Best Laptop For Drawing and Animation 2020 – Top 9

Features to Look For in a Top Laptop For Drawing

The features ​artists will want in your laptop for drawing will be highly dependent on the particular programs you intend to use to draw. They will also depend on whether you are interested in 3D rendering or 2D art.

If your preference is a full Windows 10 laptop computer, you should not settle for anything under 16GB of RAM and a fast processor. Since laptop graphics and drawing software programs are typically highly memory and computer resource intensive, anything under that will lead to frustrating lag. If you will be rendering 3D scenes, the dedicated graphics card should not be forgotten.​  Laptops with a 2GB video card are typically best for digital artists to work in drawing, video editing and graphics.

For artists, your laptop screen resolution should be a priority. In the majority of cases, budget laptops that have 1366 x 768 resolution displays are simply not worth your time. Those kinds of laptops are ​best for typing up word documents or web browsing, not creating ​graphics, photo editing, art or drawing.

In addition, you should pay careful attention to the ports included. You might want to plug into an external display; therefore, an HDMI port is vital. For individuals who work in the field of digital photography, ensure you have either an integrated card reader or be prepared to purchase an external one for best results.

The reviews below should help you with your laptop choice.  Also, many of these comparison laptops come in different configurations.  Once you click on the Amazon links, there are usually options to choose different specs available.

Our Top Laptops For Drawing Recommendations & Reviews

Below is the top laptop for drawing and animation, with some falling into specific categories:

Top Pick For ​Artists - Best Laptop For Drawing - Microsoft Surface Book 2

To get the best-in-class experience, the Surface Book 2 is among the best available laptops for drawing. This laptop can be used in four adaptable modes and that makes it stand out from among other best laptops for drawing.

The laptop is built using lightweight and premium materials, making it easily adaptable. Painting or drawing is made flexible and easy in Studio Mode when the Surface Dial and Surface Pen stylus features are used.

Additionally, the laptop has the capacity to handle heavy graphics and can deliver beautiful visuals. The Microsoft Surface Pen comes bundled with the laptop, however, the Surface ​Dial must be bought separately. Furthermore, it is available in 15-inch display and 13.5-inch PixelSense display and has multi-touch 10-point support. This makes it ideal for drawing and it delivers remarkable color gamut.  An overall great drawing experience.

You also have the option of selecting between 8th Generation Intel Core i7 or i5 quad-core processor and 7th Generation Intel Core i5 dual-core processor with as much as 1TB of SSD and 16GB of RAM. Additionally, if you opt for the 15-inch model, you will receive a powerful Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 GPU and with the 13 inch i7 processor model, you will get GTX 1050.

This is definitely one of our artists favorites and best picks for laptop for drawing!

Cheap & Budget Option Friendly - Lenovo Yoga 710-15 Drawing Laptop

​For Art Students - LG Gram 17

The LG Gram is currently the lightest 17-inch laptop in the world, which the manufacturers have managed to create without sacrificing overall performance with drawing, display graphics. Combine the best portability with its stunning 17-inch laptop display, you will find that you have one of the most remarkable laptops now available on the artists market.

This laptop is sleek and stylish and has a sturdy build quality and a remarkably lightweight body. While some of the areas feel a tad flimsy, the laptop chassis is highly functional and exquisitely designed.

While the looks and portability does its premium cost, that does not mean ​that there is skimping on high-end laptop internals. Additionally, LG has put a laptop computer package together in the Gram that is ideal for artists and drawing.

With a 512GB SSD, 16GB of RAM and running on 8th Gen Intel Core i7 8565u processor, this laptop is great for most software. Whether you want to run Premiere, Lightroom or Photoshop, this laptop has sufficient horsepower to handle all of them.

The display is the most remarkable and best feature of the whole laptop. In its 17-inch glory canvas, it has a 2560 × 1600 resolution. The laptop also delivers spectacular, clear and vibrant images.

For Digital Art - Microsoft Surface Pro 6

This is among the best selling drawing laptops and most versatile 2-in-1 laptops currently available. Not only is this laptop powerful from its insides, but it is also well-built for a variety of uses. You have the option of pairing it with a detachable keyboard and this makes it comfortable for use as both a laptop and a tablets.

When used for drawing, the laptop is compatible with Surface Pen, with its 4096 pressure sensitivity levels. Surface Pen is currently among the best digital pens for any gadget. Compact and available with exceptional ergonomics for ease of use, the Surface Pro 6 is remarkable. However, both the Type Cover and the Surface Pen cost extra, which adds $200 to the cost.

Where the artists specifications are concerned, this ​laptop is run on an Intel Core i5 processor combined with 256GB of SSD storage and 8GB of RAM. Additionally, the Surface Pro 6 can be purchased with 16GB of RAM, Core i7 processor and as much as 1TB ​SSD. This makes it a stand out in the category of powerful convertibles. Furthermore, the ​laptop PC comes with a stunning 12.3-inch PixelSense display canvas that delivers true-to-life color reproduction.

Lenovo Yoga C930 Laptops

This 3-in-one laptop is designed with a 360-degree hinge that makes it possible to reposition the product in different modes for drawing and graphics. This means tablets, stand, tent and laptop modes. In addition to this increasingly common multi-positional design format, the Lenovo Yoga C930 is chock full of features. In addition, it had ditched the overly elaborate hinge mechanism of older Yoga versions and has replaced it with a Dolby 'soundbar.' Furthermore, there is Dolby Vision included to take advantage of the bright high dynamic range (HDR) display screen.

The Yoga C930 laptop is also equipped with a fingerprint scanner to enable rapid logins and there is a stylus integrated into its body, tucked around the back. This stylus is quite handy for interacting with the touchscreen displays. If this is not your style or it is not commonly used in your line of work, it can just be left back there as it is totally out of the way and won’t be bothersome.

There is also a backlit keyboard that works supremely well for artists and best for night time use. Lenovo laptops uses keys that clack (but thankfully not too much) and delivers real travel to make for a comfortable typing experience. You will not miss a key and the trackpad is awesome.  Prices are good too!

Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 Laptop

This ​laptop for drawing is among the most attractive convertible 2-in-1 laptops and it can be used in several modes based on the preference of the user. The laptop is renowned globally for being among the smallest 13-inch 2-in-1 laptop in the world that has an InfinityEdge touchscreen display. With its super-sharp QHD+ resolution, this display delivers a practically borderless and best viewing experience.

The laptop is available in several variants and it can be customized as per the requirements of the user. There is also an option to select from Intel Core i7 and i5 processors with as much as 16GB of RAM. Where storage is concerned, the user gets an option to choose as much as 1TB of SSD storage; this delivers faster and more superior storage.

Graphics are backed by Intel HD graphics display and they are sufficiently powerful to deal with the drawing applications for laptops. The Dell XPS 13 is available with a first-class 360-degree hinge for 4 flexible positions - laptop, tent, graphics tablet and stand mode. Therefore, so you can surf, work or watch how you prefer. Its long-lasting battery runs for 15 hours on just one charge; this places it among the best artist laptops.  It can be a great gaming laptop too!

Want something slightly bigger and more convenience?  Take a look at another artists contender - the Dell XPS 15 or Dell Inspiron 15 5567 laptops for creating drawings ​for good prices.

We also put together an article on the best Dell laptops.  Take a look!

HP Spectre X360 15-inch Convertible Laptop

Samsung Notebook 9 Pro (Includes S Pen)

This Samsung laptop is among the newest convertible laptops from the manufacturer. It was exclusively designed to serve drawing, graphics designers and artists who want to use their device as a slate for designing and drawing.

The laptop comes with an innovative, pressure sensitive (as much as 4,000 levels), and automatically responsive S Pen. This gives the artists the ability to draw with precision like never before. The laptop has an integrated pen and an always paired mode for easy navigation, while completing your designing and drawing work. The laptop also delivers many other features like quick select, palm detection, gesture support, note creation, which compliments device productivity.

Besides all the previously-mentioned features, this laptop has robust and innovative innards. These include a 15-inch, 1920 x 1080 screen resolution LED display; 16GB RAM; an Intel Core i7-8550U processor; dedicated AMD Radeon 540 2GB graphics and 256GB SSD. Better resolution is the best indication of crisper output and sharper images. Without a doubt, the screen of this laptop is a deal maker for artists as it relates to selecting a laptop for drawing. The Samsung NoteBook 9 Pro provides users with a brilliant display.

Looking for other options?  We put together a best Samsung laptop page as well.

Apple Macbook Pro

Similar to other Apple laptops, this laptop is ideal for drawing, animations and graphics. Its streamlined performance and sleek design makes it perfect for any professional animator or designer. Outfitted with blazing fast SSD storage, an i7 Quad core processor and remarkable Radeon Pro discrete GPU, this device delivers incredible performance for all processes like huge file transfers, rendering 3D models and encoding.

With super-fast graphics and being among the latest gen i7 processors, the Apple Macbook delivers quality to animation experts and designers. Slim, light and thin, working with this device provides an all-together smooth experience that delivers speedy responsiveness and superior comfort.

It has remarkable screen resolution providing the brightest clarity and display with LED backlighting display, wide color grading and high-end contrast ratio. Its battery life averages 1o hours, which enables users to keep editing, best designing, best gaming, watching and encoding from anywhere for as long as you want.

Its impressive sound system accommodates several Wi-Fi standards and features state-of-the-art fast speakers. If you want top laptop performance that delivers the highest quality graphics, digital art and animation, the Apple MacBook is among those  laptops you should consider. Its long battery life, blazing speed and power are all super impressive.

More best Apple laptops options available here.

Good Laptop For Drawing 2019 Conclusion

​Quick Graphics & Laptop​ Drawing FAQ

What is the best laptop brand for drawing?
The brand of the laptop probably doesn't matter as much as the features and specs that it has.  We would recommend taking a look at each laptop individually to make sure that it has the features you need.  The guide on this page shows the choices that we recommend.

How does a laptop compare to a tablet for drawing?
This really depends on the laptop you choose.  There are actually options that we reviewed that are convertible 2-in-1 laptops that can convert into a tablet as well.

What laptop are you using for digital drawing?
Take a look at our recommendations here and see for yourself.  We like laptops that have a stylus pen included, plenty of graphics power, a nice screen and lots of storage.