Best Laptops For Radiologists And Radiology Residents 

Finding the best laptops for radiologists will not be easy, considering your specific needs and the number of laptops available.

That is why we did all the research to make your life much easier.

After countless hours of research, we have come up with a handful of laptops that are perfect for radiologists in every way.

Without wasting any more time, let’s take a look.

Best Laptops For Radiologists And Radiology Students

Here are our top picks for radiologists and radiology majors.

1. Dell XPS 15 – Editor’s Choice

Dell XPS 15

Our Editor’s Choice for the best laptop for radiologists is the Dell XPS 15.

Being a radiologist, you should go for a high-end laptop that gives you the best experience. The Dell XPS 15 is not a cheap laptop, but it brings stunning hardware to the table that will make you the best radiologist.

The display is the main reason why we recommend the Dell XPS 15 over many other laptops.

We have a 15.6-inch display that comes with a 4K resolution. This resolution is insane on a 15.6-inch laptop, but it gives you excellent detail when it comes to viewing scans and other visual tasks.

The display has an impressive contrast ratio and distinguishes blacks and whites. The greyscale performance of the laptop is also very good, which means pointing out even trivial details on the scans will be easier.

The display on this laptop comes with very thin bezels. Dell calls this the InfinityEdge display. Thanks to this super thin bezel design, the entire footprint of the laptop is now much smaller.

In addition to being a great display, this one doubles up as a touchscreen. Having a touch screen makes your display interactive, and you will be able to interact with software that is optimized for touchscreens.

The Dell XPS 15 comes equipped with an Intel Core i7 processor. This is a ninth-generation processor that comes with six cores. It has a smart memory cache of 12 MB and a maximum clock speed of 4.5GHz. Turbo boost kicks at the moment you need processing power.

Without a doubt, this is one of the most powerful processors available right now for laptops. It can handle all your software without any problems.

There are 16GB of DDR4 RAM in the memory slots. They are divided into two 8GB sticks if you have ever wondered. This RAM comes with a clock speed of 2666MHz, which is quite fast.

This memory gives you all the freedom to multitask at its highest level. Certain radiology software requires a decent amount of memory for a seamless operation. This memory makes that happen and gives you more on the side.

For storage, we have a solid-state drive with a capacity of 1 TB. This PCIe drive is much faster than your SATA solid-state drives. This SSD brings a lot of performance boost to the laptop and makes everything a tad faster.

The graphics card on the Dell XPS 15 has an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card. This is an upper mid-range graphics card, and it comes with a dedicated video memory of 4 GB.

This graphics card is decent for gaming and will allow you to play most games. When it comes to handling graphics for a radiologist, this graphics card does extremely well. Radiology software runs well with a pretty good CPU.

The laptop’s battery life is pretty decent and can last for about 6 to 8 hours, depending on the workload. The laptop also has excellent connectivity options, so you can easily hook up other devices without any issues.

The 15 Dell XPS 15 is a solid laptop that screams premium everywhere. It might look like an over-the-top laptop for a radiologist, but it is an excellent choice for radiology mainly because of the hardware and the overall user experience.

Pros
  • 4K display
  • Fingerprint reader
  • Solid performance
Cons
  • A bit expensive

2. Apple MacBook Pro – Mac Pick

2019 Apple MacBook Pro

The best mac for radiologists is the MacBook Pro 16”.

The MacBook Pro 16 is a complete laptop for those who are looking for a Mac alternative to the Dell XPS 15.

Being Apple’s flagship laptop, this one packs a punch regarding hardware. It brings high-end components and fuses them to give you a brilliant computing experience.

The MacBook Pro comes with a 16-inch display with over 4 million pixels. This retina resolution comes with a PPI of 227, which is great for a laptop screen. The display has a maximum brightness of 500 nits, allowing you to operate even in brightly lit spaces.

The display has an incredible contrast ratio and gives you excellent pictures. The True Tone technology is handy when viewing scans or even during your everyday work.

Even though this is a 16-inch laptop, Apple has designed it to be a light laptop. At just 4.4 lbs, this is probably the most lightweight laptop in this category.

When it comes to processing power, this MacBook Pro comes with an Intel Core i7 processor. This is the same process we found in the Dell XPS 15, delivering a similar performance. You can make almost any application on this MacBook Pro, and it will handle it like a boss.

The laptop comes with 16GB of DDR4 RAM, which should be more than enough for a radiologist. You can also run multithreaded applications without any issues.

Apple is known for its speedy solid-state drives. We have a 512GB solid-state drive which confirms the same. When it comes to speed, it is going to be hard to beat this solid-state drive.

The SSD comes with reading and writing speeds upwards of 2Gb/s, which is just crazy when you think of it. You can move huge files in just a few seconds, a great feature on a professional laptop.

The graphics card that we have on the MacBook Pro 16 is an AMD Radeon Pro M5300 graphics card. This high graphics card from AMD comes with a dedicated video memory of 6GB. This GPU is more than enough to handle a radiologist’s graphic requirement.

Being a high-performance laptop, you wouldn’t expect this laptop to have great battery life. That is where the MacBook Pro springs up a surprise. With light use, this laptop can last about 10 to 12 hours which is crazy. Even when you’re working some heavy stuff, this laptop will squeeze out a battery life of 5 to 7 hours which is very impressive.

The connectivity of this laptop is the most disappointing thing. The laptop comes with four Thunderbolt 3.0 ports which are super what’s tile for connectivity. But the problem is that you don’t get any other ports, so you will have to get adapters if you don’t have USB-type C devices.

Overall, the MacBook Pro 16 inches is an excellent laptop that comes with incredible hardware and matches it with stupendous performance. Without a fragment of doubt, this is the best Apple laptop for radiologists.

Pros
  • Gorgeous display
  • Touch ID
  • Impressive graphics
Cons
  • No touchscreen

3. Acer Predator Helios 300 – Best For Radiology

Acer Predator Helios 300

The best notebook for radiology residents is the Acer Predator Helios 300.

This Acer laptop here is a gaming laptop that comes with pretty good hardware without costing you a lot of money. The specifications of this laptop are very impressive and will give you a performance that matches their word-for-word.

We have a full HD 15.6” display on this laptop. When it comes to picture quality, the display does well. The contrast ratio on this laptop is also good making it suitable for reading scans. The display is also pretty good for media consumption and other everyday activities.

The keyboard on this laptop is an RGB keyboard with customizable backlighting. The layout of the keys is good, as this is a gaming laptop. The typing experience on this laptop is neat. The trackpad on this laptop is a Windows Precision trackpad, and it does well as advertised.

We have an Intel Core i7 processor that is as powerful as it sounds. It has a maximum clock speed of 4.5GHz which should be more than enough for most radiologists.

The laptop also comes with 16GB of memory which is more than enough. You can multitask to your heart’s content and run multithreaded applications side-by-side without any problem. Most software that radiologist use runs well with this amount of memory.

The graphics card on the Acer Predator Helios 300 is an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti graphics card. This is a very impressive graphics card that is incredibly good for games. 

You can run the most recent games without having to adjust the settings. From a radiologist’s point of you, you will be able to run all the related software with this GPU.

Overall, the Acer Predator Helios 300 is a solid gaming laptop that helps your game and brings you a pleasant overall experience. For a radiology student, you cannot ask for a better laptop in terms of hardware and pricing.

Pros
  • Solid performance
  • Good display
  • Epic GPU
Cons
  • A bit bulky

What To Look For In The Best Laptop For Radiologists?

If you’re unhappy with the models mentioned above and want to find the laptop, we are with you on this decision.

All you need to do is take certain aspects of the laptop and ensure you do not miss them. We will explain those factors as follows.

Operating System

The operating system on your laptop depends upon the software you will use.

You will most likely use Citrix or similar software to connect to your database. If this is the case, you can use either a Windows laptop or a Mac. It is not a big deal.

If you have a preference, we suggest you go with it. Be aware that you can install Windows on a Mac, but you won’t be able to install macOS on a Windows laptop.

Display

The display is the most important component of a laptop for a radiologist.

You will use the display to study scans and other important medical information. You cannot get away with a subpar display, which could affect your professional advice.

Try to get a display that is at least 15.6 inches. This size is good for taking a look at scans and will give you enough screen real estate to play with.

The resolution of the display is quite important. It would be best if you did not go for anything less than a full HD resolution. If you ask us, going for a QHD or a 4K display is a better idea, in our opinion.

The display on the laptop needs to have a fantastic contrast ratio to differentiate between deep blacks and bright whites. This will also mean that the display has excellent greyscale performance as well.

Having an IPS panel is crucial too. The IPS panel gives you excellent colors and very good viewing angles. Viewing angles are very important for radiologists as you will have to explain the scans to other people, and this viewing angle will show the right content on the screen to them.

If possible, get yourself an external monitor with a much bigger screen and a good resolution. Don’t get us wrong, a 15.6-inch laptop screen will do the job most of the time, but you will do a much better job with an even bigger display.

Processing Speed

As a radiologist, you would want to ignore specific processes like an i3 processor or other entry-level processors.

At a minimum, you want a dual-core Intel Core i5 processor. You can also go with Intel Core i7 processors and equivalent AMD processors with enough power to run the software for radiologists.

The processor on your laptop also must have a good clock speed. It should have a decent base clocking frequency and should be able to reach a higher clock speed when you need it.

Memory

If you are a radiology student, then, for the time being, you should be okay with 8GB of RAM.

But if you are a radiologist, you will need at least 16GB of RAM so that your daily operations can be done without any disturbance whatsoever.

This memory might look like overkill, but it gives you the peace of mind that you need to carry on with your radiology activities, like reconstructing, rendering, and looking at patients’ scans.

Storage

When it comes to storage, the type of storage matters more than the amount of storage.

You should not go for hard disk drives as they are mechanical and are way too slow for modern operations. Always go for solid-state drives, as they bring a ton of speed.

With an SSD in place, you will be able to boot the operating system in a few seconds. The opening and closing times of applications will be faster than ever.

GPU

Having a dedicated graphics card is essential for a radiologist.

You will be running software that handles scans, and they will need a decent amount of rendering to produce accurate and detailed scans.

With an integrated graphics card, this will not be that natural. You will be slowed down, and the entire process will appear very sluggish.

With a dedicated graphics card, he will be able to do this process much more fluently, and it won’t take much time, either.

You don’t even have to go with high-end graphics cards. A mid-range or upper mid-range graphics card would be more than enough in most cases.

Keyboard And Trackpad

A good keyboard is a neat addition to a radiologist’s tool kit.

Make sure the keyboard comes with a good layout and pleasing feedback. Both these things are essential to ensure you a pleasant typing experience. The dedicated number pad will surely come in handy for most people.

The keyboard on your laptop must come with backlighting, allowing you to work in dimly lit rooms.

Having a Windows precision trackpad is a must on your laptop. It applies to Windows laptops and will give you full support for Windows gestures which is nice.

If you’re going to get a MacBook, then you d

don’t have to worry about the trackpad as they are pretty good out of the box.

Battery Life

Battery life is not a big deal regarding a radiologist’s daily laptop.

Having good battery life helps. This battery life will surely come in handy when you’re on the move.

But most of the time, you will be confined to a room where you will silently work on your stuff. You will always have power outlet access, which means you can charge your laptop whenever you want.


Conclusion

That’s all we have when picking the best laptops for radiologists.

We hope we have assisted you in getting a good laptop for your radiology purposes.

If you have any issues with the advice provided in this post, do let us know by using the contact page.