What do you need to know before you buy a new laptop in 2020?

This post is brought to you by Lenovo.

As the world embraces work-from-home and remote working setups in 2020, laptops have continued to play an integral role in maintaining the productivity of the global workforce in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. But with the vast variety of models out there, along with the confusing technicalities of the laptop market, it can be difficult to know what to look out for in a new laptop. 

Do you go for the most expensive option? Or should the size of the display be the most important factor in your decision? Before you start browsing through thousands of models and listings, here’s what you need to look out for in your next laptop purchase. 

Processor: The power under the hood

When it comes to any computer, whether it’s a PC or a smartphone, the processor under the hood is essential. Your choice of processor will be one of the most important factors in the performance of your laptop, so it’s important to choose something that offers you enough power to complete your tasks—smoothly.

AMD’s Ryzen 4000 series processors have been talked about a lot in the technology industry, and for good reason. They offer up to 8 cores on the Zen 2 architecture, which means that responsiveness is ideal—whether it’s for work or for play. The Lenovo ThinkPad E14 and ThinkPad E15 are both powered by the AMD Ryzen 7 4700U processors, which offer 8 CPU Cores, 8 Threads, and 7 GPU cores.

As such, you’re looking at a base clock speed of 2.0GHz and a max boost clock speed of 4.1GHz, so the Lenovo ThinkPad E14 and ThinkPad E15 offer you the versatility to handle most tasks with ease, and to ensure productivity. 

Design, build, and weight

In the fast-paced world that we live in today, professionals are often required to work on-the-go, wherever they are. As such, we can’t stress enough how important it is to have a laptop that is both powerful and lightweight in nature. The ThinkPad E14 and ThinkPad E15 are both light enough to be a portable daily driver, with the smaller E14 weighing just 1.59kg and the E15 at 1.7kg.

Weight isn’t everything, however. Having a device with a slim profile is essential, especially if you plan to use a sleek, modern laptop bag—as opposed to the bulky laptop bags of the past. Lenovo’s ThinkPad E14 has a slim profile of 17.9mm, while the ThinkPad E15 also maintains a slim profile at 18.9mm. 

Display

Even if you aren’t using your laptop for consuming media, it’s important to have a display that has versatility to handle a wide variety of situations. With that in mind, the ThinkPad E14 and ThinkPad E15 both have Full HD IPS displays which offer wide-angle viewing—which means that you’ll be able to view your display from a wide range of viewing angles.

Of course, brightness is also very important here. A max brightness of 220 nits for the ThinkPad E14 should mean that you won’t have too many issues with viewability, while the max brightness of the ThinkPad E15 is 250 nits. And if you’re spending 8–9 hours on your laptop per day (which is pretty much the norm nowadays), your eyes are protected with Lenovo’s anti-glare technology.

Connectivity

In today’s world, everything is connected. Which is why the connectivity capabilities of a laptop are absolutely essential in ensuring that your new laptop is the most efficient tool for your work processes. Look out for WiFi 6 support along with Bluetooth 5.0—both of which are present in the ThinkPad E14 and ThinkPad E15.

For some context, WiFi 6 is the latest generation of WiFi, which basically means that speeds will be significantly faster—the theoretical speed limit for WiFi 6 is 10Gbps. Throughput is maximised, which will result in more stable connectivity for users, too. 

Security

Security is a big thing for the ThinkPad line—after all, ThinkPads have been the laptop of choice for many professionals for a long time now. The ThinkPad E14 and E15 come with built-in security, with encryption via the discrete TPM 2.0 chip, along with Smart Power On, which is an integrated fingerprint reader on your power button. Plus, there’s also the option for an IR camera with Glance by Mirametrix technology, which offers face, eye, and gaze tracking (attention sensing technology).

Price

To tie that all together, you’ll need to ensure that you’re getting what you’re paying for. The new Lenovo ThinkPad E14 and E15 with AMD Ryzen 4700U processors paired with integrated graphics are priced starting at RM3,449—which certainly makes this a bang-for-buck package. Plus, the ThinkPad E14 and E15 come with the “legendary” ThinkPad keyboard, with Lenovo saying that the models are built for the “new generation” of professionals. To find out more, click here.

Editor’s note: This article has been amended to reflect the latest information from Lenovo Malaysia.