Buying Guide: Top 10 best mobile workstations of 2016

Mobile workstations are not your ordinary business laptops; they’re altogether different beasts due to the parts they use, the after sales services and their retail prices. In other words, they tend to be chunky, expensive and top performers when it comes to sheer speed, regardless of price.

You tend to get expensive professional GPUs (FirePro or Quadro), loads of memory, masses of expansion capabilities, Xeon processors as an option and more often than not, a long warranty.

These portable powerhouses are popular in a number of verticals: CAD/CAM, Geospatial, Oil & Gas and engineering because they allow workers to be flexible on the move, reducing downtime that might be associated with long commutes or intercontinental flights.

A number of recent trends have accelerated this shift. Component manufacturers have shifted their attention away from the desktop to the laptop markets with a laser focus on delivering the best performance per watt.

Some vendors – like MSI – are also using experience acquired in other markets – like gaming – to design and build their mobile workstation portfolios. Then there’s also the move to further miniaturise the form factor with a number of models falling in the UItrabook category by virtue of their size and heft.

If you’d prefer a Best Desktop Workstation roundup or, if you’re interested in a business laptop that isn’t necessarily a workstation, we’ve got you covered.

Dell Inspiron 15-7000

Very few laptops on the market can compete with this model. Dell’s Inspiron range is aimed at business and consumers with a definite nudge towards the former. Dare we say, the 7000 series is one that will please almost everyone, including gamers. For the prince, you get one with a laptop with an aluminium chassis and a long list of impressive features. Note that the laptop comes with Windows 10 Home but can be upgraded to Windows 10 Pro for £99.99.

• Dedicated GTX 960M GPU with 4GB RAM
• 16GB Memory
• A true quad-core CPU
• Affordable
• Three-year warranty

HP Zbook 14 G2

HP’s mobile workstation ultrabook has already reached its third generation but the last one is still very much a best-in-class especially when it comes to sheer value for money. It is one of the cheapest workstations, on the market, to offer a professional dedicated graphics card and the most affordable business laptop to come with a whopping half-decade warranty. HP opted for a 14-inch diagonal which may well hit a sweet spot for some.

• Five-year warranty
• Dedicated AMD Firepro M4150 GPU
• MIL-STD 810G certification
• Three-year warranty on the battery
• TPM and Fingerprint sensor

HP Zbook Studio G3

HP calls it the perfect combination of brains and beauty and it is kind of hard to disagree. The G3 is essentially a mobile workstation that has been squeezed in an Ultrabook form factor. A 4K monitor adorns it and there’s plenty of oomph under the hood. It is actually the only device known to us that comes with a Xeon CPU. Add in extensive ISV certification, a super long warranty and MLD-STD 810G certification and you have a very attractive candidate.

• Intel Xeon processor
• 4K monitor
• A plethora of ports that include two Thunderbolt 3 ports.
• Choice between Windows 7 and Windows 10
• 5-year next business day onsite warranty

Dell Precision 15-7000

The more upmarket version of the Inspiron 15-700 above is the Precision 15-7000, an outrageously fast with an equally outrageous price tag. As expected you get cutting edge components and the type of flexibility in the customisation process that sorely lack to the SOHO-oriented Inspiron range. This is Dell’s direct, built-to-order model at its best: From the latest Intel quad-core CPU to a plethora of other high end parts, this is as good as it gets.

• 1TB SSD
• Dedicated Nvidia Quadro M2000M professional GPU
• Quad-core Core i7 CPU
• USB Type-C
• Massive 72Wh battery with quick charging

Lenovo ThinkPad P40 Yoga

Lenovo hails this model as the world’s first multi-mode workstation, one that manages to combine power and creativity thanks to a 360-degree hinge that has, to some extent, set the standard when it comes to convertible or 2-in-1 designs. What’s more, it is one of the very rare laptops to come with built-in Wacom Active ES pen technology, capable of delivering 2048 levels of pen pressure sensitivity and till recognition.

• ThinkPad Pen Pro
• Dedicated Nvidia Quadro card
• Unique convertible design
• Superb portability
• Adheres to Mil-SPEC standards

MSI WS60

MSI is not a brand that we usually associate with workstations but the Taiwanese brand, unlike its staunchest competitors, Gigabyte and Asus, has made some remarkable inroads in that lucrative niche market. The WS60 is essentially a more expensive version of its gaming laptop with a certified professional GPU. Worth noting that this laptop is one of the slimmest and lightest of the workstations in this list.

• Extra 1TB HDD
• 4GB Quadro card
• Three-year warranty
• Ultrabook dimensions
• Thunderbolt 3

Lenovo ThinkPad P70

This is the top-of-the-range workstation at Lenovo, the apex predator, the one to beat. Targeting designers, engineers and professionals in the oil and gas industry, it is one of the only two models to feature an Intel Xeon processor. There’s also a built-in colour calibrator as well as a steep price tag to highlight its premium value. It is a shame though that it doesn’t offer any RAID option at this price and tops up at 512GB storage.

• X-rite colour calibrator
• 64GB RAM
• Top of the range Quadro M5000M with 8GB RAM
• 4K display
• Durability tested against 11 military specifications

Toshiba Tecra W50-A-115

Toshiba hasn’t released a new mobile workstation for nearly two-years now. The current top-of-the-range model however is still a very capable one. It features the familiar Tecra anthracite design, one without the compromises associated with ultra-slim form factors and is the only one of the list to come with 32GB RAM as standard (four 8GB modules). The rest of the configuration is still decent and while we might frown at the one-year warranty, it’s an international one.

• 32GB as standard
• Legacy ports (VGA and ExpressCard)
• Nvidia Quadro processional GPU
• Windows 7 Pro
• Fingerprint reader/TPM option

MSI WT72 6QK

The bigger brother to the WS60 comes with a higher price tag due mostly to a faster GPU (the M3000M rather than the M2000M). And because it is a big laptop with a 17.3-inch display, it has a lot of expansion capabilities. Four memory slots, up to four M.2 SATA SSD in RAID 0/5 and about a dozen ports (including six, yes six USB 3.0 ports). Just bear in mind that this is a beasty machine, one that weighs more than four kilos (around 10 pounds) when you add in the power supply unit.

• Standard three-year warranty
• Excellent expansion capabilities
• NVIDIA Quadro M3000M
• Whopping 9-cell battery
• Extra 1TB HDD

PC Specialist Octane II

In the world of workstations lies an even smaller niche. One for vendors that build to order using parts from the likes of Foxconn. The Octane II is one of them, allowing the user to choose exactly what parts they want to power their workstations and more. Sure, you don’t get the sort of support you’d expect from the likes of Lenovo, Dell or HP but for many, the pros will outweigh the cons. The model we configured came with the best consumer grade laptop CPU on the market, 64GB of RAM and two SSDs in RAID-0 mode.

• Nvidia Quadro M3000M
• Standard three-year warranty
• Fastest CPU on the market
• RAID-0 SSD
• 64GB RAM

Source: techradar.com

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