Laptops: Consumer vs Commercial
We get it, we’re human too. We see a deal at a local Retailer that looks to have the same specs as commercial-grade laptops for a fraction of the price. Regardless if your a business owner, or not, everyone likes to keep costs low.
However, more often than not - those new shiny laptops cost more in time - both yours and ours to keep them going smoothly.
I’ll try my best to keep it brief, and not bore you with a wall of text….
PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE
This is almost guaranteed when you invest any money into Consumer Laptops. In general, home users vs a business owner/IT Department does not think of long term plan nor strategically about the hardware purchase. Consumer laptops are built with cheaper materials, are not as robust, nor have serviceability in mind if something fails. The manufacturers and retailers expect you just to buy another device within 3 years if it breaks. Compare this to commercial-grade laptops where the warranties are longer, more spare parts are made, after-sales support is actually worthwhile, and manufacturers expect the devices to last up to 5 years.
BETTER ENGINEERED
Following on from above, commercial-grade laptops are better made in all areas. This includes small things like the screen hinges being stronger, to better materials used to construct the devices in the first place - they are built for a busy work environment eg a few knocks here or there, and to be travelled with constantly. They are built for 8 - 12 hours use a day, 6 days a week, not 2-6 hours a week.
FASTER
9 times out of 10, if you were to pick two identically spec’d laptops eg same CPU, RAM, SSD - the commercial-grade laptop would beat the consumer one. This is mostly due to the way the cooling is designed. The commercial-grade laptops are able to operate at a higher performance threshold for longer periods of time without ramping up the fans to keep up with cooling. We have witnessed this first hand.
SOFTWARE & SECURITY
Lastly, the software & security functionalities between business and home laptops differ vastly. Windows 10 Pro vs Home will need its own blog on this one day, but in general, Pro gets less major changes, more stable updates, and more support from 3rd party systems. The physical security also can differ - business laptops can come with fingerprint scanners, face authentication, and Kensington locks to keep them attached to a desk. They also have more secure ways of storing sensitive data with additional systems and hardware (TPM Chip etc).
IN SUMMARY
Consumer-grade laptops are great for home users, and even some small businesses in certain cases (eg one-man bands), but in general we’d always recommend business-grade laptops for business use. We can supply nearly any brand in nearly any form factor required. The additional premium initially invested you will save 2x or more in the long run with due to having a superior, more reliable device.
Talk to Computer Clinic and we can make sure you get the right device for either home or business use!