The Best Laptops for Your Small Business

Choosing a new laptop is no easy task. To start with, there are dozens of quality products to pick from, and the design on most just keeps getting better. They're lighter, more attractive, have better peripheral options and can run on a single battery charge for nearly a day.

Because competition is fierce, and style and function are getting so good, it's important to consider your precise needs when making your final decision. Sure, there's something to be said for brand loyalty, and operating systems aren't all created equal, but before you pull out your credit card for a purchase, your ultimate consideration should be how you will use your new laptop.

In an effort to smooth your decision-making process, we've researched dozens of machines and come up with our top picks for your small business. Here are the laptops we think are worth your consideration. All prices were accurate at the time of writing but are subject to manufacturer change.

Best Overall for Small Business: 

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon
When it comes to performance, styling, portability and price, it's almost impossible to beat this sleek, super-light contender. It's a great choice for pretty much anyone looking for a top-quality computer that is portable enough to take anywhere and powerful enough to manage your daily computing needs.

Weighing in at 2.49 pounds and just 16 mm thick, the X1 Carbon is the smallest, thinnest business Ultrabook that Lenovo has made to date. Despite it's diminutive profile, the 2017 X1 Carbon doesn't skimp on power. It offers 7th Generation Intel Core processors, dual Thunderbolt 3 ports and a sparkling 14-inch Quad-HD display. The X1 also has available Microsoft Windows 10 Pro Signature Edition.

Don't let the X1's good looks and power make you think you'll need to treat it with kid gloves. It's also tough. Lenovo has reinforced the chassis with four layers of carbon fiber plus a magnesium alloy roll-cage. It also comes with a spill-resistant keyboard. Lenovo says the X1 was "tested against 12 military-grade requirements and passes more than 200 durability tests."

Lenovo also says the X1, which starts around $1,169, has 15.5 hours of battery life but expect closer to 13 if you're using Wi-Fi. If audio is important to you, you're probably going to find the X1's speakers as tinny as we did. That's our attempt to nitpick this genuinely outstanding laptop.

Pros: Great display, lightweight, long battery life and rugged, soft-touch chassis
Cons: Tinny audio. We found the display to be a bit dim compared to competitors, and that can make working outdoors difficult.

Best Laptop for Business Travel: 

Dell XPS 13 (2017)
There are a lot of really lightweight, diminutive laptops out there these days, but if you're a serious road warrior looking for superior portability and function at a virtually unbeatable price, the Dell XPS 13 is the laptop for you.

Starting at just under $800, Dell touts this trusty workhorse as "the smallest 13.3-inch laptop on the planet." The virtually borderless InfinityEdge display means you won't sacrifice any screen space in the process. Plus, at just 2.7 pounds, you'll hardly notice it in your shoulder bag or briefcase.
You also won't sacrifice any power with the XPS 13. The base model comes with a 7th Generation Intel Core i3-7100U processor (3MB cache, up to 2.4 GHz), 4GB of memory and a 128GB solid-state hard drive. The XPS 13's superior battery life (surpassing 16 hours in some tests) will ensure you'll get plenty of work done even on international flights without power plugs. Of course, you also get a built-in camera, speakers, microphone and plenty of ports, including:

2 USB 3.0, one with PowerShare
1 SD card reader (SD, SDHC, SDXC)
1 headset jack
1 Noble lock slot
1 Thunderbolt 3 (2 lanes of PCI Express Gen 3), which supports: Power in/charging, PowerShare, Thunderbolt 3 (40Gbps bidirectional), USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10Gbps), VGA, HDMI, Ethernet and USB-A via Dell Adapter (sold separately)

The XPS comes with Windows 10 Home, and you can choose between a chassis finish of silver or rose gold.

Pros: Powerful computing even with the base model, superior portability, excellent battery life
Cons: The webcam is in an odd position, resulting in awkward, chin-heavy shots.

Best Laptop for Sharing Business Data: 

HP Spectre x360
If the shareability and flexibility of a 2-in-1 is important for your business and even personal use, you'll want to check out the HP Spectre x360. Not sure what a 2-in-1 is? Well, these hybrids provide all the utility of a laptop paired with the usability of a tablet - a laptop with a variety of interactive screens, some of which include 360-degree hinges.

The Spectre is our pick in this category for many reasons. To start with, it's a beautifully designed piece of hardware, particularly in HP's newest color scheme, dark ash silver. It's a striking combination of a dark gray body with copper trim that will definitely get you compliments.

The Spectre's beauty doesn't stop there. Its full-HD display has 8 million pixels and allows you to sketch and draw with your active pen and Windows Ink.

One area where the Spectre really shines is graphics. According to testing by LaptopMag.com, the Spectre outperforms the 2-in-1 category average in graphics performance by a wide margin.
Weighing in at 2.89 pounds, it's not the lightest 2-in-1 on the market, but it's still highly portable. The Spectre also is powerful. It's equipped with the Windows 10 Home 64 operating system with Windows Ink and comes with either 8 or 16GB of memory, and four available hard drives, beginning at 256GB and going all the way up to 1TB. Not bad for a starting price of $1,269.

The Spectre also comes with Computrace LoJack for Laptops, making it easier to find your hardware if someone ever grabs it while you're not looking.

Pros: Beautiful design, great functionality
Cons: No Secure Digital card slot

Best Laptop For Rugged Work: 

ASUS Chromebook C202SA
The ASUS Chromebook C202SA is tough, good-looking and comes at a price that isn't going to make you cry when you drop it, slosh your coffee onto the keyboard or manage to let a bag of tools falls onto it. In fact, at just $229, the C202SA is a fraction of the cost of comparably tough laptops aimed at rough trades. It's so inexpensive you may consider buying a backup for the inevitable day you kill yet another laptop. But hold that thought for a moment.

The ASUS Chromebook, which was originally designed with kids in mind, comes with a reinforced, rubber-wrapped protective guard that reduces the damage that accidents could cause. It also has a keyboard that is resistant to up to 66 cubic centimeters of liquid. Up to 2.23 ounces of your coffee, tea or other beverage just rolls off the keyboard.

On top of that, the ASUS Chromebook is designed with grips that make it less likely to slip out of your hands and go crashing to the floor. It's also gone through rigorous endurance testing to ensure the inevitable drop will be less harmful than it might be for other laptops.

Just because it's rugged doesn't mean the ASUS Chromebook isn't super-functional, particularly if you're already doing your invoicing and other work in the cloud. To start, it's fairly lightweight at just 2.65 pounds, so taking it with you to work sites is totally doable. The screen has a 180-degree hinge, making it easier to share designs,, contracts and other materials with clients and crew. Larger keys also make it easier to type accurately (in fact, it's got a phenomenal keyboard). And while it's far from the battery life you'll get with higher-end (and more expensive) laptops, the Chromebook's battery averages about 10 hours, enough to get you through a busy day.

The Chromebook C202SA comes standard with a built-in camera, stereo speakers, microphone, Bluetooth and a 3-in-1 card reader. Kensington Lock security also is included.
Keep in mind that this is not a computer for power users. It's a Chromebook, so there's no word processing or e-mail software on this computer. You'll need to use cloud-based applications like Google Docs and Sheets, etc. It also has a simple 1.6 GHz processor, onboard memory of 2 or 4GB and just 16GB of storage, so unless you're keeping files in the cloud, you'll likely need at least a thumb drive or two.

Best of all, the ASUS Chromebook is built to be easily repaired, so replacing parts is quick and inexpensive.

Pros: Easily repaired, super tough, portable and practical with good battery life, all at a great price
Cons: Can be a little slow and very little onboard storage

Methodology
To find the best laptops for a wide variety of business users, we began by talking to business travelers, entrepreneurs and sole-proprietors. We asked what features are most important in choosing a new laptop and what features they would change or improve. Of course, different things were important to different users. Power and portability led the charts among business travelers, durability was tops among trade professionals, and display was key for business owners who need to share their screen with clients. Cost and computing power were important across the board. Customer support and security features also weighed heavily in purchase decisions.
Along with talking to a range of users, we also did our own extensive research, reading hundreds of online consumer and professional reviews. We then narrowed our list to the 10 most mentioned brands, comparing and contrasting the options offered. We also reviewed manufacturer specs and customer resources, among other things.

Based on this research, we developed these criteria, which we used to evaluate each product:
Cost
Portability
Display clarity and size
Keyboard design
Ports and peripherals
Audio and video clarity
Security options
Weight and dimensions
Customer service
Technical support availability
Operating system

More Small Business Laptops to Consider

Lenovo Thinkpad T470
A strong contender that came close but couldn't beat its sibling the Thinkpad X1 Carbon as the best overall laptop. Starting around $881, it is a good choice for your business computing needs if you want to save some considerable cash. Business analyst Amarjit Kaur said her T470 is great "but it will lose Wi-Fi in case you just close it and then open it without the proper shutdown process, so you have to restart again."

Lenovo Yoga 910
Lenovo's Yoga 910 was another of our favorites in the 2-in-1 convertible category. The display is beautiful and nearly bezel-free. It also boasts more than 10 hours of battery life, making it a great companion in the office or on the go. It's not cheap, however, starting at $1,029.

Apple MacBook Air 13-inch
It's hard not to show a little bias here, given that this article was written on a MacBook Air 13-inch, mostly on a plane by a writer in a tiny economy seat. In fact, a larger laptop may not have fit on the tray table. The MacBook Air's slim profile makes it a great travel companion, plus it has awesome battery life and starts at just $849. Yes, the display could be better, but if you're a fan of Apple's OS, it's a solid choice.

Apple MacBook Pro with Touch Bar (15-inch)
Overall, the MacBook Pro is a great product that's beautiful to look at. The Retina display is truly gorgeous, and this is one seriously fast computer, but there aren't many changes to the newest model that give it any serious "wow" factor. Still, if you're willing to pay the $2,399 entry price, it's a solid piece of technology that's built to last.

MSFT Surface Book 2
Microsoft's latest Surface Book became available to pre-order on Nov. 9, and some reviewers who've already taken it for a test run hail it as a "top-of-the-line powerhouse." Obviously, we couldn't talk to any everyday users about the pros and cons of Microsoft's latest convertible since it hadn't gone to market yet, but we do know this much: It starts at $1,499, comes with a 13.5-inch or 15-inch display, has dual-core and available quad-core processors, provides exceptional battery life of up to 17 hours, offers NVIDIA graphics performance and runs Windows 10 Pro.

Acer Chromebook 14 for Work
If you work in the cloud, a Chromebook can be a great way to save money on a solid piece of hardware. Starting at $749, Acer's Chromebook 14 for Work is more expensive than a lot of its competitors, which leaves it lacking in our opinion, even with its decent battery life and virtually bezel-free display.

by Constance Brinkley-Badgett, Nov 4, 2017
Original Article Here

The last free Windows 10 upgrade path for consumers will shut down by December 31 | PCWorld

The so-called "assistive loophole" is rather broad.

There's still one way consumers can upgrade to Windows 10 for free—and Microsoft will shut it down on December 31, even though a majority of the world's PC users still use older versions of Windows.

Microsoft gave Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users an entire year after the launch of Windows 10 (until July 31, 2016) to upgrade to Windows 10 for free. But there was one exception: those who used assistive technology, such as screen readers, got an indefinite extension. 

According to a Microsoft support page, the deadline for those users to upgrade to Windows 10 for free expires by the end of the year, as noted by Slashgear. After that, consumers will have to pay the full price for a Windows license, which costs about $75 from Amazon for a "system builder" license for Windows 10 Home, and more for retail Home or Professional versions.

You might think that users who don't use assistive technologies would be excluded from this loophole. But Microsoft is making its upgrade path extremely generous: "We are not restricting the upgrade offer to specific assistive technologies," the company says. "If you use assistive technology on Windows, you are eligible for the upgrade offer." All you need to do is visit the assistive support page in question, assert that you use assistive technologies, and then download the upgrade tool to Windows 10. 

Granted, the assistive loophole represents a morally gray area, especially for those who normally wouldn't need to use assistive technology. But you might argue that if you've ever tried out the Windows Narrator tool, you've used an assistive technology. And with the improved assistive technologies that are already built into the Windows 10 OS, those who truly need assistance will benefit from the free upgrade.

Why this matters: Cynics will see Microsoft's "wink, wink" approach to the assistive loophole as one that benefits the company: Windows 10 users only represent about 30 percent of all PCs, according to NetMarketShare, compared to a Windows 7 share of about 49 percent. Of course, Microsoft's using the stick, too: AMD's latest Ryzen chips won't deliver official drivers for Windows 7, part of Microsoft's plan to restrict modern hardware to Windows 10. Unless Microsoft extends the program in some other form, a great freebie is going away.

By Mark Hachman

Senior Editor, PCWorld | OCT 31, 2017 1:09 PM PT

The last free Windows 10 upgrade path for consumers will shut down by December 31 | PCWorld

Uncrackable phone screens might be coming soon thanks to graphene and silver

What?!?!?!  A world without cracked phone screens?  A work bench without shards of glass to come leaping at you in surprise?????

Most of us have suffered that disheartening feeling of picking up your phone after a ‘no phone could survive that’ kind of drop. You reach down and hesitantly turn it over, only to see a cracked screen that ruins your day… to say the least.



Thankfully, scientists from the University of Sussex may have found a solution for those frustratingly fragile screens. By combining silver nanowire and graphene, the new approach promises to be cheaper, stronger and more sustainable than any current screen on the market.



Current phone screens are made using indium tin oxide (ITO), a transparent and highly conductive film used to control display pixels in touch-screen displays. While it’s used in millions of devices worldwide, the most obvious difficulty with ITO film is its well-known fragility. The second major problem is the fact it’s derived from indium: a rare mineral that’s environmentally taxing to extract and highly expensive due to its growing scarcity.



The best-known alternative to date is silver – the most conductive element on the planet. It’s been discovered that film coated with tiny silver nanowires exceeds the performance of ITO film in terms of transmittance and conductivity, with other benefits such as a low energy consumption, low operating temperature, and is easily compatible with existing devices.



The downside though is that like indium, silver is also an expensive and scarce metal. Therefore, while it’s an improvement from current standards, it’s not the ideal option for the future.

A recent article published in the American Chemical Society journal Langmuir may have uncovered a more suitable solution to tougher and more sustainable screens. By combining silver nanoparticles with graphene, researchers from the University of Sussex were able to create a film that again exceeds the performance of existing technologies – only this time, at a fraction of the cost.

Graphene is a two-dimensional crystal produced from natural graphite – a relatively abundant natural resource – and because of this, its cost is low. Graphene acts as a linker in the silver nanowire network meaning only a fraction of silver is required to match or surpass the performance of regular silver nanowire film. Graphene also increases conductivity meaning devices could be more responsive but use less power.



Professor Dalton from the University of Sussex’s School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences detailed how his team assembles the elements:

While silver nanowires have been used in touch screens before, no one has tried to combine them with graphene. What’s exciting about what we’re doing is the way we put the graphene layer down. We float the graphene particles on the surface of water, then pick them up with a rubber stamp, a bit like a potato stamp, and lay it on top of the silver nanowire film in whatever pattern we like.

What’s particularly compelling about this ‘breakthrough’ is the fact the technology is easily scalable. Dalton explained that by using spraying machines and patterned rollers, the silver nanowires and graphene could be combined on a larger scale. That means cracked phone screens could finally be a thing of the past. 



With all the incredible technological advancements out there, it’s great to finally see a potential solution for one of the most frustrating and common problems in recent times. It’s quite exciting to imagine how much more practical and attainable everyday technology could become when screens become cheaper, stronger and more eco-friendly. Let’s just hope they’re rolled out before my next screen cracking experience because if you’re anything like me, they happen far too often.



Uncrackable phone screens might be coming soon thanks to graphene and silver

Microsoft rep installs Chrome mid-pitch because Edge keeps crashing

I love when these things happen, and they happen more often than you would think.  It brings about a quiet vindication that we technicians who are out in the field every day, know what we're talking about.

This is truly half-brutal, half-hilarious. A Microsoft employee was forced to pause his Azure presentation in the middle of a live demo session in order to install Google’s Chrome… because the company’s own Edge browser kept crashing.



But here is the best part: this comical occurrence was recorded and uploaded to YouTube – by none other than Microsoft itself.



The presentation in question aims to show potential customers how to migrate their applications and data to Redmond’s cloud service. But midway through the session, Edge crashes.



This is when after a brief moment of hesitation, the employee finally gives up and charmingly informs the audience that he’ll be taking a moment to install Chrome in order to finish the demo session, which he then goes on to do.



See what happens in the video below (around the 37:10 mark):







In all fairness, the employee handles the situation quite admirably – and the audience nothing but confirms this with numerous giggles in the back.



At some point, the presenter even jokes his blunder “is not going to help make Google better,” when prompted to share browser data and usage stats with the rival.



All in all, the whole affair continues for about three to four minutes until the employee eventually loads Chrome and resumes the presentation.



Hats off for acting so cool under pressure, whoever you are.



by MIX — 3 days ago in MICROSOFT:



Microsoft rep installs Chrome mid-pitch because Edge keeps crashing

How long do you really want to keep using Windows 7?

Personally, I still see hundreds of users still stuck in Windows 7. So far I haven't seen much wrong with that. In fact, in some cases these same people still using Windows 7 need to. Not all software or compliancy requirements are Windows 10 compatible, which is something to keep in mind when planning an upgrade path. Windows 10 has been out since September 30, 2014 and has yet to gather universal support from third party vendors to properly run applications securely for hospitals, banks, pharmacies and a spattering of other important industries.  While I see quite a few instances of mixed operating systems in these cases, and it so far works well, there's a new layer of technicality when you work with an environment that isn't always contiguous.



For those of you who are asking how much longer you can still use Windows 7:  a few more years .... but we know how fast those go by.



When you're ready to upgrade, Future Quest Technologies will help.  We are a woman-owned, locally sourced technology company, proudly serving our communities technology needs.



Here's a great article I found on using Windows 7:



How long do you really want to keep using Windows 7?

New iPhone brings face recognition (and fears) to the masses

Maybe it's the Halloween season, but I sense a Stephen King book / film about the coming horrors of facial recognition on our phones and in our pockets.  It's already on the streets in many urban areas: traffic lights, street posts, businesses, private surveillance.  The days of anonymity are closing in fast. Facebook is gathering profile pictures to use for facial recognition supposedly to enhance tagging features in its social networking platform.  I suspect our faces will ultimately become part of a larger government database much like our fingerprints are now.



The term: one bad apple ruins the bunch, rings loud and clear.  Unfortunately, it's been millions of bad apples that can cause the mostle abiding among us to feel a little angry, shamed and intruded upon.  It's a real shame that those who harness tecnology for nefarious purposes won't harness that energy to produce good. 



Here's the latest article I found on facial recognition technology coming to your nearest pocket soon ....



New iPhone brings face recognition (and fears) to the masses