The Benefits of Buying a Business Laptop vs. a Consumer Laptop
Posted on December 14, 2018 at 11:25 AM
If you are in the market for a new laptop you will have a huge selection to choose from when it comes to brand name, size, and type as well as the abundance of processor, storage capacity, and operating system options available. It can easily become overwhelming to try and figure out which is the best laptop for you.
There are two basic categories in the laptop world that models, sizes, and styles fall into: Business laptops and consumer laptops. Some of the best laptop brands on the market like Hewlett-Packard, Acer, Dell, and Lenovo, among others, spend a lot on marketing to ensure that these two different product lines are separated into those two categories.
If you ignore all that hype, it will pretty quickly become obvious that choosing a business laptop over a cheap laptop that is designed for consumer use, is the way to go, even if you don’t intend to use it for business at all. To make your decision easier, we’ve listed some of the major benefits of buying a business laptop below.
Business Laptops are Better Quality and More Durable
When purchasing a large ticket item like a laptop you want to know that it is going to last. Business laptops are a lot more durable than consumer laptops. They are designed to withstand the kind of beating they can get from being in work environments. Depending on the company, some of these business laptops have been tested to endure extreme shock, humidity, heat, pressure and other stresses.
If you’re in a business that requires a lot of travel, things can occur that can really test the durability of your laptop including rough baggage handling, being dropped, and even having drinks spilled on them. Consumer laptops are not made with the same objective in mind. The general belief is that consumer laptops don’t get the same rough handling business laptops do, but as we all know, this isn’t necessarily the case.
If you really want to test the durability of a laptop, give it to a child or teenager! Despite the higher cost of a laptop compared to a cheap laptop you would normally get for a child, it can be worth it because you will be getting one that is going to be able to handle the torture one of them will put it through.
Even if you have no plans to use your laptop in rough, challenging conditions, you will find that business models offer more value due to the premium materials that are typically used in a business laptop vs. a consumer model.
Common practices when it comes to manufacturing of business laptops include using precision-formed, strong aluminum for the case, using metal brackets and hinges for cushioning the hard drive, installing spill-resistant keyboards, and stronger, more durable latches and a host of other improved construction elements.
Business Laptops Have More Connectivity Options and Expansion Capabilities
The majority of people that have a laptop for business use will typically have a need to set it up at home as well as the office. If they travel a lot they will need connectivity that is fast and efficient no matter where they are.
Business laptops will offer features like port replicators and docking stations so they can be easily set up at the home AND at the office. This allows you to continue your work wherever you need to. If you don’t need it for work, regular consumers will still enjoy the ability to seamlessly use their laptops whether they are at home, visiting family, or travelling.
Business Laptops Have Better Security than Consumer Laptops
Security is one of the most important differences between a business laptop and consumer laptops, as a lost business laptop can be disastrous for a company. Because of this, business laptops are typically designed with additional security measures including fingerprint readers, embedded security chips that will encrypt the data on the laptop, and many other options that aren’t available in consumer laptops.
HP offers security measures for their line of business laptops that will even shred important files, wipe the hard drive, and other data-protecting measures that become necessary a laptop is lost or stolen. With HP’s security tools, these functions can be done remotely.
While consumer laptops offer virus protection and a few other security measures, they don’t have these advanced level security tools and options that are often considered standard in business laptop lines.
Business Laptops Have On-Site Support with Better, Longer Warranties
One of the biggest differences between consumer laptops and business laptops is the level of support you receive and the warranties offered.
Most consumer laptops will come with some kind of basic warranty that usually lasts a year, maybe two if you purchase an extended warranty. Business laptops on the other hand come with warranties that can extend to as long as 3-5 years or more, as companies expect their laptops to last work well for a long time.
Tech support is also much better for business laptop owners than it is for consumers that have purchased regular laptops. Rather than having to deal with taking your laptop back to the retailer, or a computer repair place, many companies that sell business laptops offer on-site emergency repair services and tech support if needed. In most cases, next day service is standard so you don’t have to wait 2-3 weeks for repairs.
This is a major benefit to having a business laptop since computers going down or malfunctioning in some way can cause a business to come to a screeching halt. Even if you are just a regular consumer that doesn’t NEED this type of support; it’s a big benefit you can get from choosing a business laptop over a consumer model.
Regardless of whether you actually NEED a business laptop for business, there are so many benefits involved in purchasing one that you may wonder why you should consider a consumer laptop at all.
While consumer laptops may be “flashier” than business models by having shiny finishes or cool colors, instead of buying a cheap laptop from JB Hi-Fi, Office Works or Harvey Norman you can take advantage of some of the best laptop deals online by purchasing a business laptop that will give you extra benefits that you just won’t find with a consumer model.
Not only will these benefits save you money in the long run, they will offer you a great computer that you will have for a lot longer than the average consumer model will last, with far less headaches.
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