One thing any business person needs to stay ahead of the curve and always be ready when opportunity strikes is a high-quality laptop. Having a good, reliable laptop is an important asset to invest in, but what’s considered a good business laptop these days?
Stick with us as we give you the ultimate guide to picking the best business laptop.
What does the ideal business laptop look like?
The ideal business laptop is sleek, lightweight, and highly portable, making it easy to carry between meetings and on business trips. Long battery life is a must so that it lasts you throughout the day. It should also have a fast-charging function that allows it to top up quickly when you’re on the go.
Having sufficient memory, good security protocols and a decent GPU & CPU is also a bonus. Other convenient features include having a comfortable keyboard and touchpad, sufficient RAM, storage, and connection ports.
What specs are ideal for a business laptop?
Let’s get specific! It’s important to consider all the factors to find the laptop that’ll suit your needs the best. Here are some specifics to consider:
1. Processing power
For business laptops, we’d suggest looking for a processor that’s capable of handling mundane tasks and more. An i5 or i7 would be a good choice. I5 processors are well-equipped to handle most basic tasks, but they’re also able to handle certain resource-intensive tasks, allowing you to do some multitasking and complete different tasks at the same time.
As technology develops, more business functions will move online and to digital platforms. These platforms can be relatively draining on laptops, so it’s best to consider a laptop that will take you into the future.
2. Operating system
You can choose from a choice of operating systems. For example, there’s ChromeOS, Windows 11, MacOS, and Linux. Each OS has its own benefits and downsides. In the end, you’d have to consider which one would be best for you.
Windows is by far the most popular. It’s versatile and supports a lot of different functions. MacOS is favoured among many people for its simplicity and easy-to-use UI. For individuals with other Apple products, Macbooks are a no-brainer as you have cloud accessibility that improves productivity.
Linux is more customisable, thus attracting more coders and developers. We wouldn’t suggest this OS for everyday business. Then there’s the ChromeOS, which is designed to utilise Chrome extensions and apps like Google Docs and others more effectively.
3. Optimised security
Cybercrime is a global issue. As technological security systems advance, so do the capabilities of those who want to take advantage of the system. As a business laptop, we’re assuming there would be confidential work content on your device, so for this reason, we’d suggest getting a laptop that has top-notch security software. Apple Macbooks are a good option in this regard.
4. Weight and transportability
You don’t want to be lugging a heavy laptop around all day, right? Then, finding a laptop that’s light and relatively thin is also essential. Many manufacturers often try to optimise the weight and thickness of their laptops by sacrificing performance and other specs. This is something you want to avoid. Laptops like the Huawei Matebook offer you performance and the compact design that you need to use them for work effectively.
5. Display size and quality
Consider the display you want. Do you want the best-quality screen, and how big does it need to be? We’ve already established that a business laptop needs to be compact, light, and portable, right? So, in that case, you should look for a laptop with a screen between 13” and 15”. Remember that size does also add weight. Good options to consider could be the Macbook Air M series or Lenovo IdeaPad.
6. Long battery life
Battery life is an important one. There might come days when you’re out of the office for the whole day. When this happens, you need to have a laptop that can stay charged so you can use it when you need to throughout the day. Thankfully, modern-day battery technology is pretty good.
Most business laptops will give users between 10 to 16 hours of battery life before needing a charge. We’d suggest that you look for a laptop that has the best battery life you can get. For example, the Macbook Pro M3 has up to 22 hours of battery life, so you can work on it the whole day without needing a charge.
7. Sufficient RAM
Random Access Memory (RAM) represents the amount of data your laptop can process simultaneously. For those of you who handle large quantities of data or need multitasking abilities, having a decent amount of RAM is vital.
Generally, 8GB of RAM should see you through most tasks; however, if you want a little more juice, opt for a laptop with 16GB of RAM or more. Again, this depends on what your business needs would be on the laptop.
8. Other considerations
There are still a few other things we’d suggest you take a look at, like storage, connectivity, ports, cameras, and microphones. Storage is important, especially if you plan on using the laptop to store large files. Then again, with cloud technology today, you can store things online. We’d suggest looking for a 256GB SSD in a business laptop.
That’ll give you just enough memory and add to the performance of your laptop. Having a decent camera and microphone also makes things more convenient for online meetings when you need to have them.
Final Thoughts
Choosing a business laptop doesn’t have to be extremely difficult. You just need to find something that’ll be reliable and durable, and it needs to get the job done. Use these points to help you choose the best business laptop for you. We hope you find the perfect one!
