendly options like the Apple MacBook Air 13 (M3, 2024) or Asus ProArt PX13.

The ThinkPad's weakest point is its display, which covered a respectable 78.6% of the DCI-P3 color gamut with an average brightness of 386 nits. Neither score is bad, but they could always be better.

Additionally, the ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 lasted 17 hours and 23 minutes on the Laptop Mag web surfing battery test, which is far better than most workstations.

This workstation is a little pricey as the starting configuration is priced at $3,369, but it is often available at a discount, giving you an even better value for the money. This is the workstation we would recommend for most users, as it has the performance, display quality, and battery life to withstand most high-intensity tasks.

See our full Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 review.

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Best workstation laptop under $1000

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The Apple MacBook Air 13 (M3, 2024) is a pint-sized powerhouse that can keep up with plenty of hard-hitting creative applications like Adobe Premiere Pro and Blender. The M3 model of the MacBook Air starts at $1,099, but you can often find it on sale for less. Or you can opt for the $999 M2 version, which is also an incredibly powerful creator laptop.

Sean Riley said in our review, "The 13-inch MacBook Air M3 thoroughly impressed in my daily usage and in our lab tests. I've spent dozens of hours working on it now and whether photo editing in Photoshop, editing video in Premiere Pro, or juggling a handful of Chrome windows with dozens of tabs each, it is more than equal to the task."

In terms of performance, the MacBook Air 13 M3 is only a bit behind more powerful workstations like the Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 or Asus ProArt PX13. On the Geekbench 6 CPU benchmark, the MacBook Air 13 M3 averaged a multicore score of 12,087. On our video encoding test, the MacBook Air converted a 4K video to a 1080p 30fps format in just 6 minutes and 32 seconds.

The MacBook Air houses a 13-inch Liquid Retina display panel which covered 77.8% of the DCI-P3 color gamut with an impressive average brightness of 476 nits.

Additionally, the MacBook Air 13 (M3) lasted for 15 hours and 13 minutes on the Laptop Mag battery test, which is more than enough to get you through the day on a single charge.

The only things holding this laptop back from perfection are a lack of ports, and a more muted display compared to the competition.

See our full Apple MacBook Air 13 (M3, 2024) review.

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Best workstation laptop under $2000

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The Asus ProArt PX13 is a stylish 2-in-1 creator laptop with impressive performance courtesy of its Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 CPU and Nvidia RTX 4050 GPU. With a starting price of $1,699, this AI PC workstation offers an incredible bargain of performance and price, all without giving up a Windows operating system.

Stevie Bonifield said in our review, "The Asus ProArt PX13 is a top choice for creators looking for a compact laptop that can easily get the most out of demanding apps like Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Pro."

The Asus ProArt PX13 actually outperformed the Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 and Apple MacBook Air 13 (M3, 2024) in pure CPU performance, with a Geekbench 6 multicore average of 15,203. It also sped through our 4K video encoding task, completing the 1080p 30fps format compression in just 3 minutes and 36 seconds.

The ProArt PX13 has a vivid and bright display, covering 80% of the DCI-P3 color gamut with an average brightness of 350 nits.

As far as battery life is concerned, the ProArt PX13 is on the lower end, surviving 9 hours and 49 minutes on the Laptop Mag battery test. This is actually pretty good for a workstation laptop with a discrete GPU, but not enough to close the gap with the ThinkPad for the title of best overall. However, it is a fantastic little workstation at a very affordable price.

See our full Asus ProArt PX13 review.

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Best battery life in a workstation laptop

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The MacBook Pro 16 (M4 Pro, 2024) is one of the most powerful workstation laptops we've ever tested at Laptop Mag, with unmatched performance, an astoundingly bright display, and almost 21 hours of battery life. With an M4 Pro 14-core CPU and M4 Pro 20-core GPU, we couldn't find a task this MacBook couldn't handle.

Sean Riley said in our review, "It's almost simultaneously the most powerful premium laptop we've reviewed while also offering the second-longest battery of any laptop we've tested."

The M4 Pro chip outperformed even the M3 Max chip from last year's MacBook Pro 16, with a Geekbench 6 multicore average of 22,822. It absolutely crushed our Handbrake video encoding test, compressing a 4K video to 1080p 30fps format in just 2 minutes and 38 seconds.

The MacBook Pro 16 (M4 Pro, 2024) has a 16-inch Liquid Retina XDR display, which covers a solid 81.4% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and hits an average peak brightness of 565 nits.

Lastly, the MacBook Pro 16 lasted 20 hours and 46 minutes on the Laptop Mag web surfing battery test, the second longest we've seen yet.

If you need a MacBook that can do anything, the MacBook Pro 16 is the way to go. It has a high starting price, but if you've got the money to drop at least $2,499 on a laptop, it's absolutely worth it.

See our full Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M4 Pro, 2024) review.

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Best performance workstation laptop

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The HP ZBook Studio 16 G10 packages an Intel Core i9-13900H processor, Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada Generation GPU, 64GB of memory, and 2TB of SSD storage into a workstation that knows no limits. Its sticker price is similarly sky-high, with its starting configuration costing $3,201. Our fully-stocked review unit costs an astounding $8,905 at full price, making it about as expensive as a decent used car.

Madeline Ricchiuto said in our review, "Between my slight Photoshop use and 20-odd Chrome tabs, my work day was a breeze for the ZBook Studio. I even broke out some of my underwater videos from a recent dive trip to stitch together a highlight reel, and the ZBook didn’t flinch."

The ZBook's performance is top-of-the-line for an Intel processor, with a Geekbench 6 multicore average of 14,532 and a Handbrake video encode time of just 4:37 for a 4K video compression. It also boasts a transfer rate of 1,945 MBps.

The real star of the ZBook Studio is its stunning 4K display which covered 117.3% of the DCI-P3 color gamut with an average peak brightness of 457 nits.

Of course, all of that power comes at a price, so the ZBook Studio lasted just 6 hours and 1 minute on the Laptop Mag battery test. Considering the specs, this laptop lasted longer than we should rightly expect. But if you need something with truly impressive battery life, the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M4 Pro, 2024) or Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 are the way to go.

See our full HP ZBook Studio 16 G10 review.

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Benchmark comparisons

Recent reviews

We review dozens of laptops annually, and while some simply don't have what it takes to make our buying guides, they are still strong options that came up short for one reason or another. Here are some of our most recently reviewed laptops that didn't make the cut for "Best workstation laptops", but could still be solid machines for your creative workflow.

Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M4, 2024) | Apple M4 CPU | Apple M4 GPU | 16GB RAM | 1TB SSD

Score: ★★★★★

Pros: Over 18 hours of battery life; outstanding performance; brilliantly bright display; unmatched build quality; incredible stereo audio.

Cons: No Face ID; awkward vent placement.

See our full Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M4, 2024) review.

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HP Elite x360 1040 G11 | Intel Core Ultra 7 165H | Intel Arc Graphics | 16GB | 512GB SSD

Score: ★★★★

Pros: Svelte design; superb keyboard and touchpad experience; strong performance; 3-year warranty with 3 years of security features

Cons: It has the business laptop tax; display comes with too many caveats; middling battery life

See our full HP Elite x360 1040 G11 review.

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HP OmniBook X | Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 | Qualcomm Adreno | 16GB | 1TB SSD

Score: ★★★½

Pros: Sharp, colorful display; clicky keyboard; strong performance; incredible battery life

Cons: Poor brightness; slow SSD; middling graphics

See our full HP OmniBook X review.

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Asus TUF Gaming A14 | AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS | Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 | 16GB RAM | 1TB SSD

Score: ★★★★½

Pros: Industry-leading battery life; solid gaming performance; exceptionally light; sturdy and durable.

Cons: Sluggish trackpad.

See our full Asus TUF Gaming A14 review.

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Asus ProArt P16 | AMD Ryzen 9 HX 370 | Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 | 32GB RAM | 2TB SSD

Score: ★★★★½

Pros: Stellar graphics performance; top-firing speakers; great touchpad and keyboard; competitive AI performance.

Cons: Display could be brighter; below-average battery life.

See our full Asus ProArt P16 review.

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Acer Swift X 14 | Intel Core Ultra 7 155H | Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 | 32GB RAM | 1TB SSD

Score: ★★★★½

Pros: Swift, reliable performance; powerful RTX 4070 graphics for gaming and content creation; crisp, satisfying keyboard; light and thin chassis for a laptop with a discrete GPU; decent battery life.

Cons: Display doesn't meet 100% DCI-P3 claim; display could be brighter.

See our full Acer Swift X 14 review.

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HP ZBook Firefly 14 G11 | Intel Core Ultra 7 165H | Nvidia RTX A500 laptop GPU | 16GB RAM | 512GB SSD

Score: ★★★½

Pros: Responsive, anti-glare display; great keyboard and touchpad

Cons: Disappointing battery life; heats up quickly and stays hot

See our full HP ZBook Firefly 14 G11 review.

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Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra | Intel Core Ultra 9 185H | Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 | 32GB RAM | 1TB SSD

Score: ★★★★

Pros: Gorgeous 120Hz AMOLED display; powerful CPU/GPU Combo; excellent battery life; relatively thin and light; robust Samsung ecosystem

Cons: Performance doesn't quite match top competitors; retail pricing high for max configuration; webcam could be better in low-light

See our full Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra review.

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Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 16 Gen 9 | Intel Core Ultra 9 185H | Nvidia RTX 4050 | 32GB RAM | 1TB SSD

Score: ★★★★½

Pros: Beautiful display; bouncy keyboard; strong overall performance; discrete graphics; decent battery life

Cons: No RTX 4060 with Intel Core Ultra 7 configuration; touchpad too resistant; awful audio

See our full Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 16 Gen 9 review.

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How to choose the best workstation laptop

Choosing the right workstation for you comes down to why you need it in the first place. If you need a combination of power, battery life, and affordability, we recommend the Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 7. If you need to do heavier work than your average laptop can handle and need to stay on a budget, we recommend looking at something like the MacBook Air 13 (M3, 2024) or Asus ProArt PX13.

If money is no object, you can pick up some beastly workstations like the HP ZBook Studio 16 G10 or Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M4 Pro, 2024), which are incredibly powerful machines that can withstand any workload. They also cost a pretty penny to take home.

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FAQs

Can I use a gaming laptop instead of a workstation?

If you need to do light photo and video editing, a powerful CPU with an integrated GPU can handle most programs. If you need to get into more in-depth AI-generated editing or data computations then you'll want a discrete GPU. Gaming class graphics cards can handle most of these tasks pretty well, allowing you to use a gaming laptop as a workstation.

This can help you save some money, as workstation laptops, however, there are cases where you won't be able to use a gaming laptop, like editing 4-8K video, intensive 3D rendering, or complex data computations. Of course, you don't want to use a creator laptop for intense gaming either. Workstation GPUs and gaming GPUs may pack a lot of power, but the optimization differences between the two GPU classes mean that any intensive workstation tasks won't run well on a gaming machine and vice versa.

Why are workstation laptops so expensive?

Workstation laptops are expensive because they pack some of the most powerful processors, like the Intel Core Ultra 9, Intel Xeon, AMD Ryzen 9, or Apple M series chipsets which come at a high cost. Workstations also come with powerful workstation GPUs which don't retail cheaply either.

Workstations also come with the business pricing issue where they're often sold for less than their "list" price, to give you the feeling of a discount. Workstations are also frequently purchased in bulk, so the pricing scheme is more opaque than usual.

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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-A colorimeter to detect the brightness and DCI-P3 color gamut of the laptop's display. For performance testing, we run the laptop through a gauntlet of benchmarks, including Geekbench 6 and 3DMark professional graphics tests. With workstation laptops, we also run the machines through several SpecWorkstation and PugetBench Adobe tests.

To determine real-world performance, we task the laptop to convert a 4K video to 1080p resolution and to duplicate a 25GB multimedia file. Our real-world graphics test is Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm 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 premium MacBooks and Windows 11 laptops, a runtime of over 10 hours is considered a good result whereas dedicated 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.

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Why Trust Laptop Mag

Laptop Mag reviews over a hundred different laptops every year, from paperweight ultralights to everyday workhorses to lumbering gaming notebooks that scorch the frame rates of even the hottest AAA games. We're not just experts in the laptop field, as we go one step further by meticulously testing smartphones, tablets, headphones, PC accessories, software, and even the latest in gaming.

We are 100% independent and have decades of experience to help you buy with confidence. In fact, Laptop Mag has been testing and reviewing products for three decades, and we continue to deliver trustworthy reviews you can rely on.

Our experienced team of writers and editors scour the available information about the laptop and put it through its paces to determine which is best for you. But before they start, the testing team subjects each system to a rigorous regimen of synthetic and real-world tests to see how a system handles the type of work and games you’re most likely to throw at it.

Our editorial trustworthiness is enforced by one of the world's largest technology publishers, Future Publishing. As a company, we have unrivaled experience across every tech sector — and we're the group's specialist for all things mobile tech.

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