Laptops with a large 17-inch screen are generally considered desktop-replacement machines for people who prefer a lightweight laptop to a heavy workstation. These devices tend to be more portable than desktop PCs, but they require a significant amount of power to perform tasks like video streaming, office applications and CAD work.

The best 17 Inch Laptop for Design & Graphics jobs have fast CPUs, lots of RAM and a high-resolution display that can showcase the quality of your work. You’ll also want a robust graphics card to handle the most demanding applications.

17 Inch Laptop for Design & Graphics: High Performance & Clarity

Intel Core i7 and i9 processors, with discrete Nvidia RTX or Radeon GPUs, are the most popular components in these powerful laptops. AMD’s mobile Ryzen processors are also available in some models.

Our reviewer really liked this laptop for its sturdy build, large and bright display, and no-frills keyboard. He did find that its trackpad felt a little small and that the keys had a short travel distance. But he added that these minor flaws didn’t detract from the overall experience.

This laptop is a great choice for CAD users, and it comes with a free stylus. The keyboard is comfortable to type on and the display is brilliant, with a 120Hz refresh rate and a color gamut that covers 120% of the DCI-P3 standard. The battery is also very good, lasting more than nine hours in our video-playback test. However, this machine does not have USB-C ports, and it does not have a dedicated graphics slot for an external GPU.