The best laptop you can write on comes with an accurate and responsive screen to ease tapping and swiping, making them feel intuitive and natural as you write. The laptops also feature vibrant and bright displays with 360-degree hinges for flipping over if you want to use yours as a tablet.
2-in-1 laptops can give you the versatility and power of a laptop and the flexibility of a tablet. Most hybrid 2-in-1 laptops feature stylus pens to enable you to write on your laptop. The handy accessory is powerful enough to enable you to annotate documents and create fun art, apart from writing notes.
Although you can use your finger to write on a touchscreen laptop, stylus pens produce more accurate results. They also make writing or drawing on your touchscreen much easier.
With Chrome and Windows OS now refined for touch input, touchscreen laptops have evolved over the years. The market is flooded with lots of options to choose from when looking for a laptop to write on. In this article, we review the best laptops you can write on, such as:
- MacBook Pro – Lightweight and powerful but has no stylus.
- Dell XPS 13 – (Editor’s Recommendation) – More cost-effective, flexible and powerful, but only supports typing.
- Microsoft Surface Pro – Supports handwritten and typed notes and fast but not as powerful as other laptops in this list.
- Samsung Chromebook Pro – Affordable and allows easy note-taking and typing, but doesn’t run Windows apps.
Let’s find out what makes a good PC for this purpose.
What to Look for in the Best Laptop You Can Write On
The best laptops for writers come packed with various features, including:
Display
Laptop screens vary in resolutions and size, delivering varied user experience. Whereas ultraportable laptops come with 14-inch screens for mobile use, larger 15-17 inch displays offer the best experience for writing if it’s a major part of your work.
The display’s refresh rate indicates how often it shows new images per second. A good rate minimizes lags and delays when writing and doing something else on the side, maybe gaming or browsing. You can attach an external screen to upgrade the screen of your laptop and improve productivity.
Stylus
Choose between passive and active styluses. Active styluses enable a minimum of 1024 pressure level sensitivity for more writing freedom. However, passive styluses resemble regular pens in performance and don’t support precise writing or drawing.
Processor/ CPU
Opt for newer processors, such as 5th Gen AMD Ryzen or 11th Gen Intel Core processors, to enjoy better performance. A mid-range chipset, such as the quad-core 11th Gen Intel Core, is ideal for writing purposes because the job isn’t as demanding as editing 4K videos or 3D animations.
GPU – Graphics Processing Unit
Choose a dedicated graphics card instead of an integrated one. With anything from NVIDIA MX450, an entry-level GPU, to GTX 1650, an advanced GPU, or a card in the 20- or 30-series GPUs guarantee more than average performance.
Moreover, the high performance would allow you to perform other demanding tasks, such as 3D modeling, gaming, or video editing, if necessary.
RAM – Memory
The more the memory on your PC, the better, especially if you intend to use your laptop for gaming, multimedia editing, or graphic design when not writing. 8GB to 16GB of RAM is enough to handle multitasking, ensuring that all programs and processing run smoothly.
Apart from better performance and the ability to multitask, the right memory space enables efficient use of your PC.
Battery Life
Powerful laptops and level of driver optimization for hardware components determine a PC’s battery life. Unless you’re working on a tight budget, opt for the best battery life on the market.
Most laptops offer anything between 2 to 3 years battery life and average of 3 hours use on a single charge.
Storage
If you intend to do a lot of writing, you’ll need enough storage for your work. Whereas hard disk drives (HDDs) offer more storage capacity at lower cost, solid-state drives (SDDs) perform faster. However, SDDs are bulkier and more prone to failure than HDDs.
Hybrid storage (with both SSDs and HDDs) is more cost-effective and offers the better of the two worlds, including fast boot times of SSDs. 256GB is enough for basic storage needs. But, if you expect to store lots of work files, including games, apps, and/ or movies, opt for 512GB storage.
Most laptops enable storage upgrades in case you need more capacity. Alternatively, you can use external storage drives if you need more space to store your files.
Keyboard and Touch Screen Laptop Price
You’ll need an ergonomic keyboard if you intend to use your laptop for typing, either fully or partly. It’s also important to consider how much you’re willing to spend on the laptop to write on.
The Best Laptops You Can Write On
1) MacBook Pro – Best Laptop for Writers
The Apple MacBook Pro for Mac users weighs only 3.02 pounds and features a 13-inch screen for a mix of portable use and power. It’s built with a touchscreen you can write on and runs various Mac OS apps to meet varied user needs.
With a dual-core 3.5GHz Intel Core i7 processor, the laptop delivers more than enough power for word processing. The MacBook doesn’t feature a stylus, making it ideal for writers with the need to type. It’s available in a lighter 2.03-pound version with reduced need for power. On the con-side, the MacBook is costly.
Pros
- Lightweight
- Touchscreen
- Powerful
Cons
- No stylus
- Expensive
2) Dell XPS 13 – Best Laptop for Writing and Photo Editing
If you need something more affordable than the MacBook Pro and can run Windows apps, the Dell XPS 13 laptop is for you. Just like any Windows PC, the lightweight laptop is flexible and supports portable use on the go.
Get your hands on the 8th Gen Intel Core i5 or i7 processor for powerful performance – the i5 goes for about $1,099 while the i7 costs almost $200 higher. Although you can’t write on this laptop with a stylus, it supports typing for all your digital writing needs.
Pros
- More cost-effective
- Lightweight
- Flexible and powerful
Cons
- Only supports typing
3) Microsoft Surface Pro – Best Touch Screen Laptop With Pen
The Surface Pro laptop is ideal for taking handwritten notes with a stylus. It features a 10.6-inch touchscreen and is lighter and faster, and offers better battery life (13.5 hours) than its predecessor. The keyboard cover supports typing when you’re handwriting with the pen.
The laptop runs Windows 10 and Windows apps for all your writing or typing needs. Available at about $699, the latest Surface Pro laptop is a device you’ll enjoy writing on.
Pros
- Handwritten and typed notes
- Touchscreen
- Lightweight and fast
Cons
- Not as powerful as other PCs in the list
4) Samsung Chromebook Pro – Best Laptop for Writers on a Budget
The Chromebook Pro is the best cheap touch screen laptop to write on, going for about $599. Although it doesn’t support Windows, it handles word processing and web browsing, including all your writing needs. Weighing only 2 pounds, the Chromebook Pro is ideal for use on the go.
Designed to act as both a laptop and a tablet, the device features a stylus pen for handwriting and a keyboard for typing. It packs a 12.3-inch screen for easy note-taking and an impressive display. The multipurpose device supports writing but doesn’t run Windows apps.
Pros
- Affordable
- Lightweight
- Eases note-taking and typing
Cons
- Doesn’t run Windows apps
Conclusion
The best laptop you can write on comes bundled with the right storage capacity, memory, processor, screen, stylus pen, and/ or a keyboard to meet your unique needs. They also vary in price to suit the different budgets out there.
Whether you need a laptop for handwritten notes or typing, there’s something for you. Our editor’s top pick is the Dell XPS 13, it’s the best laptop you can write on at an affordable cost.
