With so many laptops out there, picking a laptop suited for your specific needs may be difficult to choose and to find. In this guide, we help you to find the best business laptop suited just for your business whether you're a small entrepreneur, remote worker, executive or office work. After reviewing more than 20 laptops, we bring your the 10 best business laptops tailored for every business need which are reviewed for performance, security, budget, power, connectivity and productivity.
{getToc} $title={Quickly Jump To} $count={false}
Buying a laptop is not just a matter of price but also so many other factors. Well laptops can range from $300 to $3000, high end ones will range from $750 to $3000 which will save you a lot of headaches from repairs, performance issues and productivity. Here are top factors to consider when buying a business laptop:
Top Factors to Consider When Buying A Business Laptop
- Durability and Build Quality: Since business laptops are often on the go, they are subjected to wear and damages unlike PC desktops which are not subjected on the move. Durability and build design is key. It is recommended that you look for magnesium alloy or carbon fiber builds and consider MIL- STD 810G ratings for shock, drop, and water resistance. Find a laptop that can last you long without getting easily damaged
- Battery Life: A long battery life is essential for travel, meetings and remote work where there might not be constant access to electricity. It is recommended to look for laptops offering 8- 10 hours of battery usage. A good laptop should be able to last you the whole day even with multi-tasking and heavy workloads. Consider also getting a laptop with fast charging capabilities.
- Performance (Processor, RAM and Storage) : Choose a laptop with a modern processor such as Intel core i5 and above or AMD Ryzen equivalent such 5 or above that is mid to high performance. The laptop should at least have 8GB of RAM or above and an SSD storage to ensure multitasking and smooth performance for handling business tasks and multiple applications. A 256 GB SSD storage or above to ensure you have enough storage to store your documents and files.
- Portability and Design : A lightweight, thin design is helpful for easy transport, especially if you travel frequently. Look for laptops around 2-3 pounds for ultra-portability and consider screen sizes from 13- 15 inches to strike a balance between enough screen for your work and portability. You would want to ensure the screen is enough to handle your tasks and not big that it feels like you are carry a television.
- Connectivity Options ( Ports & Wireless Capabilities) : Ensure the laptop you're getting has the essential ports such as HDMI, USB-C, USB-A and potentially Thunderbolt for faster data transfer. This ports will help your to connect with other devices and office tvs or projectors during presentation meetings. Ensure it has WI-FI 6 for faster, stable connectivity and Bluetooth 5 for device pairing for seamless business operations.
{inAds}
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 : Best Overall
It runs on Intel Core Ultra 7 155H chip running at 1.4GHz. It comes with 32 GB RAM and 1TB SSD storage ensuring a smooth performance even multitasking and heavy loads. The laptop features plenty of ports, including two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports (one is used for charging), two USB-A ports, and a full-size HDMI port. There’s no SD card slot, but a SIM card slot is available as an option. The OLED screen is incredibly bright, the audio is crisp and loud, and the fans are restrained in volume, even under load.
However, the X1 carbon has always been expensive, $2500 which is more expensive when compared to other ultralights on the market which is a tough pill to swallow in today's era of business. But generally, the laptop is the best for any business use offering the best performance and portability.
HP EliteBook Ultra G1Q
HP Elitebook Ultra G1Q is a laptop that says "why not take me to the office". This laptop is probably the best arm laptop. It has Snapdragon X Elite X1E78100 serves as the CPU, backed by a 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. It has a 14" touchscreen display with a resolution of 2240X1400 pixels. It has 2 USB-C ports and a single USB-A port. The laptop is 18mm thick making it portable and it is made by tough aluminum chassis and plastic keycaps making it durable that is not easily damage. The laptop has the longest battery life I ever seen in a laptop with up to 17+ hours. The Audio is solid, plenty loud and room filling. The price is not that expensive but it is not also cheap because it costs around $1700.
However, the laptop has some drawbacks. The 2240X1400 pixels resolution is step down from the standard 2880X1800 pixels for many laptop. The laptop has no HDMI and microSD card reader. The laptop is 3 pound which is on the high end for 14" laptop.
{inAds}
Apple MacBook Air M3
Let's move away from the Windows Laptop, if you're a look for a sleek and modern design laptop with a lot office productivity in mind then the Apple MacBook Air M3 is the laptop just suited for you. This laptop is powered by apple silicon M3 chip backed by 8GB of RAM and 256 GB SSD to offer a smooth performance even when multi-tasking and heavy office work loads. The laptop has a battery life of up to 17+ hours making it one of the long lasting laptops that you can go out without worrying about charging for the entire day.
The laptop has a bigger and brighter 13.6 inch LCD panel with 60Hz refresh rate and a 1080p webcam tucked into the notch on top of the screen. It is lightweight only weighing 2.7 pounds. The laptop has 2 USB-4/Thunderbolt ports and 3.5 mm headphone jack. The laptop is also equipped with WI-FI 6E which allows faster download. The laptops seamless integrate with other apple products which is a downside since you have to be an apple fan. This laptop starts at $999 which is budget friendly and offers great performance and productivity.
HP Spectre X360 14
This is not only just a laptop but also a tablet. This laptop has hinges that allows the screen to fold back 180 degrees converting the laptop into a 14" tablet. A stylus is also included in the box and the rechargeable active pen snaps magnetically to the side of the chassis when not in use. This laptop is equipped with AI- infused Intel Core Ultra 7 155H backed up by 32 GB of RAM and 2 TB SSD perfect for large files and heavy multitasking. This laptop is equipped by 2 USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports and a single USB-A port.
Size and weight are fine, although it is heavier than the similarly sized Lenovo X1 carbon with 19mm of thickness and 2.4 pound weight. The extra weight may be due to a slightly larger battery which has a battery life of around 10 hours. The OLED screen is bright which is line with todays market. The laptop is a bit pricy starting from $1400 which is solid though for its specs.
Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 5
The 14-inch ThinkPad E14 Gen 5 delivers the qualities that ThinkPads are known for without breaking that thousand-buck ceiling, including a first-class keyboard and long battery life.The ThinkPad E series delivers the everyday essentials; home users, college students, and small businesses trying not to spend more than necessary would do well with these models. The laptop features an Intel Core i7-1355U processor (10 cores, up to 5.0GHz turbo), Intel Iris Xe integrated graphics, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB solid-state drive. The base model just starts at $627 which is the best budget laptop.
The ThinkPad E series delivers the everyday essentials; home users, college students, and small businesses trying not to spend more than necessary would do well with these models. Port selection includes one Thunderbolt 4, one USB Type-C (10Gbps), one USB 2.0, an HDMI 2.1 video output, an Ethernet jack, and a 3.5mm audio combo jack. Thunderbolt 4 is surprising on a budget laptop and a big plus for connecting a multi-monitor docking station. Bluetooth 5.2 and Wi-Fi 6 are standard, though you have no option to upgrade to Wi-Fi 6E even on Lenovo's customizable models in this family.
On the downsides, Audio quality is one of the ThinkPad E14’s weak points. A 1,920-by-1,200-pixel IPS screen is standard across ThinkPad E14 Gen 5 models
{inAds}
Dell Precision 5690
The refreshed Precision 5690 has RTX 5000 Ada graphics silicon with Intel Core Ultra 5 135H backed by 16GB of RAM with only 256GB storage which is a little bit of a downside. The laptop has a 1920 X 1200 pixel IPS 16" display. The Precision 5690 has an aluminum chassis with polycarbonate and a glass fiber palm rest—all of which have passed MIL-STD 810H torture tests against travel hazards like shock, vibration, and extreme temperatures. The laptop has Quad speakers, including bottom-mounted subwoofers, produce loud and clear audio if boomy or prone to echo at high volume
The laptop has stylish thin bezels surround the display, though I was disappointed to see the webcam centered at the top lacks a privacy shutter. The camera at least includes face recognition, which joins a fingerprint reader built into the power button to give you two ways to skip typing passwords with Windows Hello. You don't have to find a USB-C DisplayPort adapter to plug in an external monitor since the left edge also holds an HDMI port (plus an audio jack and SmartCard reader). Intel Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth come standard on this laptop.
On the downside, The laptop is a little bit heavier as it wears 4.46 pounds.Precision 5690 joins Dell's XPS laptops in snubbing the legacy USB Type-A port, with two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports on its left flank and a USB-C 3.2 port next to a security lock slot on the right. You'll also find a USB-C to USB-A dongle in the box, which at least addresses the omission. The laptop is also pricey as it starts from around $2300.
Honor MagicBook 15
The Honor MagicBook 15 is an extremely functional laptop which gets a lot right in terms of the design, display and performance while managing to add high-end features such as fast charging. This laptop has AMD Ryzen 5 3500U CPU. This is a 12nm quad-core chipset that has a base frequency of 2.1GHz and can go up to 3.7GHz. It is paired with the AMD Radeon Vega 8 graphics card with eight cores at 1,200MHz. The display is a 15.6-inch IPS panel with anti-glare coating on top, doing away with stray reflections or glare. It boasts of surprisingly good viewing angles and colour accuracy. As for ports, we get a pretty miserly collection of two full-sized USB Type-A ports on either side, a Type-C port which is also used for charging, and an HDMI port
On the audio front, we get two bottom-firing speakers on either side. There’s also Dolby Atmos support for improved audio, and the output drastically improved, not only on headphones but also via the loudspeaker. Even otherwise, the volume levels can also get pretty high, which most ultrabooks fail at. The base is made out of aluminium, adding a nice touch of class. You also get Windows Hello support with the fingerprint scanner. It is embedded within the power button on the top right (outside of the keyboard layout) and works beautifully. The laptop is quite cheap starting from $550
On the downsides, the slender edges on the Honor MagicBook 15 mean that there’s no space for the webcam above the display. Instead, it pops up from the keyboard with a hard press of the dedicated camera key, which is flanked by the F6 and the F7 keys. The angle is downright terrible. Not only will the other person get an unflattering angle of your chin, but even the image quality also isn’t good. Moreover, this inherently means that it’s impossible to maintain eye contact at any level. Generally, the battery life is just about average. Moreover, the keyboard is not backlit and the webcam is barely usable. If these don’t sound like hindrances to your workflow, then this ultrabook from Honor might just be the magic you were waiting for.
Asus ZenBook 14 OLED
The Zenbook 14 feature 14-inch touchscreens at 1,920 x 1,200-pixel resolution, 16 GB of RAM with 512 GB SSD powered by AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS. It has two USB-C ports (one USB 4, one USB 3.2; one is used for charging), a single USB-A port, and a full-size HDMI output are your connectivity options. The aluminum frame feels much sturdier than you typically find in this price bracket. The Asus ZenBook 14 has a battery life of 15+ hours. The laptop is budget friendly as it starts from $800
The webcam features 1080p resolution, supports Windows' recently added Studio Effects (including automatic framing and background blur), and has a sliding privacy shutter. The Zenbook's bottom-mounted speakers are above average, pumping out fairly loud sound that isn't tinny, harsh, or distorted even at top volume. There's only a bit of bass but vocals and instrumentals are clear, and you can make out overlapping tracks. Dolby Atmos software or shortcuts in the MyAsus control panel (more about it in a moment) offer dynamic, music, movie, game, and voice presets and an equalizer.
This laptop isn’t without its share of quirks. It doesn’t play too nicely with third-party chargers. The power plug has a USB-C connector. Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth are standard, but alas, you won't find a 4G or 5G wireless option or an SD or microSD card slot. There's no fingerprint reader, but the webcam provides IR face recognition for password- or PIN-free logins with Windows Hello. The Zenbook comes with a stylus pen—you'll have to keep it in your pocket, as there's no storage niche in the chassis—and a carrying sleeve, as well as a USB-A-to-Ethernet adapter.