9 Best Laptops for Remote Working (2022)

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many companies and employees to adapt to remote working. As technology continues to advance and become more mobile, companies are allowing more employees to work from home. People are taking advantage of this opportunity and some are deciding the remote work life is for them and becoming digital nomads.

Remote workers are enjoying a new set of possibilities that weren’t available years ago . Working remotely for your company or being a digital nomad comes with a level of freedom that allows you to accomplish tasks while still maintaining a good work-life balance.

If you are now lucky enough to join the remote work force, you need a lot of stuff to do your work smoothly like a modern home office, phone, internet, etc.. But one thing you cannot afford to ignore is a good laptop. After all, your laptop is the foundation of your remote working lifestyle.

In this review, we will check out the 9 best laptops for working remote including budget laptops with long battery life and many other features as well. Make sure you go to the bottom of the article to see our pick for the best new laptop for remote working.

Here are the 9 Best Laptops for Remote Working

There are many lightweight laptops for remote workers that offer long battery life, longevity, and a host of other features. However, a few stand out from the rest.

Here is our breakdown of some of the best laptops for working remotely.

#1 – Apple MacBook Pro 16-Inch

Pros

• You get a high-quality webcam
• Sleek and modern lightweight design
• Top-quality audio and picture quality
• Powerful CPU and 16 GB of RAM
• Enough internal storage of up to 8 TB
• You get excellent battery life

Cons

• Doesn’t have a USB-A port
• The display quality is not 4KApple MacBook Pro 13-Inch

#2 – Apple MacBook Pro 13-Inch

Pros

• Sleek lightweight design with excellent portability
• You get enough memory storage capacity
• The display quality and audio are relatively good for the PC price
• Decent battery life

Cons

• The webcam is very average

#3 – Google Pixelbook Go

Pros

• Features a high-resolution display with HD graphics
• Crisp audio and image quality
• Quick charge time
• Sleek and lightweight design for easy portability
• The laptop battery will also last for a long time
• Great laptop for people on the go

Cons

• Not that durable

#4 – Lenovo IdeaPad 3

Pros

• Comes with an FHD multi-screen display quality
• You get a sleek and durable build
• A compact laptop that can fit into a small bag
• Solid processor performance
• IPS technology that should be perfect for photo editing
• Highly durable design

Cons

• The camera on the laptop is average compared to the high quality HD camera found on Dell computers and other Windows laptops.

#5 – Razer Book 13-Inch

Pros

• Excellent CPU performance
• Long battery life for a mid-range Razer laptop
• High-quality edge-to-edge display
• Excellent build quality and design
• Lightweight
• There is also a USB port to connect additional devices

Cons

• This good quality laptop comes at a premium price
• The file transfer performance should improve

#6 – HP Spectre x360 Luxury 14T

Pros

• Lightweight design for easy portability
• Best laptop for working on the go
• Audio quality is highly reliable
• Superb display and processing power

Cons

• Not for people looking for an affordable laptop

#7 – Dell XPS 15 9510 Elite Laptop

Pros

• One of the most powerful remote work laptops you can buy
• Excellent battery life
• Decent storage with fast SSD drive
• Well-built and satisfying keyboard

Cons

• You only get a USB C port
• The battery life should improve further

#8 – Dell Inspiron 15

Pros:

• High-quality
• Comes with Windows 11 already installed
• Sleek solid build
• A wide 15.6-inch display
• Responsive fingerprint unlocking

Cons:

• Not the best battery life for its price
• Would be better with stronger speakers

#9 – Acer Swift 3

Pros:

• Lightweight and ultra-portable design
• The audio sounds perfect
• A decent battery that can last all day
• Excellent performance
• High-quality webcam
• Half the price as some comparable laptops

Cons:

• Doesn’t come with a webcam privacy shutter
• Slightly pricier than most laptops

How to Pick the Best Laptop for a Remote Worker

There are many laptop brands out there that you can easily use for your remote work. In fact, most remote jobs don’t need a lot of computing power. An average mid-level Microsoft Surface Book should be decent enough to work with.

But since most laptops are expensive, it’s important to take extra measures to ensure that you get good value for money.

Here are some of the top laptop specs to help you select the perfect laptop for your needs:

CPU

The processor, also known as the central processing unit, is the brain of the laptop. It’s designed to do everything and will determine what that machine can do, and how fast it does it.

If you are looking for a suitable laptop to do complex computing work like video editing, graphics design, 3D modeling, etc, you may want to pick a machine that offers massive computing power.

This will cost you extra money and will eat up extra energy. But it will be worth it. As for people who simply want a laptop for average office tasks like video conferencing, an Intel Core i5 processor should be ideal.

Battery Life

It is also important to choose a suitable laptop that offers a very good battery life. In fact, a good laptop should be able to offer at least 20 hours of battery life on a full charge.

Now, the battery life will often be determined by many factors. Also, how long your laptop keeps the power will be determined by the maintenance of the battery.

If for some reason your laptop is not able to offer at least 10 hours of battery life, perhaps it’s time to replace the battery with a new one.

Hard Drive

For a long time, most laptops like the Asus Zenbook and others used HDD drives. During their day, these drives were good enough but they were a bit slow. Modern solid-state drives are now taking over in Asus laptops and many other laptops.

They are fast, long-lasting, and highly energy efficient. So, before you buy a laptop for remote work, make sure it has a solid-state drive installed.

The size of the drive matters too. When it comes to computers, you can never have too much storage capacity. So, go for a 1TB storage at least to be on the safe side.

Size

Just because you are buying a laptop for telecommuting does not mean you won’t need to carry it around with you.

Sometimes you may need to undertake projects on the go. This is where the idea of getting a portable performance laptop comes in.

To this effect, ensure the laptop you are buying is sleek and lightweight. Laptops that can easily fit into any bag are also highly recommended. Also, ensure there are USB C ports for connectivity on the go.

RAM

Just like the CPU, the RAM is also an integral part of your laptop. It will determine the performance of the laptop and its speed. Typically, most mid-level laptops will have between 4 GB and 8 GB of RAM.

On a normal day, this should be enough for everyday computing tasks. However, there are some people who need a lot of processing capabilities.

Here, you will need at least 16 GB of RAM. Besides, a good rule would be to get a PC that has extendable RAM.

This means that if you reach a point where you need to scale up the memory due to emerging computing needs, you can simply extend what you have. Modern laptops such as Asus Zenbook with fantastic battery life can offer up to 64 GB of RAM.

Display

Display quality is also crucial, especially for people that use laptops for video conferencing and meetings.

The last thing you need is a blurry screen on a zoom call with your boss or colleagues. It just looks unprofessional.

Besides, there is always a very good satisfying feeling when you are working on a crisp HD laptop for remote work. So, as a rule of thumb, always ensure that the laptop you are buying at least has 4K HD in display quality. This should be enough for an excellent video.

Durability

Most people will spend a lot of money on the best laptops like the MacBook Air or Asus Zenbook simply because they want some longevity. Laptops are not cheap. If you need to replace your Mac computers or other laptops all too often, then you will lose a lot of money.

This is why it is important to go for durable laptops with excellent built quality. These laptops will last for years even with the usual wear and tear that comes with remote work.

Besides, the best laptops for working are designed to withstand sudden falls, coffee spills, and the usual risks that come with working from home.

Connectivity

The best laptops for working will normally offer users a wide range of connectivity options. So, it’s not just the USB ports only.

In most cases, the best laptop for working will have an HDMI port, some USB type C port, a headphone jack, Bluetooth, and so much more.

This variety of connectivity options makes it easier for you to connect a wide range of devices to your laptop and expand its utility.

Webcam

A good laptop will also have a good webcam. After all, there is a lot of teamwork and collaboration when you are working from home. This will include things like virtual meetings, video editing, etc.

You will, therefore, need the best laptops for working remotely that have an HD webcam. Besides, you may also need to share some documents on your screen with people on a call. This will not be easy if the webcam is of low quality.

The good news is that even the most basic MacBook Air and other mid-level laptops tend to have decent webcams.

Repairability

At some point, your laptop will run into issues as you work from home. There is nothing wrong here. However, it is very important to ensure that your machine can be repaired easily.

In fact, the best laptop for working remotely will have parts easily available. Also, the best laptops for working will also have a massive network of repair shops where you can take them and have them fixed. For example, Apple has many stores for Apple devices.

Graphics Card

The graphics of your laptop device will often be determined by the type of graphics card you are using. The graphics card is actually a separate GPU or graphics processing unit. It is a dedicated CPU chamber where all graphics are processed.

If you want to use your laptop for graphic-intensive activities like gaming or 3D modeling, you must choose one of the best laptops with the most advanced and powerful graphics cards.

Of course, this will not be an affordable laptop. But it will do its job very well. Intel Core graphics cards and AMDs are very popular and you will likely find them in the best laptop for working.

Keyboard

There is a lot of typing that goes into remote work. And since most of these laptops are compact in nature, it can be hard to fit in a functional keyboard that feels easy to use.

The good news is that the best laptop for working will solve this problem. These machines have created ergonomic keyboards that feel so natural on the hands. This allows you to type your work faster while making sure the keyboard lasts for a long time.

Connection to Monitors

As noted above, the best laptop for working remotely is not just meant to use in the house. There will be instances where you may need to carry that laptop with you and make a presentation somewhere.

So, it is very important to make sure that the machine can be connected to a wide range of monitors.

This can be done using several ways. In most cases, the best laptop for working will have an HDMI port while some machines will come with a VGA port as well. But if you can get Bluetooth connectivity, go for it.

Price

Finally, you may also need to consider how much money you are ready to spend on a laptop. Now, most people will always prioritize quality over money. But if you cannot afford a laptop, then there is no way of getting it no matter how good it is.

A good rule would be to write down exactly what you are looking for. After that, do some window shopping and see the kind of prices you get.

That way, it will be easier to budget accordingly, and eventually, you will get the best laptop for work.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I buy a Mac or a Windows laptop?

MacBook Air laptops tend to be very portable. This means that they are super lightweight and can easily fit into any bag. They are, therefore, much better than a PC. However, you may run into repair issues since these laptops can only be repaired in authorized Apple stores. This will cost you more money.

What are the main laptop specs I should have on my laptop?

All this depends on what type of work you do. However, on average, most people would be fine with an Intel Core i7 machine with up to 1 TB of storage capacity. Make sure that the storage you have is SSD. You will get better speeds and energy efficiency.

How much RAM would I need for remote work?

In most cases, the average person who is doing normal remote work will need somewhere between 4 GB and 8 GB of RAM.

However, there are some situations or types of jobs that require a lot of computing power. In this case, you may need a minimum of at least 16 GB of RAM.

Should I go for a big laptop screen?

Yes, a big laptop screen will always be better. But there are also some trade-offs that must be made.

For example, a big screen may also mean that the laptop will become bulky and less portable. You don’t want that, do you? So, try to go for a standard size.

What are the cons of working on a laptop for long hours?

Everyone needs a good work and life balance. The last thing you need is to spend all your day in front of a screen. You may start to have mental health issues, complete burnout, and in some cases, even eye problems.