Best business laptops January 2024: Top picks for office or remote work

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 6650H Processor
• GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6500M
• RAM: 16GB
• Storage: 512GB SSD
• Display: 16-inch, 1920 x 1200-pixel IPS display
• Size: 13.95 x 9.35 x 0.63 inches
• Weight: 4 pounds

REASONS TO PURCHASE

• Extended 15-hour battery life
• Superior performance compared to competitors
• Graphics that transcend those of rivals
• Appealing and minimalist design
• Durability tested by the military

Reasons to avoid:

• Soft and unresponsive keyboard
• Bulky and weighty

The Lenovo ThinkPad Z16 surpasses the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon as the top choice for our best business laptops. The main factors contributing to its triumph are a battery life of nearly 15 hours, an aesthetically pleasing and resilient chassis, exceptional security features, and performance that will undoubtedly impress your colleagues.

In addition, the device boasts a robust 16-inch display, eliminating the need for a separate portable monitor. It also offers exceptional audio quality and a quiet typing experience that will surely satisfy your colleagues, despite our personal preference for a different keyboard.

While weighing 4 pounds, this business laptop may not be the thinnest or lightest option available. Therefore, regular business travelers should explore alternative choices from our list. However, for remote or office professionals seeking a durable and high-performance laptop that will endure for years, this is an excellent choice.

• CPU: Intel Core i5-1135G7
• GPU: Intel Iris Xe
• RAM: 16GB
• Storage: 512GB
• Display: 14-inch, 1080p
• Size: 12.6 x 8 x 0.7 inches
• Weight: 3.3 pounds

REASONS TO PURCHASE

• Sturdy construction
• Includes a Smart Pen
• Integrated fingerprint reader in power button
• Reasonably priced

REASONS TO AVOID 

• Individuals who speak softly
• Chassis with a propensity for collecting fingerprints.

The ThinkBook 14s Yoga offers exceptional value, at below $1,000, for a resilient 2-in-1 device that features an integrated Smart Pen, impressive performance, and long-lasting battery life.

The Lenovo ThinkBook 14s Yoga is not designed to serve as a gaming laptop, but it possesses ample capacity to efficiently handle any productivity duties you may assign to it. Coming up only minutes shy of 10 hours of battery life it should be able to get you through a full workday.

The ThinkBook comes with a Smart Pen that is stored conveniently in its chassis. This feature is highly beneficial for tasks such as sketching, taking handwritten notes, or signing documents. Regarding solid inclusions, the webcam surpasses the average quality, thus making it unnecessary to allocate funds for an external webcam.

In summary, if you have a strict budget of $1,000 and desire a remarkable 14-inch convertible laptop designed for business purposes, complete with a Smart Pen, the ThinkBook 14s Yoga is an excellent choice.

3. HP Elite Dragonfly G3

Battery life of the Marathon

• CPU: Intel Core i7-1265U vPRo
• GPU: Intel Iris Xe graphics
• RAM: 16GB
• Storage: 512GB SSD
• Display: 13.5-inch, 1920 x 1280-pixel display
• Size: 11.7 x 8.6 x 0.64 inches
• Weight: 2.2 pounds

REASONS TO PURCHASE:

• Long battery life
• High-quality webcam
• Roomy touchpad
• Portability and ease of use

THINGS TO STAY AWAY FROM

• Flat performance

With a battery life that exceeds fourteen hours and a lightweight, portable design, the HP Elite Dragonfly G3 is an energy-efficient treasure. It also has a fantastic webcam.

The Dragonfly G3’s performance isn’t going to make it a go-anywhere gaming laptop, but it’s more than enough for work and online browsing, and businesses should choose efficiency over raw power.

When you consider the 2.2-pound weight, spacious touchpad, good webcam, comfortable clicky keyboard, and productivity-enhancing 3:2 aspect ratio, you have a great alternative for business customers who travel or are often on the go.

4. Dell Latitude 9430

A beautiful touchscreen convertible with many of useful features

SPECIFICATIONS

ATTRIBUTES 

• Stunning InfinityEdge screen
• Ergonomic, well-traveling keyboard
• Wide, responsive touchpad
• Long, reliable battery life
• HDMI input

DO NOT USE IT BECAUSE:

• There is a small range of ports.
• When used in tablet mode, it seems clumsy

No 2-in-1 work laptop can match the versatility and battery longevity of the Dell Latitude 9430. In our test with the Laptop for Work Battery, it cruised to a duration of 12 hours and 39 minutes. The brilliant Infinity Edge display allows Dell to fit a 14-inch panel into a remarkably thin 0.54-inch chassis, but it is far from the sole selling point.

The speed is more than sufficient to handle all of your productivity apps and those tabs in your browser that you might have forgotten to close during the day. The sleek and sturdy construction, along with the versatile 2-in-1 convertible design, greatly enhance its utility.

With its high-quality infrared camera or fingerprint reader for secure and convenient login, as well as its superb enterprise-grade security provided by its vPro CPU, this business laptop more than justifies its obviously high price.

5. Acer Swift 5 (2022)

Top-Rated Portable Workstation

SPECIFICATIONS

AWESOME FEATURES 

• Lightning-fast video transcoding
• Ultra-fast solid-state drive (SSD)
• Rival-beating performance

DON’T DO IT Because

• The speakers might be louder.

On a regular basis, Acer ships out laptops that are a fantastic value for the money. The Acer Swift 5 is a good example. Its aerospace-grade aluminum structure in Mist Green is aesthetically pleasing; our reviewer called it “the most attractive notebook I’ve seen this year.” The Swift 5 isn’t just an attractive phone, though.

Swift 5 performed comparably to its rivals in our comprehensive performance and file transfer tests, thanks to its 12th Gen Intel Core i7 processor with integrated Intel graphics. It also far outpaced the average in its category. The Geekbench 5.4 test was the sweet spot for the Swift 5, yielding a score of 9,859. Impressively, the integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics on the laptop managed 26 frames per second on Sid Meier’s Civilization VI benchmark, which caught us by surprise. The Swift 5 has over 11 hours of battery life, which is impressive but didn’t get it featured on our page for the longest lasting laptops. A 14-inch screen with enough of color and a scattering of ports are two further selling points.

The laptop comes with an excessive quantity of bloatware, thus it’s not a flawless machine. There was room for improvement in the speakers as well. These are, however, small gripes with an excellent Windows 11 laptop.

6. Apple MacBook Air M2 (13-inch)

This MacBook is designed for professional use and is highly efficient.

SPECIFICATIONS

PROS INCLUDE:

• a beautiful overhaul
• Solid performance
• a vivid, bright screen
• a comfortable keyboard
• long battery life.

NOT TO USE

• SSD is a little sluggish compared to M1 Air.

With the same great speed and battery life as previous Apple laptops, the MacBook Air M2 is practically flawless. However, it has a new look borrowed from the MacBook Pro 14 and 16, as well as an exquisite 13.6-inch screen.

For individuals that are able to thrive within the macOS ecosystem, this should be your go-to laptop because of the exceptional combination of portability and performance it offers. Although the SSD’s write speed is little slower than its predecessor, the Air M2’s nevertheless above-average performance should not dissuade you from purchasing it.

Although there are two USB-C ports and a new MagSafe charging port, the most up-to-date MacBook Pro 14 (M3, 2023) has three Thunderbolt 4 ports, an SD card slot, an HDMI port, and MagSafe; however, there is still no USB-A port.

7. Apple MacBook Air M2 (15-inch)

A Laptop with a Larger Screen for Professional Use

SPECIFICATIONS

Advantages: thin design, beautiful liquid retina display, long battery life, solid performance, and reasonable price. Disadvantages: few connectors.
The 15-inch MacBook Air exemplifies the maxim “bigger is better.” All things considered, it’s essentially the same as the 13-inch MacBook Air from earlier, only bigger. However, the user experience has been much enhanced because to the greater size.

The remarkably lightweight design is preserved, which is great for those times when you’re on the move. Although it may not have the most vibrant colors, the Liquid Retina display is both the most accurate and the brightest available. When using many windows for different tasks, the additional screen real estate is really helpful.

On top of that, the Magic Keyboard provides a pleasant typing experience even after hours of use, and the entry-level M2 processor more than handles my everyday workload. By the way, the Air 15 has a battery life of over 15 hours, so it can easily handle work hours and even some off-duty activities if you’re feeling adventurous. Adding six speakers is a stylish upgrade for the Air.

With a price tag of under $1,699, the MacBook Air 15 hits the affordable sweet spot—a blessing in these economic times—which is all the more remarkable given that it comes from Apple, known for its normally high pricing.

8. Dell Precision 5470

Feel the force of this fully functional desk for yourself.

SPECIFICATIONS

IMPORTANT FEATURES + Long-lasting battery life + Superior thermal management + Stylish, high-quality chassis + InfinityEdge touchscreen + Impressive performance
CAUSES FOR DEPARTURE -No HDMI or USB-A connectors
Why isn’t the Dell Precision 5470 higher on this list? It has 5 stars! The reason is obvious: not all business laptop users require such powerful hardware. The Nvidia RTX A1000 graphics processing unit and Intel Core i9-12900H processor indicate that this laptop is a workstation. While it may not be able to compete head-to-head with top gaming laptops, it will easily outperform the average work laptop.

If your profession ever involves creating content, if you’re like me and tend to load your laptop with a million little chores, or if you often transmit massive data files, the 5470’s blistering performance will be well worth the 3.3 pounds it weighs.

Last but not least, I’ll talk about the screen. It’s a stunning 14-inch anti-glare Infint Edge touchscreen that can dominate any brilliantly lit room thanks to its 499-nit maximum brightness and 2560 x 1600-pixel resolution.

9. HP Dragonfly Folio G3

Dressed to impress, this premium laptop is perfect for business.

SPECIFICATIONS

• Detail-oriented, vibrant screen
• Reliable and practical stylus
• Powerful operation
• Splendid dual-purpose design
• Remains cool

DETERMINANT FACTORS 

• Pricing starts at around $2,100.
• The battery life might use some improvement.

The Dragonfly Folio G3 is just as deserving of praise as HP’s Elite Dragonfly G3 when it comes to battery life. With its plush faux leather cover and genuinely practical convertible design, HP’s exceptionally luxurious 2-in-1 laptop offers both practicality and style.

The Folio G3 can bend into a plethora of positions, and the supplied pen makes it easy to take notes or draw rapid diagrams in any of them. In addition to being a significant improvement over the standard built-in 720p or 1080p cams, the 8MP webcam’s versatility is useful for determining the optimal viewing angle during video meetings.

Even though it isn’t really a workstation, the Folio G3 has above-average performance, so it can readily handle standard productivity tasks and even manages to stay cool in our heat testing.

While the HP Dragonfly Folio G3’s starting price is roughly $2,100, it’s worth every penny because it looks just as

• CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3
• RAM: 8GB LPDDR4X
• Storage: 256GB NVMe PCIe 3.0 SSD
• Display: 13.5-inch, 2256 x 1504-pixel touchscreen
• Size: 11.6 x 8.7 x 0.65 inches
• Weight: 2.8 pounds

• A beautiful, crisp 2K screen
• A flexible, 360-degree hinge design
• Amazing performance
• The option to connect to 5G networks Elegant and long-lasting style.

WARNINGS:

• Expensive (beginning at $1,149)
• Limited battery life

Chromebooks…for commercial enterprises? Yes, we are serious. When it comes to Chromebooks, the greatest option right now is the HP Elite Dragonfly Enterprise. With features like a fingerprint sensor, Intel vPro security, and a Titan C CPU, the Dragonfly is much more secure than the typical Chromebook. Any Windows software you might require can be accessed fully with a free year of Parallels for Chromebooks.

Even once you get past the HP Elite Dragfonfly Chromebook’s two biggest selling points—its security and its management ease—the hardware continues to impress. The 13.5K 2K screen, which can reach a brightness level of 400 nits, is visually stunning. Frequent fliers will like it for its 2-in-1 design, feather-light 2.8-pound chassis, and optional 5G capability.

Companies that will save a lot of money on support will find it worthwhile to invest in, even though the price and battery life could be better (just over 9 hours in our Laptop for Work test).