If you’re in the market for a laptop that you plan to buy, you may be wondering if there’s a real difference between devices marketed as commercial series laptops and those sold as home series laptops. Though commercial series laptops are sometimes used for personal reasons and home series laptops are sometimes used for business reasons, there are still two categories of laptops.
1. Hardware Components
Most commercial and home laptops have many of the same hardware components. However, it is not uncommon to find a commercial series laptop coming with SSD (Solid State) drive, whereas a home series laptop may only have an HD (hard) drive. Other hardware components that you will find in a commercial series laptop include more USB ports, webcams designed for video conferencing, and biometric fingerprint readers. There is also a large range of commercial series laptops that have a 3G modem for broadband use that is cellular. This particular feature allows a mobile worker to stay connected wherever they are. One key difference is to look at the Windows edition that’s offered. Many home series laptops tend to offer basic versions of Windows, such as Windows 10 Home. Whereas, commercial series laptops often offer more premium versions, such as Windows 10 Pro.
When it’s about the hardware quality, it is very much like Military training for the commercial series laptops. Most of these laptops have gone through a series of Military-grade Testing. So it can easily overcome minor drops, miss handlings, and vigorous usages. They are checked for even spill and dust resistant.
Their running time usage is checked on the basis of 40 – 60 hrs per week. The commercial series laptops are mainly based on the workforce and any small damage can affect workflow thereby adversely impacting the performance of the company. Hence, companies prefer only commercial series laptops. Contrary to this, home series laptops do not undergo such rigorous testing. These can withstand a 20–30-hour usage per week. Beyond this usage the life of battery gets affected. As a result, after 2-3 years, users will go for the next option based on trends.
2. Durability
It is very much like metal vs plastic. This means that the commercial series laptops are built with more metal and the home series laptops are made with more plastic. The commercial series laptops are made and designed keeping in mind the rigorous use, travelling rigors of the road.
The commercial series laptops are designed with hard-wearing and shock-resistant features to protect them from short drops, extensive travelling and demanding use. Components like keyboards, switches, chargers are also built to hold up to the extensive use over time while resisting accidental spills.
3. Warranty and Service
Commercial series laptops are made to be used extensively, and hence these laptops often feature longer standard warranties than home series laptops. Home series laptops typically come with a 1-year warranty while commercial series laptops may come with a 3-year warranty.
Also the commercial series laptops use the planned upgrade cycle for many companies and ensures that the laptops are always covered. Onsite warranties are a popular feature for business users. This ensures that a technician or spare part or spare laptop will be sent out to your site to fix any issues covered under the warranty.
4. Style
It is very much like how you dress up for a Business meeting and how you dress up for a family function. Over the period of time, commercial series laptops have gotten slightly better-looking, but there’s no denying that home series laptops are much nicer to look at. They come in bright colours with light up keyboards and eye catching designs.
On the contrary, commercial series laptops do not follow the fashion statements and keep a low profile. They come in sober colours like, black and grey to blend into any business setting and lend a professional look to the laptop user. Still, not all commercial series laptops are just sober black colours. The recent trend toward a more casual workplace has meant more colour and design options for commercial series laptop shoppers.
5. Security
Commercial series laptops are more advanced than home series laptops in terms of security. Even on entry-level models, Biometric fingerprint scanners are practically standard on commercial series laptops, but they’re still relatively rare on home series laptops.
Right from the physical features to software, commercial series laptops are typically built with the specifications that make it easier to manage and secure devices on enterprise-class networks. Commercial series laptops often come with optional security subscriptions, and many laptop sellers offer additional paid technical support for smaller companies that don’t have in-house technical expertise. While this used to be an exclusive feature that gave commercial series devices an edge over home series laptops, the gap is now narrowing. This is an area where the difference between commercial series and home series laptops is narrowing. For now, many small and medium-sized businesses are still better off sticking to commercial series devices when they can.
6. Pre-loaded Software
Home Series laptops often come with lots of pre-loaded extraneous software known as bloatware. These softwares may or may not be useful. Commercial Series laptops are used for pre-defined work and hence the Business buyers prefer laptops as per their own requirements. They don’t want to deal with cleaning unneeded software off of a laptop. Hence manufacturers offer systems that include desired software like the commercial editions of popular operating systems and office productivity packages without unwanted extras like game demos and trial offers. Business grade security software is another key component. Commercial series laptop users need to protect the valuable data kept on their machines.
7. Bottom line
As you can see, there are more compelling reasons to opt for a commercial series laptop than a home series device when you’re buying work laptops. However, the most important thing is productivity, and many small businesses successfully manage home and commercial hardware side by side.
