Saturday 21 May 2016

Best laptops of 2016


Best laptops of 2016





Ultrabooks, hybrids or desktop replacements, we look at the laptops you should think about buying

There are many laptops and ultrabooks on the market, and choosing one for your business is not an easy decision.
To help you decide which laptop is the right one for your needs, we have everything covered from lightweight Ultrabooks to budget models to 2-in-1s that combine the best features of a tablet with that of a laptop.
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Best Laptops 2016 - 2-in-1 hybrids

Google Pixel C


Google has also included a Bluetooth keyboard cover with the Pixel C turning Mountain View’s latest tablet into a hybrid. Despite the somewhat muddled branding which could lead some people to confuse this Android tablet with the similarly named but very different Chromebook Pixel, the Pixel C is easily the most intriguing tablet we’ve seen in a long time.
The only things holding it back is Android’s immaturity as a tablet OS and the persistently poor state of Android tablet apps which makes the Pixel C less useful than it otherwise could be. Even so, the Pixel C is still the best Android tablet available.
Read our full review: Google Pixel C 
Price: £333
Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 260 
Unlike most of Lenovo’s other hybrids, the ThinkPad Yoga 260 has a design very similar to the company’s other business laptops bearing the stored IBM-derived ThinkPad brand. The timeless aesthetics, sturdiness and quality keyboard and touch stick are all in line with what we’d expect from a ThinkPad.
The Yoga 260 is a convertible rather than a detachable, so you can flip the screen around 360 degrees for full tablet use or in increments so you can orient the laptop on end like a tent or with the keyboard acting as a base for the touchscreen. There’s also a handy stylus for jotting down notes and sketching. 
The ThinkPad Yoga 260 comes in a variety of configurations and is a great value.
Read our full review: Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 260
Price: £1074 ex VAT (from Lenovo)

Microsoft Surface Book
Microsoft’s first laptop may be expensive, but it at least looks and feels like a million bucks with its museum-worthy looks and tough build quality. Its detachable screen, 3:2 aspect ratio and top-notch stylus make it an especially compelling choice for artists and other graphic design professionals.
Overall battery life is lengthy while a high-quality keyboard and touchpad that put many other Windows laptops to shame. The only catches, apart from the high price, are relatively short tablet battery life and some lingering, frustrating software bugs.
Even so, if you can afford it and need its particular talents, the Surface Book is well worth considering.
Read our full review: Microsoft Surface Book
Price: £1874 ex VAT (from Microsoft)

 

Surface Pro 4

The latest and greatest iteration of Microsoft's take on the laptop/tablet combo sees a number of changes from its previous Surface Pro 3 incarnation. 
The Type Cover has ditched full-size keys and instead replaces them with an island-style layout, which has a better response and travel.
Those who have used the previous version should take to the Surface Pro 4 without any adjustment.
The device is powered by a dual-core 2.4GHz Intel Core i5-6300U processor from the Skylake generation. It has a low maximum TDP of 15W, even when Turbo Boosting to 3GHz. 
Read Expert Review's opinion: Surface Pro 4
Price: From £749 (from Dell)

Best Laptops 2016 - Ultraportable laptops

Dell XPS 13 (late 2015 InfinityEdge touch)

Dell’s latest 13in ultraportable laptop may have a tried and tested chassis, but it also has the latest Skylake processors and high-resolution screens. It’s a sturdy, attractive laptop with top-notch image quality.
Battery life is lengthy while the keyboard and touchpad are among the best you’ll find on a Windows laptop. Our only concerns are continuing display scaling issues as programs grapple with the high pixel density screen and the usual bout of Dell-inflicted sleep problems.
Even so, this is still a superb thin and light Window laptop. If you need even more power and can put up with a little more weight and width, the 15in member of the XPS range is just as good.
Price: £958 ex VAT (from Dell)

HP EliteBook Folio 1020

The latest in a long line of business-oriented ultraportable laptops, the Folio 1020 has features that make life easier for IT departments in an attractive casing that will appeal to vain C-level executives and rank-and-file workers agitating for a BYOD policy.
Its excellent build quality, good battery life, comfortable keyboard, a wide selection of ports, quiet operation and useful security features make it a top-notch lightweight business laptop.
Read out full review: HP EliteBook Folio 1020
Price: £956 (HP)

MacBook Air 13in (early 2015)


While it is difficult to tell this year's version from last year's from the outside, the insides have changed enough to merit a mention on this page.
It has a processor, connectivity and storage performance enhancements that will keep the Air ticking over for another year. The aluminium shell remains as attractive as ever, with the chassis retaining the same impressively thin dimensions as last year's model. 
Read our full review: MacBook Air 13in (early 2015)

Chromebook Pixel (2015)

The Chromebook Pixel is incredibly good-looking, with a sleek and robust exterior, well-made keyboard and an excellent screen.
It's also nice and light, with a sizable battery life, but what earns the Pixel a spot in this section is the OS, which is far more suited to light tasks on the go than any serious, processor-intensive grunt work.
Read our full review: Google Chromebook Pixel (2015)
Price: £665.83

Apple 13-inch MacBook Pro With Retina Display (Early-2015)

The new super-slim Apple MacBook laptop may have grabbed all the headlines recently, but this latest update of the MacBook Pro may well have more appeal for business users.
The new model also looks virtually identical to its predecessors. But, under the bonnet, the new 13in MacBook Pro has been given a fairly major overhaul with the introduction of a 5th generation Broadwell processor and Apple’s new Force Touch touchpad.
Its outstanding battery live ensures that it will really earn its keep when you’re on the road.  

Best Laptops 2016 - Budget laptops

HP Stream 

The HP Stream 11 is not only incredibly cheap - costing just £150 - it also comes bundled with a one-year subscription to Office 365 Personal, which is worth £60 alone. There's also 100GB of OneDrive cloud storage included for two years so you can easily store and share your favourite photos, videos, documents, and files.
Ideal for businesses on a tight budget, the HP Stream is easy in the eye, too, being compact and lightweight enough to comfortably transport around in any backpack, briefcase or messenger bag. Boasting an 11.6in display with a 1,366x768 resolution, it might not be the best contender in terms of screen quality, but it gets the job done and is made even better by an excellent keyboard and a decent pair of inbuilt speakers.
Inside, there's a 2.16GHz Intel Celeron N2840 processor alongside 2GB of RAM. It doesn't sound like much, but for the price, the HP Stream is beauty enough to cope with a range of tasks, such as web browsing, word processing and streaming HD video. The battery is pretty good too, and can keep going for around six hours, even when tackling the most demanding of tasks.

Acer Chromebook 15 C910

Don’t be tempted by many of the £200 or less Windows laptops available – they tend to be utterly awful. If you must stick to such a tight budget and don’t mind using the cloud, then consider a laptop running Google Chrome OS such as the Acer Chromebook 15 C910.
One of the few 15in Chromebooks available, this laptop has long-lasting battery life, plenty of ports and built-in access to Google’s best-in-class cloud services. Not every business will be able to switch to Chromebooks, depending on your application needs and legal compliance requirements, but for those that can the resulting productivity boost and lower support costs - resulting from the hassle-free and almost maintenance-free nature of Chrome OS – are immense. 
Read our full review: Acer Chromebook 15 C910
Price: £194 ex VAT (from CCL)

Asus X555LA 
Asus comes up with the goods again if you want to stick with Windows and have a little more to spend. Decent performance from the Core i3 processor, a responsive touchpad, a DVD writer for legacy archival storage and retrieval and even a small touch of style make the 15in X555LA a fine budget laptop.
Of course, as with all budget laptops, Asus has had to make compromises with the X555LA – upgradability is limited and the keyboard and screen are merely okay - but it’s made the right ones here.
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