Price and portability are arguably the biggest reasons why a business might consider a Windows-based tablet for work. Some tablets sell for less than $500 and can quickly adapt to a corporate environment. While specialized (i.e., expensive) tablets have been in vertical markets, such as healthcare, for years, the ubiquity of the Apple iPad means that people are used to carrying a computer that doesn't have a physical keyboard or that uses a detachable, basic one.

You might look for a Windows tablet if you need to run critical in-house or third-party apps created initially for PCs, but that emphasize touch or pen input. True enterprise-class Windows tablets are still evolving, but most business users expect their work computers to behave like their personal tablets. Apple fans will have to be content with using the iPad or iPad Pro for business, as a tablet-optimized version of macOS doesn't exist.

Most Windows tablets are built to surf the web, run Office apps, and perform other super-light computing tasks. Still, they are also compatible with the gamut of security applications, VPN and email clients, and countless hardware peripherals such as printers, scanners, and network-attached storage (NAS) devices. We wouldn't run an entire business on a tablet, but one can be a helpful take-along unit for an offsite meeting or as a portable alternative to your six-pound big-screen bruiser of a workstation. Microsoft (with its Surface line) and Lenovo (with its ThinkPad variants) are the key players for business Windows tablets in this market.

By and large, work laptops are ideal whether in a cubicle in the office or the comfort of your home. But, if you want a fantastic work-from-home laptop, we have a few additional factors to consider, like portability if you're commuting to an office for part of the week or camera quality so you can look your best while working remotely.

One of the major concerns is portability, which includes a laptop's size, weight, and battery life. You might be able to tote a laptop under an arm or nestled inside a laptop bag, but you also want to use it without being tethered to an outlet. If you're going to a coffee shop, on an airplane, back and forth from an office to your home, or wherever your remote work happens, choosing a lightweight, long-lived laptop will pay off.

But stationary use is also a concern. If you work from home more often than you take your laptop on the road, you'll want to take advantage of dedicated desk space and the accessories and peripherals a desk allows. That means an external monitor, a proper keyboard and mouse, and any other peripherals you want for your workspace.

Finally, look for a laptop with a 1080p camera, which will help you look better on video calls than the 720p cameras many office models default to. Most of our favorite models listed above feature these higher-quality cameras for better virtual meetings.

Choosing a suitable processor for your business machines can be a little complicated, but we have a few rules of thumb to bear in mind, whether you're shopping for a personal work machine or upgrading the IT fleet for your whole company.

We recommend choosing the latest processor generation whenever possible. The latest chips will feature newer capabilities and current and ongoing support. Doing so pushes the unavoidable future upgrade back further than if you started with last year's hardware.

Next, it helps to know what class of processor you need. Our guide to choosing a laptop CPU provides our most detailed advice, but for business users, we have some rules of thumb you should know.

The lowest-end processors, like Intel's classic Pentium CPUs (the newest are now just dubbed "Intel Processors," minus the "Pentium"), aren't meant for daily work but would be a decent fit for powering a sales kiosk or running signage. Next-step-up basic processors, like Intel's Core i3, Core 3, and Core Ultra 3, are suited to simple work like writing up documents and browsing the web. If the most demanding program you run is PowerPoint, then a basic processor will suit you just fine.

For more demanding work, you'll look to more productivity-focused options. On Intel, these traditionally were Core i5 and i7 chips, but business machines are gravitating toward the newer Intel Core Ultra 5 and Ultra 7 CPUs). Apple's M-series processors fill out the same category on MacBooks. In contrast, AMD's Ryzen 5 or Ryzen 7 processors are suitable for office users who do light video editing or need to power through large spreadsheets and datasets. (The newest machines may use AMD Ryzen AI 300-series processors.)

If you need more horsepower for intensive tasks such as number crunching, heavier content creation, or workstation-grade processing, consider Intel's Core Ultra 7 and 9 chips, Apple's M4 Max, and AMD's Ryzen 9 CPUs. These will almost always be paired with powerful discrete graphics and plenty of RAM. Check out our guide to mobile workstations to find out what specific considerations you should make when shopping in this category.

Finally, consider the form factor. As a rule, Intel's H- and HX-series chips will deliver the highest power for the most demanding uses and will be found in mobile workstations and creator laptops, while U-series CPUs are made for midrange thin-and-light laptops. (AMD uses similar letters to designate its laptop processors in the same way: H for performance and U for portability.) Ultraportable laptops generally use lower-wattage chips, typically around 15 watts from U-series chips, with wattage driving up to 45W or higher in workstations. But, even with the U-series models, the basic tiers provide good, better, and best in terms of processing power.