Just a decade ago, the mere idea of a 4K laptop seemed like a pipe dream. But thanks to improvements in both display technology and the components that make laptops tick, the best 4K laptops are everywhere these days. Whether or not a 4K laptop is actually worth your time and money depends on what you’re doing with it, but if you want the most beautiful image possible on a portable computer, you’re going to want a 4K laptop.
There are plenty of devices out there that just toss a 4K display on without the computing power necessary to drive it or are just overpriced. I’ve had the pleasure of testing and reviewing hundreds of laptops, though, so I can help you sort through the chaff to find the best 4K laptop for your needs, whether you’re looking to play games, do art or just watch movies in bed. You also check out our guide to 4K monitors if you're in the market for just a display.
The Best 4K Laptops at a Glance
- Razer Blade 16 - the best 4K Laptop
- Asus ZenBook Pro Duo - best 4K laptop for creative professionals
- Dell XPS 17 - Best 4K laptop for work
- MSI Titan GT77 - Best 4K gaming laptop
- Samsung Galaxy Chromebook - Best 4K Chromebook
1. Razer Blade 16
The best 4K laptop
If you’re buying a 4K gaming laptop, you’re going to want to make sure it has the horsepower to actually drive that resolution. The Razer Blade does that in style. These laptops have built a reputation as “the MacBook of gaming laptops” and for a good reason. The Razer Blade 16 is easily one of the most beautiful laptops on the market, before you even mention the display. It’s one of the best Macbook alternatives you can buy.
The display, of course, is also gorgeous. At the high-end, you’re getting a 3840 x 2400 mini-LED display with a dual refresh rate. At the full 4K resolution of 3840 x 2400, the display has a 120Hz refresh rate. However, you can change the settings in Razer Synapse to lower the resolution to FHD to get a refresh rate of 240Hz.
Driving that display is up to an RTX 4090 and an Intel Core i9-13950HX, so you don’t have to worry about the hardware not being able to keep up with the 4K laptop screen. Those components also give the Razer Blade 16 an edge both in gaming and content creation. This all makes the Razer Blade 16 a dream come true for both gamers and creators.
2. Asus ZenBook Pro Duo
The best 4K laptop for creative professionals
Ask any video editor and they’ll tell you just how important having multiple displays is for their work. But what if I told you that you could have a good laptop for video editing with two UHD displays rather than just one?
Well, that’s what the Asus ZenBook Pro Duo offers. Not only does this laptop have a beautiful 4K display, there’s a secondary display just above the keyboard, where you can put things like your Adobe Premiere controls, Slack, or whatever else you want to keep open on your second screen.
The Asus ZenBook Pro Duo also has powerful enough hardware to make short work of any creative project you throw at it. The laptop hasn’t been upgraded for this generation, but its Intel Core i9-12900H processor and RTX 3070 Ti graphics are more than enough for even the most intense workloads.
3. Dell XPS 17
Best 4K laptop for work
When you’re working, there’s nothing quite like having a huge 4K screen on your laptop. Even if the work you’re doing is just managing a bunch of spreadsheets, the amount of cells you can display on this screen is simply out of this world. The Dell XPS 17 offers just that, with a giant 17-inch 4K display in a slightly taller than usual 16:10 aspect ratio, which makes it even better for work than other laptops.
But just because it’s a thin 17-inch laptop doesn’t mean it lacks workstation chops. If your work includes heavy video editing or rendering, you can equip the Dell XPS 17 with up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 GPU, which will chew through any creative workloads you throw at it. Plus, if you want to play some of the best PC games on your break, the XPS 17 can totally do it without breaking a sweat.
4. MSI Titan GT77
Best 4K gaming laptop
It’s true that the Razer Blade is a gaming laptop, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the MSI Titan GT77 when it comes to actual gaming performance – and the hulking size of this laptop is why. This baby weighs a whopping 7.28 lb and is almost a full inch thick – something we really don’t see much of these days. The thick and heavy build of the MSI Titan GT77 allows the company to pack in an RTX 4090 at its full power, rather than configuring it at less power to allow for a smaller chassis.
That means with this gaming laptop, you’ll be getting the full performance of every single component, making it very easy to run every game and application at their maximum settings on the 4K display. However, it also means you’ll have to lug around a seven pound laptop to do so. But if you’re not planning on carrying your laptop around very much, you can’t get a much better 4K gaming laptop.
5. Samsung Galaxy Chromebook
Best 4K Chromebook
Whether you think a 4K Chromebook even makes sense, they still exist. The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook is technically the last-generation Chromebook from Samsung, followed by, well, the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2. However, the sequel doesn’t have a 4K display.
The original Samsung Galaxy Chromebook features up to a 10th-generation Intel Core i3 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. That doesn’t seem like a lot, especially compared to other laptops on this list, but it’s more than enough for the web and Android apps you’ll be using the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook for.
This laptop is of course good for doing web-based work of any kind, but where it really shines as one of the best Chromebooks is as a portable media machine. The laptop weighs just over two pounds, and has a gorgeous 4K AMOLED display. Whatever you’re watching on the Galaxy Chromebook, it’s going to look amazing, whether that’s YouTube videos in your downtime or watching the best movies on Netflix.
What to Look for In a 4K Laptop
If you're in the market for a 4K laptop, you likely have a specific reason for wanting an upgraded display. Whether that's to watch 4K movies, play games in 4K, or do creative work that requires high resolution can affect which laptop you should buy. Here are some things to consider when buying a 4K laptop in 2023.
Battery Life
One of the main downsides of 4K displays is that they use more energy than regular HD screens. The amount of pixels a 4K lapop screen has to light up will leave you with very little battery life to spare once you unplug. If you plan on using your laptop on the go, it's important to check how long the battery will last before making a purchase.
Graphics Cards
Another important thing to keep in mind when buying a 4K laptop is what graphics card it comes with. If you are planning on playing graphics-intensive PC games or doing a lot of video editing, you need more than just a fancy screen, you need a good GPU.
source https://www.ign.com/articles/best-4k-laptops