Unleash your creativity with the best laptop for drawing, featuring a touchscreen and digital stylus for seamless sketching directly on the screen.

With a touchscreen and a digital stylus, you can draw straight on the screen of the best laptop for sketching. Put another way, these laptops will allow you to visualize your work without the need for a separate graphics tablet.

Though some laptops now have 360-degree hinges that allow them to work like tablets, others are essentially tablets with detachable keyboards, so you could be able to have the best of both worlds.

The support for styluses has greatly improved in recent years, making it possible to sketch naturally and effortlessly even on a laptop. We’ve selected the top options for you so you may choose the best one.

We don’t only look at specifications and perform benchmark testing when choosing the best laptops for drawing; instead, we live and work with each laptop for a few weeks at minimum to get a true sense of how it is utilized in real-world scenarios, which is what you will be doing with it. We have given special consideration to each laptop’s battery life and to how responsive the screens are with a stylus. The laptops listed below are all excellent for drawing, but they’re also fantastic devices in and of themselves. For this reason, some of them are included in our lists of the finest 2-in-1 laptops and laptops for animation.

Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2

SPECIFICATIONS

• CPU: 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13700H
• Graphics: Up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 8GB GPU
• RAM: Up to 64GB
• Screen: 14.4in 2400 x 1600p 3:2 touchscreen HDR 400
• Storage: Up to 1TB

REASONS TO BUY

• Excellent 16:10 display
• Long battery life
• Beautiful build quality

REASONS TO AVOID

• More ports would be ideal.

The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 is not only the best laptop for drawing. It’s pretty much the best laptop that Microsoft has ever created. It has a lovely, premium appearance and a brilliant screen, as well as a very convenient method for transitioning from tablet to laptop mode.

On many hybrids, the screen folds back, transforming the laptop into a tablet. However, the Surface Laptop Studio works differently, with a split hinge design that allows the screen to be slid over the keyboard to be used as a tablet. It can also be propped up in an easel-like position, which is fantastic for drawing and avoids the need to purchase a stand or use the screen flat, if you wish to utilize it.

The 3:2 screen size makes drawing easier, while the 120Hz refresh rate and support for the Surface Slim Pen 2 stylus (available separately) provide a snappy experience. We detected 505 nits of brightness when we examined the laptop.

Nvidia RTX 4060 graphics and fast Intel 13th Generation CPUs. Memory support has now been expanded to a whopping 64GB. Another plus is the battery life, which lasts roughly 12 hours on average. It could benefit from extra ports, but generally, this is a best laptop for drawing and other creative tasks.

Microsoft Surface Pro 9

SPECIFICATIONS

• CPU: Up to 12th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-1265U
• Graphics: Intel Iris Xe Graphics
• RAM: Up to 32GB LPDDR5
• Screen: 13-inch 3:2 PixelSense Flow Display
• Storage: Up to 1TB

REASONS TO BUY

• Excellent design and quality.
• Full software support.
• Compatible with old accessories.
• Beautiful screen and keyboard.

REASONS TO AVOID

• Small files and tabs.
• Inadequate SQL3 model.

Yes, technically speaking, the Surface Pro 9 is not a laptop. It’s a tablet, yet it runs Windows 11, allowing you to run full-featured desktop software on a small, portable device. However, when you attach the optional keyboard (known as the Type Cover), you’ll have a terrific small and light laptop.

You may be asking why we haven’t included any iPads on this list, given that the majority of them can be paired with an Apple keyboard to provide a laptop-like experience. The reason is that Apple sees the iPad Pro as primarily a tablet; it will not, for example, run macOS. In contrast, Microsoft views the Surface Pro as both a laptop and a tablet.

The Microsoft Surface Pro 9, more so than its predecessor, the still-impressive Surface Pro 8 (ranked fourth on our list), is extremely elegant. The new model is available in four colors: new Graphite, Sapphire, Forest, and the classic Platinum, and each one looks great. And the accessories, including the great keyboard, come in the same set of colors.

Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3

SPECIFICATIONS

• CPU: Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 Processor
• Graphics: Kryo 468 CPU 2.55 GHz
• RAM: Up to 8 GB LPDDR4X
• Screen: 10.9in 2K (2000 x 1200) 16:9 IPS, glossy, touchscreen, 400 nits
• Storage: Storage: Up to 128 GB eMMC

REASONS TO BUY

• Long battery life
• Affordable price.

REASONS TO AVOID

• Not the most powerful.

Looking for a best laptop for drawing on a budget? Then the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3 is an excellent option. This hybrid tablet is significantly less expensive than our top option, the Microsoft Laptop Studio 2, but it remains quite capable.

Because Chromebooks cannot run Windows or macOS software, not all of the standard desktop drawing applications will be available. However, it can run Android apps, giving you access to a variety of good sketching and digital art applications, including a slimmed-down version of Photoshop.

Chromebooks are known for being inexpensive yet providing excellent battery life due to their low power requirements, and this model meets the bill, with Lenovo claiming all-day battery life on a single charge.

 Asus ZenBook Pro 14 Duo

SPECIFICATIONS

• CPU: 11th-gen Intel Core i5 – i9
• Graphics: Intel Iris Xe Graphics, NVIDIA GeForce RTX3050 Ti
• RAM: up to 32GB
• Screen: 14.5-inch, 2.8K (2880 x 1800) 16:9 OLED touchscreen display
• Storage: up to 2TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD

REASONS TO BUY

• Innovative design 
• Slim and lightweight construction.

REASONS TO AVOID

• Awkward keyboard positioning.

The ASUS ZenBook Duo 14 is a stunningly unusual laptop for drawing because of its dual-screen design. Along with a stunning OLED touchscreen with peak brightness of 550 nits, it includes a second screen known as ScreenPadPlus by ASUS.

This 12.7-inch touchscreen has a 2,880 x 864 resolution and supports styluses. It can show apps and shortcuts, freeing up space on the main display, or you may draw with a stylus on the ScreenPadPlus. It even pulls up at an angle when you open the laptop, making it easier to draw on. It has been improved for 2023 from the already great 2024 model, indicating that ASUS is on the rise.

Microsoft Surface Pro 8

SPECIFICATIONS

• CPU: 3.0GHz Intel Core i7-1185G7 (quad-core, 12MB Intel Smart Cache, up to 4.8GHz with Turbo Boost)
• Graphics: Intel Iris Xe Graphics
• RAM: 16GB LPDDR4x
• Storage: 256GB SSD (PCIe, NVMe, M.2)
• Screen: 13-inch QHD (2,880 x 1,920) touch

REASONS TO BUY 

• Faster processor 
• Beautiful new design 
• Larger display 
• Thunderbolt 4

 REASONS TO AVOID 

• USB Type-A no longer available 
• Type Cover sold separately

With a device as portable as the Surface Pro 8, striking the right mix between performance and portability is never easy. You want it to be speedy, but you don’t want to push it so hard that the battery life depletes and it gets too hot to manage.

Using Cinebench R15, a test we’ve discarded and replaced with Cinebench R23, the Surface Pro 8 is approximately 50% quicker than the Surface Pro 7, representing an astonishing generational gain. In GeekBench 4, the difference is less pronounced, but it is still noticeable.

What’s more impressive is how the Surface Pro 8 compares to its bigger sister, the Surface Laptop Studio. What’s more impressive is how the Surface Pro 8 compares to its bigger sister, the Surface Laptop Studio. In Cinebench, the tablet is just 12% slower than Microsoft’s so-called creative workstation, and 5% slower in GeekBench. Despite being half the thickness and nearly half the weight of the Laptop Studio, the Surface Pro 8 is a terrific and powerful tablet for its size.

Dell XPS 13 2-in-1

SPECIFICATIONS

• CPU: 12th Generation Intel Core i5 – i7
• Graphics: Intel Iris Xe
• RAM: up to 16GB
• Screen: 13in 3k (2880 x 1920) IPS touch display 500 nits
• Storage: Up to 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD

REASONS TO BUY

• Excellent display 
• Long battery life.

REASONS TO AVOID

• Expensive.

The Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 is another high-end gadget with a fantastic touchscreen, making it ideal for drawing. It’s slim, lightweight, and has a long battery life. The sleek aluminum casing and excellent build quality make it the most elegant portable drawing alternative in our opinion.

The new Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 tablet convertible features a gorgeous 13-inch IPS display with 3K resolution and 500 nits of brightness, making it brighter than most laptop screens and providing plenty of pixels for generating clean, smooth graphics, which is especially important for digital drawing. The 16:10 aspect ratio provides you a little extra vertical room, and the Gorilla glass cover should be fairly sturdy. The screen also supports 4,096 levels of pressure, allowing for a more natural inking and drawing experience. The stylus also magnetically clips to the chassis edge for storage and charging, and it has a 50-day battery life.

HP Spectre Foldable 17

SPECIFICATIONS

• CPU: Intel Core i7-1250U
• Graphics: Intel Iris Plus Graphics
• RAM: 16GB LPDDR5
• Screen: 17in (2560 x 1920) OLED touchscreen 500 nits
• Storage: 1TB SSD

REASONS TO BUY

• Incredible foldable display
• Wireless stylus and keyboard
• Amazing flexibility!

REASONS TO AVOID

• Expensive
• Unknown durability

Foldable OLED displays have already transformed smartphones. They are now looking for laptop computers. The HP Spectre Fold is one of the first of this brave new age, and it comes at a rather expensive price.

For your money, you receive what appears to be a 17-inch OLED tablet that then folds in half to form a dual-screen laptop. The HP Spectre Fold also has a wireless (with charging) keyboard that can be used separately from the tablet or clipped on top of the bottom half of the OLED panel when folded to form what seems to be a standard 12.3-inch laptop at first glance.

It also includes the HP Rechargeable MPP2.0 Tilt Pen, which supports full pressure sensitivity. It also includes the HP Rechargeable MPP2.0 Tilt Pen, which supports full pressure sensitivity. There’s only one catch. The screen only supports 1,024 pressure levels, which may limit its ability to handle actual professional-level drawing and inking.

HP Spectre x360 2-in-1

SPECIFICATIONS

• CPU: Intel Core i7 1355U
• Graphics: Intel Iris Xᵉ Graphics
• RAM: 16GB
• Screen: 13.5in 3K (3000 x 2000) OLED touch 500 nits
• Storage: 1 TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD

REASONS TO BUY 

• Beautiful design 
• Long battery life 
• Outstanding OLED display

REASONS TO AVOID

• Limited customization options 
• High cost

The HP Spectre x360 14 is a close second to the XPS 13 as the finest laptop for sketching in terms of appearance. It has a beautiful brushed-metal appearance that comes in a variety of colors, and the 360-degree hinge that allows the screen to fold back into tablet mode feels robust and reliable. The display is a magnificent 3K OLED with sharp colours, high brightness, and superb responsiveness.

It also includes an HP Rechargeable MPP2.0 Tilt Pen for drawing and inking as standard. It features the newest 13th Generation Intel CPUs, a powerful 1TB SSD, and 16GB of rapid LPDDR5 memory.

In terms of connectivity, you get Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, and a microSD card reader, as well as two fast 40Gbps Thunderbolt 4 ports. It’s also wonderfully crafted and developed, and HP claims it’s environmentally friendly because it uses ocean-bound polymers, recycled aluminum, and post-consumer recycled plastic.

How can I select the finest laptop for drawing?

I’ve done a lot of the effort for you with my top recommendations, but there are a few items that you must decide on. The most obvious one is budget, which is why we’ve chosen items at various price points. For example, the powerful Surface Pro 8 has a significantly higher price than the more economical but less capable Lenovo IdeaPad Duet Chromebook.

If stylish appearance is less important to you, the plain-looking Microsoft Laptop Studio may be preferable than the more slick HP Spectre x360. Also, consider whether you’ll be using this for anything other than drawing; if so, check out our buying guide to the best laptops for graphic design, which are slightly more powerful.

So, before you make any decisions, break down your specific needs into pros and disadvantages and choose the laptop that is closest to your ideal sketching instrument.

Hope you found the perfect match among the best laptop for drawing! Get ready to bring your artistic visions to life with ease and precision. Happy creating!