Top portable picks for the office

For the best overall business laptop we’ve tested, look no further than the brand new Apple MacBook Air M2 (2022)

Inside, it features Apple’s M2 chip, which is more than capable of handling professional tasks such as 4K video editing with ease. The 8GB of RAM on the standard model should be more than enough for most people, especially given the upgrade to 16GB will cost you an extra £200/$200. Like its predecessor, this is also a fanless MacBook, which means it’s silent all the time, but may fall down during sustained loads due to the lack of active cooling.

The MacBook Air M2 has a 13.6-inch screen. In testing, we found it to match Apple’s claimed 500 nits of brightness, meaning it’s ideal if you’re working a lot in brighter spots. And if the 13-inch screen is a little too small for you, there’s also the option of the 15-inch MacBook Air which also represents excellent value.

At 1.24kg, the 13-inch MacBook Air is immensely portable, and a thickness of just 1.13cm also makes it thinner than an iPad with a Magic Keyboard attached. The port selection is alright, with USB-C ports and a MagSafe connection, although you don’t get an SD card reader and HDMI out, as you do on the MacBook Pro. The keyboard and trackpad are both excellent, which is a must if you spend much of the day working in docs and sheets.

The endurance on offer is also excellent, with the M2 MacBook Air lasting comfortably throughout a working day with around 20% to spare, while in running a video loop tested, it lasted for around 14 hours, which is a 2 hour boost compared to the original M1 powered MacBook Air.

Reviewer: Max Parker
Full review: Apple MacBook Air M2 (2022) review

The first thing to highlight with the Acer Chromebook Plus 515 is that it runs on ChromeOS instead of Windows. That may be problematic for those who need bespoke software in their business that is only available through Windows or macOS. However, if you simply need a business laptop for browsing the web and typing up essays, the Acer Chromebook Plus 515 fits the bill while saving you lots of money in the meantime.

During the testing process, we were incredibly impressed with the Acer Chromebook Plus 515. Available for under £500/$500, it offers a solid productivity performance (at least for a Chromebook) and a superb battery life that we recorded to last over 10 hours.

Like most Chromebooks at this price, the Acer Chromebook Plus 515 is made up of a mix of plastic and metal. We were impressed with the overall build quality, and the keyboard is perfectly adequate for typing up essays all day, even if the trackpad can be a little sluggish.

With many modern Windows laptops costing well over £1000/$1000, the Acer Chromebook Plus 515 is a cost-effective alternative that can handle web browsing and productivity workloads perfectly fine. Just make sure ChromeOS supports all of the software you need for work before hitting checkout.

Reviewer: Josh Brown
Full review: Acer Chromebook Plus 515 review

The MacBook Pro has long been our number one recommendation for business workers who need to dip into creative workloads such as video editing, and the MacBook Pro 16-inch M3 Max only strengthens its position with a supercharged performance thanks to the cutting edge M3 Max chip.

You’ll struggle to find a more powerful laptop than the MacBook Pro for content creation, as it saw a higher benchmark score for processing speed than almost any other laptop that we reviewed in 2023. Importantly, graphics performance is excellent too, allowing for speedy rendering times.

Laptops optimised for such workloads usually have major drawbacks, as it can impact battery life and the weight of the portable. However, the MacBook Pro can last up to 15 hours for productivity work, which we were able to verify during testing. And at 2.16kg, this is a rather heavy laptop, but it’s still surprisingly portable considering how much power it has to offer.

Due to the extravagant price, the MacBook Pro 16-inch M3 Max is a needless purchase for business workers who just need to send emails, fill in spreadsheets and type up reports. The Acer Swift X 14 is a good middle-ground option too if you want a cheaper laptop with an entry-level graphics performance. But if you need a powerful laptop that can handle heavy duty tasks such as video editing, then the MacBook Pro is the best option.

Reviewer: Max Parker
Full review: MacBook Pro 16-inch M3 Max review

If you’re the type who work with multiple tabs open, or need to view exhaustive spreadsheets while also typing up a report, then it’s likely that a 13-inch laptop screen just isn’t big enough to squeeze everything on the display simultaneously. So we’ve decided to include the Acer Swift Edge 16 in this list, which has a big 16-inch screen as well as excellent productivity performance.

Despite its large screen, the Acer Swift Edge is delightfully light, coming in at just 1.23kg. This will be incredibly important for those who lug their laptop to the office every day. And despite having a thin chassis, there’s a great selection of ports here including USB-C, HDMI 2.1 and a microSD card reader. There’s even Wi-Fi 7 support for a speedy connection to the web.

One of the highlights of this laptop is the gorgeous OLED screen, with eye-popping colour making videos look far more vibrant. An OLED screen isn’t imperative for a business, of course, but it’s still a nice bonus if you like to watch the likes of Netflix and YouTube on your lunch break.

So if you fancy yourself a speedy productivity laptop with a big screen, we reckon the Acer Swift Edge 16 provides the best value. And if you want an even bigger screen, then we suggest checking out the LG Gram 17 (2023) instead.

Reviewer: Adam Speight
Full review: Acer Swift Edge 16 review

The Dell Latitude 7320 is a marvellous option for a business laptop if security is integral thanks to the Intel vPro features on offer. It’s also one of the more functional-looking devices out there.

This is reflected in its plainer design than other more expensive laptops, although at 1.21kg, it’s one of the lightest on this list, which makes it especially portable. It’s also rather well built too, with little flexing in the casing. The light weight definitely didn’t lead to any compromises on build quality. With a deep travel and some rather chunky and large keys, we also found the keyboard on the 7320 to be one of the best compact laptop keyboards we’ve tested in a while.

We found the performance for such a small laptop to be solid, with great results in our benchmark tests, while the screen also proved to be decent enough for mainstream work. It’s a 13.3-inch FHD matted panel, which makes this laptop much easier to use in bright environments. Colours here are relatively punchy, and gamut coverage is more than good enough for basic productivity tasks, even if it may not be up to standard for more intensive workloads.

A total 63Wh capacity also allows the Latitude 7320 to offer some great battery life, with it reaching the heights of 12.5 hours during our testing. This is more than enough for a working day, and you may even be able to get a couple more hours out of it before grabbing the charging cable.

Reviewer: Andrew Williams
Full review: Dell Latitude 7320 Review