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What are the best laptops for traveling and graphic design work?

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The Best 1 of 4 OptionsWhy?

4 Options ConsideredPriceCPUWeight
Excellent
Apple MacBook Pro
2.0/2.9 GHz dual-core Intel Core i53.02lbs
Dell XPS 13
8th-generation Intel quad-core i5-8250U or i7-8550U processor 2.7 lbs
MacBook
1.1GHz Intel Core M Turbo Boost 2.4GHz / 1.2GHz Intel Core M Turbo Boost 2.6GHz2.03 lbs
Microsoft Surface Book 2 (15-inch)
8th Generation Intel Core i7–
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Excellent

Apple MacBook Pro

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Endi Sukaj
Paolo
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.
Endi Sukaj
Paolo
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 we...
Endi Sukaj
Paolo
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.
Endi Sukaj
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 t...
Endi Sukaj
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 custom...
Endi Sukaj
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.
Izem Lavrenti
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.
Izem Lavrenti
Top Con

The keyboard has a unique feel 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.
Izem Lavrenti
Top Con

It's missing the ESC key

•••
There is no physical function or escape keys as they have been replaced by a touchscreen, so for example, if you're a big Vim user and don't want to change your habits, the MacBook might be a poor choice.
Izem Lavrenti
Top Con

You can't upgrade the internal RAM

•••
RAM is soldered in, so you can't upgrade it.
See 4 more Pros & ConsSee 8 more Pros & Cons
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3 Other Options Considered

Dell XPS 13

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Endi Sukaj
Izem Lavrenti
Top Pro

Stunning display

•••
Before buying you can choose between the 4K UHD- or full HD-resolution touch displays or a full HD non-touch one. However, Linux compatibility for super high resolution displays can be spotty at times, so you might be better off sticking with the full HD if you plan on running Linux. Display quali...
Endi Sukaj
Izem Lavrenti
Top Pro

Lightweight and portable

•••
It's weight is only 1.2kg, making it very portable.
Izem Lavrenti
Top Pro

Great build quality

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The body has a slick and elegant design. It's a mix of aluminum, carbon fiber and magnesium which hardly ever flexes even when held with one hand.
Izem Lavrenti
Top Pro

Non-glossy

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The build is non-glossy, so no fingerprint markings all over the thing.
Izem Lavrenti
Top Pro

Plenty of RAM for all programming needs

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Building software typically takes more resources than running the final product. Having a lot of RAM helps building big complex applications faster.
Izem Lavrenti
Top Pro

Uses an SSD for faster operations on disk

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Using an SSD greatly increases performance for every I/O operation, especially compared to laptops that use an HDD. The laptop will boot faster, programs that need to read and write to disk will run faster and scripts will compile much faster than on an HDD.
Izem Lavrenti
Top Pro

Latest generation hardware

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The XPS 13 was recently updated with all the latest generation hardware which means that it won't become outdated any time soon.
Izem Lavrenti
Top Pro

Great keyboard

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The keyboard is high quality, feels great to type on and isn't too mushy or too shallow. Even though there's nothing very special about the keyboard, it's as good of a keyboard as you could want.
Izem Lavrenti
Top Pro

One of the best Windows trackpads available

•••
The Dell's trackpad is one of the best Windows trackpads available. It has smooth and precise tracking and even supports three-finger gestures similar to the Macbook's.
Izem Lavrenti
Top Pro

Toggleable and customizable keyboard backlighting

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Users can turn on or off the backlighting of the keyboard as well as adjust the brightness.
Izem Lavrenti
Top Pro

Decent speakers

•••
The Dell XPS 13 has above average speakers for a laptop, they get very loud but at max volume tend to distort the music a little too much.
Izem Lavrenti
Top Pro

Great online customer service

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Dell's customer service is one of the best in the industry. Especially the online customer service website. There you will find frequently asked questions which usually solve 90% of issues, if that's not enough, there's a live chat with a customer service representative, who are usually...
Izem Lavrenti
Top Pro

Great Linux support

•••
You can configure the XPS 13 to come with Linux out of the box. Even if you pick the Windows version, the XPS 13 has Linux drivers for all of its features and most users have reported that the whole process of installing a Linux distribution on a Dell XPS 13 is very simple.
Izem Lavrenti
Top Con

Spongy keyboard

•••
The keyboard feels a bit spongy and does not have a lot of travel to the keys. When bottoming out there is no feel of completion.
Izem Lavrenti
Top Con

The battery does not last as long as advertised

•••
The laptop never performs to the promised 11-15 hours, average usage is around 7-8 hours.
Izem Lavrenti
Top Con

Phone support is very slow

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Customers have reported waiting for up to 15 minutes to get connected to someone who will be able to help solve their issue.
Izem Lavrenti
Top Con

13" is too small for many kinds of development

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At these sizes, it is inches which start to matter, not only pixels.
Izem Lavrenti
Top Con

Trackpad hardware (touch/feel/operation) is noticeably worse if coming from MacBook/MBP

•••
Part of this is the hardware, and part seems to be the drivers. It's very unforgiving when accidentally brushing the trackpad with a different finger. Certain actions like double-clicks (tapping with two fingers) and scrolling (with two fingers) doesn't work reliably. This is true with oth...
Izem Lavrenti
Top Con

Webcam located in an odd place

•••
Due to the narrow bezel of the infinity display, Dell moved the webcam to the bottom left corner. This results in an odd viewing angle and the webcam getting blocked while typing.
Izem Lavrenti
Top Con

The touchscreen reflects light making it hard to see unless the lighting on the display is properly set

•••
The screen for the touch-screen model is glossy instead of matte (non-touch screen). For what is a Linux notebook this does not make a lot of sense since most Linux users are the more tech savy who program. A glossy screen is more for multimedia, something Linux is not really known for excelling i...
Izem Lavrenti
Top Con

The battery wears out quickly

•••
After some use, the battery continues to fall at an alarming rate, to only 5-6 hours after a couple of months.
See 19 more Pros & ConsSee 19 more Pros & Cons

MacBook

Izem Lavrenti
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.
Izem Lavrenti
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.
Izem Lavrenti
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 visu...
Izem Lavrenti
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.
Izem Lavrenti
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 the...
Izem Lavrenti
Top Pro

Decent keyboard

•••
Izem Lavrenti
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 - ci...
Izem Lavrenti
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 powerf...
Izem Lavrenti
Top Pro

Available in 4 colors

•••
The laptop is available in space gray, gold, silver and rose gold (pink) finishes.
Izem Lavrenti
Top Con

Non-free software

•••
Apple doesn't release the source code for most of their software & firmware. This makes it significantly more difficult to customize, automate tasks, and verify security.
Izem Lavrenti
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.
Izem Lavrenti
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.
Izem Lavrenti
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 11 more Pros & ConsSee 11 more Pros & Cons

Microsoft Surface Book 2 (15-inch)

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Endi Sukaj
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.
Endi Sukaj
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.
Endi Sukaj
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.
Endi Sukaj
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...
Endi Sukaj
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.
Endi Sukaj
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...
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Dell Precision 5510

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33 Community Recommendations

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