The Best Mobile Workstation Laptops

The ThinkPad P53 is a traditional mobile workstation. Accordingly, its case is not particularly thin but in return you get plentiful connectivity and, most importantly, plenty of performance. Particularly the GPU has been upgraded significantly over last year’s ThinkPad P52. While last year, Nvidia’s high-end Quadro GPUs were a ThinkPad P7x exclusive the P53 can be equipped with a Quadro RTX 5000. Unfortunately, it is the slowest and least powerful SKU of the RTX 5000, which is not immediately obvious prior to purchasing the laptop. Both Nvidia and Lenovo need to improve their communication strategies in this regard.

Asus recently entered the workstation segment with its new “ProArt StudioBook” brand of notebooks. Its most powerful and expensive contender is the Asus ProArt StudioBook Pro X W730G5T that will set you back a whopping 6,000 Euros. It features an extremely robust magnesium case, an excellent keyboard, and a blazingly fast Nvidia Quadro RTX 5000, and the 16:10 display is the icing on the cake.

Dell gave its traditional workstation series Precision 7000 a major overhaul. The Dell Precision 7550 is the smaller sibling among its brethren and offers a very robust case as well as a great CPU (Xeon) and GPU (Nvidia Quadro RTX 5000) performance. It offers great expandability and upgradability thanks to its three M.2-slots and four RAM slots. The keyboard felt very comfortable to type on, and the touchpad with its three dedicated buttons was very comfortable to use as well. Unfortunately, Dell decided to not include a trackpoint device. Another drawback is the 7550’s high weight. Apart from those small details Dell created a decent workstation, and scored a good rating of 88 %.

Based on the XPS 17, Dell’s Precision 5000-series is the OEM’s first 17-inch workstation. The Precision 5750 differs from many of its competitors by its 16:10 display with thin bezels, which makes it very compact for a 17-inch device and even lighter than various 15-inch workstations. The Precision 5750 also offers a very long battery life. Its major drawback is its lack of connectivity as it only offers four Thunderbolt 3 ports and a single SD card reader – that’s it. The thin design also results in high temperatures under load.

Razer made its name as gaming laptop manufacturer, and when talking about portable workstations Razer is one of the last names that comes to mind. Nevertheless, the Razer Blade 15 Studio Edition 2020 managed to make our top 10 list of portable workstations. It is anything but a traditional portable workstation, which does not have to be a bad thing considering that this is also the case for other devices such as for example Dell’s Precision 5550. We particularly liked its 4K OLED touchscreen, its high-quality metal case, and the fact that it stayed comparatively cool overall.

The Lenovo ThinkPad P73 completes our top 3 in this list closely following its siblings. The largest model of Lenovo’s ThinkPad P-series offers the same qualities as the smaller P53, including the incredibly robust and sturdy case, plentiful connectivity, and superb upgradeability. Thanks to its 17-inch display it offers much more screen real estate than its two smaller siblings.

The ProArt StudioBook Pro 17 W700G3T sits one step below the significantly more expensive StudioBook Pro X. It lacks extras such as the ScreenPad but retains important qualities such as for example the 16:10 display aspect ratio. Like its more expensive sibling it, too, lacks a high-resolution display option, which remains the StudioBook’s most striking flaw. Apart from that you get a great workstation in a robust case with comfortable input devices and decent performance.

If you are looking for a smaller version of the Dell Precision 5750 look no further: The Dell Precision 5550 is just that, including all of its pros and cons. Transplanted into the real world this means that the Precision 5550 is very compact and thin for a 15-inch workstation but lacks essentials ports in return. Its 16:10 display aspect ratio is without a doubt a unique feature as these displays are even more uncommon in 15-inch devices than they are in 17-inch notebooks. The thin case required another sacrifice: Nvidia’s Quadro RTX chips are not available, and Dell no longer offers an OLED option. Nevertheless, the Dell Precision 5550 remains a high-quality premium workstation worth its money, as long as it fits your requirements.

The Acer ConceptD 9 Pro managed to secure a spot on our list. It is one of Acer’s most expensive workstations, and a very special one at that: the ConceptD 9 Pro is a convertible. At its premium price it offers a 17-inch touchscreen display that you can flip around, stylus support, an Nvidia Quadro RTX 5000 GPU, and a Core i9 CPU. A hardware configuration that does not leave much to be desired, if only it wasn’t for the ConceptD’s high weight and very poor battery life.