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MagyarThe 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 | 95.5 % | 88 % | 05/2021 |  | Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR YD Intel Core i9-11980HK NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU 32 GB Memory, 512 GB SSD | 17.30" | 2.8 kg | 3840x2160 | matte | 1479:1 | 1.23 | 99 % |
| 2 | 94.7 % | 88 % | 03/2022 new! |  | Lenovo Legion 5 Pro 16 G7 i7 RTX 3070Ti Intel Core i7-12700H NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Laptop GPU 16 GB Memory, 1024 GB SSD | 16.00" | 2.6 kg | 2560x1600 | matte | 1357:1 | 2.7 | |
| 3 | 94.5 % | 87.9 % | 11/2021 new! |  | Lenovo Legion S7 15ACH6 82K80030GE AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU 32 GB Memory, 1024 GB SSD | 15.60" | 2 kg | 3840x2160 | matte | 1480:1 | 0.84 | |
| 4 | 94.4 % | 92.7 % | 11/2021 new! |  | Apple MacBook Pro 14 2021 M1 Pro Entry Apple M1 Pro 8-Core Apple M1 Pro 14-Core GPU 16 GB Memory, 512 GB SSD | 14.20" | 1.6 kg | 3024x1964 | glossy | 48900:1 | 0.8 | |
| 5 | 94.4 % | 93.2 % | 11/2021 new! |  | Apple MacBook Pro 16 2021 M1 Pro Apple M1 Pro Apple M1 Pro 16-Core GPU 16 GB Memory, 1024 GB SSD | 16.20" | 2.2 kg | 3456x2234 | glossy | 25700:1 | 1.4 | |
| 6 | 94.3 % | 89.8 % | 11/2021 new! |  | Lenovo ThinkPad P1 G4-20Y4S0KS00 Intel Core i7-11850H NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU 32 GB Memory, 1024 GB SSD | 16.00" | 2 kg | 3840x2400 | matte | 1537:1 | 2.2 | |
| 7 | 94.3 % | 88.6 % | 12/2021 new! |  | MSI WE76 11UM-456 Intel Core i9-11980HK NVIDIA RTX A5000 Laptop GPU 32 GB Memory, 2048 GB SSD | 17.30" | 2.9 kg | 3840x2160 | matte | 1232:1 | 1.5 | |
| 8 | 94.1 % | 88.1 % | 06/2021 |  | Lenovo Legion 7 16ACHg6 AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU 32 GB Memory, 1024 GB SSD | 16.00" | 2.5 kg | 2560x1600 | matte | 1287:1 | 1.45 | 73 % |
| 9 | 93 % | 89.1 % | 06/2021 |  | Schenker Vision 14 Intel Core i7-1165G7 Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs 16 GB Memory, 1024 GB SSD | 14.00" | 1 kg | 2880x1800 | matte | 1345:1 | 2.8 | 76.4 % |
| 10 | 92.1 % | 87.4 % | 10/2020 |  | MSI GT76 Titan DT 10SGS Intel Core i9-10900K NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super Mobile 64 GB Memory, 2048 GB SSD | 17.30" | 4.2 kg | 3840x2160 | matte | 1049:1 | 3.4 | 84.6 % |
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
In October of 2020 we attempted a major criterion update for this list. From now on, the ranking is based primarily on the average rating in the display and application performance categories. You can display the individual ratings used for this average ranking by hovering your mouse pointer over the weighted rating cell.
1st – Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR
Equipped with an Intel Core i9-11980HK and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Gigabyte’s Aero 17 HDR YD offers a great system and gaming performance. Its good 4K HDR display renders this unit particularly interesting for creators, especially since it runs comparatively quietly apart from gaming.
The Aero 17 HDR YD is a powerful RTX-3080-based laptop for gamers and creators with a great 4K HDR display.
Thunderbolt 4 with support for modern peripherals is supported as expected, and one particularly good characteristic of this display is that it does not use PWM for brightness regulation.
Granted, the device is anything but cheap and not all SKUs are currently available either. One of the few available SKUs sells for $2,500 on Amazon.
Pricecompare
2nd – Lenovo Legion 5 Pro 16 G7
Lenovo’s 16-inch Legion 5 Pro 16 G7 offers plenty of performance and an above average display, and it thus secured a high spot on this top list of best photo and video editing laptops.
This updated model features a brand-new Intel Alder Lake processor, a fast GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GPU, and an additional Thunderbolt 4 port over its predecessor. The 16:10 display remained largely identical in terms of specifications: a resolution of 2560 x 1600, a display ratio of 16:10, a peak brightness of 400 nits (HDR), and a refresh rate of 165 Hz. It is, however, now made by BOE.
Subjective image quality is superb with popping colors, great contrast ratio, and no visible pixel grain despite a matte panel.
Colors are very accurate and within specs by default, and we found no visible color tints either. We were also able to improve upon this even further through calibration.
The Intel-based Lenovo Legion 5 Pro 16 is currently not available in North America.
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3rd – Lenovo Legion S7 15ACH6
The Lenovo Legion S7 15ACH6 features a very bright 15.6-inch display, great battery life, and a fast GeForce RTX 3060 GPU. Our particular review unit was powered by an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX CPU with clock speeds of up to 4.6 GHz. In return, it was missing Thunderbolt connectivity.
This laptop is well-made, and we found no quality issues on its aluminum case.
Particularly noteworthy is its incredibly high peak display brightness of 605 nits with a contrast ratio of 1480:1 on the matte 4K 15.6-inch display.
Other displays include a FHD and WQHD unit with much lower brightness, contrast ratio, and color space coverage. The 4K display covers both AdobeRGB 1998 as well as sRGB almost completely (99 %) and DCP-P3 by a good 85 %.
The device is available through Lenovo’s own webstore with prices for our Ryzen 9-equipped review unit starting at just shy of $2,000.
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4th – Apple MacBook Pro 14 2021 M1 Pro
Apple’s new entry-level Pro laptop is the MacBook Pro 14 2021 M1 Pro with Apple’s brand-new 14-core M1 Pro processor. The new case is slightly larger and heavier than its predecessor’s, and as before both build quality and hinge setup are perfect.
The new Liquid Retina XDR display achieves OLED-levels of blackness resulting in a very high contrast ratio. A completely black image will remain completely black even at maximum brightness.
Downsides include slow response times as well as constant PWM flickering.
The device is available through Apple. Select SKUs can also be purchased through the usual retail channels, such as Amazon, with prices start at $1,999 at the time of writing.
Pricecompare
5th – Apple MacBook Pro 16 2021 M1 Pro
Like the smaller MacBook Pro 14 2021 M1 Pro the MacBook Pro 16 2021 M1 Pro was completely redesigned. The newer and slightly larger and heavier unibody aluminum case features Apple’s brand-new 16-core M1 Pro SoC. Build quality is superb, and we found the surfaces to be immune to fingerprints and smudges.
Instead of an IPS panel Apple now uses Mini LED panels with extremely low levels of brightness and thus a very high contrast ratio, not unlike OLED panels. Simply put, subjective image quality is absolutely perfect.
One gripe would be the device’s constant PWM flickering at 15 kHz. If you are sensible to display flickering you might want to stay away from Apple’s 2021 MacBook Pro series. We also suggest calibrating the display as the 16-inch model came with a color temperature shifted slightly towards the cooler end. This was not the case on the 14-inch model. However, Delta E deviations remain minimal overall, which means the panel is very well suited for professional photo and video editing nonetheless.
The device is available through Apple. Select SKUs can also be purchased through the usual retail channels, such as Amazon, with prices start at $2,249 at the time of writing.
Pricecompare
6th – Lenovo ThinkPad P1 G4
The Lenovo ThinkPad P1 G4 was recently updated by Lenovo and received a GeForce RTX 3070 as well as a 4K UHD+ panel. The P1 is more portable than Lenovo’s traditional ThinkPad P52 workstation laptop.
With a brightness of 610 nits the display is brighter than most of its 15 and 16-inch competitors. It also features low Delta E color deviations of just 2.2 by default.
Downsides include the slightly elevated black level of 0.41 nits, although its contrast ratio remained decent at 1537:1. AdobeRGB color space coverage is at 98.9 %, which means that the P1 is very well suited for professional photo and video editing. A good score of 10,241 in the PCMark 10 Digital Content Creation further emphasizes its good system performance.
The ThinkPad P1 G4 is available through Lenovo’s own webstore with prices starting at $1,600.
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7th – MSI WE76
Another MSI laptop made this top list of best photo and video editing laptops. The MSI WE76 is built very well and offers both HDMI 2.1 as well as a Mini Display Port video output.
The matte 16:9 4K display is fed by a professional RTX A5000 GPU and offers full AdobeRGB coverage as well as a refresh rate of 120 Hz.
Subjectively, images are very sharp with no signs of pixel grain. Its peak brightness of 400 nits is lightly below Lenovo’s Legion series and Apple’s MacBook Pro series that can also be found higher up on this very list. HDR is not supported.
The device is available on Amazon with prices starting at a very high $3,700 for the Core i9-powered RTX A5000 SKU.
Pricecompare
8th – Lenovo Legion 7 16ACH
The Lenovo Legion 7 may only be yet another gaming notebook but it has its perks. For example, its rather uncommon 16-inch display offering more screen real estate than traditional 15.6-inch notebooks in a package that is noticeably smaller and lighter than a hefty 17.3-inch device. It also comes with 3 years of on-site warranty in select countries, a display running at up to 165 Hz, and decent battery life as long as you do not require too much graphics oomph. Downsides include a lack of Thunderbolt connectivity as well as the non-existent card reader.
A relatively subtly designed gaming notebook with plenty of power and great display.
The device is currently not yet available in North America.
Pricecompare
9th – Schenker Vision 14
Our review unit, the Schenker Vision 14 with 3K display, scored an impressive 92 % in the display category. While the FHD SKU is supposed to offer a brightness of 330 nits our 2880 x 1880 unit managed 387 nits with a contrast ratio of 1300:1.
In addition to its maximum brightness of 387 nits the Schenker’s 3K display also offers 99 % sRGB coverage, unlike the FHD SKU.
The Vision 14 offers plenty of connectivity, with two USB-A and two USB-C ports on each side, TB4, HDMI, and a full-sized SD card reader slot. Is it the perfect Ultrabook? Unfortunately, no, due to its poor battery life of just 5-6 hours in our Wi-Fi test.
Schenker devices are not sold in North America.
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10th – MSI GT76 Titan DT 10SGS
What do you get if you combine brute performance with a very good display? The MSI GT76 Titan. Originally a gaming laptop the GT76 offers a combination of an Intel 10-core CPU with Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 2080 Super, up to 64 GB of RAM, and a total of 4 storage slots (3x M.2, 1x 2.5-inch) which should suffice even for the most demanding applications.
In our review, the GT76 demonstrated its raw brute levels of performance while remaining comparatively cool and quiet as long as you don’t run it at peak capabilities non-stop. Unsurprisingly for a gaming laptop its 120 Hz 4K display’s main strength were response times. In addition, it also offered a high level of brightness, a good contrast ratio, and wide color gamuts. Downsides include its weight of almost 9 lbs, which basically gags all claims of portability, as well as its poor battery life. At prices of between $4,000 and $5,000 it is certainly one of the most expensive options out there.
Best Notebooks for Digital Content Editing in Comparison
Test Results
| Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR YD | Lenovo Legion 5 Pro 16 G7 i7 RTX 3070Ti | Lenovo Legion S7 15ACH6 82K80030GE | Apple MacBook Pro 14 2021 M1 Pro Entry | Apple MacBook Pro 16 2021 M1 Pro | Lenovo ThinkPad P1 G4-20Y4S0KS00 | MSI WE76 11UM-456 | Lenovo Legion 7 16ACHg6 | Schenker Vision 14 | MSI GT76 Titan DT 10SGS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Display | ||||||||||
| Display P3 Coverage | 86.9 | 68.7 | 85.2 | 99.3 | 99.1 | 85.7 | 82.1 | 70.3 | 75.4 | 82.5 |
| sRGB Coverage | 100 | 97.6 | 98.8 | 100 | 99.4 | 99.3 | 99.4 | 99 | 98 | |
| AdobeRGB 1998 Coverage | 99.6 | 70.9 | 98.2 | 88 | 98.9 | 96 | 72.7 | 76.4 | 96.6 | |
| Response Times | ||||||||||
| Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 52 ? | 17.6 ? | 31.6 ? | 58.4 ? | 42.8 ? | 55.2 ? | 17.6 ? | 14 ? | 32.8 ? | 23.2 ? |
| Response Time Black / White * | 26 ? | 7.6 ? | 16 ? | 40.4 ? | 91.6 ? | 31.2 ? | 10.8 ? | 6.4 ? | 20.4 ? | 11.6 ? |
| PWM Frequency | 14880 | 14880 | ||||||||
| Screen | ||||||||||
| Brightness middle | 488 | 502 | 607 | 489 | 514 | 630 | 419 | 489 | 390 | 419.5 |
| Brightness | 467 | 491 | 605 | 479 | 497 | 622 | 416 | 469 | 387 | 413 |
| Brightness Distribution | 86 | 91 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 90 | 93 | 92 | 94 | 93 |
| Black Level * | 0.33 | 0.37 | 0.41 | 0.01 | 0.02 | 0.41 | 0.34 | 0.38 | 0.29 | 0.4 |
| Contrast | 1479 | 1357 | 1480 | 48900 | 25700 | 1537 | 1232 | 1287 | 1345 | 1049 |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 1.23 | 2.7 | 0.84 | 0.8 | 1.4 | 2.2 | 1.5 | 1.45 | 2.8 | 3.4 |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 2.94 | 4.5 | 3.02 | 1.3 | 2.8 | 5 | 4.7 | 2.16 | 4.4 | 7.4 |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 calibrated * | 0.77 | 1.4 | 0.69 | 1 | 0.9 | 1.16 | 1.8 | 3.28 | ||
| Greyscale dE 2000 * | 1.5 | 2.7 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 2.3 | 2.7 | 2 | 1.6 | 3.5 | 2 |
| Gamma | 2.169 101% | 2.44 90% | 2.131 103% | 2.24 98% | 2.27 97% | 2.26 97% | 2.17 101% | 2.197 100% | 2.24 98% | 2.14 103% |
| CCT | 6614 98% | 6326 103% | 6648 98% | 6792 96% | 6886 94% | 6629 98% | 6377 102% | 6174 105% | 6858 95% | |
| Color Space (Percent of AdobeRGB 1998) | 99 | 73 | 76.4 | 84.6 | ||||||
| Color Space (Percent of sRGB) | 99 | 94 | 99 | 97.9 | ||||||
| Noise | ||||||||||
| off / environment * | 25 | 24.6 | 25 | 24.8 | 24.7 | 23.8 | 24.7 | 26 | 25 | 26.4 |
| Idle Minimum * | 30 | 28.4 | 25 | 24.8 | 24.7 | 23.8 | 24.7 | 26 | 25 | 27.5 |
| Idle Average * | 32 | 28.4 | 30 | 24.8 | 24.7 | 23.8 | 24.7 | 30 | 25 | 27.5 |
| Idle Maximum * | 41 | 28.4 | 36 | 24.8 | 24.7 | 28.3 | 27.5 | 35 | 26.9 | 29.8 |
| Load Average * | 43 | 49.4 | 42 | 27.8 | 26.1 | 38.6 | 43.7 | 40 | 38.6 | 30.9 |
| Witcher 3 ultra * | 51 | 49.4 | 53 | 27.8 | 47.4 | 46.6 | 46 | 41.2 | 60.7 | |
| Load Maximum * | 59 | 54.7 | 54 | 49.5 | 37.4 | 47.4 | 47.7 | 50 | 41.2 | 66.6 |
| Heat | ||||||||||
| Maximum Upper Side * | 44 | 45.3 | 49 | 46.8 | 41 | 51 | 48.4 | 51 | 46.2 | 36.4 |
| Maximum Bottom * | 56 | 61.2 | 50 | 40.9 | 39 | 53.5 | 56.2 | 52 | 52.2 | 43 |
| Idle Upper Side * | 32 | 28.6 | 29 | 24.2 | 24 | 28.8 | 28.6 | 37 | 30.6 | 28 |
| Idle Bottom * | 35 | 31.4 | 30 | 24.2 | 24 | 29.3 | 31.8 | 38 | 33.6 | 33.4 |
| Battery Runtime | ||||||||||
| Reader / Idle | 841 | 494 | ||||||||
| WiFi v1.3 | 334 | 326 | 421 | 816 | 1016 | 417 | 377 | 410 | 366 | 146 |
| Load | 70 | 37 | 69 | 69 | 74 | 79 | 93 | |||
| H.264 | 377 | 449 | 900 | 1048 | 429 | 413 | 406 | 401 |
* ... smaller is better
