One of our larger clients recently approached us to find them an additional laptop for one of their staff with some specific requirements. They wanted it to be light, have a small form factor at 13” or less, be reasonably powerful and also be cheap at around £600. They also requested that it not be a tablet and be a standard laptop design. To make it more difficult their IT needs necessitate using windows Pro, which heavily restricts the options available and while it CAN be upgraded after the fact, it is not cost effective or quick. To add insult, our client has found that some well-known computer suppliers were offering their business branded laptops with Home edition windows and were stung buying software not fit for their purposes.
After investigating the options from our favoured suppliers, then our backup suppliers and finally the rest of the internet we discovered that it is unlikely we can source a computer that satisfies all the needs of the client. We consulted with them with some options, many of which were just over £1000, but they were not budgeting for quite that much. So instead of compromising on price we had to re-assess the other criteria and eventually decided on one best pick.
Dell XPS 13
In our opinion it offered the best balance of Ability, Size/Weight and price. There are also many configurable options for faster CPU, additional storage and more. Since this laptop was for portability and occasional use, cost was the deciding factor (after availability).
GPD Pocket 3 Mini
An honourable mention goes to the GPD Pocket 3. It is exceptionally small, has incredible specs, modern features, and a reversible touchscreen. The top model has roughly double the RAM and storage of the XPS13. But this comes at a cost and is by far the most expensive option.
Ben Parker – by line and other articles
