Here are the best laptops for work from home or for the road. We’re over 1 year since the pandemic hit and we’re all still trying to adapt to the new normal, with work from home as a norm. Companies are changing how they handle employee work and most are employing a work from home set up for most cases.
In this list, we try to list down the best work from home devices that can assure you of the best productivity while not making your wallets cry! For starters, we no would not recommend any laptop that only has 4GB of ram or does not have an SSD. The minimum should definitely be 8GB of Ram and 512GB of SSD or a 1TB+256GB hybrid storage. For the processor, it is ideal to get an Intel Core i5 (10th or 11th Gen) or a Ryzen 5 (4000 or 5000 series). This should be the ideal work from home laptop configuration.
Take note though that our list comes from various resellers, however, and prices may vary depending on where you look!
Let’s begin!
ASUS X515 – PHP 42,999 | Gigahertz | Facebook
ASUS notebooks have always been reliable due to their quality. They used to offer the best in class warranty with their 2 Years International warranty but they have yet to adapt to onsite warranties like Dell and Lenovo where you no longer have to visit their service centers if any issues arise.
This ASUS X515 packs a Core i5-1135G7 processor, 8GB of Ram, 15.6” HD screen and a 1TB+256GB SSD. It makes it on our list because it packs an MX330 GPU to help with some light content creation for those who work with editing apps. The only downside we see with this laptop is the HD screen. In this day and age, going for a FULL HD screen should definitely be something to go for.
ACER SWIFT 3 – PHP37,999 | Gigahertz | Facebook
Acer’s isn’t quite strong in ultra-premium laptops but the Swift 3 actually comes from their high end line of ultrathin laptops (Aspire series being their mainstream segment). The Swift 3 comes with a 3 side narrow border display, a full metal body that’s only 1.2KG light and comes with our recommend i5 + 8GB + 512GB configuration. Warranty is 2 years but you’ll need to visit a service centre yet again like it is for ASUS laptops should there be any problems. A big plus for this Swift 3 device is that you get a FREE Microsoft Office 2019 Home & Student Lifetime license worth P6,995 so that’s one cost you can cross out of your expense!
LENOVO IdeaPad Slim 5i – PHP40,999 | Gigahertz | Facebook
Lenovo currently offers the best in class warranty in the Philippines but that comes at a cost, especially for budget work from home laptop setups. For this device we’re recommending, while similar to the specifications of our recommend ASUS and ACER, comes at PHP40,999. Otherwise, you’ll get the same i5+8GB+512GB SSD configuration and that free Microsoft office worth P6,995. Lenovo uses more compact bezels here making for true portability but since this is about work from home – portability isn’t really the main consideration here. The real winner here is the 3 years worth of onsite support via Lenovo’s premium care though for an additional P2000 – you can get the ASUS X515 with an Nvidia Geforce MX330, albeit with only an HD screen.
Lenovo IdeaPad S340 – PHP42,999 | Complink | Facebook
Probably the best catch in this list, the Lenovo S340-13 is using an older i7-10510U processor paired with 8GB ram and 512GB SSD, outperforming ASUS X515, ACER Swift 3 and Lenovo’s own IdeaPad Slim 5i but the caveat here is the ram and SSD are no longer upgradeable. If you plan to upgrade to higher ram or storage in the future, sadly that won’t be possible. At Php42,999 though, you might not find a better deal than this! Pro tip – The store offers this around P33.5K during their frequent promotions so make sure you call their store for the discount!
DELL Inspiron 5510 – PHP49,999 | Complink | Facebook
If you need a little more oomph, this dell Inspiron 5510 provides an H series i5-10300H processor for much better multi threaded performance than all other laptops on this list, and does it while inside an ultrathin device. There is the option of going for a gaming laptop instead but they’re not as portable or classy as ultrathin devices come! Otherwise, this model also comes with our recommended 8GB + 512GB configuration, comes with a Microsoft Office 2019 Lifetime license and the legendary Dell warranty premium service!
Other options
As mentioned in one of our picks, you can consider gaming laptops between the 40-45K peso range if you need raw power to handle your requirements. The only downside is batteries can be quite small, those laptops aren’t as portable (in case you need to lug them around at some time in the future) and the bezels of gaming laptops in those price ranges can still be quite huge, making for a laptop that looks like it came from 3 years ago.
Ideally, you’ll be able to get an i5H series processor or Ryzen 5 H series processor paired with 8GB ram, 512GB of SSD and the additional power from a dedicated GTX1650 or 1650ti! It’s a great laptop for productivity, if you really don’t mind the weight and form factor.