1. Most powerful overall
2. Most powerful budget
3. Most memory
4. Most powerful AMD
5. Most powerful Intel
6. Most powerful desktop-replacement
7. How we chose
Searching for the most powerful laptop for your high-end computing needs? We're glad you're here. We wrote this guide for professionals and power users who demand top-tier performance for tasks like editing ultra-high resolution photos, cutting through 16K videos on the go, or tackling intensive computational fluid dynamics calculations — not the standard task for even the best laptops on the consumer market.
We've meticulously curated a list of laptops that stand out not just for their sheer speed but also for their capability to handle demanding tasks without breaking a sweat, catering to those who prioritize performance over factors like weight, price, and size. These machines are truly in a class of their own, often referred to as "luggables" due to their substantial capabilities.
We've been reviewing the best mobile workstations for more than a decade, so everything in this guide is backed by comprehensive reviews across a broad spectrum of products, including an extensive examination of more than 50 laptops. This rigorous review process ensures that our recommendations are grounded in thorough testing and analysis, providing you with the most reliable advice on the most powerful laptop to meet your demanding requirements.
The most powerful laptop overall
All hail the master of the PC universe. The Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (2021) is probably the best laptop creative pros can buy right (should budget and software support allow), thanks to its mind-blowing performance, brilliant screen and huge battery life as we found out in our review.
It is large and hefty (33% heavier than its little sibling), which is why the 14-inch MacBook Pro may be a better buy, unless you want the larger display real estate (with a higher screen resolution) and a bigger battery and a more powerful processor. We’d rather go for a bigger battery especially one that can last almost 19 hours looping a 1080p video. Apple also brought back some of the ports that were previously omitted, like a HDMI port and a full size card reader, both dearly missed by creatives.
The most expensive version of the 16-inch MacBook Pro offers an 8TB SSD with 64GB of unified memory, a 32-core GPU and a 10-core CPU which should surpass the overwhelming majority of systems - both laptops and desktops - out there, especially if the apps and plug-ins are optimized for the M1 architecture. This is the case for the entire suite of Adobe products and favorite brands like Blackmagic and Affinity.
Check out our review of the Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch, 2021
Most powerful budget laptop
You may be surprised to see the HP Pavilion Aero 13.3 in this list, after all, it belongs to HP’s mainstream consumer laptop line but we feel that it deserves this spot at number two for a couple of reasons.
Not all powerful laptops have to be expensive and not all powerful laptops have to be heavy. At the time of writing, this sub-1Kg laptop cost less than $730 with an 8-core, 16-thread AMD Ryzen 7 5800U processor, one that can easily take on Intel’s finest mobile CPUs. Yes you can get lighter laptops but they will be more expensive and slower.
This is the perfect combo for those who want something reasonably fast as long as you can live with its shortcomings. The battery is small (43WHr), the memory is soldered onboard (and therefore not upgradable) and limited at 16GB; that precludes resource heavy tasks that also require loads of memory (e.g. Adobe Photoshop). It doesn’t have a dedicated GPU unlike other laptops on this list which may hamper its performance in 3D animation and video editing.
We haven’t reviewed it yet.
Most powerful laptop with the most memory
All 12th generation Intel Core processors support up to 64GB memory so if you want to get a bit more should your applications require it, then you will need to move to the Intel Xeon family.
As such the ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 is ideal for engineering students, creatives, CAD and industrial professionals that require ISV certifications (this particular laptop supports 13 companies including Avid, Adobe and Bentley). Out of the big players, Lenovo is the only one that sells a laptop with the most powerful mobile Xeon processor (11955M) with 128GB of RAM and one of Nvidia’s most powerful mobile professional GPUs, the A5000 Max-Q with 16GB GDDR6 memory, for less than $10,000.
We haven’t tested it yet but this 8-core/16-thread behemoth should whizz through benchmarks with ease, especially those that can make good use of its 128GB RAM, the most on any laptop on the market. The ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 is also the only true professional Windows workstation in this list which means that you will get access to Lenovo’s premier next-business day onsite support services for up to five years with optional accidental damage protection for the same period. A ridiculously good and affordable way of ensuring that your investment is secure for years to come.
The most powerful AMD laptop
A gamer’s favorite, the Razer Blade 14, gets a spot on our list of the most powerful laptops because of the presence of an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX processor at its heart.
It is the fastest mobile processor from team Red that has shipped in commercial products. Razer engineers paired it with a gorgeous 14-inch QHD panel, an Nvidia Geforce RTX 3080 Ti with 16GB GDDR6 memory, 16GB DDR5 (sadly soldered on the board) and an array of features that sets it apart from other laptops based on the same AMD processor. That includes a individually factory calibrated display and a Qualcomm Wi-Fi chip.
As this is an AMD platform though, you will not get Thunderbolt 4 technology; on the other hand, there’s no excuse for not having a bigger battery even if it means bumping the weight of the laptop from 1.78Kg to nearly 2Kg. As noted above, the memory is soldered so you won’t be able to upgrade it and the RTX 3080 Ti GPU is one with a lower TDP compared to its desktop brethren.
This is still the fastest mobile GPU that money can buy. Altogether, this package is ideal for those who want to play hard and work hard; requiring both compute and graphic capabilities (e.g. CUDA) on the move, in a form factor that is comfortable to carry around all day. It will be equally at ease with Blender or with Cyberpunk 2077.
Check out our review of the Razer Blade 14 with an Intel processor
The most powerful Intel laptop
Alienware is Dell’s dedicated gaming range of laptops but it works well as a creative powerhouse as well, great for those who embrace hybrid working, a fact underlined by a Windows 11 Pro option.
This is a relatively new laptop and features the best of what Intel has to offer when it comes to mobile processors; the Core i9-12900HK is the fastest laptop CPU available from its range. Teamed with the fastest laptop GPU currently available from Nvidia, the Geforce RTX 3080 Ti, 64GB of DDR5 memory and two 2TB SSD in RAID-0, it should munch through any 3D modeling, rendering or computational job without much sweat.
Speaking of which, you may need to sweat a bit when carrying it as it weighs over 3Kg because of its 17-inch display and large 87WHr battery. Don’t expect it to last long as the combination of big display and power thirsty parts (up to 235W just for the CPU and GPU) will reduce battery life to less than a couple of hours.
For the price, we’d also expect a 2.5GbE LAN port plus at least one extra Thunderbolt 4 port. Like the Razer Blade 14, this is a laptop that will be equally at ease with Blender or Battlefield 1942.
We haven’t reviewed it yet.
The most powerful desktop-replacement
Last on the least is the most powerful laptop we have encountered to date; the XMG Apex 15 Max E22 is no ordinary laptop though. It is a portable device that uses a desktop processor inside a Clevo chassis.
We haven’t been able to source it only in Europe; none of the usual US Clevo resellers (Xoticpc/Sager, OriginPC) stock it. We reviewed an earlier model in July 2020 and noted that while its battery life was measured in minutes, its performance was outstanding for a laptop (or luggable or desktop replacement). Portability was not (and is still not) high on the agenda.
What XMG managed to deliver is a 16-core monster with 16TB of SSD storage (in RAID-0); the AMD processor that powers it, the Ryzen 9 5950X is socketed, not soldered and can be replaced. Since it uses 88W, it requires a significant amount of cooling which makes it loud and explains why it weighs more than 3.5Kg with the 230W power supply unit and why it doesn’t offer the more power hungry RTX3080 GPU as an option.
A great option as long as you plan to keep it connected to the mains most of the time. Just bear in mind that XMG cannot match the likes of Dell or Lenovo when it comes to its after sales network.
See our review of the XMG Apex 15 from 2020
The most powerful laptop: how we chose
Solely on the performance of their processors based on Geekbench which provides an adequate but not perfect comparison of performances especially across diverse architectures (ARM/Apple, x86). Since we’re talking exclusively about compute power, other characteristics fade in the background: battery life, graphics, connectivity, expansion capacity etc.
