The Pro difference
Is it worth paying the extra for a business laptop over a consumer edition? We explain the key differences to help you decide
Go laptop hunting on any of the international manufacturers’ websites and you’ll soon find yourself shunted in one of two directions: home or business. But, short of including the Pro version of Windows and a higher price tag, it’s not always obvious what the difference is. And it’s worth knowing, because it could be that a cheaper consumer laptop may be a better choice for your professional needs.
Management and deployment play a big part. This is the inherent advantage of Windows 11 Pro (or Windows 10 Pro) over Home, as it adds support for features such as Group Policy and Active
Directory, which allow the IT department to control the rollout and security of systems rather than leaving it in the hands of a potentially carefree user.
Several business laptops also include Intel’s vPro technology and, increasingly, the Pro editions of AMD’s Ryzen processors, which offer near-identical features to vPro. In this hybrid world, these enhanced processors make even more sense as they allow “out of band” monitoring of systems. So an IT team can monitor and update their fleet of laptops from afar, so long as the machine is connected to a known Wi-Fi network.
vPro adds handy extra layers of security at the pre-BIOS level, which HP builds upon with its Wolf Security suite. The emphasis here is on “self-healing” firmware, along with detection and then recovery from breaches, with the software working in tune with the hardware in a way that thirdparty antivirus software will always struggle to match.
You’ll rarely find a business laptop that doesn’t include all the latest hardware security either. That means a fingerprint reader, IR webcams with support for Windows Hello facial recognition and occasionally extra features, such as Dell’s proximity sensor, built into both its Latitudes this month, that will lock Windows if a user walks away. Or the Sure View panel found in many professional HP laptops, where pressing a key activates an electronic filter that prevents people from snooping on your screen from the side or above. Some business laptops also feature an old-fashioned Smart Card reader.
The final difference is that business laptops normally (but not always, especially when bought through a reseller) have a superior warranty. This is sometimes worth the premium all on its own.