The Best Notebooks for Photo and Video Editing
One of the most common usage scenarios for notebooks is the storing, viewing, sorting and editing of pictures as well as videos. A laptop for this purpose should have a very high-quality display to represent your collections as accurately as possible and obviously provide the necessary performance to ensure a productive workflow. For this reason, we only list those laptops with the highest score in our test criteria display and application performance (weighted score) here. You can also use the following top lists for further research:
The Best Laptops for Photo and Video Editing
Position | Weighted Rating | Total Rating | Date | Image | Model | Screen | Weight | Resolution | Surface | Contrast | DeltaE Color | AdobeRGB (%) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 96.6 % | 93.2 % | 11/2023 | Apple MacBook Pro 16 2023 M3 Max Apple M3 Max 16-Core Apple M3 Max 40-Core GPU 128 GB Memory, 8192 GB SSD | 16.00" | 2.1 kg | 3456x2234 | glossy | 1.2 | |||
2 | 96.2 % | 89.4 % | 03/2023 | Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 GU604VY-NM042X Intel Core i9-13900H NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU 64 GB Memory, 2048 GB SSD | 16.00" | 2.3 kg | 2560x1600 | matte | 21133:1 | 0.89 | ||
3 | 96.1 % | 88.3 % | 02/2024 New! | Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 G834JYR (2024) Intel Core i9-14900HX NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU 32 GB Memory, 2048 GB SSD | 18.00" | 3.1 kg | 2560x1600 | matte | 14197:1 | 1.52 | ||
4 | 96.1 % | 89.4 % | 02/2023 | Lenovo Legion Pro 7 16IRX8H Intel Core i9-13900HX NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU 32 GB Memory, 1024 GB SSD | 16.00" | 2.7 kg | 2560x1600 | matte | 1278:1 | 0.95 | ||
5 | 95.8 % | 90 % | 04/2023 | Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 GA402XY AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU 32 GB Memory, 1024 GB SSD | 14.00" | 1.7 kg | 2560x1600 | matte | 1 | |||
6 | 95.7 % | 93.9 % | 03/2023 | Apple MacBook Pro 14 2023 M2 Pro Apple M2 Pro Apple M2 Pro 19-Core GPU 32 GB Memory, 2048 GB SSD | 14.20" | 1.6 kg | 3024x1964 | glossy | 25000:1 | 1.2 | ||
7 | 95.6 % | 88.4 % | 02/2024 New! | HP Omen Transcend 16-u1095ng Intel Core i9-14900HX NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU 32 GB Memory, 1024 GB SSD | 16.00" | 2.3 kg | 2560x1600 | matte | 19500:1 | 1.94 | ||
8 | 95.6 % | 90.2 % | 10/2023 | Lenovo Legion 9 16IRX8 Intel Core i9-13980HX NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU 32 GB Memory, 2048 GB SSD | 16.00" | 2.6 kg | 3200x2000 | matte | 16873:1 | 2.56 | ||
9 | 95.6 % | 92.8 % | 11/2023 | Apple MacBook Pro 14 2023 M3 Max Apple M3 Max 16-Core Apple M3 Max 40-Core GPU 64 GB Memory, 2048 GB SSD | 14.20" | 1.6 kg | 3024x1964 | glossy | 1.7 | |||
10 | 95.6 % | 93.7 % | 03/2023 | Apple MacBook Pro 16 2023 M2 Max Apple M2 Max Apple M2 Max 38-Core GPU 64 GB Memory, 2048 GB SSD | 16.20" | 2.2 kg | 3456x2234 | glossy | 504000:1 | 1.5 |
The table above contains an overview over the best notebooks reviewed by Notebookcheck over the course of the past 12 months as well as still relevant and available older products. In cases of identical score the more recent device is listed first. All prices in above table and price comparisons are updated daily and can thus differ.
Link: all devices in this class reviewed
Editor's Comments
After our top list was shaken up by the increased use of very good displays (mostly mini-LED or OLED) and powerful, often desktop-class CPUs, there are four changes at the end of the year. Not least because of the new MacBook Pros, but a pure workstation and Lenovo's new Legion 9 16 with mini-LED display have also made it into our top list.
The ranking is based on the average rating of the display and application performance sub-ratings. Move the mouse pointer over the respective score under "Weighted Rating" to see the ratings used for the calculation.
1st – Apple MacBook Pro 16 M3 Max (Late 2023)
Compared to its predecessor (Early 2023) with Apple M2 Max, the MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) has not changed visually, apart from the new color option "Space Gray". Inside, the new M3 Max SoC with 16 CPU and 40 GPU cores does its job. The finish of the casing is excellent and the surfaces are resistant to dirt and fingerprints.
The mini LED display has an extremely low black level and therefore achieves very high contrast values, similar to OLED panels. The subjective picture quality is simply perfect.
One small point of criticism is the constant PWM flickering at 15 KHz. Anyone who is sensitive to this will not be happy with the MacBook Pro 16. Otherwise, the panel covers almost 100% of the DCI-P3 color space as usual and is very color accurate, so we can recommend the panel for photo and video editing. Compared to the predecessor, the SDR brightness of 600 cd/m² has increased by 20%. The multi-core performance, on the other hand, has improved by a whopping 50%, not least due to the higher number of cores.
The MacBook Pro 16 2023 with the M3 Max, 16 GB RAM and a 512 GB SSD is available in stores for around $1,950, for instance at Amazon. Other configurations are available either from Apple's online store.
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2nd – Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 (2023)
The new Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 uses a mini LED display with a resolution of 2,560 x 1,600 pixels in 16:10 format and a brightness of over 600 nits. However, the color deviations are only within tolerable limits for professional image editing when the multi-zone backlight is deactivated. Nevertheless, this is enough for 1st place in our top list. 1,024 dimming zones on 16 inches ensure a high contrast without strong blooming.
Actually a gaming laptop, the 16-inch display has a correspondingly high refresh rate, in this case a very fast 240 Hz. The built-in RTX 4090 with 150 W TGP (including Dynamic Boost) is also not from bad parents, while the Intel Core i9-13900H exceeds the multi-core performance of the predecessor by 20 percent, but does not unfold its full potential in the 23 mm thin gamer. In battery mode, the performance of the CPU and GPU also drops significantly.
High-end hardware comes at a high price: The thin and light design also means that the full performance of the GPU and CPU cannot be called upon. However, the Zephyrus M16 is convincing on the network, especially when it comes to the screen.
In the US, interested users can order the ROG Zephyrus M16 (2023) via Amazon with prices starting at $3,300.
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3rd – Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 (2024)
The Intel Core i9-14900HX installed in the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 offers very powerful and unthrottled performance, which is paired with a fully extended GeForce RTX 4090 with 16 GB VRAM. The huge 18-inch QHD panel with mini-LED technology should also offer enough space.
The brightness of 934 cd/m² is impressive, as is the color space coverage of 90% AdobeRGB and 100% DCI-P3. The factory calibration also looks very good with a DeltaE of 1.52. Asus also offers the option of deactivating local dimming to achieve more accurate colors. The PCIe 4.0 SSD offers an unthrottled 7,100 MB/s and the speakers are also quite impressive. In addition, the 2TB SSD can be supplemented by another one in the second M.2 slot.
The huge Strix Scar 18 (2024) doesn't have to make any compromises when it comes to multimedia performance. The performance and the mini LED display are impressive across the board.
Flat, but not quite light at 3 kg. 17.3-inch with 4K mini LED display and powerful hardware, but this is not the end of the line and not quite 400 cd/m² is available for outdoor use.
At the time of writing, Asus offers the ROG Strix Scar 18 (2024) for around $3,000 on their webshop. Alternatively, users can purchase the laptop via Amazon.
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4th – Lenovo Legion Pro 7 16 (2023)
Thanks to its performance and above-average display, the 16-inch laptop from Lenovo with the name Legion Pro 7 16 is also in the top list of the best devices for photo and video editing.
In addition to the new Raptor Lake processor from the particularly powerful HX series, the updated version now also offers a speedy GeForce RTX 4080 from Nvidia with max TGP of 175 W. The two USB-C ports now also support Power Delivery with up to 140 W. The large 16:10 display has not changed much from the basic specifications with 2,560 x 1,600 pixels, 16:10, IPS and HDR 400, instead of 165 Hz there is now 240 Hz and Lenovo now uses the supplier CSOT instead of BOE.
The subjective picture impression is still excellent, as the colors are vivid, the contrast is good and there is no grainy picture impression despite the matte panel. However, the price has risen significantly compared to its predecessor due to the more powerful hardware.
Even in the factory settings, the color deviations are within the limits and we could not detect any color cast. After our calibration, the display quality could still be improved. The AdobeRGB color space is covered by 71 percent.
The Lenovo Legion Pro 7 16 can currently be ordered on the manufacturer's website. Alternatively, Amazon US also lists a RTX 4080-powered SKU for around $2,400.
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5th – Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023)
Mini-LED now finally available for the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14: The compact 14-inch gaming laptop is now the third best multimedia notebook for photo and video editing, although the focus here is of course on mobility rather than plenty of screen space.
The performance of the Zen 4 AMD processor has increased by a whopping 25 percent compared to its predecessor, while the built-in GeForce RTX 4090 with 125 W TGP (including 25 W Dynamic Boost) calculates up to twice as fast as the Radeon RX 6800S of its predecessor.
Subjective image quality is superb with popping colors, great contrast ratio, and no visible pixel grain despite a matte panel.
The latest Zephyrus G14 from Asus offers compact, powerful performance and an almost perfect display. 93% AdobeRGB, accurate colors, high contrast, 165 Hz and 500 cd/m² - you get it all here.
In the US, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 2023 with RTX 4060 is currently available on Amazon for around $1,600.
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6th – Apple MacBook Pro 14 2023 M2 Pro
Apple MacBook Pro 14 was recently refreshed and will be powered by the new M2 Pro SoC with up to 12 CPU cores and 19 GPU cores in 2023. On the outside, everything has remained the same, such as the sturdy unibody case with its perfectly aligned hinges. However, up to 96 GB of RAM with a very high 400 GB/s bandwidth is now possible if you choose the M2 Max. The multi-core CPU performance increases by 20 percent from the M1 Pro to the M2 Pro. The long battery runtimes remain the same.
The mini-LED display is high-resolution, particularly contrasty, has a 120 Hz refresh rate and is already color-accurate without calibration.
The slow response times and the constant PWM flickering have to be accepted, just like in the predecessor model, in the otherwise very good display.
The device can be purchased either directly from Apple or through authorized resellers such as Amazon.
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7th – HP Omen Transcend 16 (2024)
The 20 mm thin HP Omen Transcend 16 relies on a brute Intel Core i9-14900HX, which, however, throttles down after a rather short time. It also has a 392 cd/m² bright, reflective QHD OLED panel with 240 Hz, 97% Adobe RGB and 100% DCI-P3. The Delta-E values are < 2 ex works, so that nothing stands in the way of professional video or photo editing.
There is also a fast PCIe 4.0 SSD that does not suffer from any throttling and an RTX 4070 with 130W TGP and 8 GB VRAM. An RTX 4080, which is also fit for 8K video processing with 12 GB VRAM, works significantly faster, but HP only offers the RTX 4070.
The Omen Transcend 16 from HP is an interesting option for multimedia tasks of all kinds and offers usable speakers and an accurate OLED display, but the performance is somewhat limited.
The Omen Transcend 16 (2024) is not yet available through common online shops. However, you can keep tabs on stores like Amazon, newegg, and Best Buy and wait for the device to appear here.
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8th – Lenovo Legion 9 16
Lenovo Legion 9 is the only laptop in the Legion series that is equipped with a mini LED display. As a result, the contrast value is very good, the brightness reaches almost 700 cd/m² and 97% of the display P3 color space is covered. The Delta-E value for the colors is 2.56 ex works, but could be slightly lower for professional use. Calibration achieved no further improvement.
However, we miss a function for switching off multi-zone dimming, which would be necessary for color-accurate tasks. On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with the brute performance of the installed Core i9-13980HX and the RTX 4090 can also unfold its full potential.
In principle, Lenovo's Legion 9 offers everything that is important for a Creator notebook: brute CPU and GPU performance as well as an accurate and high-quality display. However, there is no option to deactivate the 1,536 dimming zones for true-color work.
Lenovo is now shipping Legion 9i 16 starting at $3,150, a RTX 4090-powered variant costs around $3,800.
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9th – Apple MacBook Pro 14 M3 Max (Late 2023)
Apple MacBook Pro 14 (Late 2023) with M3 Max chip including 16 CPU cores and a full 40 GPU cores is outwardly identical to its predecessor, as is the built-in display, which is slightly brighter at 600 cd/m². However, a maximum of 128 GB RAM is now available instead of 96 GB RAM in the M2 Max. The multi-core CPU performance also increases by a whopping 50% and the battery life even increases by 1.5 hours to over 15 hours of surfing.
The built-in mini LED panel is not only high-resolution and high-contrast with a fast 120 Hz refresh rate, but also offers high color accuracy ex works.
However, we already criticized the slow response times and constant PWM flickering of the first MacBook Pro with Apple Silicon.
The MacBook Pro 14 2023 is customizable on Apple's website. Alternatively, users can order a base model via Amazon, which costs around US$ 3,050.
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10th – Apple MacBook Pro 16 2023 M2 Max
Similar to the MacBook Pro 14 2023 M2 Pro, the MacBook Pro 16 2023 M2 Max has also undergone a complete redesign. The M2 Max SoC with 12 CPU cores and 38 GPU cores performs its duties inside the aluminum unibody housing, which is more massive than its predecessor. The workmanship is excellent and the surfaces are not susceptible to dirt or fingerprints.
The mini LED screen achieves an extremely low black level and therefore very high contrast values, similar to OLED panels. The subjective picture quality is simply perfect.
One small point of criticism is the constant PWM flickering at 15 KHz. Anyone susceptible to this will not be happy with the Macbook Pro 16 2023. The screen on the 16-inch model should also be calibrated, as the color temperature is set a little too cool. This was not the case with the 14-inch model. However, the DeltaE-2000 deviations are very minimal, so we can recommend the panel for photo and video editing.
The MacBook Pro 16 2023 with the M2 Pro, 16 GB RAM and a 512 GB SSD is available in stores for around $2,200, for instance at Amazon. Our test configuration with 64 GB RAM and a 2 TB SSD is available either from Apple's online store.
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Best Notebooks for Digital Content Editing in Comparison
Test Results
Apple MacBook Pro 16 2023 M3 Max | Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 GU604VY-NM042X | Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 G834JYR (2024) | Lenovo Legion Pro 7 16IRX8H | Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 GA402XY | HP Omen Transcend 16-u1095ng | Lenovo Legion 9 16IRX8 | Apple MacBook Pro 14 2023 M3 Max | Apple MacBook Pro 14 2023 M2 Pro | Apple MacBook Pro 16 2023 M2 Max | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Display | ||||||||||
Display P3 Coverage | 99.2 | 99.33 | 99.9 | 69.1 | 99.6 | 99.8 | 97.2 | 99.2 | 99.2 | 99 |
sRGB Coverage | 99.9 | 100 | 99.7 | 100 | 100 | 99.9 | 100 | |||
AdobeRGB 1998 Coverage | 90.01 | 90 | 71.2 | 93.4 | 97 | 87 | 88.5 | |||
Response Times | ||||||||||
Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 66.9 ? | 50.8 ? | 12 ? | 12.3 ? | 17.2 ? | 0.2 ? | 13.3 ? | 80.8 ? | 35.2 ? | 80.5 ? |
Response Time Black / White * | 43.6 ? | 29.6 ? | 10.7 ? | 5.9 ? | 9.9 ? | 0.2 ? | 11.6 ? | 78.8 ? | 26.4 ? | 47.2 ? |
PWM Frequency | 14877 | 12000 | 5733 ? | 5430 | 120 ? | 4742 | 14878 ? | 14880 ? | 14880 ? | |
Screen | ||||||||||
Brightness middle | 630 | 634 | 937 | 511 | 535 | 390 | 674.9 | 610 | 500 | 504 |
Brightness | 604 | 627 | 934 | 469 | 563 | 392 | 682 | 600 | 489 | 487 |
Brightness Distribution | 94 | 92 | 89 | 86 | 91 | 98 | 96 | 96 | 94 | 94 |
Black Level * | 0.03 | 0.066 | 0.4 | 0.02 | 0.04 | 0.02 | 0.001 | |||
Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 1.2 | 0.89 | 1.52 | 0.95 | 1 | 1.94 | 2.56 | 1.7 | 1.2 | 1.5 |
Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 2.8 | 1.79 | 2.82 | 2.07 | 2.8 | 4.26 | 4.16 | 2.3 | 2.6 | 3.3 |
Greyscale dE 2000 * | 1.9 | 1.13 | 1.7 | 0.6 | 1.8 | 1.5 | 3 | 2.1 | 1.7 | 2.1 |
Gamma | 2.29 96% | 2.47 89% | 2.042 108% | 2.176 101% | 2.24 98% | 2.221 99% | 2.38 92% | 2.22 99% | 2.24 98% | 2.25 98% |
CCT | 6812 95% | 6497 100% | 6578 99% | 6545 99% | 6337 103% | 6395 102% | 6799 96% | 6874 95% | 6791 96% | 6882 94% |
Contrast | 21133 | 14197 | 1278 | 19500 | 16873 | 25000 | 504000 | |||
Colorchecker dE 2000 calibrated * | 0.91 | 1.21 | 0.91 | 4.21 | 2.47 | |||||
Noise | ||||||||||
off / environment * | 23.7 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 23.3 | 24 | 23.7 | 24.8 | 23.9 | 23.9 |
Idle Minimum * | 23.7 | 24 | 27 | 26 | 23.6 | 29 | 24 | 24.8 | 23.9 | 23.9 |
Idle Average * | 23.7 | 29.96 | 28 | 28 | 23.6 | 30 | 24 | 24.8 | 23.9 | 23.9 |
Idle Maximum * | 23.7 | 34.27 | 32 | 34 | 33 | 31 | 30.4 | 24.8 | 23.9 | 23.9 |
Load Average * | 40.8 | 35.89 | 50 | 47 | 49.5 | 45 | 30.4 | 25.8 | 26 | 36.6 |
Witcher 3 ultra * | 42.8 | 57.5 | 50 | 55 | 52.2 | 44 | 52.2 | 43.4 | 35.1 | |
Load Maximum * | 42.8 | 57.54 | 52 | 56 | 52.2 | 47 | 54.9 | 43.4 | 43.2 | 43.2 |
Heat | ||||||||||
Maximum Upper Side * | 42.3 | 50 | 49 | 48 | 47 | 49 | 49.6 | 45.9 | 46.9 | 44.2 |
Maximum Bottom * | 42 | 58 | 47 | 49 | 46.5 | 63 | 48.6 | 42.1 | 41.7 | 42.9 |
Idle Upper Side * | 22.5 | 26 | 29 | 40 | 25.9 | 30 | 33.2 | 23.4 | 21.4 | 22.4 |
Idle Bottom * | 22.9 | 28 | 31 | 33 | 28 | 29 | 34.2 | 23.8 | 21.4 | 22.3 |
Battery Runtime | ||||||||||
H.264 | 1221 | 285 | 447 | 431 | 1077 | 917 | 1124 | |||
WiFi v1.3 | 999 | 259 | 461 | 303 | 448 | 292 | 159 | 911 | 807 | 887 |
Load | 71 | 173 | 77 | 124 | 58 | 58 | 73 | 70 | 66 | |
Reader / Idle | 612 | 385 | 404 |
* ... smaller is better
Benchmarks
3DMark | |
1280x720 Cloud Gate Standard Score (sort by value) | |
Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 G834JYR (2024) | |
Lenovo Legion Pro 7 16IRX8H | |
HP Omen Transcend 16-u1095ng | |
1280x720 Ice Storm Standard Score (sort by value) | |
Lenovo Legion Pro 7 16IRX8H | |
2560x1440 Time Spy Score (sort by value) | |
Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 GU604VY-NM042X | |
Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 G834JYR (2024) | |
Lenovo Legion Pro 7 16IRX8H | |
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 GA402XY | |
HP Omen Transcend 16-u1095ng | |
Lenovo Legion 9 16IRX8 |