7 Best Travel Laptops Photographers Can’t Live Without
Best travel laptops for photographers
If there’s one thing that is an abundance in this day and age, it is technology. There are hundreds and hundreds of laptops to choose from, and getting your head around features like portability, battery life, RAM, and storage can be tricky. So, how do you decide what the best travel laptops for photographers are? Narrowing it down to even just the seven in this list was an incredibly hard feat.
As mentioned above, the portability and the battery life of the laptop are important factors to consider. The same goes for the reliability of the brand, the durability, and the price. When you’re a traveling photographer, you want a piece of technology that is powerful yet portable.
The best travel laptops for photographers allow you to quickly upload your images, offer easy access to editing software, and are lightweight enough to perform well when you’re on the move. In this list, we’ve done all the thinking for you - Read on and keep snapping those pictures!
The 7 best travel laptops for photographers
New Apple MacBook Pro
Lenovo Flex 14 2-in-1 Convertible Laptop
Microsoft Surface Laptop 2
Asus ZenBook 13 Ultra-Slim Laptop
HP Spectre x360
LG Gram
Acer Spin 3 Convertible Laptop
The best travel laptops for photographers: reviewed
New Apple MacBook Pro
We start this list with probably one of the most well-known names in the tech industry, the New Apple MacBook Pro. Macbooks have been a traveler's staple since they were first released, with each new model seeming to get slimmer and more portable. Not on the cheaper side, however, you do get the most bang for your buck with this model.
The New MacBook Pro tops the chart of the best travel laptops for photographers. The 8-core processor ensures you’ll be able to upload all your images efficiently, as well as edit them without having to deal with any lag or slowness.
The laptop has 512 GB of storage, but there is the capability to upgrade the storage up to 8 TB, the highest capacity in any travel notebook. The 16-inch Retina display, combined with an impressive graphics card, ensures you will see every pixel of each photo, allowing proficient editing.
Lenovo Flex 14 2-in-1 Convertible Laptop, 14 Inch FHD Touchscreen Display
Coming from another well-respected brand, the Lenovo Flex 14 2-in-1 Convertible Laptop, 14-inch FHD Touchscreen Display is amazingly portable. From a full charge, you receive 10 hours of battery life, and if you do need to recharge on the go, it will only take an hour to reach 80%.
The whole display is a touch screen, allowing you to work with your fingers rather than a mouse or trackpad - making the editing experience a lot more immersive. The included ‘Active Pen’ will enable you to easily take notes on the go, meaning you won't have to go searching for that pen and paper every time you need to note down some new information.
Another reason to include the Lenovo Flex in the best travel laptops for photographers is the included 12 GB of RAM will allow you to edit and upload your photos without slowing down other computer processes.
What are the best laptops for travel photographers?
Microsoft Surface Laptop 2
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 2 is one of the lightest laptops on this list, weighing in at just 2.76 pounds. It is also small enough to be easily placed within a bag or backpack, making it one of the best travel laptops for photographers who spend much time shooting on the streets.
The battery life is monstrous for its size: on a full charge, you can get up to 14.5 hours of video playback, which is excellent for the budding videographer or vlogging star.
The 13.5-inch display is vibrant, and is also a fully interactive touch screen, allowing you to get closer to your photos than you could with a traditional trackpad.
The speed of this little machine is mesmerizing: equipped with an Intel Core 17 and 8 GB, most editing software will perform smoothly and allow for quick uploads.
Asus ZenBook 13 Ultra-Slim Laptop
The Asus ZenBook 13 Ultra-Slim Laptop provides extreme portability, without skimping on quality or features. A mere 0.6 inches thin and ultra-lightweight, you will barely perceive the laptop in your bag when you’re carrying it around. Being the size of an A4 paper sheet, allows for a comfortable fit in any tote bag or backpack, no need to spend any extra cash on a specifically sized laptop bag.
Another small-sized laptop coming in with exceptional battery life, you won’t have to worry about the closeness of any plug sockets while using this one. With a full charge, you can get up to 14 hours of battery life.
The Zenbook comes with pretty much every port you could ever need - HDMI, USB-C, USB-TYPE A, and even an SD card reader - meaning that you can get the photos straight from your camera and ready to upload in no time.
The best travel laptops for photographers working on the go
HP Spectre x360
The HP Spectre x360 is the second 2-in-1 laptop on this list. The ability to fold the keyboard back and turn it into a tablet within seconds, takes away some bulkiness you may find when using a typical laptop on a plane, train, or other places where you may have limited space. Equipped with 8 hours of battery life, you won’t always be hunting for a charger, but when you need that extra boost-- The laptop can charge up to 50% in only half an hour.
The 13.3-inch screen is compact but makes for one of the best travel laptops for photographers thanks to its full HD resolution, meaning that you will truly experience every detail of the photos you take. It is also a touch screen, so you don’t have to rely on a trackpad, mouse, or keyboard to get working.
LG Gram
Finding a laptop-compatible with all your software, light enough to carry around with you, and can be used without needing to be continuously plugged in, is quite a feat. However, the LG Gram is everything you’ve always wanted, if not more.
Even with the considerable 15.6-inch screen, this laptop remains exceptionally lightweight and portable, definitely one of the best travel laptops for photographers out there. Don’t want to carry around a big external hard drive to store your photos? Not to worry! The built-in hard-drive on the LG Gram has a whopping 1 TB of storage.
The battery can last up to 19.5 hours, and even with heavy use, you should get at least ten full hours of non-stop work without having to be plugged in again, leaving you plenty of time for on the go editing and uploading.
Acer Spin 3 Convertible Laptop
When you’re a photographer on the go, sometimes you end up stuck in small, cramped places when you need to do your editings, like planes, cars, or trains. Who wants to try and cram a clunky laptop into a tiny space, and end up with an aching neck or back from hunching over it? The Acer Spin 3 Convertible Laptop lets you travel with some functionality. Equipped with a hinge that rotates 360 degrees, you can decide whether you want the full laptop experience, "tent mode," or simply a straight up and down tablet, depending on how much space you have to work.
The Spin 3 is one of the best travel laptops for photographers also because it comes with its tiny stylus, allowing you to quickly make editing notes or jot down important information as you please. An extensive 16 GB of included RAM helps keep all the processes speedy and without any interruptions from lag.
Which are the best travel laptops for photographers?
So, which are the best travel laptops for photographers?
As mentioned above, there are many different makes and models of laptops designed for portability from which you can pick. Choosing the best travel laptops for photographers can be challenging. Each person has different needs when it comes to technology, and picking the right travel laptop depends on how heavily you will be using it, how much battery life you need, or even the level of portability that you desire.
We do hope that providing you this list of our 7 top picks for the best travel laptops for photographers has helped to at least narrow down your search and make choosing the one that is right for you a little bit easier. Hence, you have to spend less time hunting for the right product, and more time taking stunning photos.
It’s time to point your camera lens at your next travel destination, but do make sure you check out our best backpacks for digital nomads review and come back in the future to check out all our up to date articles about tech and travel gear!