The Slant team built an AI & it’s awesome

Find the best product instantly

4.7 star rating

ElectronicsPhotographyProductivityLaptops

What are the best laptops for Photoshop around $2000?

17

Options
Considered

112

User
Recs.

Jan 24, 2024

Last
Updated

7 Options Considered

Best laptops for Photoshop around $2000	Price	GPU	RAM
74 Apple MacBook Pro	$1,299	Apple M1 8 core	8/16GB
69 Dell XPS 15	$1499	Intel HD Graphics 630 / NVIDIA GTX 1050 with 4GB GDDR5	8 / 16 / 32GB DDR4 at 2400MHz
-- MSI VR Ready GT62VR Dominator Pro-240	$1,598.00	NVidia GeForce GTX 1070	32
-- HP Omen 17	$1,899.99	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050	16GB
-- Microsoft Surface Book 2 (15-inch)	$2394	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060	-

Apple MacBook Pro

Top Pro

Slim body

Top Con

Questionable engineering decisions

The old adage form follows function seems to have been reversed. The laptop is elegant and thin, but missing PORTS and RAM. Once you add dongles or hubs it becomes unwieldy. Sure USB C may be the way of the future, but not right now. And again, if you are using VMs in your development, RAM is king and Apple took the decision to keep the laptop thin and max RAM (soldered in) at 16 Gb. The SSD is proprietary and welded in, again, you buy the 256Gb model and decide you want 1TB you are either SSD on USB C or trading in for a hideously more expensive model. See More

Specs

GPU:Apple M1 8 core

Ports:2/4 Thunderbolt 3 Ports, Headphone jack

Top Pro

The default macOS is very developer friendly since it's a Unix

OSX is based on XNU (Darwin) kernel, it's certified Unix and arguably a lot more developer friendly than Windows. Development for Unix is native on OS X. There's a large selection of great development tools available for OSX. The operating system itself comes bundled with a powerful terminal emulator, called Terminal. Additionally, Apple provides tools, like Xcode, an IDE that contains a comprehensive collection of tools for developing OSX and iOS software, for free. See More

Top Con

You need dongles or a dock to connect USB-A devices

There are no USB-A ports, so you'll need a dongle or a dock to use things like webcams. See More

Top Pro

One of the best SSDs that can be found on a laptop

With read speeds at 3.1Gbps and write speeds at around 4.7Gbps, the SSD used in the Macbook Pro is the best in the market by far. This doesn't just mean opening/saving files is quicker, but it also has a pretty huge impact on general application performance. See More

Top Con

No Ethernet or FireWire ports

An adapter is required to transfer data over FireWire or connect to the Internet using an Ethernet cable. See More

Top Pro

Amazing build quality

The MacBook Pro has an all-aluminum body that looks great and is sturdy enough that worries of accidentally damaging are mostly alleviated. It has a robust lid, well-spaced back-lit keyboard with speakers on each side of the keyboard and an excellent button-less trackpad. See More

Top Con

The keyboard is unique in how it feels and some people may need some time to get used to it

The keyboard on the Macbook is unique and some people may not like the way the keys feel to press or not having physical function keys. See More

Top Pro

Good customer support

Apple offers support over the phone worldwide, provides support in Apple retail stores and authorized resellers and has community forums where users can help users. See More

Top Con

Requires the use of proprietary firmware

The source code of the firmware isn't available for users to audit or modify. See More

Top Pro

Great performance

The MacBook pro offers great performance both for day-to-day stuff and more niche graphic-related activities. The latest model also has had an update in hardware specs where both the CPU and GPU have been upgraded to their respective latest generations. The 16GB to 32GB help with performance as well and the SSD speeds are unmatched in the laptop market which also helps with general performance. See More

Top Con

It's missing the ESC key, which is a hassle for VI users

There is no physical function or escape keys as they have been replaced by a touch screen, so if you're a big Vim user and don't want to change your habits, the Macbook might be a poor choice. See More

Top Pro

Good battery life

The battery drains in about 9 hours of typical use. See More

Top Con

Very expensive

Compared to other ultrabooks such as the Dell XPS 13, the Macbook Pro is very expensive. For the latest (as of July 2017) Macbook Pro and Dell XPS 13 with sual-core i5 Processor, 8GB RAM, 256 SSD, the prices are $1.1k for the Dell XPS 13 and $1.5k for the Macbook Pro. See More

Top Pro

Plenty of RAM for multitasking

The MacBook Pro has up to 16 GB of RAM. That much RAM is perfect for running IDEs, emulators, and virtual machines. See More

Top Con

RAM maxes at 16GB

Most pundits thought that a 32GB upgrade was in the offing for the 2016 refresh, but no still 16GB. See More

Top Pro

One of the best trackpads around

The Macbooks are renowned for having the best trackpad out of any laptop. It has full gesture support, you can configure in the software how much pressure you want before it physically clicks and the finger tracking is perfect. See More

Top Con

The default OS spies on you

Apple spies on its users, and helps others spy on them too. OSX needs to be wiped from the laptop and be replaced with Linux or another acceptable OS before it can be used. There have also been cases of security issues being reported and not fixed for quite some time. An example is a security issue in iTunes which was left unfixed for three years while it was being used by the government to collect data. These security issues may or may not be intentional, but other data collection is. See More

Top Pro

Good stability

Top Con

Glossy screen

Apple has deleted the matte-screen option from its lineup, an unfortunate decision that reduces the usability of the computers and means you get less work done. You won't realize how much time you spend moving your head around to get reflections off whatever you're trying to see until you switch to a matte screen. Those "deep blacks" and "rich colors" that you were supposed to get from a glossy screen are not present, since they're buried behind a sheen of reflection under all lighting conditions. See More

Top Pro

New OSX updates run on older models for quite a long time

Top Con

RAM is soldered in

A crippling, unmitigated rip-off which prevents you from upgrading the internal RAM. See More

Top Pro

Very portable

The latest Macbook Pro has a trimmed down design compared to predecessors. It's 0.61 inches (15.5 mm) thick and and weighs 4.02 pounds. It's thinner than Macbook Air even. See More

Top Con

Hard to repair or upgrade the hardware

The battery and other components are glued in, and the battery blocks access to other parts. The battery will wear out eventually, and the fact that it's glued in means that Apple prevents you from easily repairing or upgrading a MacBook Pro. See More

Top Pro

Fantastic display

The MacBook Pro has a sharp, color accurate 2560 x 1600 IPS display. It's bright at 500 nits, has great viewing angles (viewable at up to 178 degrees) and capable of displaying 87.3% of sRGB color gamut. See More

Top Con

Terrible Linux support

The 2016 hardware has zero Linux compatibility due to new standards used by Apple. Until drivers are released for Linux, which there has been no news of, the 2016 Macbooks cannot be used for Linux at all. See More

Top Pro

Can run up to 3 external monitors and output 4K

With 2 Thunderbolt (DisplayPort) plugs and 1 HDMI, MBP can run up to 3 external monitors and output 4K over HDMI. See More

Top Pro

OSX/macOS and most software apps have great HiDPI support

Top Pro

Great keyboard

The 2017 Macbook uses the second generation of the "butterfly" keyboards first introduced in 2015. They feel different to use than most laptop keyboards as they are very shallow, but most people report really enjoying the keyboard after getting used to it. See More

Top Pro

Great performance

The MacBook pro offers great performance both for day-to-day stuff and more niche graphic-related activities. The latest model also has had an update in hardware specs where both the CPU and GPU have been upgraded to their respective latest generations. The 8GB to 16GB help with performance as well and the SSD speeds are unmatched in the laptop market which also helps with general performance. See More

Top Pro

The OS is exceptionally easy to use

Macbooks are famous for working out of the box. The default operating system (macOS) is also exceptionally easy to use even for people who have never used it before. Most people will not need to customize or change anything since all the apps just work out of the box. The people who like to customize things and tinker with their systems will also find it pretty easy to do so, considering the fact that macOS is a Unix and allows varying degrees of control to users. See More

Top Pro

Both the hardware and software are designed in-house

Both the operating system and the hardware are designed by Apple and are made to be as compatible as possible from the get-go. Any drawback that the hardware might have compared to competitors, is made up by the great compatibility between the hardware and OS. Furthermore, because Apple controls the hardware that goes inside their laptops, they can be sure that every OS release will be fully compatible even with their older hardware, ensuring software compatibility for many years after the laptop is released. See More

Dell XPS 15

Top Pro

Amazing display

Two display choices are available for the XPS 15, an Ultra HD touchscreen or a Full HD non-touch screen. Both screens have a very wide array of colors as they cover approximately 100% of sRGB color space. The viewing angle is around 170 degrees. However, at 45 degrees, slight color change can be noticed. With around 350 nit output for brightness, it’s a viable choice for outdoor usage. All of this makes it an amazing display. See More

Top Con

Battery doesn’t hold long with the Ultra HD screen

If you’re choosing the configuration with an Ultra HD screen, expect a very short battery life of around 6 hours for general usage. With more intensive tasks it's even less than that. See More

Specs

GPU:Intel HD Graphics 630 / NVIDIA GTX 1050 with 4GB GDDR5

RAM:8 / 16 / 32GB DDR4 at 2400MHz

Ports:1 HDMI 1.4 2 USB 3.0 with PowerShare 1 Thunderbolt™ 3 (2 lanes of PCI Express Gen 3) Supports: Power In / Charging, PowerShare, Thunderbolt 3 (40Gbps Bi-Directional), 3.1 USB Gen 2 (10Gbps), VGA, HDMI, Ethernet and USB-A via Dell Adapter

Weight:2kg (4.44 lbs)

Top Pro

Good battery life if you pick the 1080p display

Models with the 1080p screen last about 10 hours with general usage. Naturally, if more intensive tasks are involved, the battery will be drained faster. See More

Top Con

9560 model's GPU has compatibility issues on Linux

The new 9560 model has some trouble accepting its GTX 1050 Ti video card while running a Linux operating system. Fortunately, the integrated Intel graphics card is capable enough to substitute it. The manufacturers are probably aware of the issue and will, most likely, release an update for it. See More

Top Pro

Solid keyboard and trackpad

The keyboard and trackpad are reliable and solid all-around. The keyboard is responsive but is not super “clicky”, rather a bit soft. It has a white backlight on black keys that illuminates them at night. The touchpad is rather large while having no buttons. Despite this, the XPS 15 can reliably distinguish between the left and right clicks which are done on the trackpad itself. See More

Top Con

Palmrest collects sweat

The palm rest is made from carbon fiber which attracts fingerprints and sweat. After some time it gets kind of unpleasant to touch and needs to be cleaned. See More

Top Pro

Optional password-free-sign-in via a fingerprint reader

For an additional $25 it’s possible to enjoy a password-free-sign-in by having a fingerprint reader. It will keep your laptop safe while still providing convenient access to it. See More

Top Con

Some ghosting in games

The display is not intended for gaming purposes so it can produce an effect called “ghosting”. Ghosting is when the pixels are not able to change their colors fast enough, so the color of the preceding frame can still be slightly seen on the next frame. This causes a blurring effect. Note that it only happens on high framerates coupled with fast objects. See More

Top Pro

Slick design

The whole design is quite stylish. The aluminium chassis provides a very clean look while the black carbon fiber palm rest with an almost borderless display cements it as a visually modern laptop. All of this is made with a premium build quality. See More

Top Con

Noisy fans

The laptop is very quiet during idle and light usage but when there is some workload, the fans get quite loud and distracting. See More

Top Pro

Very well-rounded laptop

The cheapest configuration is a great choice for general non-intensive use - things like internet browsing, watching movies and similar tasks. Whereas the more expensive configurations are gradually more capable of intensive tasks, like video editing or gaming. It’s not as good as a specialized computer built for a specific purpose, like a video editing laptop with an enormous RAM size or a gaming laptop with a superior graphics card, but it’s a very well-rounded, reliable laptop. See More

Top Con

Awkward webcam location

The webcam is located under the screen instead of on top. It means that your face will be shown from a lower angle which can seem a bit weird. It also means that your fingers can partially obstruct the webcam while you’re typing. See More

Top Pro

Operates well on a Linux system

All essential things, like network connectivity, ports and sound, work right “out-of-the-box” with a Linux operating system. There is a compatibility issue on the new 9560 model with its graphics card but the laptop is still very usable with its integrated Intel graphics card. See More

Top Con

Audible coil whine

Coil whine can be heard when it’s generally quiet and the fans are not running. Audible when the laptop is connected to the power supply. The manufacturers have acknowledged it as a problem and, if possible, will push out an update which should eliminate it. Until then, it’s still a gripe. See More

Top Pro

Can run most modern games

Being an excellent all-rounder, it can be used as a gaming laptop for games that are not exceptionally demanding, like Overwatch or Dota 2. Unless you’re using the cheapest model, you can expect a reasonable 60 frames per second for almost all modern games, provided that you’re willing to lower the game’s settings. See More

MSI VR Ready GT62VR Dominator Pro-240

Top Pro

Excellent display

This laptop's display is beautiful. It reproduces 105.8% of the sRGB color gamut, beating the average of 91% for laptops at this price. The display is also extremely bright, averaging 301 nits, which means that you can easily take it and play outside during the day and the sun will not give you any trouble. The laptop also comes with a special software from MSI which lets users adjust their screen colour temperature. See More

Top Con

Rather heavy

At around 6.4 pounds, it falls on the heavy camp for laptops. Even for gaming ones. See More

Specs

GPU:NVidia GeForce GTX 1070

Ports:3x USB 3.0, SD Card Reader, 1x USB 2.0, 1x USB3.1 Type-C, mini DisplayPort, HDMI, Ethernet

CPU:Intel Core i7-7700HQ

Top Pro

Great build quality

Most of the laptop is made of brushed black aluminium with some chrome highlights. Overall, this is a very sturdy and durable laptop. See More

Top Con

The audio is not very loud

The speakers found in the GT62 Dominator Pro produce clear sound that's lacking in volume. See More

Top Pro

Excellent keyboard

This laptop's keyboard is the closest thing to a mechanical without it actually being a mechanical keyboard. Keys have a travel distance of 1.9mm and 66 grams of actuation force. It also goes without saying that the keyboard has a backlight that can be turned on and off. See More

Top Con

Comes with some bloatware

Top Pro

Perfect cooling

Even under heavy use, the GT62 Dominator is cool enough to be kept safely and comfortably on your lap. See More

Top Pro

Excellent design

The GT62 Dominator manages to straddle the line between elegance and the bulkiness gaming laptops are known for perfectly. On the back it has a pair of glossy red strips embedded into the black, aluminium-brushed case. The red accents on the all-black body are found throughout the laptop but without overdoing it, which helps giving this laptop a sleek look. See More

Top Pro

Lots of storage space

Comes with 1 TB HDD and 256GB SSD. See More

Top Pro

Excellent gaming performance

It goes without saying but the GTX 1070 handles most AAA games perfectly. Most games consistently hit 120+ FPS on high settings at 1080p. On ultra settings, most games average about 70+ FPS with the Witcher 3 for example reaching 82FPS. Like other GPUs that use the NVidia Pascal architecture, the GTX 1070, and by extension the GT62 Dominator Pro also supports VR gaming. See More

HP Omen 17

Top Pro

Great display

The display is capable of producing 173% of the sRGB color space and has very good viewing angles. If calibrated, the laptop can be used for color sensitive work. See More

Top Con

Has issues with cooling

Due to its narrow ventilation holes, the cooling fans need to spin faster in order to cool the laptop down. It can become so hot that it may become uncomfortable to touch the laptop, though the performance doesn’t suffer and doesn’t cause noticeable thermal throttling. See More

Specs

GPU:Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050

Ports:3x USB 3.0 HDMI DisplayPort mini SD card reader 3.5mm combo jack RJ45

Weight:6.3 pounds

Top Pro

Higher-end configurations can play 4K games at decent framerates

Even when purchased with minimal specs, you should be able to play comfortably in full HD resolution. Higher-end configurations with the nVidia GTX 1070 graphics card will allow you to enjoy 4K gaming in medium to high settings at playable framerates. The screen implements G-Sync technology that further smoothens action and prevents tearing. See More

Top Con

Comes in only one color option

The laptop comes in only one color option without the possibility to order a different one. See More

Top Pro

Relatively portable for a gaming laptop

Compared to other gaming laptops, it is very slim--only 32mm thick and weighing 3.35 kg. See More

Top Con

The speakers lack bass

The speakers are loud, but they lack bass. See More

Top Pro

Standard, non-flashy look

This laptop is great for those who dislike the overly-gimmicky look that other gaming laptops go for. It doesn’t have big, stylized ventilation holes or dedicated gaming buttons or switches. The keyboard only has a plain red LED backlight, with no customization. The only outward indication that it’s a gaming laptop is the Omen logo at the back. See More

Microsoft Surface Book 2 (15-inch)

Top Pro

Great tying experience

Even though the keyboard is rather shallow (just 1.2mm of travel), the typing experience is excellent. Keys have a great amount of feedback when clicking and you rarely (if ever) bottom out when typing. See More

Specs

GPU:Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060

CPU:8th Generation Intel Core i7

Screen size:15"

Memory:8GB / 16GB

Top Pro

The battery easily lasts a full work day on a single charge

The Surface Book 2 lasts on average 12 hours on a single charge. This should be more than enough to get anyone to the end of their workday on a single charge. See More

Top Pro

Great display for creative professionals

This laptop's display is bright and vivid, making it perfect for people who do a lot of drawing, design, or video editing work. The display offers an excellent coverage of 131% of the sRGB colour gamut (the average for this price range is 101%). The colour coverage and the bright display which measures an average of 417 nits really makes colours truly pop out and offers lifelike pictures. See More

Top Pro

The hinge is quite stable as far as 2-in-1 laptops go

The new fulcrum hinge that Microsoft used for the Surface Book 2 is much more stable than the one found on the previous Surface Book or even other 2-in-1 laptops for that matter. See More

Top Pro

One of the best performances found on a 15-inch laptop

Equiped with an Intel Core i7-8650U CPU, 8GB (or 16GB) of RAM and an SSD that goes up to 1TB, the Surface Book 2 certainly packs a punch. It handles multitasking perfectly; you can open dozens of Chrome tags, stream video, and draw using the built-in software without experiencing any lag even once. As far as benchmarks go, on the Geekbench 4 overall performance benchmark, the Surface Book 2 got a score of 12,505, better than the 15-inch laptop average (11,004) coming third after the Dell XPS 15 (13,911) and the MacBook Pro (15,170). See More

Top Pro

Gaming performance on-par with gaming laptops

The 15-inch version of the Surface Book 2 comes with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 GPU. This is a powerful, VR-ready card that handles intensive gaming tasks. As for real-world performance, Hitman (1920 x 1080, ultra) runs at 71.9 frames per second, Grand Theft Auto V runs at 45 fps. It should also be mentioned that you need to be using the dock in order to do graphic-intensive tasks since that's where the GPU is located; using the laptop in tablet-mode will yield poor results in this regard. See More

Samsung Notebook 9 Pro (NP940X5N-X01US)

Specs

Display Size:15.0"

MacBook

Top Pro

Very good speakers

The speakers, found above the keyboard produce loud and clear sound with minimal to no distortion whatsoever. They can be used for both listening to music and watching movies with no problem at all. See More

Top Con

It's a bit hard to get used to the keyboard

The keys are pretty shallow, with a travel length of just 0.5mm. They still provide good feedback and the writing experience itself is not bad, but it's just a bit hard getting used to, especially if you are coming from a laptop that's not a MacBook. See More

Specs

GPU:Intel HD Graphics 5300

Weight:2.03 lbs

Top Pro

Excellent trackpad

The MacBook has a large 4.4 x 2.7-inch Force Touch trackpad with a Taptic Engine that delivers haptic feedback whenever the user taps on it to give them the impression that they are actually clicking on it. It also supports gestures and multi-finger swiping. The accuracy is almost perfect and there's virtually no lag or stutter when using the trackpad. See More

Top Con

Not very powerful

With an Intel Core M processor, the Macbook isn't a serious development laptop. While it will get the job done for lighter tasks, it will struggle with heavier jobs. See More

Top Pro

Decent battery life

The battery lasts around 7h30m of continuous web browsing which is about average for this class of laptops. Where this laptop's battery truly shines though is under heavy stress where it manages to last an impressive 2h35m under a total stress test (maxed out brightness and processor usage - circumstances that you are likely never going to encounter in the real world). See More

Top Con

Connecting more than one thing requires a hub

The laptop comes with a single USB-C port that's used for charging as well as any other peripherals or external storage devices. Connecting more than one thing at a time requires using a USB hub. See More

Top Pro

Extremely portable

The laptop weighs just 2 pounds and is 13.1 mm thin. It's one of the thinnest and lightest laptops on the market and it's extremely portable and easy to carry around. See More

Top Pro

Completely silent operation

Thanks to the Core M processor (which doesn't require a fan) and the SSD storage, there are no moving parts the in MacBook. It will operate in complete silence. See More

Top Pro

macOS is developer-friendly

macOS is based on XNU (Darwin) kernel, it's a certified Unix and arguably a lot more developer friendly than Windows. Development for Unix is native on macOS. There's a large selection of great development tools available for macOS. The operating system itself comes bundled with a powerful terminal emulator, called Terminal. Additionally, Apple provides tools, like Xcode, an IDE that contains a comprehensive collection of tools for developing macOS and iOS software, for free. You can also install Homebrew, an extremely useful package manager. See More

Top Pro

Decent keyboard

Top Pro

Available in 4 colors

The laptop is available in space gray, gold, silver and rose gold (pink) finishes. See More

Top Pro

Amazing display

Everything about the display is very good - from its high resolution (2304x1440) to the brightness (325 nitts), uniform brightness distribution (90%), and high contrast ratio (1000:1) with over 95% of the sRGB spectrum. Overall, a great display which will come in handy for people who work with visual arts. See More

Dell Precision 5510

15" MacBook Pro 2014

13" MacBook Pro

13" MacBook Pro 2014

Lenovo Y50 4k 15.6"

Surface Pro 3

Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro

MSI VR Ready GE62VR

Lenovo ThinkPad W550s

Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro

See flagged products

Built By the Slant team

Find the best product instantly.

4.7 star rating

Try it now - it's free

Vetted.ai illustration