Business laptops reload

Seemingly cornered by the release of the Apple iPad and Macbook Air, and now Google's Chromebook, business laptops are making a comeback with a new generation of slimmed-down, feature-rich - even stylish - offerings.

FT.com

Business laptops are boring, clunky, cumbersome to carry, dull in design, always behind the cutting edge of consumer technology, even out of date as a concept – end of story.

Or so I thought until I looked at a new generation of slimmed-down, feature-rich – even stylish – business-oriented notebooks that may change common perceptions of the category and widen their appeal.

That would represent quite a shift. My own impressions are scarred by my current four-year-old Dell, which was fine when new but now seems antediluvian with its dull, square display, lap-singeing, overheating base and battery life expectancy of little more than an hour.

I am ashamed to take it to press conferences for fear of pitying glances from blogger technorati around me with their MacBooks and iPads. Indeed, even people with heavy data demands in terms of text and visuals – often business users – are finding that they can function almost as well using netbooks, tablets or even smartphones as on a laptop – and enjoy the kudos, too.

From Apple's iPad and Macbook Air to newcomers such as Google's just-released Chromebook – a bare-essentials machine that can cut IT departments' costs and workload dramatically – and Samsung's ultraslim Series 9 notebook, many business-oriented users will be wondering whether it is worth having a conventional laptop at all. The big traditional players serving people with heavy data use – Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo and Toshiba – seem to have their work cut out defending their territory.

I have been investigating whether their end of the laptop empire can strike back with a new range of ultra-portables – the name given to lightweight laptops in the 11in-13in screen range. They must be worried that tablet devices – and slimmed-down notebooks – will supersede even their lightest, most attractive business offerings.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1, on sale from May 24, HP's ProBook 5330m, introduced this month, and Toshiba's Portégé R830, on sale since April, are all 13.3in devices – the same as Samsung's notebook and the larger version of the MacBook Air.

Lenovo's X-series denotes its ultraportable line-up, which has been so successful over the past decade that it has accounted for nearly half of all sales of ultraportables to medium and large-sized businesses.

But while IT departments love its security, reliability and sturdy construction – the ThinkPad is strong enough to stand on – its very doughtiness can seem a little dour to executives and consumers looking for more flair these days.

The X1 represents Lenovo's response to the challenge of Apple and others offering cooler, slimmer designs suitable for the office and home. At its narrowest point, the X1 is just two-thirds of an inch thick, making it the thinnest ThinkPad yet. I loved the rubberised feel of its classy, charcoal casing. The keyboard, with its big keys and their smooth travel, were also a dream to type on. The keyboard is also backlit – for the first time on the X-series – offering two levels of lighting. Two slots, which allow you to see right through the keyboard if you hold it up, are the visible signs of a very effective drainage system for any coffee spills.

Corning Gorilla Glass has been introduced to cover the HD display, which toughens it considerably but also gives it a glossy reflectivity that I found a little distracting in daylight.

Another new feature is Dolby Home Theater V4. This improves audio through the stereo speakers, allowing volume to be increased without distortion, and offering settings for films, music and games. I was impressed with the virtual surround-sound effects but found the bass from the speakers lacking in oomph.

There is ample connectivity, including both HDMI and DisplayPort video connections, USB 3.0 and a memory card reader. Battery life is an unexceptional five hours but it can be doubled with a $150 battery slice accessory that attaches to the bottom.

The model I tested was pacy thanks to Intel's latest Core i5 processor and costs $1,400 – $100 more than the MacBook Air, which has an older processor, but cheaper than the similarly powered Samsung Series 9. At 2.9lb versus the X1's 3.7lb, the rivals are lighter but Lenovo's machine is more likely to survive serious knocks.

The first time I picked up Toshiba's Portégé R830, it was so light it felt like one of the empty dummy models that are often shown to the media to illustrate future designs. It is just an inch thick, weighs 3.1lb and feels strong yet light thanks to its magnesium alloy casing and honeycombed inner construction. It also manages to include a DVD drive, which is absent in other ultraportables.

The R830 is an update of the award-winning R700 model and Toshiba has done little to change a winning formula.

However, it has added a USB 3.0 port, which is 10 times faster than the prevalent 2.0 standard, and upgraded it to the 2011 Intel processor family. It costs $1,350 with a standard hard drive in a Core i5 configuration that includes Intel's WiDi technology for beaming its screen wirelessly to a TV – a feature previously reserved for consumer laptops that is also being introduced on the X1.

The third contender in the lap top fightback, HP's ProBook 5330m, is the company's first business-oriented notebook to include Beats Audio, a consumer technology developed with the rapper Dr Dre to improve PC sound. It offers the best bang for the buck at $900 for the Core i5 version and features a backlit keyboard inside the brushed aluminium casing that makes it weigh in at a heavier 3.9lbs.

Advanced cooling technologies, HD webcams and fingerprint identification to unlock them come with all these ultraportables, adding to the appeal of machines that still have an advantage over tablets in making me more productive and secure – I glided through typing this column on the X1 and had access to a full Microsoft Office suite.

The consumer features and improved looks have made me see them in a better light. The acid test for me was when I strode without fear of condescension into a press conference this week toting a Portégé R830.

With a little practice on the footwork, I may do an encore and test the Mac bloggers' reactions to a tap dance on top of a ThinkPad X1.

This article first appeared in the Financial Times on May 19. Republished with permission.