What Makes a True Business Notebook?

Read the full content of this Article: http://www.notebookreview.com/feature/makes-true-business-notebook/

 

Good read!!, I expect I will be linking to this article a lot.

 

There is a wide range of different requirements and end users may have different priorities (eg the "road warrier" may value portability and long battery run time) compared to the IT support departments.

In addition to the durability aspect noted in the article (it's human nature to treat other people's property less kindly than if they had used their own money) there is also serviceability. It is usual for business notebooks to have swappable keyboards and easy access to other components so that if something does give a problem then it is easy to fix or change the part. This is also a useful consieration for any non-business purchaser that likes to do their own maintenance or upgrading.

John

 

Imo, one word sum it all : productivity.

 

Good article, but with a caveat:

While business-class machines have advantages in the areas described in the article, price isn't their only disadvantage compared with higher-end consumer machines.

Another big issue is audio/video quality. Business-class notebooks not specifically designed for photo and video editing sometimes have screens that are pretty dull compared to a nice consumer laptop's screen. Not a big deal in Excel, but not something I'd want to watch a movie on. And onboard sound tends to be pretty godawful on all business-class laptops. I'm pretty sure a $500 Dell Inspiron has better speakers than my $2000 Thinkpad, and both my VAIOs run circles around the twice-the-price Thinkpad in that respect.

Finally, with only a few exceptions, you tend to sacrifice a lot in terms of thinness and lightness by going business-class instead of high-end-consumer-class (Macbook, VAIO, XPS, etc). That may or may not matter to a particular owner, but it's worth noting.

I'm happy using a Thinkpad for work, but in the evenings, I find a high-end-consumer device like my VAIO Duo 11 a lot more pleasant to use for recreation. Just my $0.02.

 

Speaking of durability, are there good ways to determine whether a laptop comes with a durable keyboard?
That level of specification has not shown up in reviews or spec sheets that I've seen.

For example, cheap keyboards may have plastic scissor hinges, and more durable keyboards may have metal scissor hinges. (The plastic scissor hinges can wear out after a few years of daily typing, allowing the keycaps to fall off.) The only clue I've seen is the replacement cost: a few years ago a plastic hinge replacement keyboard was about $50 and a metal hinge replacement keyboard was about $90, though they were for different brands so I'm not sure the cost was entirely due to the difference in materials.

Some of the quality distinctions blur in budget business lines. Simply buying from the business catalog may not be enough to assure durability. Even at the top end, the fashion drive toward to thin and lightweight specifications may sacrifice strength and longevity.

 

I use a latitude for my daily driver but when at home I use it docked with one 23inch IPS monitor and another 20inch TN panel. When one is on the road and laptop is for work screen quality is really is not a priority. Useability is.

 

What user 'baii' really mean is: productivity, durability, and most of all, reliability.

To answer the question, generally a system with high quality components that are well integrated and work as expected.

Everyone has his own opinions and tastes, some prefer lots of ports, while others, like me, prefer a simple yet elegantly designed system that is easy to maintain and upgrade and with just useful ports like at least 3 USB ports one HDMI, one mini/display port, sd card reader and ethernet port .