The Best Mobile Workstations for 2024 (2024)

The most demanding, hardcore users need the most powerful laptops on the planet. You probably agree. You probably think we're talking about gamers and gaming laptops.

Actually, though, we're talking about work, not play: applications such as computer-aided design (CAD), architecture, engineering, video editing and post production, 3D rendering and animation, virtual reality, and oil and gas exploration. The machines that take these tasks to job sites or conference rooms are mobile workstations—laptops in the top echelon of both CPU and GPU power to crunch through huge datasets and accelerate ultra-complex graphics.

Mobile workstations like HP's ZBook, Dell's Precision, and Lenovo's ThinkPad P series are expensive but highly valued by professionals in fields such as 3D design, engineering, and video editing. These laptops are built for reliability and are overkill for basic office tasks but excel in handling complex tasks like CGI effects. Additionally, ISV certifications ensure that mobile workstations are optimized for specific software applications, making them ideal for professionals who rely on programs like SolidWorks.

For most laptop users, a mobile workstation is unnecessary. For example, if you just need a system for everyday or perhaps prosumer video editing, you'll find consumer models that use powerful combinations of CPU and GPU to handle demanding media workloads. However, if you work in one of the mentioned professional fields or require extensive calculations and graphics processing, investing in a mobile workstation can be justified and elevate your productivity to elite levels.

Before we get to some general components and choices you'll face as you shop for a mobile workstation, let's take a look at the top-rated mobile workstations that have come through PC Labs and its rigorous testing regimen.

Deeper Dive: Our Top Tested Picks

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Buying Guide: The Best Mobile Workstations for 2024

Buying Basics: Mobile Workstations

CPU and RAM.The rule of thumb here is to buy all the processing power you can afford. In the pro mobile workstation market, workstation-grade CPUs are an investment. Whether it's the most powerful Core i9 chips from Intel, Apple's M3 Pro and Max CPUs, or AMD's best Ryzen processors, this is a case where what you spend is proportional to the power you get.

While plenty of good gaming laptops, as long as they have a fast graphics card, can make do with a Core i5, mobile workstation shoppers should head straight for a Core i7 or Core i9 with as many cores and threads as are available. Here, you'll want to look at the specific software that you mean to run on the machine for recommendations about what grade of CPU the vendor deems ideal.

(Credit: Molly Flores)

A few entry-level machines, meant more for showing finished renderings to clients (or the boss) rather than producing the renderings themselves, feature quad-core processors. But most mobile workstations rely on beefy six-core-or-more CPUs, teamed with plenty of memory—16GB is a minimum, with 32GB common and 128GB a popular ceiling. Again, your software's suggested requirements should be your guide, but erring on the side of "more" here, especially for demanding applications, is a safe mistake to make. Again, let the software makers' recommendations be your guide.

Some (but not all) workstation configurations support server-style error correcting code (ECC) memory, which can detect and fix single-bit memory errors. ECC DRAM is a mainstay in financial or scientific computing applications, where even the slightest internal data corruption cannot be permitted. That said, a requirement for ECC RAM is outside the mainstream for most ISV apps.

GPU and Display.As with gaming laptops, all but a handful of mobile workstations draw on the speed and strength of a dedicated or discrete graphics adapter rather than the integrated graphics built into the CPU. Nvidia's professional mobile graphics chips have traditionally been found under its Quadro brand; AMD's (seldom seen in mobile workstations these days) are called Radeon Pro (formerly FirePro). In 2021, Nvidia retired the Quadro name in favor of the A series and RTX Ada series, with chips like the lower-end Nvidia A2000 or high-end RTX A6000.

Though built to optimize different operations, mobile workstation GPUs give nothing away to consumer or gaming GPUs, like Nvidia's GeForce line or AMD's Radeon products. The current top workstation mobile GPU, the Nvidia RTX 5000 Ada Generation, is on par with the mobile GeForce RTX 4090 GPU, but with business-ready, mission-critical ISV certification.

Mobile workstations may prioritize power, but they still follow some larger trends in laptop design. Specifically, most current models have adopted a taller 16:10 aspect ratio, providing more screen space than past 16:9 panels. As a result, you'll also find that workstations are moving toward 16-inch models, with a few beefier 18-inch systems that are gaming/workstation crossovers and almost exclusively for stationary use, and a growing number of 14-inch systems that provide thinner, lightweight designs for better portability. As a general rule, you give up some performance in the name of portability (and vice versa).

Screen resolutions have also changed slightly. While Full HD and 4K panels are quite common, they have been updated with the move to 16:10 aspect ratios. Full HD becomes ‎1,920 by 1,200 pixels instead of 1,920 by 1,080, and screens with 4K capability display 3,840 by 2,400 pixels instead of the 3,840 by 2,160 you might know from 4K TVs. Many mobile workstations fall in between, with better-than-FHD resolutions that may not reach 4K, but that still provide high resolution for work in which high detail and clarity matter.

(Credit: Molly Flores)

Color management—making sure that what you see on screen exactly matches a finished product—is often important for the kinds of tasks expected of a high-end mobile workstation. Screens such as HP's factory-calibrated DreamColor displays come with software that lets you choose the internet's sRGB, print's Adobe RGB, or cinema's DCI-P3 palettes or color spaces.

Some Lenovo systems go further with Pantone color calibrators on board: You select a white point (typically D65 for photography or D50 for prepress and graphic design) and gamma (tone response) value, then close the lid, which puts the screen against a palm-rest sensor. A few seconds later, an audible tone indicates that the calibrator has done its work.

Storage and Extras.Mobile workstation owners work with massive data files, so mobile workstations need ample storage. That typically means one or moreM.2 solid-state drives, with capacities ranging from 512GB up to several terabytes per drive, and some larger machines offering more than one M.2 slot. Given how often workstation users work with larger, data-intensive projects, we recommend at least 1TB of storage from any system you're considering.

(Credit: Molly Flores)

For still more storage capacity, nowadays we don't consider a new-model workstation worthy of the name unless it has at least one Thunderbolt 4 port for high-speed connection to external drives and RAID arrays, as well as single or multiple high-resolution displays. If Thunderbolt's daisy-chaining connectivity is too much of an investment for you, a growing number of desktop docking stations use the technology to provide one-plug access to ports aplenty.

Finally, take note of the touchpad located in the palm rest south of the space bar. Many CAD and other workstation apps can make use of three mouse buttons, so it's worth checking to see whether a system has a middle button instead of only the usual two.

Who Are the Major Players in Workstation Laptops?

You'll find several big names in the mobile workstation market, and most will be familiar to any laptop shopper: Dell, HP, and Lenovo have an outsized presence in our list of the best systems, but we've also seen competitive workstation models from Apple and MSI. Model lines to watch for include the Apple MacBook Pro, Dell Precision, HP ZBook, Lenovo ThinkPad P- and E-series, and MSI CreatorPro. All have what we consider to be the three must-haves for any workstation: a high-end CPU chipset, a powerful discrete GPU or equivalent graphics capability, and ISV certification. This pretty clearly separates mobile workstations from generic office laptops, which may be casually called workstations (as in, "a computer for work"), but aren't equipped to handle the demanding workloads of data analysis, 3D rendering, and media creation that mobile workstation machines are built for.

Take note of an up-and-coming concept in the workstation world: a more generic GPU driver that is built around maximizing compatibility with creative apps. Nvidia is already doing this with itsNvidia Studio Driver, which works on both GeForce and A-series GPUs. The driver doesn't offer guaranteed compatibility like an ISV certification, but it's tested against creative software from popular vendors. (A list of apps is published on the driver download page.) We're seeing an emerging class of workstation-like Studio laptops hitting the market.

(Credit: Molly Flores)

So, Which Workstation Laptop Should I Get?

We've mapped out the specs of our top picks above in a handy chart below. Don't needquiteas much power as these workstation beasts deliver? Also, check out our roundup of thetop business laptopsand our overall roundup of thebest laptops.