recommendations for a Business quality Laptop

[jayasinj]

Dear forum,

I'm looking for a decent laptop for work. I'm never using it for gaming so it doesn't have to be very high end specs. But I'm looking for serious number crunching, and some business applications like running Business Intelligence tools, and ETL/Database stuff. though not gaming, It needs to be therefore quite performant.

I'd like to use it on the go, so would appreciate things like built in mic and webcam and long life battery but reasonably light to carry around.

I'd like it to be windows so that it's cheaper than a MAC and I learn how to install stuff for work. Price is not a massive limiter.. though I don't want to spend the same as a Mac - partly to justify it being a Windows machine partly to smugly lord it over my MAC friends.

What do you recommend is good at the moment?


Thanks,

J

[hesham1516]

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon?

Won't win you any beauty contests, but its light, weighing in at around 1.3Kg
Chassis made of carbon fibre so it is very durable
Has a fast charge feature, giving 5 hours of battery life from a 35min charge
Battery lasts over 7 hours under normal use but they claim over 8 on the site
Biometric security
Very comfortable keyboard
Built in 3g modem if you ever need internet on the go
720p webcam

Being an ultrabook its packs enough punch to last you a while without feeling like you need an upgrade a year in, and comes with the security features ultrabooks are know for if it gets stolen, giving the ability to remote wipe and lock.

“If the MacBook Air is a porcelain doll, the X1 Carbon is a G.I. Joe strapped with Kevlar.” - Gizmodo

[Shamble]

I second hesham1516 - ThinkPads are definitely business-grade hardware which for your listed use cases would be suitable. Try to avoid any cheap consumer-grade hardware because in the long run it is not worth it. You could also take a look at the Panasonic Toughbook. They are rugged machines and can survive a pretty heavy drop whilst still being light and offering good performance. If you decide to go for one with Windows 8, you want to get hold of some Windows 8 install media (either by asking Microsoft support, the store, or off a friend) and reinstall the OS to get rid of any bloatware pre-installed. Fortunately Windows 8 allows you to use any disk to re-install the OS as the licensing information is stored on the system's BIOS.

[newh]

Yeah, ThinkPad X series is the standard for 'business quality laptops' if price isn't a big limiting factor. They're not cheap, but they're really, really nice.