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Bookkeeping, also known as recordkeeping or accounting, is crucial for any business. With accurate accounting, you can keep records of all your business’s financial activities: investments, profits, payrolls and more. Nowadays, the physical paper books of the past have been replaced by digital notebooks – fast, powerful laptops capable of even the most complex numerical simulations, spreadsheets, data entry and professional presentations. But with so many laptops on the market, it can be hard to know which one is right for your business. You might need a computer that offers cooperative multitasking features, or excellent security, or even a durable portable machine with long lasting battery life. That’s why we’ve surveyed hundreds of laptops from across the market, to find you the best for your needs. Here are our top five recommended laptop computers for bookkeeping.
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| Title | Price | Rating (Amazon) | Best in class | Buy | |
 | Lenovo Yoga C740 2-in-1 14” Laptop | $$ | 4.5 stars | Best Portable | Amazon |
 | ASUS Zenbook Pro Duo 15 Professional Laptop | $$$$$ | 4.5 stars | Best Premium | Amazon |
 | Acer Aspire 5 15.6 inch FHD Slim Laptop | $ | 4.5 stars | Best Value | Amazon |
 | MacBook Pro 13” with Touch Bar | $$ | 4.5 stars | Best Mac | Amazon |
 | Dell XPS 13 900 13inch FHD Laptop | $$$ | 4 stars | Best Overall | Amazon |
Lenovo Yoga C740 2-in-1 14” Laptop
The Lenovo Yoga C740 2-in-1 14” Laptop is a convertible device, meaning it has a touchscreen and can be folded for use as a tablet. It’s very portable, too; it’s even lighter than most convertibles at only 3.09 pounds. Despite the slimmer chassis, however, you still get access to a Type-A port and hybrid audio back. The Intel Core i5-10210U CPU doesn’t get overwhelmed even when running high-intensity applications like ZOHO or QuickBooks, and boasts a speed of up to 4.2GHz for efficient multitasking. Although the integrated Intel UHD graphics coprocessor doesn’t shine as much on visuals, the 1080p panel is both color-accurate and power efficient. More importantly, the machine offers 8GB RAM and a 1TB SSD (solid-state drive), meaning it can handle and process a huge number of files, resources and media. Lastly, it has a fingerprint scanner for extra security.
Pros
- Convertible with touchscreen
- Massive storage capacity and high memory
- Lightweight with long-lasting battery
Cons
- Small number of USB ports
Verdict
Convertible laptops (touchscreen devices that fold or convert into tablet form) are not usually known for their computing power; this can make them seem a less attractive choice for bookkeepers. However, the Lenovo Yoga C740 2-in-1 14” Laptop has strong processing power despite its slim, compact and light build. This does mean a limited number of ports, but the touchscreen means you won’t need a mouse or keyboard. If you need a fast, secure laptop that can travel with you, this is the perfect choice.
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ASUS Zenbook Pro Duo 15 Professional Laptop
The ASUS Zenbook Pro Duo 15 Professional Laptop has premium performance to match its premium price; the Intel i7-10750H Hexa-core processor operates at a base speed of 2.6GHz and a maximum speed of 5GHz. Plus, the NVIDIA GeForce graphics processor means you can create extra whizzy presentations, or even do a little gaming in your downtime. 16GB RAM, 4GB dedicated graphics memory and a 1TB SSD mean you get excellent reading and writing speed, and perfectly smooth running of your ERP software. As for external build features, the keyboard includes an integrated Numpad, and the chassis has four USB ports, an HDMI port, an ethernet port, a 3.5 mm audio jack, and an SD card reader. Despite all this, the ASUS does have one major downside: the battery only lasts 6 hours.
Pros
- Fast and powerful performance
- Massive storage capacity and high memory
- Many USB and other ports
- Includes Numpad
Cons
- Expensive
- Very short battery life
Verdict
If you want premium performance – and you’re willing to pay for it – the ASUS Zenbook Pro Duo 15 Professional Laptop is our best candidate. With its super powerful processors, huge storage and mountains of memory, this machine will seamlessly run whatever programs you can throw at it. It even has a Numpad and lots of connection points. However, the poor battery life is a price you often have to pay for such high performance, not to mention the pretty exclusive monetary costs.
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Acer Aspire 5 15.6 inch FHD Slim Laptop
At the other end of the market is the Acer Aspire 5 15.6 inch FHD Slim Laptop; this machine runs a pretty average AMD Ryzen 3 3350U Quad-Core Processor, with a base frequency of pp to 3.50GHz at maximum boost clock. Although this may not be particularly notable, the machine does have a pretty respectable 12GB high-bandwidth RAM, which is enough to run all the major accounting programs well. The 15.6″ Full HD (1920 x 1080) widescreen LED display produces a bright, clear and well-magnified visual experience. It also has a Numpad, fingerprint reader and 10 hours of battery life. However, this machine does suffer from running Windows 11 S-Mode; with this OS, you can only download apps from the Microsoft Store. You can go out of S-Mode, but the laptop’s performance will degrade slightly.
Pros
- Great value low price
- Solid processing power and memory
- Numpad and fingerprint reader
- Long-lasting battery life
Cons
- Runs Windows 11 S-Mode
Verdict
The Acer Aspire 5 15.6 inch FHD Slim Laptop is our best value choice, perfect for small businesses and independent or student bookkeepers. It has all the standard features to facilitate your work, at a third or even quarter of the price of higher-end machines. It also has some nifty accounting-oriented touches, like the Numpad and fingerprint reader. However, running S-Mode can be a real pain; it might be worth checking beforehand if your favourite accounting software is available from the Windows Store or not.
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MacBook Pro 13” with Touch Bar
The MacBook Pro 13” with Touch Bar is the lightest machine on our list, with its sleek aluminium body weighing only a feather-light 3 pounds. It’s also only 15.6mm thick, making it very portable. Despite its size, it also performs very well; the Apple M1 8-Core processor can turbo boost up to 3.8GHz. It may only have 8GB RAM support, but it still runs fast. In turn, a 512GB SSD offers fast file reading, writing and data transfers. The buzziest feature of the MacBook Pro is its retina display, which offers a stunning 2560 x 1600 resolution, working in concurrence with the Intel Iris graphics unit to produce the most beautiful visuals on the market. This makes even the tiniest text visible and clear. Lastly, it offers up to 17 hours of battery (usage-dependent), magic keyboard and a Thunderbolt port (among others).
Pros
- Stunning retina display visuals
- Lightweight and portable
- Fast SSD, strong processor
Cons
- Battery drains easily on certain tasks
- Quite low RAM support
Verdict
Macs are not usually known as accounting machines, but the MacBook Pro 13” with Touch Bar is more than enough to change minds. This laptop has excellent performance on accounting tasks, and has features that you’ll notice and miss when you go back to using a PC; the intuitive magic keyboard is a pleasure to use, and Thunderbolt takes transfer speeds to a new level. However, the famously temperamental Mac battery is massively affected by high intensity tasks, and the memory capacity is pretty disappointing.
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Dell XPS 13 900 13inch FHD Laptop
The Dell XPS 13 900 13inch FHD Laptop is visually beautiful; crafted from industrial-grade aluminium and sleek, strong carbon fiber, it is extremely durable and scratch-resistant. It even has a Corning Gorilla Glass 6 screen, and exceptional venting from an intuitive thermal pipe layout. Plus, a predictive engine prevents battery drain on high intensity tasks, ensuring battery life of up to 10 hours runtime. As for processing power, the Intel 10th Gen i7-1065G7 chipset is supported by 16GB of RAM, allowing a turbo clock speed of up to 3.9GHz. This is more than enough to run even the most strenuous computing tasks. It also has a 512GB SSD, offering plentiful storage. Lastly, it has 4 Thunderbolt ports, a 3.5mm jack, a MicroSD reader, and USB ports.
Pros
- Massive storage capacity and super-high memory
- Durable, light and portable build
- Long-lasting battery life
- Large number of connection ports
Cons
- Not the biggest storage space
Verdict
The Dell XPS 13 900 13inch FHD Laptop combines the best features of all the other laptops on this list, and outdoes several of them on performance, memory and build quality. Aside from being beautifully designed, this machine offers exceptional processing power and battery life, for maximum reliability. The huge number of connection ports makes it easy to give presentations to clients, while the super-high memory capacity means you can run as many concurrent tasks as you need to keep your work efficient. These features and more make the Dell XPS 13 900 13inch FHD Laptop our best overall laptop computer for business bookkeeping.
