Laptops are alive and well

WITH the surge in popularity of smartphones and tablet computers in recent years, many predicted the death of the PC – not just boxy desktops, but the portable variety too.

While desktop PCS are in apparently terminal decline, at least in the consumer space, laptops show no sign of vanishing anytime soon. Anyone who does any real work while on the move knows why.

While a phone or tablet is great for web browsing, monitoring social media, watching videos and answering the odd e-mail, longer form tasks like presentations, text editing and spreadsheets really do benefit from a bigger screen and real keyboard, not to mention the beefier processing power and storage that can be squeezed into even the slimmest Ultrabook style notebooks.

After spending some time with two of these new generation portable PCS, I feel I can confidently predict that laptops aren’t going anywhere. working in dim lighting conditions was less of a chore.

There are ports aplenty, including a newer USB 3.1 port in addition to the more standard USB 3.0 ports – one of which is a charging port. There’s also a port to connect a high resolution external display, an SD card reader, Ethernet port and a headphone/microphone jack. Battery life was excellent too, easily lasting a full work day and saving me the additional weight and hassle of packing the wall charger.

If you do need to top up on the go, however, HP Fast Charge will give you up to 50% battery in just 30 minutes of charging.

All in all, HP’S Zbook 15u G4 impressed me a lot. It certainly lives up to its Mobile Workstation moniker. It’s good value for the price, which