The options facing business users when choosing a laptop can be overwhelming if you don’t know where to start. No two businesses are the same, and every professional user will have different requirements. Getting the right laptop for you will very much depend on identifying your usage patterns and the type of programs you’re going to be using regularly.
Some business users are frequently on the road, but that doesn’t necessarily equate to them needing a small-and-light laptop, possibly with slimmed-down functionality. Rather, if the system is going to spend most of its life in the car boot and come out only when you’re sitting at a desk with access to mains power, a desktop-replacement model may be the better option. Of course, if the laptop will be on your lap on flights and train journeys, its dimensions, weight – and also battery life – will need to be carefully considered.
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The screen is very important – after all, it’s the component that you’ll spend most of your time looking at. Glossy panels tend to offer richer colours and a sharper image, but they’re less easily readable indoors and out. A matt-finish or anti-glare panel is more suited to such conditions. For spreadsheet use, you’ll also want a large display.
The keyboard is important if your work involves a lot of typing up documents and email. Look for a model with full-size letter keys and Return, Backspace, Spacebar and Shift keys of decent proportions. For spreadsheet use, a numeric keypad may be important.
Some business users will require a rugged design for outdoor use. We’ve reviewed one such laptop, the Dell Latitude XFR, which takes this ruggedisation to the limit with its military-spec build quality.
Security is an important aspect for business laptops, and many machines include fingerprint or smart card readers. Encrypted hard disks and trusted platform module (TPM) chips will ensure that lost or stolen laptops don’t quickly reveal their secrets to unauthorised personnel.
Business Laptops:
Apple MacBook Pro 13in (Late 2011) - £1,299
Dell Latitude E6420 XFR - £4,500
HP EliteBook 8740w XT914UA - £3,500
Lenovo ThinkPad X121e 3045 - £529
Toshiba Portégé R830-1DZ - £1,615
Toshiba Tecra R850-10R - £999
Conclusion:
The Toshiba Portégé and MacBook Pro are fairly evenly matched, so it’ll come down to personal preference whether you choose the lighter and faster but pricier Windows-based Toshiba or the sturdier Mac. You could even opt for a 128GB SSD for the MacBook for just £80 – still less than the R830’s asking price.
When deciding on our Best Buy, we favoured the design and versatility of Apple’s Pro with its Thunderbolt connection over the USB 3.0-touting Toshiba.
Both 13.3in-screen laptops are on the small side for prolonged use, however. If your laptop will more often find itself in an office environment than on a train or plane, Toshiba’s Tecra is a strong offering. It has a commendable keyboard with a numeric keypad, a good-size 15.6in screen and useful battery life, yet it’s not overly weighted.
A less-expensive, more portable option is the Lenovo ThinkPad. This well-priced laptop offers decent performance, but it isn’t suited to high-end or graphics-heavy applications. For everyday office tasks it’ll do just fine.
With a bigger budget, and a call for workstation-class computing, HP’s EliteBook is a great choice. It’s a beast, though, at almost 4kg plus 1kg for the charger.
If you work outdoors or in an industrial environment, Dell’s military-spec Latitude is an easy – if expensive – choice. It’ll be able to withstand just about any natural disaster and offers searing performance, too.
How we test:
We test every laptop’s battery life, graphics performance and overall real-world speed in our lab. All Windows laptops are tested with their default operating system.
Battery life is recorded using the industry-standard benchmark, BAPCo MobileMark 2007.
We use the Productivity test, which loops a series of intensive everyday applications until the battery is empty. Pauses are added between short runs to simulate the way laptops are used in real life.
Each laptop’s graphics capability is measured using the game Fear and its built-in framerate-measurement tool. Here we have tested at ‘Maximum’ detail settings.
We use WorldBench 6 to measure performance. This stopwatches a PC as it completes a series of scripted operations, using 10 real-world programs. The results are compared to a reference 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo PC with 2GB of RAM and Raid hard drives, which sets a 100-point baseline score.
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