10 Best Touch Screen Laptops for Drawing

When searching for the best touchscreen laptops for drawing its important to note that the device is also capable of using drawing apps as well as a name-brand, active stylus created by the manufacturer.

You can draw, create graphic art, logos vectors, animation, and even 3d art with a very powerful 2-in-1 touchscreen laptop. Finding the right one for you will depend on what your goals are.

Related: 11 Best Laptops for Drawing & Digital Art (not limited to 2-in-1 touchscreen laptops)

In this post, I’m going to cover the best laptops with a touchscreen for drawing, the pros and cons, as well as why we chose the devices as our top picks.

Related: Ways to Write and Draw on a Non Touch Screen Laptop

Related: Best stylus pens for touch screen laptops

At a glance – Top Picks

1. Microsoft Surface Pro 7: Best touchscreen laptop for drawing
2. HP Spectre x360: Best touchscreen laptop for artists
3. Dell Inspiron 14: Best budget touchscreen laptop for drawing & digital art
4. Asus Chromebook flip: Best lightweight 2-in-1 laptop for drawing

Best Touch Screen laptops for Drawing

These 2-in-1 devices have become very capable of sketching, drawing, and animating. Sure, you can also grab a graphics tablet like the Wacom, but with technology advancing so quickly, touchscreen laptops have evolved.

Related: Best Drawing Tablets with Screen Built-in

1. Microsoft Surface Pro 7: Best touchscreen laptop for drawing

Who this is for: The Surface Pro is Best for artists who also need compatibility of windows and a reliable, long term device.

The Surface Pro is Microsoft’s flagship touchscreen device for drawing  and proved to be a top-tier 2-in-1 laptop during our hands on review. Surface Pro 7 combines all the features both amatuer and professional Artists need.

This laptop is also useful for work professionals using a digital whiteboard.

See our post: Is a Touch Screen Laptop Worth it? (Touchscreen vs Non Touch Screen)

Pro-level drawing software for artists typically requires a drawing laptop to have roughly 8gb ram memory (minimum). The newest Surface Pro edition has the option of 8gb or 16gb ram and was highly capable of running all of drawing software programs I’ve came across. 

It and includes numerous advanced features for your drawing process.

Related: Best Digital Art Tablets for Beginner Artists

Features: Surface Pro 7 has a special “studio’’ mode, where you can lower the Kickstand for a perfect 15-degree angle. This will provide an amazing drawing and writing experience.  However, to fully experience your Pro’s active stylus support, you need to put down money on the pen. Although the Surface Pen is not included, there are numerous alternatives available.

If your goal isn’t just to draw or take notes using an Active stylus, but you want to have an extremely portable, fast and reliable hybrid tablet/laptop, then Surface Pro 7 is the right choice for you.

Related: Surface Pro 7 vs iPad Pro for Drawing & Art (Compared

Thus, Surface Pro 7 has become popular as one of the leaders amongst touchscreen drawing, writing, and business laptops for good reasons. However, that’s not the only feature it stands out for. Performance-wise, the Surface Pro 7 is not only one of the strongest Windows tablets but also one of the best touch screen laptop for drawing on the market for those who seek compatibility amongst software and other devices.

As with the rest of this tablet’s features, the cameras are of great quality and will provide amazing photos and videos. Pro 7 has a stunning 12.3’’ screen and its battery is one of the best on our list, as it lasts up to 10.5 hours. Moreover, Surface Pro 7 has a standout design, it is ultra-slim and weighs only 1.70 pounds. 

2. HP Spectre x360: Best touchscreen laptop for artists

HP is one of the best laptop brands, and the company developed HP Spectre x360, one of the strongest and most reliable touchscreen laptops for artists.

In a few words, Spectre x360 is the best 2-in-1 laptop, mainly because it is specially designed for this reason. At a really strong price, it utilizes numerous drawing features.

First of all, as part of its modern design, Spectre x360 is a laptop that folds in two. This is a great feature, extremely suitable for your drawing needs. HP has included active stylus support, meaning it has great performance when it comes to pressure sensitivity.

On top of that, HP Stylus is included in the basic package. If you need a laptop for more advanced graphic design software like CAD, video editing, or photo editing, Spectre you don’t have to worry. With its Intel Iris Plus graphics, Spectre x360 can easily handle demanding creative applications.

Related: See the best Digital writing Pads (electronic notebooks)

If you’re thinking about not using a touchscreen laptop, see: Best Gaming laptops for Graphic Design.

Moreover, its 13.3 inches display is amazing and has great size for drawing,  digital art, and using digital whiteboards for remote meetings or tutoring. The device has dual speakers, an excellent microphone, and is ultra-slim, which is on the rare side of touch screen drawing laptops.  

The Spectre x360 also has all the connectivity essentials like USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 support. For all these reasons, this HP laptop is a very smart choice for all kinds of professionals, from businessmen and educators to artists and designers.

3. Dell Inspiron 14: Best budget touchscreen laptop for drawing & digital art

Dell Inspiron 14 is developed to offer an amazing drawing package, at a great price. Dell managed to create a budget 2-in-1 laptop without a compromise in quality or performance. 

Inspiron 14 is a great budget choice for artists, educators, and any kind of professionals. By utilizing a dynamic, narrow border design, this laptop is extremely flexible. 

Accordingly, the laptop has four modes: Three laptop modes for typing, entertainment, and gaming and a tablet mode for drawing or writing. Unfortunately, Dell’s Active Pen is not included, but considering the laptop’s price, this is to be expected.

Related: 9 Best Non Touch Screen laptops [Buyers guide]

Performance: When it comes to performance, Inspiron 14 has a strong i7 processor, especially compared to other laptops in this price range. Combined with 8GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD disk, Dell has created a fast laptop that can cope with demanding drawing and editing apps. 

The 14 inches screen gives a wide, large area, ideal for drawing, work calls, zoom meetings, and online teaching. However, the screen’s viewing angles are worse than other laptops’ on this list. 

Related: 9 Best Laptops for Architecture Students

Inspiron also has a good battery, that will last up to 9 hours of browsing and up to 8 hours of streaming. To sum up, Inspiron 14 is the best budget touchscreen laptop on the market. For less than $900, you will have a fast reliable laptop, which proves to be perfect for your drawing needs.

4. Asus Chromebook flip: Best lightweight 2-in-1 laptop for drawing

The brand new Asus Chromebook Flip is our pick as the best lightweight budget laptop for drawing you can purchase in 2021.

Asus has developed a fast, reliable 2-in-1 laptop, that weighs only 2.58 pounds even though it has a 14inch screen. The laptop has a 360-degree hinge, which allows you to flip to stand, tent, and tablet mode. For this reason, this is the most versatile & flexible touchscreen drawing tablet.

Related: See the best wireless drawing tablets.

With an extremely low price for a drawing laptop, Chromebook Flip also sits at the top for the features it packs. Instead of Windows, Flip utilizes the latest Chrome Operating system, meaning not all digital art software is available. However, you still have a huge selection of Google apps for drawing, photo, and video editing. Concerning drawing, although the USI stylus is sold separately this Chromebook has Active stylus support.

Related: Krita vs FireAlpaca: Which software is better for artists?

Even the basic edition with the i3 CPU and 8GB of RAM is strong and can cope with modern drawing software. However, if you are a more demanding user, the laptop’s most powerful edition is also available for a few hundred more. It utilizes a powerful i5 CPU, more RAM & storage.

The price of both editions is hard to beat, and Asus Chromebook Flip has an impressively long battery life as well (up to 12.5 hours). For this reason, if you want a cheap 2-in-1 laptop for drawing, this is the one to get.

5. Dell XPS: Best touchscreen Laptop for Animation

Amongst all laptops on our list, Dell XPS is the most premium one. If you don’t want to compromise quality and simply buy the best, then the XPS is the laptop for you.

The 15 inch screen is quite large compared to many other competing touchscreen laptops, making it a very comfortable drawing touch screen laptop  for artists looking to accomplish pro-level projects.

For this laptop’s Creator Edition, Dell equipped the device with the creative tools you need to make magic happen faster and better.

See the Top 7 Benefits of a Touchscreen laptop: Pros and cons

This laptop is by far the strongest on our list. For this reason, it is more suitable for those expecting to run super-demanding software for animation/drawing. Dell XPS has one of the fastest i7 processors and the laptop can easily render high-resolution graphics and videos with the dedicated NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1650 Ti. 

In fact, this is the only laptop in our list, suitable for extreme gaming. Thus, if you want a drawing laptop that can handle demanding games like PUBG, this laptop is a great choice. Moreover, XPS promises to deliver 100% RGB Adobe color in detail.

Related: 7 Ways to draw on a laptop (how drawing works on a laptop) Full guide

In fact, the 15 inches screen is amazing and will make your drawing or animating experience extraordinary. The screen utilizes 4k quality technology with a 4-sided “infinity edge”.

Apart from its price, we couldn’t really find any flaws as the Dell XPS has everything a professional needs and more. A huge touchpad, immersive audio, and the great battery life are only a few of the device’s features. 

Need a pen to draw on your laptop? See the 7 Best Stylus Pens for Touch Screen Laptops

To summarize, this is simply the best drawing laptop on the list when it comes to performance. However, we wouldn’t recommend spending this amount, if you are not an animator or an experienced graphic designer.

6. HP Elite Dragonfly: Best touchscreen laptop for drawing (digital art)

As with Spectre x360 reviewed above, HP has created an amazing laptop for drawing. As one of the most reliable brands, HP has developed two different drawing laptops for you to choose from.

Although the Elite Dragonfly seems quite similar to the Spectre x360, the most advanced features of this laptop are different. With a small compromise in performance, HP managed to fit in an amazing 4K screen, the best keyboard on the market and a powerful set of speakers. 

At a quite similar price to Spectre, Dragonfly includes all the essential drawing features. The vibrant screen has touch recognition and active stylus support. The 4K screen is ideal for artists and promises to offer you an amazing experience. Sadly, HP’s active pen is not included.

Although the i5 processor and 8GB of RAM aren’t as fast as the Spectre powerful kit, the Dragonfly’s overall performance is very good. The laptop’s battery is also fantastic and the 256GB SSD is more than enough for most artists, educators and professionals.

Both touchscreen and non touchscreen laptops appear to last long, but for reference, the Macbook models (non touchscreen) have lasted me the longest. For more on this, see our post: How long should a MacBook Pro last?

To sum up, HP Spectre is a faster laptop than Dragonfly, and allows you to easily run demanding editing software. However, if you need a 2-in-1 laptop with an amazing screen for drawing, streaming, and browsing, then Dragonfly is the best HP laptop for you.

See our post on the ultimate drawing tablet setups for Digital artists.

7. Microsoft Surface Laptop 3: Best 2-in-1 laptops for Artists

Although Surface Pro 7 is a great choice, the Surface Laptop 3 is specially created by Microsoft for editors.

Performance: The newest version of Surface Laptops has a large and vibrant touchscreen and a great integrated graphics card that will handle all demanding editing apps. 

The Surface Laptop 3 is one of the fastest Microsoft devices you can have, and includes all the essential features for your editing process. 

Cons: The only feature missing is that the Surface Laptop doesn’t fold in two. This is a suitable feature for most artists. Unfortunately, the top-tier active pen of Microsoft (Surface Pen) is not included too. See more on this in our post: Apple Pencil 2 vs Surface Pen: Which is Better for Drawing & Note Taking

Apart from that missing feature, the Surface Laptop 3 is an amazing 2-in-1 laptop. It comes at a great price for a designer’s laptop, has an amazing elegant and slim design and one of the best screens you can find. Performance-wise, the Surface Tablet comes in six editions, but even the basic one is super-fast and can handle almost everything.

Although the Surface Laptop 3 can be used for drawing, where it actually outshines the Surface Pro 7 is its editing capabilities. Likewise, this 13,5 inch laptop is our pick for the best 2-in-1 Microsoft laptop for editing. 

8. Lenovo Flex 5 : Best budget touchscreen Laptop for graphic design 

As with most Lenovo devices, Lenovo Flex 5 comes with everything a designer needs, at the best price on our list.

Lenovo isn’t the most premium brand, but it is reliable and Flex 5 is the definition of value-for-money. The brand has equipped this device with all the design tools you need to make magic happen.

Display: This laptop has a 14 inches screen, which might not be the best on the list when it comes to quality (it is FHD and not 4k) but it is large enough to make your design experience amazing. Moreover, Flex 5 is exactly what its name suggests, extremely flexible. The 360 hinge lets you fold it for drawing and the Lenovo Active Pen is included.

See our post: 7 Best Gaming Laptops for Graphic Design

Thus, you can use Flex 5 in ‘Laptop’ mode for everyday computing, ‘Tent’ mode for sharing things, ‘Stand’ mode for binge-watching, or ‘Tablet’ mode for more intuitive interaction.

We’ve compared the Lenovo Flex Vs Yoga: Which is better? (Comparison) for those who are still having trouble balancing the pros and cons between the two.

Performance-wise, Flex 5 is a very strong laptop. With the AMD Ryzen 5 4500U, 16GB of RAM and integrated Radeon graphics, this laptop is a performance beast, especially if you consider its price. Its battery is also great, as it lasts up to 10 hours and supports quick charge. 

For all these reasons, Lenovo Flex 5 is by far the best budget touchscreen laptop, specially created for artists and designers. 

9. Microsoft Surface Book 3: Reliable 2-in-1 touchscreen laptop for drawing

Amongst the three best Microsoft drawing laptops reviewed in this article, Surface Book 3 is simply the best.

The Surface Book 3 is a performance beast and combines all the great features of Surface Pro 7 and Surface Laptop 3.

What that means is that Surface Book 3 is one of the most expensive laptops for good reasons.

To be more precise, if you are looking for a device with an amazing big screen, along with plenty of graphics power, the Microsoft Surface Book 3 is the one for you. Its 13.5 inches, breathtaking screen makes a great canvas to get drawing on. However, the Surface Pen is not included, so you’ll need to take that into account when buying this laptop.

Benefits: The flexibility of Book 3 is simply amazing. The detachable keyboard allows you to use the device as a laptop, a drawing tab, or even as an ordinary, lightweight tablet. When it comes to performance, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti graphics card combined with an i7 processor and 16GB of RAM can handle everything.

Related: Surface Pro vs iPad Pro for drawing

In a few words, the Surface Book 3 has it all. It is the best Microsoft laptop on the market, extremely suitable for artists, designers and influencers. 

10. Google Pixelbook Go: Best portable laptop for drawing

If the word portable is at the top of your head when seeking for your new laptop, then Google Pixelbook Go is an amazing choice for you.

Although it is quite inexpensive compared to other laptops on this list, Pixelbook Go is a slim, premium laptop with a bright and vibrant screen and an amazing battery.

The newest Pixelbook Go has a great touchscreen 13.3’’ display, ideal for casual drawing. And we say casual, as, unlike Chromebook Flip, Pixelbook GO’s  touchscreen doesn’t support any active stylus input.

For this reason, the best you could hope to use with it is a capacitive pen which doesn’t offer palm rejection or pressure sensitivity.

Apart from that, Pixelbook Go is a great portable laptop. It has one of the best batteries, with an amazing autonomy of 12 hours. It barely weighs 2 pounds and it is super thin (13 mm). 

Related: 7 Best Desktops for Computer Science (Students and Professionals)

Performance-wise, the basic edition of Go has a reliable m3 processor and 8GB of RAM, which will easily handle browsing, streaming and online whiteboards, but not demanding editing or drawing apps. For written notes, see the 5 best apps for scanning handwritten notes to text.

Pixelbook Go is a great laptop for drawing on digital whiteboards for remote meetings or tutoring. For this reason, although it is not the best choice for designers and artists, it is extremely suitable for educators and businessmen. 

How to Choose a Touchscreen Laptop for Drawing

When choosing a touch screen laptop for drawing, animating, graphic design, and remote learning, there different features and important specs in a touchscreen 2-in-1 laptop for drawing.

Important specs to consider are the cpu, stylus, battery life as wells display size.

The main feature on a touchscreen laptop for drawing is the pen pressure sensitivity and touch screen responsiveness. It’s ideal to look for at least 2,048 pressure sensitivity minimum for mid-level art projects and above.

If you’re creating pro level digital art you’ll need palm rejection, which means that if your hand is resting on the screen while drawing it won’t affect what you are creating. Compare this to a non touch screen laptop and you’ll find the process is similar: See the top 7 ways to write on a non touch screen laptop.

The resolution is important and know what size canvas and what type of drawing you are doing is necessary to choose the best pick for your situation.

For those who need a device for only occasional stylus use, “passive” touch sensitivity will be sufficient. However for animation artists and 3d art, the best drawing tablets will boast a stylus with pressure sensitivity.

What Stylus pens work best for touchscreen laptops?

Active stylus pens work best for drawing and animating on your touchscreen laptop.

Fortunately, most of the name-brand tablets that are touchscreen and provide a good drawing experience have a preferred, brand name, manufacturer created stylus.

Each stylus will be used differently depending on the device, for example, if you’re using an android tablet and not a laptop, then you’ll want to see all the best stylus pen for android devices, rather than for iPad (they differ a bit).

You could alternative just use an iPad instead of a touchscreen laptop… see our post: Ipad vs Laptop; Pros and Cons – using an Ipad as a laptop

What type of stylus should I use on a touchscreen laptop for drawing?

These pens are better for drawing, especially when creating digital art. The advantage to these is that they are pressure sensitive so the harder you press the pen on the screen the bolder and more intense your lines will become.

The less pressure you put on the screen the thinner your stylus lines will become, enabling a thinner in-between line between pixels which gives a more realistic look compared to using a mouse pointer for drawing.

Touchscreen vs drawing tablets (graphics tablets)

There are two main differences between a drawing tablet and a touchscreen tablet.

A drawing tablet is typically not a standalone device, but there are portable drawing tablets that don’t need a computer to work, however they are usually quite pricey. It also has a pressure sensitive stylus so that when you press on the screen harder it will be more intense, and an advanced features such as “tilt sensitivity” as well as “palm rejection”, these effect the angle and many other aspects when creating digital art.

If you’re using procreate, then you’ll likely want to use an iPad instead of a drawing tablet or laptop. See what the best iPads for procreate are.

Are touchscreen laptops good for drawing?

Yes, in fact many graphic designers I know use the surface Pro and iPad to create pro graphics, logo’s and vector art by utilizing Adobe photoshop and other apps on their touchscreen tablet.

A touchscreen laptop that is suitable for drawing will be powerful and have an optional pen that is created by the manufacturer. For example, the Microsoft surface pen is compatible with the surface pro 7 and works best for this reason.

The Lenovo Active Pen 2 works well with the Lenovo Yoga models; allowing you to draw.

One good thing about a touch screen laptop is that you can also watch Netflix or other movies on it. The same goes for tablets, see the best tablets for Netflix.

A touch screen laptop’s on the other hand has a display that can easily be affected by touching the screen while drawing if its not the right type.

Other common devices to use for drawing besides a touch screen laptop

So you’re interested in digital art but don’t have a touchscreen laptop? Don’t worry; there are plenty of other devices that can help you create your next masterpiece. Here’s a rundown of some popular alternatives.

Graphics Tablets

Graphics tablets are a classic choice for digital artists. These pressure-sensitive tablets connect to your computer, allowing you to draw with a stylus. The image you create appears on your computer screen, giving you a lot of control and precision.

Tablet Computers

If you’re looking for a more portable option, consider tablet computers like iPads or Android tablets. With the addition of a stylus like the Apple Pencil or the S Pen for Samsung Galaxy Tabs, these devices offer a highly responsive and intuitive drawing experience.

Interactive Pen Displays

Want to draw directly on a screen but don’t want to invest in a touchscreen laptop? Interactive pen displays are your answer. These devices are essentially graphics tablets with built-in screens, allowing you to draw directly on the display for a more natural feel.

Smartphones

Believe it or not, smartphones can also serve as a drawing device. Some models, like Samsung’s Galaxy Note series, come with a stylus specifically designed for sketching and note-taking. While the smaller screen size may be limiting, it’s perfect for quick sketches when inspiration strikes on the go.

Each of these options has its own set of pros and cons, but they all offer unique ways to dive into the world of digital art. Choose the one that best suits your needs and get drawing!

Best drawing apps for touch screen laptops

There are many drawing apps that allow you to draw on your computer such as Gimp, Paintbrush and Adobe Photoshop. However, most are only for stylus pen drawing.

If you plan to draw digital art using a touchscreen laptop, then Adobe Photoshop has the most comprehensive drawing tools in one program and is available for both Windows and Mac.

Related: Is CleanMyMac Safe? (The Truth)

Here is a list of some of the best touchscreen laptop drawing apps to be used:

• Nebo
• Paint.net
• Drawboard PDF
• Autodesk Sketchbook
• Fresh Paint
• Paint 3D
• Paint 3D
• GIMP
• Adobe illustrator
• Adobe photoshop
• Scrble
• Zen: Coloring Book for Adults
• Color by Disney
• Sketchable

If you’re using auto cad, then visit our post on best laptops for Autocad (designers guide)

FAQ:

Can you draw on any touch screen Laptop

Yes, you can draw on any touchscreen laptops. but the level of artwork you can create will vary as well as the applications that are compatible. The proper touch screen laptop for drawing will have an active stylus pen that is compatible with its display.

Be sure to clean it correctly afterwards as to not cause damage when using certain alcohol based wipes, see:Touch Screen Cleaning: How to safely clean a laptop screen

Can you animate with a touchscreen laptop

Yes, you can animate on a touchscreen laptop by using a stylus created by the brand themselves or a third party stylus alternative. You can also attach a digital drawing pad or Wacom tablet to the device if it supports the input. In fact, you can even use your finger on some touchscreen laptops if your casually drawing.

You can also use apps and create flipbook animation using Adobe Photoshop, or a technique called “tracing” to animate your pen drawings.

Also see: 10 Best Laptops for Sketchup (Designers Guide)

Can I use a stylus on any touch screen laptop (2-in-1)

Yes, you can use the stylus on any touchscreen laptop. However, if you are planning to create digital art on a touchscreen laptop then you will want to look for a stylus that does not require charging, has the right sensitivity and is also affordable. Your options include the Microsoft surface pen, Lenovo Active Pen, and Adonit pen models.

Conclusion

The best touchscreen laptops for drawing, sketching and animating will have the right sensitivity (over 2,048 levels of pressure) and will not restrict you to drawing on only one specific app. 

While the best drawing tablets offer features such as pressure sensitivity, palm rejection (you can draw without your hand touching the screen), tilt sensitivity, and express keys, many touchscreen laptops now come with these features as well as shortcuts and express keys with-in the touchscreen themselves.

You may also find that some touchscreen tablets have more or less features than others so make sure you consider what you’ll need in an app before investing in one. You could also opt for an external digital drawing pad (like the Wacom) if your touchscreen laptop doesn’t support it.