Top 9 Best Workstation Laptops For Architects, Designers And Programmers (2021 Reviews)

Best Workstation Laptops

Are you looking to buy a workstation laptop? Do you know which workstation laptop will suit you? With a robust configuration, the workstation laptop specializes in handling complex tasks that are difficult for ordinary personal computers to do. You can completely handle specialized jobs such as 3D design, programming, and video processing.

Manufacturers always equip the latest, most powerful things for workstation laptops to ensure their superiority. So how to choose the best workstation laptop? This article will give you the necessary information and reviews about the popular workstation laptops available today. Let’s jump into it now!

Top 9 Best Workstation Laptops 2021

#1 Best Overall Workstation Laptop: Apple MacBook Pro 15″ (2019 Model)

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The Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch seems to be the most powerful laptop from Apple company for years, allowing you to do demanding creative projects. With the 9th gen Intel i9-9980HK, this MacBook levers into a new class, which is one of the outstanding features to become the best overall workstation laptop. 

First, it comes with 32GB-RAM and 4TB of SSD storage. You can work on it for up to 10 hours. The Radeon Pro 560 graphics card allows an upgrade for more demanding apps. Second, the Retina Display, along with True Tone technology, will provide you with a super-accurate color. 

Pros

  • Gorgeous screen
  • Decent configuration options
  • Powerful

Cons

  • Lack of ports

Apple MacBook Pro 15″ is genuinely a well-designed laptop for professionals and amateurs. Compared with the outstanding features such as upgraded internal components, the shortage of port variety becomes a minority. Overall, this veritable laptop will bring a high performance you have never seen in a workstation laptop. 

#2 Best Workstation Laptop For 3D Modelling: Lenovo ThinkPad P53s Workstation Laptop

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You will find an 8th gen Intel i7-8565U processor inside this laptop. The storage and RAM seem to be the most attractive features. Indeed, it starts with the 16GB RAM that can be updated to 40GB RAM. Simultaneously, the 256GB PCIe SSD enables you to reform into the 2TB storage. 

The NVIDIA Quadro P520 2GB GDDR5 is used to be the Integrated Graphics card. Plus, the 15.6-inch diagonal display is vivid enough for you to do CAD with Full HD resolutions on this laptop. 

Pros

  • Comfortable Keyboard
  • Super high RAM and storage
  • A great workstation

Cons

  • Slightly heavy

With a bunch of features of a workstation laptop, you will love it at once at first glance. It has a massive amount of RAM and storage, which allows you to do 3D modeling or CAD without any trouble. 

#3 Best Workstation Laptop For Architects: Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 2 Workstation Laptop

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The Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 2 comes with the most expensive displays that are known as the 4K OLED touchscreen. Thus, it offers 4 display options, including two featuring full 4k and two being in FHD. No matter what you intend to do with this laptop, it generally can give you a rich picture with fast operation. 

Moreover, you also might be attracted by the keyboards. The keyboard gains a reputation for a clicky feeling when typing. It has a backlight with high and low settings. Besides, the trackpad offers accurate control and smoothness to the touch. 

Pros

  • Light and thin
  • First-class keyboard
  • Gorgeous touchscreen

Cons

  • Slightly annoying cooling fan

This workstation laptop is suitable for architects as it is lightweight enough to carry easily. Besides, it provides premium components and good performances, making it more attractive than other products in the same price range. 

#4 Best Workstation Laptop For Video Editing: Microsoft Surface Book 3 15″

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If you are looking for a high-end editing device, you should consider this Microsoft Surface Book 3. It is manufactured with 1TB SSD storage and the Intel core i7 graphics. There is also the SD card reader and pen input support, which is easier for you to use as a laptop or a tablet. 

Additionally, the NVIDIA GTX 1660 Ti graphics helps to deal with advanced video edits or 3D gaming. It can last over 17.5 hours on a battery test, so you are able to edit all day without any trouble. 

Pros

  • Detachable screen
  • Long-life battery
  • Stunning design

Cons

  • Expensive

Microsoft Surface Book 3 is considered one of the most versatile workstation laptops for editing videos. It not only can be a powerful laptop but also a portable tablet. Although it is costly, it is worth every penny!

#5 Best Workstation Laptop For Solidworks: Acer Nitro 5 Laptop

 

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With the powerful processor, the workstation laptop becomes a perfect option for designing high-quality 3D models. The 9th gen Intel Core i5-9300H processor contributes to the fast-operating speed of this laptop. 

Besides, the memory of 8GB DDR4 and 256GB SSD storage is enough for software like SolidWorks to work smoothly. For graphics, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 is an integral part of higher speed and broader memory bandwidth. The IPS technology also contributes to a better color resolution as well as wider viewing angles. 

Pros

  • Very affordable price
  • Fast NVMe storage
  • Good battery

Cons

  • No thunderbolt 3

Acer Nitro 5 does wonders in managing the massive amount of data in the long run. This seems to be the top-rated workstation laptop for both beginners and professional use. 

#6 Best Workstation Laptop For Engineers: Razer Blade 15 Studio Laptop

 

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The new product from Razer company has a gorgeous aluminum design, a fantastic screen, and the most powerful technology. It contains the 10th gen Intel Core i7 10875H processor and the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 graphics card. The 1TB SSD and 32GB RAM allow users to do much intensive editing and rendering. 

When coming to the display, it has a 15.6-inch screen, which is useful to show the excellent quality of pictures with vibrant colors. Overall, the impressive construction of this laptop is fantastic for creating 2D and 3D designs. 

Pros

  • Stunning display
  • Extremely powerful
  • Good battery life

Cons

  • Very expensive

This workstation laptop is suitable for those who are seeking the most powerful laptop without a tight budget. It can deal well with all complex tasks, including 3D animation. 

#7 Best Workstation Laptop For AutoCAD: ASUS ProArt StudioBook Pro 17 Workstation Laptop

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You can use this laptop for a strong niche in modeling 3D or larger physical simulations in SolidWorks. This is thanks to the better Workstation GPUs equipped inside, which allows you to do more precise calculations while still endures all the workload. 

The NVIDIA Quadro RTX 3000 graphics card can deal with the 3D rendering tasks you need to be more specific. Simultaneously, the Intel Xeon E-2276M processor, 2TB SSD, and 32G RAM offer more muscle for running several designing software. 

Pros

  • Portable chassis
  • Great screen
  • Strong performance

Cons

  • Loud fans operation

This workstation laptop can handle from CAD, AutoCAD to the 4K video rendering. Although it might need to improve some features, it is still a competent device for all types of workflows. As a new series of Asus company, this laptop becomes suitable for visual art professionals or content creators. 

#8 Best Workstation Laptop For Programmers: ThinkPad X1 Extreme Mobile Workstation Laptop

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With this strong laptop, you can do tons of work, that is why it is reviewed as the best workstation laptop for programming in this list. More specifically, the manufacturer designed it with the 8th gen Intel Core i9 CPU, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB GPU with 64GB RAM. 

It also supports Intel vPro, an optional Smart Card reader, dTPM encryption, and a fingerprint reader. All of these features make it an ideal device for programmers or business use. 

Pros

  • Luxurious design
  • Phenomenal 4K display
  • Blazing-fast performance

Cons

  • Slightly heavy

ThinkPad X1 Extreme fits different needs and budgets thanks to several configurations. Basically, it is relatively powerful with a solid graphics card, which can survive any section work. Undoubtedly, it earns a spot in the best workstation laptop for programmers. 

#9 Best Workstation Laptop For Revit: ASUS TUF FX505DT Laptop

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Although starting at a low price, Asus TUF FX505DT still has a full HD resolution display. The pictures will look better, and the displaying text will also be greater. Plus, the AMD Turbo Core helps achieve the beefier 3.7 GHz seen in many office-centric notebooks. 

Pros

  • Compact and lightweight
  • Easy serviceability
  • Affordable

Cons

  • Battery life should be improved

ASUS TUF FX505DT offers high performance for professional architects and students. You can solve a lot of large and complex models that you encounter in Revit MEP or when you use Navisworks. 

Features to Consider When Choosing The Best Workstation Laptop

Storage

Fast and secure is what people think of when it comes to workstation laptop hard drives. And most of them have integrated hard drive at the highest speed. It allows the machine to access applications with minimal latency.

A hard drive with a revolving speed of 7200 caches is still challenging to work as fast as a solid-state drive SSD with five times the speed. Or even with today’s connectivity standards, SSDs can be 20 times faster than an HDD. Therefore, the current popular trend is the hard drive.

CPU

Because a workstation laptop is a computer that requires a lot of processing, therefore, their CPUs almost all use Intel Core i7, Intel Xeon processors. There are also machines equipped with AMD.

The firm configuration is the most noticeable point of the Laptop Workstation computer. These models are usually equipped with Intel Core i7 Quadcore or Intel Xeon CPU with a large cache to handle much larger computation volume than common usage.

However, because many users also need to use workstation laptops at affordable prices, many companies also offer versions that use a configuration with a slower processor, Intel Core i5. Even so, they are still rated as standard workstation laptops.

High-end processors’ advantage is handling multiple threads with high cache memory and fast clock speeds. Therefore, the working latency of the workstation laptops is reduced to the maximum.

GPU

Compared to ultra-laptops, the graphics cards in workstation laptops will not be the same. Most of them are equipped with professional graphics cards for graphic design and optimized to get the highest performance each time.

Today, in graphics card manufacturers, some very famous names that cannot be ignored are Nvidia with the Nvidia Quadro product line and AMD with the AMD Firepro product line. And of course, along with the quality, their price is not low. There is even a $ 5,000 price range.

Dedicated Graphics Cards: All workstations are equipped with Nvidia Quadro or AMD FirePro discrete graphics.

These are dedicated video cards integrated from hardware algorithms often found in professional software to improve processing performance.

The manufacturer also supplies specialized drivers to support the highest graphics card in the job. These graphics cards are usually more stable (and, of course, cost) much higher than mainstream graphics cards.

RAM

In workstation laptops, users will experience a memory with more capacity and faster speed than any conventional laptop. Almost all mobile workstations are equipped with the lowest RAM of 8GB and the highest clock speed. They also can upgrade up to 2 or 3 times compared to regular laptops.

Besides, they also have the ECC RAM built-in to fix 99.99% of memory errors. Thanks to that, the machine can operate smoothly, and you do not need to worry about them having any trouble in a long time of use.

Budget

With powerful configuration and outstanding advantages, the workstation laptop can handle any problematic requirement. So its price tag is also well-suited to its powerful performance. Whether or not to buy a Workstation laptop, you need to consider your specific usage needs to avoid unnecessary waste. Based on the pros and cons of the analysis on top of your own needs, make the right choice.

Display Solution

Due to the powerful configuration and massive cooling system, the workstation laptops’ size is also very respectable. They are usually more extensive and quite a lot heavier than regular personal computers.

For example, the HP Elitebook 8560W 15.6″ weighs 3.1kg, while the same screen size personal computer typically weighs only about 2.4kg. Because it is often used in image processing work, mobile workstations are often equipped with high-quality screens.

Most are equipped with screens with full HD resolution or higher. Some models are equipped with screens with high-quality panels, such as Dell’s IPS RGB display panel and HP’s Dreamcolor with the ability to display up to 1 billion colors.

The line of mobile workstations usually owns screens ranging in size from 15.6 inches to 17.3 inches with resolutions from full HD to 2k, 3k, 4k, and in the future, 8K.

In terms of structure, most workstation laptop configurations are preferred with anti-glare screens with a wider viewing angle and more comfortable for users to manipulate from many different angles. These screens are almost all applying the latest technology from IPS to IGZO or DreamColor. Therefore, from color to image quality are shown at best.

FAQs

Which is the best Workstation?

The market today has a lot of best workstation laptops. You can refer to some laptops from Apple or Dell, such as Apple iMac Pro, Dell Precision 7920 Tower.

What Is A Mobile Workstation Laptop?

Workstation is a line of workstations explicitly designed for those who need to use highly configurable computers, run heavy-duty applications and specialized tasks.

These Workstations, also known as workstations, have higher CPU, graphics, multitasking, and memory performance than desktop computers. It is designed to optimize data and complex manipulations in designing, rendering, etc.

Are Workstation Laptops Good For Gaming?

Three essential factors are the Graphics Card, RAM, and Computer screen when choosing a gaming laptop. With those three factors, the Laptop Workstation can completely meet, even many too high configuration workstation code can be a beast.

Which Laptop Is Best For Heavy Softwares?

Laptops equipped with significant configurations can easily handle heavy software. Dell XPS 15, Apple MacBook Air, Huawei MateBook 13 might be just some of the laptops for you.

Why Are Workstations So Expensive?

Workstation laptop with a high price is primarily due to the robust configuration of the latest generation. Complex activities such as image processing, 3D making can be handled easily, smoothly, and quickly on these laptops.

This laptop type is often equipped with a dedicated graphics card that is different from regular laptops, and the performance is also superior. The ability to upgrade Workstation machines is also a plus point of this product line, which is essential for technology equipment such as laptops in a period of high-speed and robust technology development today.

The Workstation’s excellent heat dissipation system is thanks to high-end components, large components, and high quality, stable and efficient work. Due to its distinctive design and suitable for tasks involving many images, Workstation machines often have high-resolution screens, color gamut standards, much better than other laptops.

Almost all mobile workstations have substantial heat sinks with high quality. Some models also have two separate heat pipes for CPU and GPU. The heatsink works efficiently and stably, making it possible to run large computing tasks continuously for days in a row.

Final Words

The top pick in this list deserves to be the Apple MacBook Pro 15″ (2019 Model). When purchasing this product, you will own many great features that bring you high performance with flexibility and durability. If you are on a tight budget, you can consider the Acer Nitro 5 Laptop. It is genuinely a decent laptop with an affordable price and sleek design, making it a good rendering and modeling option. 

As you can see, the market is full of different brands with new models of workstation laptops. Through this article, you have grasped some useful knowledge to select the best workstation laptop. Hopefully, you will be satisfied with your option soon! 

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