Is there a Laptop that is Well-Suited for both Personal and Professional Use?

Nowadays, much of our work can be done remotely without the need to be physically present at a particular workplace. As such, a growing number of people rely on having a personal laptop for professional use. Not to mention many freelancers and business owners, especially in the software an technology sector, who often need to profit from increased processing power through their laptops. On the other hand, laptops also span a variety of personal activities such as social media, communication, arts & entertainment and online shopping to name a few. Having a laptop that is well suited to both personal and professional use for a reasonable price is a huge perk. We tell you where you can find one below.

What to look for?

A laptop that addresses professional needs would often need to run many programs and/or tabs at once. Thus it would require a relatively high processing power. The processing power is prescribed by two things, the machine's RAM and processor. Most commercial laptops have about 8 GB RAM, so anything more is definitely of interest. As for the processor, one should look for a powerful and efficient processor such as those of Intel which are known for their efficiency. This should also compliment the durability of the machine to avoid the constant need for repairs.

As for personal use, this is often facilitated by several features related to the display. For a start, a glossy display is very convenient for prolonged and personal use due to its distinctive depiction of colors compared to a matte display. Since most laptops on the lower end of the price category have a matte display, an affordable laptop with a glossy display is a real deal. Additionally, screen size plays a big factor. The screen size should be sufficiently large, around 13-15 inches, for both convenience and compactness. More precisely, compactness is a desirable feature to many customers as demonstrated by the success of devices such as the IPad tablet.

Our Product Recommendation

With all the above considered, we highly recommend the HP Pavilion x360 14 inch 2-in-1 Laptop which comes with either 8 or 16 GB RAM depending on the model. The device is also equipped with an Intel Core-i series processor from a choice of Core-i3, Core-i5 and Core-i7, often regarded as industry benchmarks. Additionally, the laptop is equipped with either 512 GB or 1 TB local storage capacity that can be used to store a lot of files such as professional documents or images. With a Glossy display and a 14-inch high resolution screen, the laptop serves a suitable device for "graphics-intensive" activities such as video-editing and gaming. Such high-quality graphics are aided by an Intel Iris X card graphic card , another industry benchmarks. The high-quality components of the laptop contribute to its long-run durability and helps to preserve its performance over the years. This is very relevant for professional use.

Other distinctive features include the extended battery life of approximately 7-8 hours which is coupled with a fast-charge mechanism capable of filling it by up to 50% in around 45 minutes. Note to forget its touch screen for ease-of-control, but also its ability to be folded by 360 degrees for use as a tablet. This makes the machine rather versatile and compact. With a starting price of around 600 Euros (~ 630 US $) - depending on model and location, we see it as rather value-for-money.

Comparison with other Brands

To highlight the value of our product recommendation, we resort to our standard comparative graph. Here, we compare the Pavilion x360 with other laptops from renowned brands and weigh the price against the performance and convivence. We considered laptops with a similar screen size of 14 inch and as the Pavilion x360, of which some also had similar technical specifications like identical processors and graphic cards. The comparative chart is shown below where the Pavilion x360 is marked in Red. We also considered a model of the Pavilion x360 with medium specifications that would sell for around 700 Euros (~ 730 US $).

We specifically considered the Apple Macbook M3 Pro, Dell Inspiration 14 2-in-1 Laptop, Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 4, Asus ExpertBook B1 and Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 Touchscreen. As the graph shows, the Pavilion x360 represents a reasonable compromise between quality and price compared to other laptops. At the upper end of the market, we see that the Apple Macbook enjoys a superior quality rating due to its outstanding performance buit this comes at a relatively large cost. The Lenovo Thinkpad performs really well too, although it lacks the touch screen functionality and the Pavilion's portability as the screen doesn't fold completely like in a 2-in-1 laptop, which can be desirable for personal use.

Perhaps the one that comes closest is the Dell Inspiration 14 that is also a 2-in-1 laptop with a touch screen. It has very similar specifications to the Pavilion x360 and even a cheaper upgrade to the higher processors. In fact, this is another product that we highly recommend. However, it lacks the diversity of offers that the Pavilion x360 has which can sell for as low as 600 Euros unlike the Dell Inspiration with a better graphic card for the cheaper models.

Interested? Click on the bottom below to check it out.

For more comprehensive product reviews of the Pavilion x360, check out the following blogs here and here.