Notebook buying advice: How to find a mobile office notebook
10.8.2020
Translation: machine translated
You need a notebook to work on that doesn't just sit on your desk at home, but regularly accompanies you outside the office and home office. Then I'll go on a search with you.
Our notebook buying guides are all about finding the right laptop for you. I give you basic tips and assessments for different areas of application and show you some examples of notebooks. My aim is to use filters so that you only have to decide between a small selection of devices in the end.
What you won't find here is an assessment of individual laptop models or recommendations for different equipment variants. The notebook market is too fast-moving for that and I would refer you to the individual tests from our editorial team.
Mobile Office: Working on the go
If you are constantly travelling with your laptop, criteria such as battery life and weight are much more important than if the laptop is almost exclusively on your desk. However, this is where I reach the limits of our filters. The battery life specified by the manufacturer is listed in the data sheets, but I can't filter by it. The same applies to dimensions, but at least I can select the weight. At least if the display size is not enough to find smaller and lighter notebooks. 13 to 13.9 inches is usually a good compromise between the size of the display and therefore the notebook as well as the weight and dimensions.
I also find it important that the display is anti-reflective for working. However, this eliminates all MacBooks and Surface laptops from Microsoft from the selection. If you want to take them into consideration, you can here uncheck "Anti-glare" under "Screen surface". For the resolution, I recommend not going below Full HD.
New chipsets not only always potentially have a little more computing power than their predecessor, but also often consume less energy. This is good for battery life, which is why I make sure that new processors are installed wherever possible. For Intel, that would currently be the ninth and tenth generation, for AMD the third and fourth generation. You don't need a graphics card for Word, video calls and Excel, the processor's graphics chip is usually sufficient, but you shouldn't be too stingy when it comes to RAM in order to ensure a smooth working day without long waiting times and should allow your computer 16 gigabytes. The absolute minimum should be 8 gigabytes. That's enough if you don't have 30 browser tabs open or use Adobe programmes for images, videos or graphics.
256 gigabytes of storage space should be the minimum and is sufficient for word processing and the like. You know better than me whether you need more. This might be an option if you're working on larger graphics or design projects. It should definitely be an SSD. Not only does it save weight and energy, it is also more robust and, above all, allows the entire computer to work faster than a classic hard drive.
If I feed our filters with these specifications, these are currently the five most popular models.
Do you want to add the MacBooks or do you need a Kensington lock to be able to connect your notebook, or a card reader you can still buy yourself from the filter. This also applies if you have a monitor on your desk and need a suitable connection to connect it.
When I was but a young student, I'd sit in my friend's living room with all my classmates and play on his SuperNES. Since then I've had the opportunity to test out all the newest technology for you. I've done reviews at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, and have now arrived at Galaxus.de.