Different Options For Writing And Editing
Laptops help business majors write papers more efficiently. Typing makes the writing activity faster, and applications in word-processing make it easier for them to modify their work. By note-taking on laptops instead of desktops, learners can study in the library, at home, or even during work hours in class. According to the National Writing Project, an initiative to provide students with laptops in the classroom in Maine resulted in the rise of students writing accomplishments. 80% of students in the project reported they would prefer using their laptops to complete their work and were more likely to modify their work using laptops. Moreover, 75% said that laptops help them to become more organized, while 70% said laptops assisted them in improving the quality of their work.
Best Business: Dell Latitude 15
The Dell Latitude 15 is actually a 14-inch laptop, but with a 15-inch display. Yes, really Dell is using its InfinityEdge display for a near bezel-free notebook, and it looks gorgeous. As well as the awesome display, Dell also made sure you remain connected for work with a built-in AI for enhanced performance and 5G for true wireless connectivity. It also comes with the security features you’d expect in a business laptop, including an IR camera and fingerprint reader for Windows Hello and an optional proximity sensor.
The 9510 can be configured with up to a 10th Generation Intel Core I7-1185G7 CPU, 32GB of LPDDR4x, RAM, and a 1TB NVMe SSD. Each model has Windows 10 Pro pre-installed. There’s the option of a 4K panel too, but regardless of which display you choose, you’ll enjoy 100% sRGB color gamut coverage, and lower resolutions will allow the laptop to enjoy upwards of 30 hours of battery life.
Buying Guide For Best Business Laptops
Finding the right business laptop for your work needs means considering a handful of factors, including the best operating system, storage size and type, form factor, screen resolution, and security features.
Different programs are available on different operating systems, and while you may already have an operating system you like, its worth taking a look at the features offered by the latest Windows, Apple, Chrome, and Linux software.
If youre someone who works on the go or travels frequently, a compact and lightweight computer with reliable battery life is crucial. If your laptop will mostly be staying in one spot, you may be able to sacrifice convenience for power and performance.
Though storage has never been more affordable, you will still have to decide how much space you need and whether the speed of a solid-state drive is worth the extra cost.
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Meet Your Needs And Budget
Of course, you need to balance these features with your budget and your needs, and you might have to make some compromises. Rarely does a laptop come along that ticks all the boxes, especially when it comes to price.
Let us know in the comments below if you consider other aspects of a laptop to be more important , and especially let us know if youve already found the perfect laptop for your needs.
Dell Xps 17 Software And Warranty
The Dell XPS 17 is pretty light on software. What Dell did include are primarily useful utilities such as Dell Power Manager, which manages power consumption to either extend battery life or squeeze out every bit of performance. Customer Connect connects you with a Dell technician in case you run into trouble. Digital Delivery maintains your software downloads and restores them after a system wipe or crash.
Third-party apps include Killer Control Center, which lets you set network bandwidth priority. The laptop also comes with a 20GB of free Dropbox storage for a year. There is, of course, some Windows 10 bloatware, such as Netflix, Farm Heroes Saga and Candy Crush Friends.
The Dell XPS 17 ships with a one-year hardware warranty with onsite and in-Home service after remote diagnosis. See how Dell fared during our annual special reports: Tech Support Showdown and Best and Worst Brands.
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Best For Creatives: Dell Xps 15
Dell’s refreshed XPS 15 is still the laptop we love, albeit with updated hardware inside. Get up to an 11th Gen Intel i9-11900H CPU, 64GB of DDR4 RAM, and a 2TB PCIe SSD, plus there’s the option to include an NVIDIA RTX 3050 Ti GPU with 4GB of GDDR6 VRAM.
Like with the previous Dell XPS 15 on this list, the webcam is back where it should be above the display instead of embedded in the keyboard. Even with this move, the laptop still manages to have thin bezels for a sleek look. Coupled with a 15.6-inch 4K touch display, this laptop is ideal for anyone who regularly works with media.
It still has a wide selection of ports, including Thunderbolt, USB-C, SD card reader, and headphone jack, making it easy to connect your peripherals. There are two battery configurations, but with each, you’ll even manage to get a full day’s worth of charge . Not only is this PC one of our favorite Dell laptops, but it also sits atop our list of the very best 15-inch laptops.
Dell Xps Keyboard And Touchpad
No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you, the XPS 13’s edge-to-edge keyboard is sporting larger keycaps 9% larger to be exact. Despite the bigger size, the keys are still well-spaced and none of them were downsized to make room. I also like the backlighting that is bright enough for me to make out every key character in a darkened room.
Typing on the keys proved to be a comfortable experience, although I prefer a bit more feedback. Still, I reached 71 words per minute on the 10FastFingers typing test, which is slightly above my 70-wpm average.
My fingers glided effortlessly over the glass Precision touchpad. At 4.4 x 2.6 inches, the touchpad is 17% larger than previous iterations, giving me extra room to navigate web pages. Performing Windows 10 gestures such as pinch-zoom and three-finger swipe were seamless in execution. The bottom corners of the touchpad delivered firm, clicky feedback.
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How Much Battery Life Is Enough
Many laptops can last an entire day away from the power outlet, even when youre using them for demanding but common activities like streaming internet video. There are exceptions a laptop with a 4K display and a powerful CPU probably will not last for more than 8 hours or so before its battery dies, and most gaming laptops die far sooner. When youre playing demanding games that tax the GPU, gaming laptops tend to run out of juice even more quickly off the plug than they normally do. Youll find more than a few exceptions, though, and even powerful laptops have become adept at sensing when their maximum power isnt required and reducing various components consumption.
This is where PC Labs battery testing comes in. We evaluate battery life by playing a locally stored video file nonstop with no wireless connections active and 50 percent screen brightness. An excellent result on our test suggests that the laptop is good at adapting its power use to the task at hand, and you can use the results to compare the potential of machines you are considering.
Measuring battery life is notoriously tricky, though, since its entirely dependent on how you use your laptop. Your usage profile probably doesnt match our testor anyone elsesto a T. So youll want to look at tested battery life in a relative, rather than absolute, sense.
How Powerful Does My Laptop Need To Be
In a nutshell:
- If you need a laptop for light use and note taking, look for Intel Pentium or Intel Core i3 and at least 4GB of Ram for a great experience
- Go for Intel Core i5 and i7 and AMD Ryzen 5 and 7 and at least 8GB of Ram if youre a heavy user
- Look for dedicated graphics from Nvidia and AMD if you want to game.
Laptop processors
This really matters if youre planning on using a laptop for photo or video editing, or if you’re a very heavy user, opening lots of programs and browser tabs. When looking at laptop processors, youll see two main specifications beyond the product name: clock speed and number of cores.
Think of clock speed as the speed limit on a road and the number of cores as the number of lanes. As on a road, depending on traffic conditions the tasks being done on your computer a road might see a greater benefit from more lanes or a higher speed limit.
In the simplest way possible, more of both is better, and each of our laptop reviews will help you out by making it clear what sort of tasks a laptop is good for.
Ram
Think of Ram like a desk and your hard drive like a filing cabinet. You pull files out of the cabinet and it takes a while, but once theyre on your desk, you can reach for them instantly. The same is true of Ram once you have loaded a file from the hard drive, its now in the Ram and can be accessed almost instantaneously.
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How Much Ram Does A Laptop Need
RAM is an important specification to look for in a laptop. Youll want 4GB at the very least for a Windows laptop though wed actually recommend for many people to go for 8GB. That will ensure that the laptop runs well for years to come. Budget Chromebooks can get away with less RAM, such as 1GB or 2GB.
Why Trust Our Journalism
Founded in 2004, Trusted Reviews exists to give our readers thorough, unbiased and independent advice on what to buy.
Today, we have 9 million users a month around the world, and assess more than 1,000 products a year.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors code of practice to underpin these standards.
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Dell Inspiron 14 5000
A great laptop for programming if you’re on a budget
Specifications
Reasons to avoid
The Dell Inspiron 14 5000 is a great all-round laptop for programming, and it costs a lot less than many of the laptops on this list, but without skimping on features or performance.
So, it’s got a high resolution Full HD display, a quad-core processor and fast SSD storage, all of which means this is a dependable laptop that will keep up with any of your demands while you’re programming.
Sure, it doesn’t boast the premium style of its more expensive competitors, but if you’re on a tight budget, and you want a laptop that will do everything that you need it to, and you don’t care about visual flair or features that you’re never going to use in your day-to-day programming, then this is definitely a laptop worth considering.
Reasons to avoid
If you’re after a laptop to take your programming to another level, then the Lenovo ThinkPad P1 is worth considering.
This seriously powerful workstation laptop offers professional-grade Xeon processors, with up to six cores, an Nvidia Quadro T2000 graphics card and up to 64GB of memory.
You can stuff it with up to 4TB of nVME SSD storage, and opt for a 15.6-inch 4K display thats not only touch-sensitive but colour-accurate too. Its a great general-purpose workstation, capable of all kinds of visual design work and heavy lifting processor-intensive tasks.
Apple Macbook Air M1 2020
This is our go-to recommendation for those in search of a MacOS laptop for everyday basic use. The MacBook Air was updated in the first half of 2020 with new Intel processors and, most importantly, a new keyboard. However, in November, Apple announced its new homegrown M1 processors would be replacing Intel’s CPUs in the Air. Using Apple’s M1, the company promises an operating system with better performance and longer battery life — up to 18 hours. The Intel-based models will still be around, though, and regardless of which chip is running the Air, you’re getting a great little Mac laptop starting at $999.
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Best Windows Laptop In 2021
There are many great devices out there that we’ve been trying out and testing, and this is just a glance at the 19 total best Windows laptop options we’ve rounded up here.
Windows Mac Linux Android Or Chrome Os
Operating systems tend to polarise opinion. Ask a room of techies whether you should go with a Windows, Mac, Linux, Android or Chrome OS laptop or tablet and you’ll start a heated debate that will go for a long time but nobody will win .
All systems have their good and bad points, but it’s important for you to choose a side, because it affects your software choices and possibly your hardware decisions too. This is definitely the case with Apple products and Chrome OS in particular.
Apple’s macOS only runs on Apple’s family of computers, while iPadOS only runs on iPads, but they’re designed to work seamlessly with Apple’s other operating systems: iOS , tvOS and watchOS .
Chrome OS runs on laptops, mini PC desktops and PC sticks that are specifically designed for it, usually of a relatively lightweight configuration that is meant to be internet-connected most of the time.
Even outside enterprise users, Microsoft’s Windows has several versions, with Home being the consumer version, Pro for more serious users and Windows in S mode for lightweight laptops aimed at being an alternative to Chromebooks.
These days Windows and Chrome OS have a much greater degree of interoperability with Android, though not to the same degree as Apple’s tightly integrated hardware-software ecosystems.
Android is also outgrowing its phone-centric roots to also be seen as a stand-alone OS for tablets, most notably by Samsung and Lenovo.
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Dell Xps : The Best Windows Laptop For Students
Price: From £1,099 | Buy now from Dell
The latest XPS 13 houses 11th-gen Intel silicon and is a solid step up from its tenth-gen predecessor when it comes to performance and battery life. It remains one of the best looking laptops around, too, with a compact, sleek build characterised by an attractive aluminium chassis and carbon fibre interior.
Its keyboard is one of the best we’ve tested as well, thanks to a smart layout and keystrokes that feel just right when typing. If your studies require a lot of essay writing, you’ll find the XPS 13 a dream to work on.
There are various display options available but we reviewed a unit featuring an FHD non-touchscreen. The 16:10 aspect ratio is more pleasant to work on than a 16:9 display, peak brightness of 566cd/m2 enables you to work comfortably on the laptop while outside and both sRGB colour coverage and accuracy are excellent.
It may not be on quite the same level as Apple’s MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, but if you’re in search of a premium Windows laptop to use while studying, there aren’t many better than the Dell XPS 13 9310.
Read our Dell XPS 13 9310 review for details
Key specs Processor: Intel Core i5-1135G7, i7-1165G7 or i7-1185G7 RAM: 8/16/32GB Storage: 512GB/1TB SSD Screen size: 13.3in Screen resolution: 1,920 x 1,080, 3,456 x 2,160 or 3,840 x 2,400 Weight: 1.2kg
Price: From £549 | Buy now from Currys
Read our HP Pavilion 14 review for details
Price: £599 | Buy now from Acer
Price: £649 | Buy now from Huawei
Hp Envy X360 15 Laptop
With superb performance, 14+ hours of battery life, sleek design, and colorful FHD display, the ENVY x360 15 is a truly quality PC masquerading behind a budget price. If you’re looking for a 15-inch convertible, this one should be seriously considered.
- Low-resolution display
- No backlit keyboard
The standard Surface Laptop is an outstanding device, but not everyone wants to shell out that kind of money for a device sized at 13 or 15 inches. Enter the Surface Laptop Go, a 12.5-inch device that’s designed up to Surface standards. The display might not be as high a resolution as other Surface products and might not support inking, but it’s still colorful and bright.
The keyboard is comfortable , and battery life will last you through a day. Performance hardware is right for anyone with standard productivity tasks in mind, and the price reflects that. This is an excellent option for anyone who needs an extra laptop around the house or something portable for school.
If you’re interested in this little laptop, be sure to have a look at our Surface Laptop Go review for further details.
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Optional: Consider Purchasing A Printer
E-reading is the ideal way, but there are certain times that students need to have printed copies to present, such as a CV for interviews. Some may want to copy specific pages from a library book or an online source. A printer or scanner may come in handy as a big help. Several colleges or universities allow students to access their facilities however, it is always better to have these for yourself.