For most of the last two decades, a business laptop lived on a worker’s desk and rarely left the building. Today that assumption no longer holds. According to Gallup, more than three-quarters (78%) of employees now work fully or partially remotely.

Gartner expects businesses to keep computing devices roughly 15% longer than in recent years, due to cost, so the hardware that SMBs buy now has to hold up over a longer stretch of use. Gartner also projects that AI PCs will make up more than half of all PC sales in 2026, so durability and mobility increasingly need to coexist with the higher processing power that on-device AI requires.

A laptop designed for a stationary desk job is not built for that kind of movement, so small business owners buying their next round of hardware need a different checklist. Here are five things worth evaluating before the next purchase.

  • Powerful processing: How many applications and browser windows do you have open at any given time? Probably dozens. Running multiple applications simultaneously requires a powerful processor to prevent laggy navigation and sluggish performance.
  • Built-in ruggedness: Laptops that travel get dropped, jostled, and occasionally splashed with coffee. Eight out of 10 SMBs say that at least some of their employees drop or roughly handle their devices, and one-quarter frequently experience significant downtime due to hardware malfunctions, according to the ASUS Future of SMB Report. Features that used to be considered upgrades — such as reinforced chassis, spill-resistant keyboards, and components rated for temperature and impact tolerance — should now be considered standard for all business laptops.

    Additionally, a laptop that leaves the office will be removed and then plugged into many different monitors, docks, and peripherals. Ports that wear out after light use can create serious support headaches, so look for connections built to withstand frequent insertion.

  • Battery life for work on the move: Employees working from coffee shops, trains, and shared workspaces cannot always count on a convenient outlet. Laptop batteries need to support a full day of work, not just a few hours.
  • Lightweight design: No one enjoys carrying around a heavy laptop, especially employees who travel frequently with their machine. A lightweight design is a must for machines on the move.
  • Displays built for comfort: Employees now work under office lighting, home lighting, natural light, and everything in between. A bright, high-contrast display with strong color accuracy reduces eyestrain across those environments and keeps people productive later into the day.

The ASUS ExpertBook Ultra has been designed to meet all of these criteria. Its lightweight magnesium-aluminum chassis is highly resistant to everyday wear and tear. It’s also more than tough enough to withstand a short fall or a beverage mishap, and with 26 hours of battery life and rapid charging, employees won’t waste time searching for an outlet.  And because it’s powered by an Intel® Core™ Series 3 processor, the ExpertBook Ultra provides rock-solid performance while running multiple compute-heavy apps.

Choosing the right laptop has become a strategic decision rather than a routine purchase. Small businesses that build their hardware standards around durability, mobility, and display comfort will spend less time managing broken devices and more time letting their teams work from wherever the job takes them.

Learn more about ASUS’s laptops designed for business.