The Record - Issue 19: Winter 2020

59 V I EWPO I NT Choosing a laptop for home working ANDY F R ENCH : DYNABOOK As working from home becomes the norm for many, the right laptop is essential to support productivity W hether you’re working at home, in the office or in the field, dynabook pro- duces a wide range of business laptops to support productivity. Here are our top five features that companies should look for when choosing a laptop for home working. Screen quality : when choosing a laptop for business needs, screen size is often cited as a top priority. Portable laptop screens typically sport a 13.3-inch to 14.1-inch display and this offers the best compromise, as larger sizes are better suited to desktop replacements. Also think about the resolution, the number of pixels that make up the display and whether you can comfortably see all the information you need to read. Choose a display with a bright, non-reflective screen so you can work anywhere, including in the garden. Performance and speed : consider the amount of processing power that goes not only into performing daily work tasks, but also the back- ground options, such as connecting to cloud storage, company virtual private networks and similar forms of remote access. When thinking about performance, you should also consider the laptop’s build quality. A laptop with a magnesium-alloy chassis will offer the best strength and flexibility to survive the rigours of the road, as well as the needs of being used around a busy household. Laptop keyboard : a business laptop is only as good as the data entry it allows so a good quality built-in keyboard andpointing device is essential, especially if you’re looking to work in confined conditions. The keys on the laptop keyboard should be well- spaced and have a good responsive traction to them. What’s more, opting for a non-spill keyboard will help you cope with the rigours of working at home, where family life can lead to spillages. Connection : working from home often entails a variety of locations, from the kitchen table to sitting on the sofa. Therefore, your laptop should have instant on/resume or fast hibernation func- tionality, so you can quickly stop and start work- ing. Biometric authentication using either your face or finger for fast and secure log-on is also an option worth considering. Multimedia features : one area that is often overlooked when choosing a business laptop is the multimedia functionality of the device. However, when it comes to working from home, the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted how essential features such as good quality speakers, microphone and webcam are. A laptop with good quality audio and video features allows you to better interact with colleagues and clients. Andy French is head of EMEA marketing at dynabook, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sharp