Your company is deciding to move all employees to remote work. You’re excited and happy that this change is coming to your company. You no longer have to be at work at 8 am sharp. You no longer have to sit in a small cubicle with a company monitor 5 days a week at 40 hours. You get to work from home, navigate at your own pace, and simply have more freedom of your time. You soon realize that you don't have a reliable work-from-home computer. You’ve been so reliant on the company monitor that you haven't even thought about the possibility of working remotely on your machine. Which computer are you going to buy?
Before getting into which specific brands are best for remote work, we should take a look at some of the qualities your work computer should have. Below is a list of criteria that you should consider before purchasing a work computer.
● Weight: It’s crucial to have a laptop that doesn’t weigh you down or take up too much space in your backpack on your journeys.
● Functionality: You’ll need a laptop that is powerful and has all of the features that you need to do your work, whether that’s design and development software or productivity and communications tools. You’ll probably also need to be able to video conference with clients and family, so a built-in webcam is a major plus.
● Battery: On the road, you’re pretty likely to find yourself in a situation without anywhere to plug your laptop in to charge. For that reason, decent battery life is crucial.
● Price: Many digital nomads are working on a budget. That makes a powerful but still affordable laptop option highly attractive.
● Meets Your Needs: Every digital nomad has different laptop needs based on the type of work that they do. A video editor, for example, will probably need to invest in a good graphics card and a fast processor whereas a writer might be able to get away with something with less storage and power.
● Ease of Repair: What do you do if your laptop breaks on the road? Unfortunately, accidents happen and it’s important to be able to maintain your laptop in good working condition from all around the world. Some brands are easier to fix than others, with more or less internationally-located authorized repair locations.
● Durability: Chances are, as a digital nomad, you won’t have the ability to replace your laptop every other year. Choosing an option that lasts is critical.
● Familiarity: If you want to get work done on your laptop as soon as you buy it, you might want to go with a brand you’ve used before so you don’t have to waste too much time learning the device’s ropes.
Once you have filtered through this list and found some computers that have all of these qualities, what’s next? The next part of the process is assessing price, storage and speed. These are all things you will need to be efficient while working from home. Between meetings via zoom, lots of emails, documents, and files, you need something that is strong enough to maintain all of this without failure. Below are the top 5 best laptops to purchase for working remotely.
1. ASUS C202
Pros:
● Great texture, clicky keys, and comfortable pattern–overall, a reliable keyboard.
● One of the most durable laptops–build with excellent materials.
● An ideal choice for students who want to make online assignments, browse the internet, etc.
● A great battery life! The owner can expect up to 10-12 hours of on-screen time on average workload.
● Gets security patch updates regularly from Google.
● A wide selection of ports like HDMI, USB 3.0, headphone/microphone jack, and an SD card slot.
Cons:
● Due to its tough and durable build materials, Asus C202 is heavier than its competitors.
● You can expect Asus C202 to out-do windows-based laptops on editing and heavy-duty tasks.
● Display resolution is okay, and colors are kind of dull.
2. Acer Chromebook 14
Pros:
● The sturdy aluminum chassis featured on the Acer Chromebook 14 makes it look and feel premium.
● 4GB RAM inside the Acer Chromebook 14 makes multitasking buttery smooth.
● Vibrant 1080p display makes videos and images look sharper and crisper than ever.
● Long battery life–up to 10 to 12 hours of on-screen usage under normal load.
● Speakers are loud, accurate, and punchy enough for a $380 laptop.
Cons:
● The display is dim; users will sometimes want to turn up the brightness over the set limit.
● No SD memory reader available, meaning you can’t directly expand the storage capacity of Acer Chromebook 14.
● The processor can show its limits under heavy usage.
3. Microsoft Surface Book
Pros:
● The futuristic and minimalistic design of the Microsoft Surface Book makes it stand out.
● 5-inch gorgeous and unrivaled display with 3,000 x 2,000 resolution and 267 pixels per inch.
● Seamless tablet separation makes Microsoft Surface Book a handy and versatile laptop.
● Wide selection of ports like 2 x USB 3.0, mini DisplayPort, SD card reader, mini headphone/mic combo jack.
● Solid benchmark results, Microsoft Surface Book, scored 7,285 on 3D Mark Cloud Gate and 1,868 on Fire Strike.
Cons:
● Battery life can fall below what’s promised by Microsoft under heavy usage.
● The front-facing camera needs some amendments.
4. Lenovo Ideapad
Pros:
● An amazingly affordable machine that makes sure you don’t fall behind the world in terms of performance.
● Battery life goes from what’s promised by Lenovo and far beyond the competitors.
● Good keyboard with nicely laid out keys that provide a good response and feel.
● Easy upgradeable RAM and storage options
● Various port selections like HDMI, USB 3.0, Ethernet, Headphone/Mic Jack, Card Reader, etc.
Cons:
● The stock storage unit (HDD) found on Lenovo Ideapad is slow.
● Webcam found on Lenovo Ideapad is flawed and not up to the modern-day image/video quality standards.
● Display viewing angles are bad.
● Build quality of the Lenovo Ideapad isn’t robust.
5. MacBook Pro
Pros:
● Sleek and slim, eye-catching design that’s made to stand out in the crowd.
● Unmatchable retina display with 2560 x 1600 resolution that produces quality images and videos.
● Work power-house! Great for developers, editors, and anyone who’s looking for a machine with the best performance.
● Mac operating system truly outshines Windows-based laptops with its premium eco-system.
● Super-fast embedded Solid State Drive for faster storing and accessing of files and applications.
● Great Mac-only apps for creators, designers, developers, and more.
Cons:
● Slow-integrated graphics processor on the base models of Macbook Pro.
● No selection of ports like HDMI, Ethernet, USB, SD Card Slot, etc. Only thunderbolt ports are available.
● Internal memory and storage can’t be upgradeable on the latest Macbook Pro models.
Make sure to be careful when making a decision. This could potentially be your laptop for the next 3+ years. You want to ensure you’re getting the best product for the best price. Do your research, look at the things you absolutely need for work, then make a decision.