Let’s take a look at the best laptops for investment banking. Laptops used for investment banking have to be both professional, durable, and quick.
It’s not always easy to pick a great laptop for this purpose. You will need to manage client data, investment data, and be online all the time.
Only the top-of-the-line laptops fall into the category of best laptops for investment banking. This is something you can’t really save on when you need to take your work seriously.
The most important thing about a laptop for investment banking is reliability. You need your laptop to be available at all times. It needs to be quick with long battery life.
Then you want to think about the screen. You will be working with a lot of data so the bigger the screen, the better. Quality is also important as it must be easy on your eyes.
You will need a laptop with an SSD that’s for sure. Luckily we didn’t pick out any that doesn’t have quick storage.
Take RAM and CPU performance into consideration when you choose.
As for the graphics card, that’s something you don’t need to worry about. Anything you need to use in a laptop for investment banking will be fine without a dedicated GPU.
Best laptops list for Investment Banking
- Apple MacBook PRO 13
- Dell XPS 9500
- Acer Aspire E5
- Dell XPS 15
- HP Spectre x360
- Microsoft Surface Pro 7
- Gigabyte Aero 15
- Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon
- Razer Blade 15
1. Apple MacBook PRO 13
Our top pick for the best laptops in investment banking is the Apple MacBook PRO 13. It’s clear that Apple as a brand stands for quality and a seamless user experience.
When it comes to performance the MacBook PRO 13 is very hard to beat. It’s funny because on paper this laptop shouldn’t be the best of the pack.
However, as we know Apple uses its own operating system called macOS. This Linux-based operating system is so lightweight that the MacBook PRO can achieve a blazing fast performance.
The custom operating system also means that Apple has direct control over what kind of programs can be sold for their laptops. In practice, this means that all the apps will run perfectly without any hiccups.
The screen is also a beauty to look at in the case of the MacBook PRO 13. It’s a super high definition (Retina as Apple calls it themselves) display that’s easy on the eyes.
When you are an investment banker, meeting with people is a daily task. Having an Apple MacBook PRO 13 in your hand for your meetings and discussions will shed a good light on you.
It’s an expensive and sleek laptop. It gives a confident look for its owner.
When Apple designed the MacBook 13 PRO they wanted to make a laptop for work. The end result is an excellent product that is loved by businessmen, artists, and content creators alike.
2. Dell XPS 9500
Dell is an amazing brand when you are trying to choose quality on a budget. They have great laptops through their product line and the XPS 9500 is no different.
It’s their high-end offering that is an excellent choice for investment banking.
The first thing you will notice about the Dell XPS 9500 is the stylish look. It’s a thin laptop with a 15-inch display.
Rocking the latest i7 processor from Intel and a graphics card from NVidia we can’t say there is a problem with performance.
In fact, this laptop can do everything you would need for investment banking and more. For example, the GTX 1650 Ti from NVidia will hardly ever be used to its potential unless you install some games.
The Dell XPS 9500 has a beautiful 4K display with stunning colors. The bigger 15″ size is great for some multitasking and for playing around with data.
To achieve the stylish look Dell decided to ditch an optical drive for CDs and a numerical pad. Although we haven’t used a CD in the past 5 or so years, a numerical pad would be awesome for investment banking.
We did notice some issues with performance under heavy load. The laptop can heat up very quickly. It became not so comfortable to rest our hands on the keyboard once it’s heated up.
Luckily this only happened when we tested with some heavy gaming. Everyday use of investment banking should not make the laptop sweat too much.
This laptop offers extreme connectivity. With up to 3 USB-C connectors you can attach extra keyboards or a mouse and external storage easily.
One more thing we have noticed is the weight of this laptop. With all the specs inside like the dedicated graphics card, it weighs a bit more than you would expect.
This can be a problem if you are choosing a laptop for investment banking. You might be moving around a lot during the day and you want your laptop to be as lightweight as possible.
3. Acer Aspire E5
Acer is another trustworthy brand on our list for the best laptops for investment banking. The Acer Aspire E5 has competitive pricing in the budget laptop category.
With an i5 under the hood, it offers a little worse performance than others on this list.
When it comes to budget laptops we are always a bit wary of how the brand will try to save money.
Luckily Acer saves money on the Aspire E5 where it doesn’t matter ‘as much’. It still matters, but the performance and battery life are untouched.
This means that it’s one of the best budget options if you want a cheap laptop for investment banking.
You will get a laptop with an Intel 5 process which is still enough performance for the tasks of an investment banker.
Add to that a nice battery life that will allow you to attend meetings and work long hours without worrying about the charger.
Although this laptop generally looks fine, the build quality is not that great. You can hear the part rattle and give out a typical ‘okayish’ quality sound as you handle the laptop.
We love that the Acer Aspire E5 also comes with a 15-inch screen. It’s just perfect for everyday tasks
4. Dell XPS 15
Another one of Dell’s offerings makes the list. It’s actually very similar to the XPS 9500 except it’s even more high-end.
Yes, Dell could top it with the XPS 15 with a superb laptop that’s actually pretty expensive.
Without question, the XPS 15 is an excellent choice when it comes to laptops for investment banking. It has everything you need from CPU to GPU performance.
The Intel i7 processor will keep everything running smoothly while the GTX 1650 Ti from Nvidia will take care of any graphics that you can throw at it.
You’ll also get a generous 1 TB SSD and 32 GB RAM. It’s a great laptop with a stunning performance.
When a laptop has this much performance we always worry about the battery life, but the XPS 15 delivers in that regard as well.
You can work all day and not worry about the battery. It’s just perfect.
Dell managed to perfect the look as well. We honestly think that the XPS 15 rivals Apple’s MacBook in its sleek design.
The best thing? It has an OLED screen. This screen is very easy on the eyes and displays a color perfect image.
5. HP Spectre x360
The HP Spectre x360 is a very interesting choice as a laptop for investment banking.
It’s not only a laptop but as the name suggests you can fold the screen all the way to the back. This will result in a tablet that you can continue using.
It’s a versatile option that’s especially good for traveling. Investment bankers are on the road a lot as they are meeting clients and go from meeting to meeting.
Just like the XPS 15, this one comes with a beautiful OLED screen. It has a great battery and reasonable performance.
There are some trade-offs for the flexible display. This means it’s not as packed on the inside as the other picks on this list.
Regardless, the performance stays great and it can complete any task you would need as an investment banker.
Considering the designers at HP wanted you to use the Spectre x360 as a tablet as well it has great battery life. It’s definitely among the top on our list of the best laptops for investment banking.
If we can recommend something, go for the black model. It has the most professional look out of the color choices.
6. Microsoft Surface Pro 7
Another laptop that’s a 2-in-1 design. You can use it as a proper laptop or decide to take the screen off and continue as a tablet.
The Microsoft Surface Pro 7 is probably the lightest laptop on our list. It’s very easy to move around this laptop as it weighs so little.
Sadly just like the HP laptop, this one suffers a bit on the performance side of things.
It only has an Intel i5 inside which is a little bit slower than its i7 counterparts.
Yet we believe you will not have any performance issues if you are buying this laptop strictly for investment banking.
The battery life is extreme with up to 10 hours. It will come very useful when you are stuck in a café or a meeting room for long hours.
What we dislike the most about this laptop is that it looks more like a tablet.
We feel like the Microsoft Surface Pro 7 is a tablet with a proper keyboard attachment rather than a laptop that lets you take the screen off.
This makes it a questionable choice for professionals. It’s always a better look to move around with a laptop than to do it with a tablet in hand.
7. Gigabyte Aero 15
The Gigabyte Aero 15 is one of the most powerful laptops in our selection.
It’s got an Intel i7 inside coupled with an NVidia RTX 3070 graphics card. This is a beast when it comes to configuration
The laptop also has 32 gigabytes of RAM and a 4k AMOLED display. The screen is a beauty to look at.
Well, it’s definitely too much performance if you need a laptop for investment banking only.
However, if you want to sue it for more then it might be a good pick.
The outside of this machine is what you would expect from a powerful laptop.
Sharp edges, futuristic features, and an overall gamer laptop look. This might not be the best for a professional environment.
Our biggest problem comes from its performance. The battery simply can’t keep up.
There is so much in this laptop that it’s impossible to get great battery life. Performance comes at a cost.
Even worse, as these high-performing parts are bundled close together, they emit heat. The laptop can get hot and start its fans even during office work. Definitely not a fan of the extra noise.
8. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon
Lenovo has a long-standing reputation when it comes to business laptops. Their ThinkPad line is always top quality, designed with a workstation in mind.
What’s great about Lenovo is that the ThinkPads are actually designed for companies. Many corporations around the world purchase up ThinkPads for their employees to work on.
This means that a ThinkPad is designed for 8 hours of work, every day, every week, and all year. It’s a true work laptop.
It’s got an Intel i7 inside with 16 gigabytes of RAM. There is no dedicated graphics card as office workers won’t need one anyway.
The 512 GB SSD storage is more than enough if you only use the laptop for investment banking.
It has a big battery that will keep you working for hours. It’s also designed with the battery in mind.
This means that the laptop won’t really lose performance when unplugged.
Some brands design powerful laptops that limit themselves whenever unplugged to save battery.
Lenovo designs the ThinkPad to have the same performance as plugged in and still last a full workday.
The ThinkPad has a pretty business look. It’s black with no remarkable features. It’s a piece of professional work equipment and it is perfect for that.
9. Razer Blade 15
As our last pick, we’ll bring you the Razer Blade 15. It’s a high-performance gaming laptop.
This one is suitable for those who want to do more on their laptop than just investment banking. Otherwise, it might be hard to justify the high price.
An Intel Core i7 along with an RTX 3070 is a hallmark for performance. You can run anything on this laptop.
Everyday use for investment banking will be a breeze for the Razer Blade 15.
It also has a surprisingly modest look for a Razer laptop. It’s a sleek black exterior with only the Razer logo on the back.
If it wasn’t for the logo this laptop could easily camouflage itself as a business laptop. But the logo is there so it does look like a gaming laptop.
Unfortunately, the Razer Blade 15 has the same problem as all high-performance laptops do. Battery life. It’s simply not there.
The components need too much power. You won’t be able to work a whole day unplugged when you choose this one.
We recommend the Razer Blade 15 for those who want a laptop for more than just investment banking.
Laptops for Investment Banking FAQ
What are the most important features of a laptop for investment banking?
The processor, ram, battery, and keyboard are the three most important features of such a laptop.
Is it important to have a strong graphics card for investment banking?
Absolutely not! You won’t need a powerful graphics card to do investment banking.
Do I need an SSD?
Yes! Pick a laptop with an SSD. They turn on much quicker which is essential for someone always on the move. Read more about SSD.
Do I need a professional-looking laptop for investment banking?
Yes, pick a laptop that looks professional. This is one of the main reasons we have selected the MacBook PRO as our top pick.
What’s the good battery life for investment banking?
Try to buy a laptop with at least 8 hours of battery life.
What are the downsides of a laptop made for investment banking?
It probably won’t be a good fit for gaming. Most business laptops don’t have dedicated graphics cards.
Best Laptops for Investment Banking Review
Conclusion
Searching for the best laptop for investment banking can be rather pricey. This is a profession where first impressions matter.
You can’t show up with a beat-up $100 dollar laptop. You need a top-performing high-quality one.
You’ll also need a laptop with a great battery that can run for a long time without charging. This way you can keep meeting clients and not worry about your battery.
Hope you’ve enjoyed our article about the best laptops for investment banking and we have helped you pick the right one.
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