3 Best Laptops for Pentesting in 2024
From this article, you will know what are, in our opinion, the best laptops for pentesting you can buy and use in 2024.
Pentesting (penetration testing) is an activity that tries to exploit weaknesses in a cybersecurity system with the objective of improving it. It is an important thing to do to make the cybersecurity system much more resistant to digital attacks that can incur significant losses to the system’s stakeholders.
To do pentesting, you can use a laptop. As a laptop is portable and can have the capability to help you do pentesting optimally, it is probably the most preferred device to use for many people too. However, the laptop you use for pentesting should have the right specification quality so you can simulate cybersecurity attacks with much more flexibility.
If you want to do pentesting but don’t have a capable laptop yet for that purpose, you might be interested in buying a new laptop. It can be confusing, nonetheless, to pick the right laptop for pentesting from many laptop models and specification choices out there. This is why Innovation Infinite has compiled a list of the best laptops for pentesting that you can make as your laptop-buying reference.
Want to know more about the laptops we recommend for pentesting? Let’s get on the list right away.
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| Image | View on Amazon | Product |
|---|---|---|
| Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon | ||
| Dell XPS 15 | ||
| Asus Zenbook 15 |
Table of Contents:
What are the Best Laptops for Pentesting?
Now, let’s take a deeper look at the laptops we think can be excellent to use for pentesting activities. Using one of these laptops should give you the laptop support you need to do pentesting much more optimally.1. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon is the first laptop we recommend for you. Coming from the popular Lenovo ThinkPad series, this laptop seems to have many things you need to test the cybersecurity system you are responsible for excellently.The processor of this laptop is an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor. It is a high-quality processor with 16 cores and a fast base clock and turbo speed to give you a stable performance in any software you need to use. The 32GB RAM capacity in this laptop should also help whenever you need this laptop for multitasking or running multiple virtual machines in your pentesting activities.
This laptop has a 180-degree hinge so you can view its display in a more comfortable position as you test your cybersecurity system. When you need to type something, this laptop’s excellent keyboard quality should give you a comfortable typing experience.
Additionally, a ThinkPad laptop seems to be always great to use Linux with so you can do pentesting in the popular operating system easily if you want. All in all, this Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon can be the ideal laptop to support your pentesting activities.
Key Features
- Screen Size, Resolution: 14 inches, 2880 x 1800 pixels
- Processor: Intel Core Ultra 7 155H with 16 cores and speed in the range of 3.8-4.8 GHz
- RAM Capacity: 32GB
- Storage: 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD
- Battery Life (Estimation): up to 10 hours of usage capacity
Pros
- Excellent specifications to support pentesting work
- Solid build
- Sleek and lightweight
- USB-A, Thunderbolt 4 USB-C, and HDMI ports
- A quite flexible hinge (stretchable up to 180 degrees)
- Comfortable keyboard to type on
Cons
- No SD card reader slots
2. Dell XPS 15
Dell XPS 15 is the next laptop you might want to check during your laptop-buying process. It is an excellent laptop from Dell with the capabilities to support pentesting activities splendidly.This laptop has a 13th Gen Intel Core i7 processor and 32GB RAM capacity as its main performance specifications. These are great specifications and should handle tasks related to your pentesting activities well. When you need to store files related to pentesting internally on this laptop, it has 2TB SSD storage space for you to use.
There are two Thunderbolt 4 ports on the sides of this laptop to make you able to transfer data fast and connect to external monitors more easily. As for its battery life, this laptop can last all day on a single charge so you can do pentesting without having to depend on a power outlet too much.
The design of this laptop looks excellent and it has a premium build as well so you shouldn’t look out of place in any professional setting when you use this laptop. Overall, this Dell XPS 15 can be a nice laptop choice to help you do your pentesting work.
Key Features
- Screen Size, Resolution: 15.6 inches, 1920 x 1200 pixels
- Processor: 13th Gen Intel Core i7 with 14 cores and speed in the range of 2.4-5 GHz
- RAM Capacity: 32GB
- Storage: 2TB PCIe NVMe SSD
- Battery Life (Estimation): up to 9 hours of usage capacity
Pros
- Excellent specifications to support pentesting work
- Premium build
- Sleek and professional-looking design
- Two Thunderbolt 4 ports
- Great speakers
- Comfortable keyboard to type on
Cons
- No USB-A and HDMI ports
- Average webcam quality
3. Asus Zenbook 15
Asus Zenbook 15 is another laptop that can be interesting as an option for a pentesting laptop. It has the specification quality needed to ensure you can do pentesting smoothly to test your cybersecurity system.This laptop uses an AMD Ryzen 7 7735U processor to run its operations. With the capability of this processor, you should be able to run the software you need for pentesting without much problem. The RAM capacity of this laptop, 32GB, is quite large and should provide the memory space needed for your pentesting activities.
This laptop is sleek and lightweight so it should be easy to bring it around when you need to work with high mobility. It also has good build quality that has been military tested so you shouldn’t worry too much with a slight bump to this laptop here and there.
There is also Wi-Fi 6E technology in this laptop so you can get an optimum internet connection speed from your Wi-Fi network for the work that you do. All in all, this Asus Zenbook 15 is an excellent laptop you may want to consider buying and using to help you with your pentesting activities.
Key Features
- Screen Size, Resolution: 15.6 inches, 2880 x 1620 pixels
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 7735U with 8 cores and speed in the range of 2.7-4.75 GHz
- RAM Capacity: 32GB
- Storage: 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD
- Battery Life (Estimation): up to 8 hours of usage capacity
Pros
- Excellent specifications to support pentesting work
- Sleek and lightweight
- USB-A, USB-C, and HDMI ports
- Stretchable hinge (up to 180 degrees)
- A full-HD webcam
- Comfortable keyboard to type on
Cons
- No SD card reader slots
What are the Things We Should Consider When We Want to Buy a Laptop to Do Pentesting with?
Here are the things we think you should consider when you want to buy a laptop to support your pentesting activities.- Processor. The laptop you buy should have a good processor so it can run any software you need for pentesting smoothly. We recommend a laptop with at least a late-generation i5 or Ryzen 5 processor for this
- RAM capacity. The laptop you buy should have a large RAM capacity as pentesting activities can eat up a lot of memory space, especially if you plan to use multiple virtual machines when doing them. We recommend a laptop with at least 32GB RAM for this
- Storage. You may need to store some files related to your pentesting activities internally on your laptop so you can access them much more easily later. Thus, the laptop you buy should have adequate storage space to accommodate those files. We recommend a laptop with at least 512GB SSD storage space for this
Wrap Up
When you want to buy a laptop, you may want one that can help you do pentesting activities smoothly. However, it can be confusing to pick the right laptop from many laptop choices out there. This is why Innovation Infinite has created a list of the best laptops for pentesting to help you.To summarize, here are three laptops we recommend for pentesting.
We hope our list can help you buy the best laptop to support your pentesting work!
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