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The Top 4 Laptops For Pentesting: How To Choose The Best Model?

We have selected the best laptops for pentesting and highlighted the best aspects of each model to help you choose the right laptop. Read which model is the most powerful and how to choose the right laptop for pentesting.

Have you ever thought about your online safety? Nowadays it is very important because if a hacker gets your data (e.g. passwords), he can hurt you, or use your accounts for his profit. If you are receiving healthcare services online, data security becomes even more important. And when it comes to the cybersecurity of large organizations or companies, that’s where pentesting comes in, it’s a simulated hacker attack that helps find weaknesses in a computer system.

Razer Blade Stealth 13

Category winner:
The Most Powerful

To effectively perform a penetration test, you need the right laptop, and whether you are a beginner or an expert, your laptop is a portable hacker’s base. This article will help you choose the most suitable laptop for pentesting, and also learn more about the penetration process.

Top 4 laptops for pentesting

Why do people trust us?

We are a team of professionals whose goal is to give our readers only verified and useful information. Before writing each article, we study each model in detail, reading hundreds of reviews to give the soberest assessment of devices, not forgetting about their weaknesses. We try to understand the needs of our readers so we highlight the best aspects of each model, thereby making it easier for our readers to choose.

A detailed review of each model

Razer Blade Stealth 13 — The Most Powerful 

Razer Blade Stealth 13
ProcessorIntel Core i7-8565U (up to ‎4.6 GHz.)
Memory (RAM)16 GB
Video CardNVIDIA GeForce MX150
Display size‎13.3 Inches
Screen Resolution‎1920 x 1080 Pixels
Storage‎256 GB SSD
Weight‎‎2.91 pounds
Operating System‎Windows 10 Home

Razer Blade Stealth 13 is a great solution for heavy tasks because this model has the fastest processor (up to 4.6 GHz), which will provide you with the maximum operating speed. Its powerful graphics card in combination with the FHD display creates a bright and high-quality picture, which is very important when using a laptop for a long time. This model has 16 GB of RAM, so you can enjoy an excellent level of multitasking.

It is the lightest model in our article, as it weighs only 2.91 pounds. The flat keyboard with a backlight of this model will provide you more comfortable usage. But this model has only 256 GB SSD, which might not be enough to work properly because sometimes you need to have quite a lot of pentesting programs. We recommend replacing the hard drive with an SSD with more memory (480 GB) over time.

Pros

  • The fastest processor (up to ‎4.6 GHz.);
  • The lightest model (2.91 pounds);
  • The best battery life (13 hours);
  • Powerful video card;
  • Bright FHD display.

Cons

  • The SSD memory (256 GB) may not be enough, we recommend replacing it with a larger capacity SSD (480 GB).

Lenovo Legion 5 — The Perfect Multitasking Experience

Lenovo Legion 5
ProcessorAMD Ryzen 7 4800H (up to 4.2 GHz.)
Memory (RAM)16 GB
Video CardNVIDIA GTX 1660Ti
Display size15.6 Inches
Screen Resolution1920 x 1080 Pixels
Storage512 GB SSD
Weight‎‎5.41 pounds
Operating System‎Windows 10 Home

The Lenovo Legion 5 is amazing in its multitasking, although its processor (up to 4.2 GHz.) is slightly slower than the Razer Blade Stealth 13 (up to 4.6 GHz.), thanks to more cores in the processor (8 cores) and 16 GB of RAM, Lenovo Legion 5 surpasses it in power when performing many tasks at the same time. This model has the most powerful video card, if you work with graphics or just play games in parallel, it will serve you well.

It has a 512 GB SSD, which is enough for comfortable use, and it also has an excellent cooling system that eliminates the overheating of the laptop under high loads. But it’s pretty heavy (5.41 pounds) and its battery life is only 5 hours, which can be not convenient if you often take the laptop with you.

Pros

  • The best multitasking thanks to 8core processor;
  • The most powerful video card;
  • Pretty fast processor (up to 4.2 GHz.);
  • Excellent cooling system.

Cons

  • Short battery life (5 hours).

Acer Aspire 5 — The Best Display Quality

Acer Aspire 5
ProcessorAMD Ryzen 7 5700U (up to 4.3 GHz.)
Memory (RAM)8 GB
Video CardAMD Radeon Graphics
Display size15.6 Inches
Screen Resolution1920 x 1080 Pixels
Storage512 GB SSD
Weight3.88 pounds
Operating System‎Windows 10 Home

The Acer Aspire 5 is a real workhorse with an amazing quality display. Its processor is up to 4.3 GHz., which will give you the high-speed performance of your tasks and system in general. This model has 8 GB of RAM which is half the size of the Lenovo Legion 5, but it is enough for most tasks in total, and its battery can work up to 11 hours without recharging, which makes using the laptop outside the home more convenient.

Also affecting the usability are the pleasant backlighting of the keyboard and the relatively slim shape of the laptop’s body. Its SSD has 512 GB of storage, which will allow you to have all the programs you need.

Pros

  • The highest quality and brightest display;
  • High processor performance (up to 4.3 GHz.);
  • Great battery life (11 hours).

Cons

  • Its speakers may be too quiet.

ASUS VivoBook 15 — The Best Budget Solution

ASUS VivoBook 15
ProcessorAMD R7-3700U (up to 4.0 GHz.)
Memory (RAM)8 GB
Video CardAMD Radeon Vega 10 Graphics
Display size15.6 Inches
Screen Resolution1920 x 1080 Pixels
Storage512 GB SSD
Weight‎3.53 pounds
Operating System‎Windows 10 

ASUS VivoBook 15 is a powerful and at the same time very budget-friendly model that will suit both beginners and more advanced specialists. Its processor is up to 4.0 GHz., and together with 8 GB of RAM gives the laptop excellent speed and enough level of multitasking. This model is equipped with a bright display with thin bezels and also a backlit keyboard with a fingerprint, which positively affects the comfort of use.

The laptop has a 512 GB SSD this is twice as much as the Razer Blade Stealth 13 👀, which allows you to have free space, even after installing the programs you need. This model is also great for carrying around with you because it weighs 3.53 pounds.

Pros

  • Budget-friendly model;
  • Fast processor (up to 4.0 GHz.);
  • Has a fingerprint;
  • A bright screen.

Cons

  • Poor webcam quality, so we recommend using the webcam that connects to a computer.

When choosing a laptop pay attention to

Processor

The processor directly affects the speed of your laptop, and the power of the processor depends on two important elements:

  • Clock speed — the more the better, it affects the speed of tasks. For pentesting will be enough processors from 4.0 GHz. to 4.7 GHz. The fastest processor from models of our top-4 has the Razer Blade Stealth 13 (up to 4.6 GHz.)
  • The number of cores — the more cores the higher the level of multitasking your laptop. The winner of this category is the Lenovo Legion 5 👀, as its processor has 8 cores.

☝ We do not recommend saving on the processor, because it can not be improved over time.

RAM Size

Multitasking depends as much on the amount of RAM as on the processor. For most of the necessary tasks for the pentester 8 GB of RAM is enough, but for heavier tasks you need at least 16 GB, that’s how much the Razer Blade Stealth 13 and Lenovo Legion 5 models have. 

💲 You can save money on this element because it can be improved over time.

Display quality

The quality of the display affects the comfort of working with a laptop because it is impossible to work on it without looking at the screen.

👀 Pay attention to this and try to choose Full HD displays with a maximum screen resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. The Acer Aspire 5 👀 has the brightest and highest quality screen which is often mentioned by users.

Storage

It’s simple, of course, the more memory the better, because you have the opportunity to have a large number of programs and projects you work on. You can replace your hard drive, over time, with a hard drive with more capacity.

There are two main types of hard drives: SSD and HDD, we recommend SSD because they are faster, quieter, and lighter.

Weight

This is an important aspect when choosing a laptop, if you are going to take the laptop with you often or use it on your lap, you need to choose a model that is not too heavy. 

😱 The Razer Blade Stealth 13 is the lightest model and weighs only 2.91 pounds.

More about pentesting

cybersecurity

Pentesting is a rather time-consuming process that involves simulating a hacking attack on a company. Usually, this kind of testing is done to get data on all system vulnerabilities. At the end of the procedure, the cybersecurity department works to improve data protection.

External testing

This type of testing targets the external sides of the company, such as the website, web application, email, and so on. The purpose of external pentesting is to gain valuable data or access to accounts.

Internal testing

This is a simulation of a hacker attack, which implies that the hacker is already in the system partially. He may have some important data or be an employee of the company.

Blind testing

In this type of hack attack, the tester is given only the name of the company or large corporation, and security personnel can monitor the actions of the hacker in real-time.

Stages of pentesting

  1. Planning and reconnaissance

At this stage, testers identify the goals they need and conduct action planning. This step also includes gathering all the necessary methods of hacking and information about the company. All these procedures are needed to clearly define a vector of action and find vulnerabilities.

  1. Scanning

This step serves to learn more about your target, whether it’s an app or a website. The following methods are used to find out how the system behaves:

  • Static analysis — checking the code for vulnerabilities;
  • Dynamic analysis — this method is more practical because it allows the hacker to check the code at the same time as he uses it, this gives a deeper understanding of the code structure.
  1. Gaining Access

This is the most interesting stage of testing, the tester uses different methods of hacking into previously found system vulnerabilities. As a result of hacking, testers try to get valuable data and understand how much damage they can do to the company.

  1. Analysis

A detailed analysis of the test results:

  • Weaknesses that were subject to a hacker attack
  • Data that was compromised
  • The amount of time it took to retrieve the data
❗️
It’s all about handing it over to cybersecurity services so that they, in turn, do work to better protect their data.

Summary

Penetration testing is quite a complicated process that requires a lot of time and skill, but you can make the process much easier if you choose the right laptop. You don’t need a special laptop or anything like that, in fact, all powerful laptops are suitable for pentesting. In this article we have collected only the best laptops in different price ranges, the final choice is always up to you.

FAQ

👑Which device is best for pentesting?

The quality of your work depends on the laptop you choose, we found the 4 best laptops for pentesting and highlighted their positive and negative sides: Razer Blade Stealth 13 – The Most Powerful Model Lenovo Legion 5 – The Perfect Multitasking Experience Acer Aspire 5 – The Best Display Quality ASUS VivoBook 15 – The Best Budget Solution

💻What laptops do hackers use?

Since in this case, the laptop is a portable hacker base, it must have sufficient power, for example, 👀 Razer Blade Stealth 13 is a great solution for pentesting, it is lightweight (2.91 pounds) and has a very powerful processor (up to ‎4.6 GHz.). Learn more about the 👉 Top 4 Models For Pentesting.

❓ Which laptops can not be hacked?

In fact, every laptop can be vulnerable to hacking, but Macbooks are more secure. Their operating system is closed and very hard to hack. 👀 Learn more about the pentesting process.

🤓How much RAM do you need for hacking?

The process of simulating a hacker attack is not easy, which is why the laptop is exposed to heavy loads. To make the process as fast as possible you need a fast processor and a sufficient amount of RAM. We recommend choosing a laptop with at least 8 GB of RAM and for heavier workloads 16 GB. When buying, you can save money on this, because this element can be improved over time. 👑 The winners of this category are Razer Blade Stealth 13 and Lenovo Legion 5, each model has 16 GB of RAM.

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