The Best Business Laptops

By Dave Gershgorn, Updated July 23, 2024

Dave Gershgorn is a writer covering monitors, laptops, and tablets. He is a certified display calibrator through the Imaging Science Foundation.

A good business laptop works quickly, offers great battery life, and has a few extra ports in case you need to plug into a meeting-room TV, or if a client hands you an older, USB-A thumb drive. These laptops should also be easier and cheaper to repair, so you won’t lose access to your files and communication for long when something breaks.

All of those features can make business laptops chunky and unwieldy, but we found that the HP EliteBook 840 G11 matches the processing power and battery life of an ultrabook and puts it all in a thin and repairable package. If you’re looking for an even slimmer laptop with more customizable options, we also recommend the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12.

Upgrade pick

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12

A sleeker and more configurable laptop

This Lenovo model feels like a slim ultrabook rather than a business laptop, and it’s almost as repairable as our top pick.

Our pick

HP EliteBook 840 G11

The best business laptop

This HP model is a well-rounded business laptop with a variety of ports and a repairable design.

$1,399 from HP

The HP EliteBook 840 G11 is a versatile business laptop that offers solid performance, a wide selection of ports, and a 12-hour battery life. It has a large, easy-to-use trackpad and comfortable keys, as well as a high-res webcam with a privacy cover. Competing ultrabooks have better screens and slimmer builds, but the EliteBook 840 G11 provides similar performance—and unlike most ultrabooks, it can be completely disassembled for repair.

disassembled for repair.

Upgrade pick

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12

A sleeker and more configurable laptop

This Lenovo model feels like a slim ultrabook rather than a business laptop, and it’s almost as repairable as our top pick.

$1,440 from Lenovo

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 is slimmer, lighter, and more configurable than our top pick. It also has a touchscreen, as well as the longest battery life of the laptops we tested, lasting more than 15 hours. You can upgrade its display to a 2.8K OLED version, a welcome higher-resolution option in comparison with the 1080p displays found on most of the business laptops we tested.

the business laptops we tested.

Budget pick

Apple MacBook Air (M1, 2020)

A cheaper ultrabook option

This version of the MacBook Air isn’t really a business laptop, but it’s inexpensive and powerful enough to get work done.

$700 $650 from Walmart

You save $50 (7%)

The Apple MacBook Air (M1, 2020) doesn’t have many of the features that are important for a business laptop, such as a variety of ports or a user-repairable design. However, its processing power, battery life, and display far outpace those of any similarly priced Windows option, and Apple’s worldwide network of retail stores makes it easy to get the laptop repaired or replaced.

Story from Nytimes.com

Dave Gershgorn

Dave Gershgorn is a senior staff writer at Wirecutter. He’s been covering consumer and enterprise technology since 2015, and he just can’t stop buying computers. If this weren’t his job, it would likely be a problem.