8 Best Laptops and Tablets for Drawing

Get creative on the go with these versatile laptops and tablets for drawing.

We've put together a list of our favorite laptops for drawing, painting, and creating on the go.

Laptops and tablets have completely transformed how artists and designers create in recent years. Instead of having to pull out all our supplies, from pencils and chalks to paints and brushes, drawing, painting, and sketching can all happen on a laptop or tablet.

There are many different laptops and tablets marketed as being good for drawing. And with so many options, it can be hard to make the best choice. Today we’re going to look at some of the best laptops and tablets for drawing, what makes them stand out, and how much they cost!

Let’s go!

Microsoft Surface Pro 8 - $1,999.99

The new Surface Pro 8 has taken everything we love about the Pro 7 (which made several Top Laptops for Drawing lists) and enhanced them. The first 2-in-1 based on the Intel Evo platform, the tablet is lightning fast and makes creating such a pleasure. Plus, it has an insane battery life, so you can keep creating for hours without a charge.

Our favorite thing about the Pro 8 technically doesn’t come with the laptop. While it’s an add-on accessory, the Surface Slim Pen 2 feels just like a real pen and lag issues, which were a problem in the Pro 7, are obsolete. The gorgeous pen also has a new storable design in the Pro 8, something those of us who struggle with losing things really appreciate!

HP Envy x360 - $1,099

Another 2-in-1 laptop and tablet, the HP Envy x360 makes an excellent choice for artists because of its expansive screen size. The notebook mode of the Envy, which perfectly showcases the size of the screen, gives artists complete control of their drawings and designs.

The HP Stylus Pen makes a great addition to the laptop, though it does need to be purchased separately. The real-life feel of the pen and its ridiculously pressure sensitive tip will bring a realistic feeling to your sketches. And because the HP Envy is so powerful, every line and stroke feel seamless.

Samsung NoteBook 9 Pro - $899.99

Samsung has long been at the forefront of technological advancements and the Notebook 9 Pro showcases some of the company’s best work. While it’s an overall fantastic 2-in-1 laptop, there are certain features that make the Notebook 9 Pro ideal for artists.

We are the biggest fans of the Active Pen, which comes with all Samsung Notebooks. The stylus was designed to feel like a real pen and detects about 4,096 levels of pressure. Take about precision! For creators who want to do more than draw, the Notebook 9 Pro also comes with Studio Plus, which allows you to make your own video content.

HP ZBook Studio x360 G5 - $3,599

Perfect for those more interested in sketching, the HP ZBook Studio x360 G5 has some great stylus support. If you want to use a regular pen and paper for your sketches, there is an active digitizer inside of the display. Even better, since you can fold the laptop down to a tablet, drawing on the screen is very easy and comfortable.

The HP ZBook Studio x360 G5 has some pretty fantastic specs that make it a great choice for artists. It also has a built-in NVIDIA Quadro P1000 graphics card for graphics-intensive tasks. Additionally, it has a pressure-sensitive stylus that makes it perfect for sketching and drawing. Plus, we love that battery life!

Lenovo Yoga 9i - $1,379.99

The Lenovo Yoga 9i is a great laptop for artists and designer. It has the Lenovo Active Pen stylus that makes it easy to navigate and draw on the screen. This allows you to switch between using the pen and using your hands while drawing on the screen of this convertible laptop. We absolutely adore this feature!

For students, the versatility of being able to switch from taking notes, to drawing, to playing some of the highest-quality PC games makes this 2-in-1 tablet a steal. And if you enjoy listening to music while you create, you’ll adore the rotating sound bar! And, look at that battery life. Doesn’t get much better than 18 hours!

Acer Spin 5 - $864.95

Acer has really stepped up its game when it comes to designing 2-in-1 laptops. The versatile, light laptop comes with the Acer Active Stylus which gives you all the support you need to draw, paint, and create. Plus, even though the Acer Spin 5 has a magnesium-aluminum alloy body, it’s super light and easy to carry around.

The color accuracy of the Acer Spin 5 is another huge reason it made our list. You want your art to look the same across the board, so the 100% sRGB and 360nit brightness not only keeps your screen bright, it keeps those drawings accurate.

We believe any drawing laptop should also function as, well, a laptop, which is why we super appreciate powerful operating system, excess USB ports, and long battery life of this drawing laptop.

HP Spectre x360 - $2,399

A recent update catapulted the HP Spectre x360 on to our list! The computer has recently upgraded its touchscreen resolution, making this a fantastic laptop and tablet combo for artists. The biggest draw for this laptop is its fantastically bright screen. The display brings art to life, making it a pleasure to create on this drawing laptop.

The HP Spectre x360 also comes with the HP Active Pen, which has a life-like feel. For those who hate the too-small, too-slippery stylus pens of ages gone by, HP Active Pen will stun you. The HP Spectre is very light at just over 4.2 pounds, and its high resolution IPS touch screen makes it perfect for drawing or designing on the go! Unfortunately, it does not have an SD Card slot but that can be had with a USB-C adapter.

Apple iPad Pro - $849

 And here’s our first tablet!

We didn’t want to leave Apple off the list and you can’t talk about creative technology without mentioning the Apple iPad Pro. First, the Apple Pencil, especially this 2^nd generation, has no lag and extreme pressure sensitivity. With its flexible tilt, you can get all the little details in your drawings without worry.

Let’s talk the display on this bad boy! The iPad Pro comes with an XDR display which just brings everything to life, whether you’re sketching or watching videos. Plus, because this is a tablet, it’s significantly lighter than other options on our list. For those who like to draw on the go, this is definitely the choice for you.

What to Look for in a Drawing Laptop – How We Chose

As artists and designers, you already know what to look for when it comes to the paper, pens, pencils, and other supplies for your art kits. Things become trickier when you start to look at drawing laptops. There are so many options and different specs to understand before making the choice that works best for your needs.

To simplify your search process, we’ve created a few criteria for what we looked for in the drawing laptops on our list. These are things we think are most important for designers and artists, so we hope they’ll help you with your decision process!

Screen Size and Resolution

As the canvas for your digital artwork, it is extremely important to pick a drawing laptop with a high resolution and larger screen size. These 2 factors will determine the clarity and sharpness of your designs.

For screen size, we tried to keep our options above 13 inches, though a smaller one did sneak in! As for resolution, we didn’t go below 1920x1080 pixels and preferred 3840x2160 for the slightly larger screens. Keep these numbers in mind as the baseline for the best screen size and resolution for your drawing laptop.

RAM and Hard Drive (HD)

The RAM (running storage) and HD (permanent storage) of a drawing laptop work together to determine its speed and efficiency. Having a higher RAM allows you to run programs simultaneously without losing quality. We tried to keep our drawing laptops at 8GB of RAM at the minimum.

Because you’ll be saving larger files on your drawing laptop, we tried to keep the HD sizes quite large, with 128GB being the absolute smallest option. This space will allow you to keep all your programs and files on your computer without creating a lag.

Touchscreen Capabilities

While many regular laptops support drawing with a mouse, that doesn’t give the tactile feel or control that comes with a touchscreen. Touchscreens give artists and designers much more precision when it comes to drawing.

We opted for tablets or 2-in-1 laptops with touchscreens and preferably a pen or stylus. The combination of the touchscreen and pen accessory makes creating so much more convenient.

CPU

A CPU is all about how your drawing laptop will perform. Because we looked specifically at laptops for drawing, and not for video editing or gaming, the amount of CPU didn’t need to be on the highest end. However, drawing laptops with low CPU run slow and will drag out your design process.

The drawing laptops on our list have at least 2 cores and a healthy clock speed, so you can run the best design and digital programs without any drag.

Battery Life

One of the biggest benefits of using a drawing laptop is it can be used on the go. For those times you don’t want to be tethered to a power cable, the battery life of your drawing laptop is going to be extremely important.

We picked drawing laptops with battery life of 10 hours or more, so you can create on the go without worry.