Best Business Laptops for Working From Home: 2025’s Guide

Unlike consumer laptops, the best business laptops prioritize long battery life, more configuration options, and security features, such as biometric authentication and hardware-based encryption.

Business laptops don’t always make sense, but if you’re looking for:

• Long battery life and portability for working on the go
• The top security for protecting company data
• Reliable performance for IT tasks
• Enterprise-grade warranties

Then, investing in one makes sense.

In this article, our team at Atera has reviewed and listed the best laptops for working from home. We’ll compare their pricing, key features, hardware specs, and real user reviews. 

Before reviewing the laptops, let’s look at key considerations when buying a business laptop for IT remote work.

Key considerations when selecting a business laptop for remote IT work

Like with any laptop for IT (even rugged laptops), the three key buying considerations are:

• Your IT department role
• Performance requirements
• Warranty & technical support

Let’s look at each of these in more detail.

1. Your IT department role

Depending on your IT department role, you should prioritize different features on the business laptop. 

For example, if you’re:

• A help desk technician – lightweight design, reliable battery life, and compatibility with remote support software are key.
• A cybersecurity specialist – opt for advanced security features like TPM, biometric authentication, and built-in encryption.
• A developer – prioritize high CPU and RAM, fast SSD storage, and support for virtual environments.
• A system administrator – look for multiple ports, remote access tools, and strong networking capabilities.

2. Performance requirements

Not every IT professional needs the best high-end laptop with a top-of-the-line processor and 64GB of RAM. Most times, a solid mid-range laptop with solid specs will do the job just fine.

Here’s a general breakdown based on performance needs:

• Basic IT tasks (e.g., documentation, ticketing, remote desktop access): Intel Core i5 or equivalent, 8–16GB RAM, 256–512GB SSD
• Development and scripting: Intel Core i7 or Apple M-series chip, 16–32GB RAM, 512GB–1TB SSD
• Heavy multitasking or virtualization: High-end CPUs (e.g., Ryzen 9, Intel i9), 32–64GB RAM, fast SSDs with 1TB+ storage

In the ideal scenario, choose a business laptop that meets your current requirements with some headroom for future demands.

3. Warranty & technical support

Laptop manufacturers, such as HP, Microsoft, Apple, and Lenovo, offer different warranties and technical support for their business laptops.

Before you invest in one, make sure you’re aware of the warranty and technical support.

The warranty is often listed on the product page, as is the case for HP:

Like HP has, laptop manufacturers often offer warranty packages for additional support. If you want to ensure that on-site repair and replacement are available, it’s a good idea to explore the paid warranties.

The 6 best business laptops for remote IT staff working from home (2025)

To find the best laptop for working from home in 2025, we looked at hundreds of real user reviews to see what other IT professionals recommend.

Based on our research, the best business laptops are:

1. Dell Latitude 5550 – Best overall business laptop for remote IT workers
2. Apple MacBook M4 Pro – Best Apple environment business laptop
3. Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 – Best Windows laptop with high performance
4. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 – Best mid-range business laptop for IT professionals
5. HP EliteBook 840 G11 – Best budget business laptop
6. HP ZBook Ultra G1a 14 – Best heavy-duty business laptop

For each laptop, we’ll also highlight user reviews to help you make a better decision.

1. Dell Latitude 5550 – Best overall business laptop for remote IT workers

Our choice for the best overall business laptop is the Dell Latitude 5550 due to its fair price that matches solid performance. The base model Latitude 5550 ($1,299) is equipped with 512GB of internal storage, 16GB of RAM, and a 13th Gen Intel Core i5 processor, which is more than enough for most IT professional workflows.

We also found multiple IT professionals recommending Dell business laptops for working from home. One Reddit user said, “I highly suggest looking into Dell. They have the most bang for the buck and are quick to fix any issues for business-based laptops and PCs.”

2. Apple MacBook M4 Pro – Best Apple environment business laptop

If you’re operating in the Apple environment and are looking for a strong business laptop, the new Apple MacBook M4 Pro is your best choice. With prices starting from $1,999, it’s not the most affordable laptop, but it comes with the newest M4 processor, 24GB of RAM in the base model, and 512GB of internal storage.

The M4 Pro is truly a powerhouse and might be overkill for IT professionals doing less resource-intensive tasks, like documentation or light troubleshooting.

One reviewer commented on this model: “M4 Pro is tailored to video editing, rendering/other graphic design, limited LLM/AI models, certain other intensive programming tasks, etc. The battery life on all of these MBPs is incredible.”

3. Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 – Best Windows laptop with high performance

The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 is the newest model in the Surface series, and it rivals the MacBooks in terms of price and features. It is known for its exceptionally long battery life (20 hours), Copilot+PC integration, and a sleek design. The Surface Laptop 7 is available in 13.8 and 15-inch sizes and starts at just 1.34kg (2.96 lbs), which makes it ideal for remote workers.

The Microsoft Surface business laptop was one of the top recommendations in this Reddit thread for IT professionals:

While this model is new, the prices start at only $999.99, which makes it one of the most cost-effective business laptops. 

4. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 – Best mid-range business laptop for IT professionals

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 is a 14-inch business laptop and a great choice for a mid-range business laptop. The base model prices start at $1768.50 on Amazon and come with 512 GB of internal storage, 32GB of RAM, and a powerful 13th Gen Intel Core i7 processor.

Other IT professionals on Reddit commented on Lenovo this way: “Lenovo X1 carbons for finance and managers, and we utilize T14 for your standard user. They are super durable, never have any issues with hardware, and are just beasts of machines.”

The Lenovo X1 Carbon series also has a Gen 13 version. While it’s one of the best high-end laptops, the prices start at $2,523.51, making it out of reach for most.

5. HP EliteBook 840 G11 – Best budget business laptop

At its base model, the HP EliteBook 840 G11 is currently available for $1,249 and includes an Intel Core i5 processor, 16GB of memory, 512GB of internal storage, and a standard warranty of three years. The laptop is equipped with the HP Wolf Pro Security, which helps protect against malware, phishing, and other cyber threats.

As a drawback to the HP EliteBook, users on Reddit say the battery life degrades quickly. One user specifically said: “We have the same issue at work. We all had HP Pro and Elite books, and we rarely reached over 5 hours of battery. Even worse, after a year, the quality has degraded to 1-2 hours.”

6. HP ZBook Ultra G1a 14 – Best heavy-duty business laptop

If you’re looking for a heavy-duty laptop that can handle even the most demanding workloads, the 14-inch HP ZBook Ultra G1a 14 is a great option. This laptop is available at many different price points, starting at $2,599 and going up to $8,250 (the most powerful option).

The base model includes 32GB of RAM, 512GB of internal storage, and an AMD Ryzen AI Max PRO processor.

Many users say the ZBook Ultra 14 is the best Windows laptop out there. One Reddit user specifically said, “Having used it for two days now, I can confidently say it’s the best Windows laptop I’ve had by some distance. Completely silent 99% of the time on balanced mode for normal office type usage and handles everything I’ve thrown at it so far without breaking a sweat.”

Extra tips on protecting your business laptops from external threats

If you’re working for an IT department, protecting your laptops from malware attacks, phishing attempts, and data breaches should be one of your main responsibilities.

The problem is, though, that laptops’ internal features aren’t enough on their own. Even with enterprise-grade security hardware, you still need to use third-party tools to monitor and manage threats across your devices.

This is where tools like Atera can help. Atera is an all-in-one IT management solution that lets you keep tabs on device health, deploy patches, run security scans, and respond to threats in real time.

With Atera, you can:

• Remotely monitor all endpoints for suspicious activity
• Automate software updates and security patches
• Install antivirus solutions across multiple devices at once
• Get real-time alerts when something’s off

In addition, Atera offers the industry’s first true Agentic AI tool through Action AI™, which helps to automate many tasks associated with IT management.

So, if you’re ready to protect your laptops from security threats using Atera’s innovative features and AI, an easy step you can take is to sign up for the 30-day free trial.