Best Buy Business Laptops
Take a look at some of the best options available, and then read on to learn the fine points of everything from IT management and deployment to secure logins and durable chassis and keyboards. Business laptops work harder than consumer models (and usually cost more), but your business deserves nothing less. These are the best business laptops for 2023.
best buy business laptops
Built for business, it's an easy choice for our favorite business laptop, outshining even competing systems from Dell and Apple. And if our five-star rating didn't already say it, we'll spell it out here: This isn't just the finest business laptop we've seen, it's the world's best laptop.
The ThinkPad X1 Carbon has always been the traveler's business laptop. If you want the best business ultraportable on the planet, this is the undeniable choice, somehow improving on what was already the best lightweight business machine on the market.
Graphic designers and content creation professionals will lean toward the larger 16-inch MacBook Pro (available with the M1 Max processor, which is more than a match for the first M2), but businesspeople who want macOS in a trim, tidy package will be happy with the 13.
The 2023, 16-inch Apple MacBook Pro is a powerhouse laptop that marries a refined and polished design with top-notch performance. With the new M2 Pro and M2 Max processors, the MacBook Pro delivers workstation-level power in a consumer-friendly design, making it the choice of creative professionals. With an impressive 27-hour battery life, a top-class mini LED display, and Apple's best laptop design to date, the machine looks and feels fantastic as it rips through even the most demanding computing tasks with ease. It's the most powerful Apple laptop we've tested, earning a rare five stars and Editors' Choice award.
The Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 is one of many ultraportable business laptops, but this AMD-powered system stands out from the pack, thanks to its mix of premium design and superb performance. From the first look, you'll know this isn't your father's ThinkPad: Instead of basic black, the lid is covered in recycled vegan leather, and the metal frame of the chassis is accented with polished, bronze-colored aluminum. With a fantastic keyboard, a reimagined TrackPoint and a spacious glass-surfaced touchpad, there is so much tactile luxury at your fingertips that you'll love to sit down to work. And this slim machine can work, with AMD Ryzen processing and graphics providing some of the best performance in the category, backed with a battery that lasts all day.
Any business user that values mobility will want a great ultraportable, but the premium price of the ThinkPad Z13 makes it a bit more exclusive than most. If you want style and sustainable thinking to be part of your daily driver, then the Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 is the business ultraportable for you.
Designed for corporate executives who need a device that combines scribbling, sketching, and keyboard input, the HP Dragonfly Folio G3 absolutely delivers. It is ideal if you require take-it-anywhere connectivity and are looking for a laptop that can serve as a status symbol. However, the high cost of the laptop might not be suitable for everyone, and it is best suited for those who have IT departments that can negotiate the cost.
Does your company buy laptops by the hundred or thousand instead of a few at a time? Well, your next enterprise deployment won't be any smoother than the Dell Latitude 7420, a 14-inch corporate champion available in both standard clamshell laptop and 2-in-1 convertible form. It's a better buy than the company's flagship Latitude 9000 series, combining excellent performance, long battery life, and near-endless configurability with options ranging from Intel vPro processors to LTE mobile broadband for keeping in touch when away from Wi-Fi hotspots.
Lenovo's ThinkBook laptops are a great affordable option for small businesses, and the Yoga 2-in-1 design has been the best version of the laptop/tablet hybrid for years. With the Lenovo ThinkBook 14s Yoga Gen 2, you get all of that business-ready capability in a budget-friendly model that's perfect for entrepreneurs or small businesses operating on a shoestring. The result isn't a standout in design or performance, but it's a solid value for a flexible workhorse business 2-in-1.
With prices starting at $1,000, you shouldn't expect niceties like OLED screens or best-of-breed networking, but Lenovo still delivers plenty of bang for the buck. Inside are an Intel 12th Generation Core i5 processor, an included stylus and note-taking app, and a generous port selection. The design isn't the sleekest on the market, but the aluminum construction is sturdy and durable. A brighter display or better keyboard might be nice, but you can't deny the great value.
Costly competitors offer better business machines, but if you're a solo entrepreneur or small business on a budget, the Lenovo ThinkBook 14s Yoga is a capable performer that gets our recommendation for its attractive price.
The Pro's Type Cover and kickstand are both as good as detachable accessories get, but the device is still happier on a desk than in your lap in laptop mode. Otherwise, its best-in-class design and build quality make the Surface Pro 8 (and the Surface Pro 8 for Business with LTE mobile broadband support) the definitive Windows tablet.
The HP Elite Dragonfly Chromebook is a powerful and flexible laptop that makes a strong case for ChromeOS in the workplace. It features a haptic touchpad, a built-in fingerprint reader, a magnetic pen, and a beautiful 3:2 touch screen. The laptop is powered by an Intel Core i5-1245U processor and comes with 256GB of solid-state storage. It also features Intel's vPro IT management and security, a standard in business laptops. Additionally, the Elite Dragonfly Chromebook is a 2-in-1 laptop, which means it can be used as a laptop or a tablet. It also supports Android apps and comes with HP's QuickDrop smartphone file transfer software, making it a highly versatile productivity machine.
Every laptop benefits from a speedy CPU, bright screen, comfortable keyboard, and long battery life. But the makers of business models add features to meet specific office needs, such as secure logins (via biometric fingerprint readers or facial recognition or SmartCard IDs) and sturdy designs that have passed MIL-STD 810G or the even more severe 810H tests against road hazards like shock and vibration. (First responders and field workers may require even tougher rugged laptops.)
IT departments appreciate fleet deployment and remote manageability functions like those offered by laptops with Intel vPro processors and Trusted Platform Module (TPM) support for secure access. Enterprises also prefer Windows 11 Pro over the consumer-oriented Windows 11 Home (or sometimes a business-focused Linux distribution) and look for laptops with less bloatware or fewer extraneous bundled programs. With so many thin black and silver notebooks on the market, business machines tend to look samey, but the differences that matter most to office users tend to be below the surface, inside the chassis.
The line between tablets and laptops is also blurring in the business-machine world. Once the two were separated by operating systems, but there are now several tablets aimed at businesses that run true versions of Windows. Some of these tablets even have physical, detachable keyboards.
Choosing the right processor for your business machines can be a little complicated, but there are a few rules of thumb to bear in mind whether you're shopping for a personal work machine or upgrading the IT fleet for your whole company.
The first has to do with processor generations. While business systems aren't updated as swiftly as consumer laptops, it's still a good idea to opt for the current CPU generation when you have the choice. Today, that means Intel's 13th Gen CPUs, previously called "Raptor Lake." The new models feature the same hybrid architecture of 12th Gen "Alder Lake" chips, which pair high-powered Performance cores with low-powered Efficiency cores for multicore processing that can optimize for power or performance, as needed, but now with more of those E-cores.
Non-Intel chips are less prevalent in the business space, but if you have an option, look for AMD's 6000-series Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 9 CPUs (soon to be replaced with AMD 7000-series chips). Meanwhile, Apple is meeting business needs with M2-series processors, with the latest M2 Pro and M2 Max made to offer business and workstation-class capabilities, respectively.
Instead, your best bet is to go by our advice on choosing a laptop CPU, and choose something according to processor tier. For Intel, that means Core i3 models for the most basic work, since they're best suited to web browsing and data entry. Core i5 and Core i7 are better for more demanding work, while Core i9 is the best option for workstation laptops that need more horsepower to crunch huge data sets or render complex models.
You can find low-end business systems that use Intel's Pentium and Celeron processors, but these aren't well suited to daily work. Instead, these are ideal options for less-demanding uses, like running signage or powering a simple in-store kiosk.
Finally, consider the form factor. As a rule, Intel's H- and HX-series will offer the highest power for the most demanding uses and will be found in mobile workstations and creator laptops, while P-Series CPUs are made to deliver high performance in thin-and-light laptops. Ultraportable laptops generally use lower-wattage chips, such as Intel's U-Series of 15-watt processors. But even with the U-Series models, the basic tiers are there, with Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 chips each offering good, better, and best processing power.
With businesses using video, multimedia PowerPoint slides, and multi-megapixel photos in staff meetings virtual and in-person, opting for a spacious drive is a good idea. If you're going to go with a traditional platter drive (and at this point, you probably should not), a 1TB hard drive is a good balance between economy and space. 041b061a72