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If, like me, you’re not a fan of OLED screens for photo editing — they’re not optimized for Adobe RGB and aren’t great at tonal range in the shadows — then what you need is a laptop with a good IPS display. The Dell XPS 17 9720 with the 4K screen option delivers that, and it’s not as reflective as the OLED screens I’ve seen. Dell’s PremierColor software isn’t perfect, but it gives you more control over screen settings than most I’ve seen, and it has two Thunderbolt 3 controllers to make your external drives happy. It’s heavier than the MacBook, but not much bigger, especially given its larger 17-inch screen. And while its battery life isn’t terrific, its performance can certainly keep up. 

And a great lower-cost alternative is the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus, which doesn’t head to the front of the line primarily because of its lower build quality, and I’m assuming that if you’re looking for a MacBook Pro equivalent you want the metal chassis, better screen and higher-end components. But if you also want to save hundreds of dollars, it’s worth considering.

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