Best Laptop For Pentesting & Kali Linux 2020

​Laptops have become the latest craze among the world populace as day to day many users are throwing out their desktops to own laptops. Depending on the requirement and the needs of the users, laptop manufacturing brands are producing the best models. The ​top laptop for pentesting is excellent in terms of performance and are offered at price worthiness to users. There are so many choices when buying a laptop that can be a little overwhelming, but there are really only a few considerations that are important for most consumers. With basic information and research, you can find the perfect laptop that will suit your personal needs, preferences, and budget.

​Specs ​Of A Pentesting and Kali Lin​ux Laptop

​Pentesters and Hackers might require a laptop that can not only manage software like VirtualBox or VMware but also run Kali Linux smoothly, without lagging. Some other features for a laptop for pentesting and Kali Linux you will need to focus are to include:

• ​Decent battery life.
• ​For coding and Kali Linux commands you need powerful GPU and CPU.
• Good FHD screen resolution.
• If you aim to do any password cracking, then you will probably require a laptop that has i5 or i7 processor. These processors have various cores to ensure that your good password recovery programs operate as quickly as possible while still being power efficient.
• You also want to look for a laptop with 16GB of RAM.

​Our Top Pentesting & Kali Linux Laptop Recommendations

​Lenovo IdeaPad Y700 Laptop

​These laptops come with a sleek lid that features with separated ridges on the side and a faint crosshatch design that subtly projects the image of armor. On the front of the ​laptop are backlit keyboard and raspberry speaker grilles. The keyboard features two levels of brightness control. The impressive brightness control allows for comfortable viewing and playing in all lighting conditions. The glossy label is found in the upper left. You will experience intense, immersive gaming with this laptop. ​These laptops will give you discrete graphics, quad-core power, and full multimedia experience with the hi-def display.

You'll also get the best audio experience with the 2-watt JBL speakers, 3-watt subwoofers, and Dolby Home Theater. The hardware includes Memory: up to 16GB DDR4, Processor: Intel Core i7 up to 6th gen. 2.6GHz Skylark, Battery: Four-cell 60-WHr Discrete Graphics: up to NVIDIA GeForce 4GB (GTX 960M), and Storage: 1TB hard drive. Don't worry when the competition heats up, because the Y700 has thermal cooling for good serious gaming.

The Lenovo brand of laptops also ha​ve two types of 15.6-inch displays to select from, the Ultra HD anti-glare IPS model with 3840×2160 resolution and the FHD anti-glare backlit IPS display with a 1920×1080 resolution. Moreover, Y700 also comes with a touchscreen version. The keys on the chiclet-style keyboard are well-spaced and comfortable to type on. The trackpad has a lovely feel to it as well and supports multi-touch functionality to trigger different Windows 10 commands.

This is one of our favorite ​laptop for pentesting.

​Acer Predator Helios 300 Laptop

​This VR-ready ​laptop has a nice, black chassis, textured metal frame, and red accents. It's created for those who require a lot of speed and performance in their games and other graphics-demanding applications. If you're seeking an attractive laptop with a lot of power, then look no further than the Acer Predator Helios 300. It comes with Pascal architecture from NVIDIA and GeForce GTX 10-series graphics, this laptop is the perfect option for all of the latest high-definition games. You can count on the best realistic, the fastest, AI-enhanced gaming experiences. Other goodies that come with this laptop are 16GB of standard memory, a quad-core processor, 1TB hard drive, and many more.

Probably the best thing about Predator Helios 300 laptops is that it provides plenty of value for its price. Furthermore, all Acer Predator laptops use custom-engineered cooling technology. The latest new design reduces noise while improving airflow – allowing you to maximize your performance, no matter the task. The full-size keyboard is decorated with red backlighting. The keys are made to remain firm into position to provide easy maneuvering and accurate typing when playing games.  The red backlighting can be manually switched off or on, although it can't be dimed. The touchpad has a smooth black cover, which is highlighted by a red rim.

It's a spacious touchpad, and navigation is made easy because of the well-designed click pad. Take lovely quality photos with the HD webcam, which supports Super High Dynamic Range (1280 x 720). An external camera can be added as well via USB. There are a total of four USB ports, including one Type-C 3.1, one 3.0, and two 2.0. A wide range of ​laptops can be connected and synced with this ​top rated pentesting laptop.

​Dell XPS9560-7001SLV Laptop

​The Dell XPS9560-7001SLV ​laptops are powered by a 7th generation Intel Core i7-7700HQ processor. This unit is being used in many similarly priced gaming laptops, which is encouraging for prospective buyers. This isn't a mid-range CPU: quad-core, 2.8 GHz clock speed with turbo up to 3.8 GHz and 6 megabytes of cache. It's not energy efficient, but it's on a level with middle to high-end desktop processors. It will handle every program you'll use, every task you'll throw at it, no matter the size.

These good laptops ​are made up of durable and good high-quality materials which include steel, magnesium, and aluminum. This would mean that the XPS9560 is robust, durable, and can resist the effects of wear and tear for some time. One of the reasons why this netbook stands out is the way it is designed. Its construction is sturdy, yet smooth. The chassis is cut flawlessly from a single block of aluminum. The display features a special Gorilla Glass, which makes it durable and ultra-sharp 4K UHD touchscreen with slim bezels holds 3840 x 2160 pixel resolutions, which is equivalent to four times the pixels available on a Full HD screen.

The i7 processor has similar Passmark benchmark score to the power of a desktop CPU offering very high-performance levels.  Its memory size is up to 32GB. 512GB SSD offers loads of speed and performance. It is also packed with 802.11ac wireless, two USB 3.0 ports, Bluetooth 4.1, DisplayPort 1.2, a USB Type-C that supports Thunderbolt 3, HDMI 1.4, and USB 3.1 output for connecting to external monitors.

​Apple MacBook Pro Laptop

​MacBook Pro laptops have always been one of the most popular products of Apple. The ​laptop is produced from a single block of aluminum, giving it an excellent and durable feel. In this respect, it is quite the same as the previous generation of MacBooks. Due to the ​laptop's slim design, the good solid construction doesn't make the laptop any heftier than average. While some may describe the overall design to be somewhat plain, with the standard white Apple logo on the top, its professional and clean look seem to attract most users and they appreciate its simplicity. One of the excellent features of the Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch has a LED backlight.

The backlight is really cool since it lights up the ​laptop when the ambient surroundings get too dark. If you desire large, impressive displays to play your movies and games, then the 1440 x 900 resolution of this ​laptop to get. It's displayed on that 15.1-inch screen will definitely not disappoint. The computer is also well equipped with 256 GB SSD storage, a16GB 2400MHz DDR4 memory and has 2.6GHz 6-core 9th-generation Intel Core i7 processor to handle a lot of tasks without any problems.

The battery life of th​ese MacBook Pro laptops can hold power up to about 3 hours 56 minutes. This is apparently due to the Penryn process from Intel, which operates more efficiently than older types of processors. The keyboard is designed for comfort, plus has an added feature called the gesture-based touchpad. This feature enables you to pinch and navigate using your finger movements. Therefore, if you want cool, sexy navigation features, this MacBook is good for you.

​Asus VivoBook Pro 15 Laptop

​The Asus VivoBook Pro 15 ​laptops are packed with 16 GB of RAM, Nvidia GTX 1050 GPU, and an Intel Core i7-7700HQ CPU. The storage consists of a 256 GB SSD in combination with a 1 TB hard drive.  The hardware should handle almost all the tasks you throw at it since it's a good all-rounder. The VivoBook Pro 15 is a good choice for picture editing, light video, occasional gaming as well as office application. This laptop comes in a light gold finish, which is easily recognizable. The overall footprint of the VivoBook Pro 15 laptops ​are slightly on the large side with a 15.6-inch display. With a combination of plastic and metal housing, this laptop rocks the line of trade-offs for portability over durability, measuring 2.29kg.

VivoBook, as a laptop labeled for pro user, it doesn't disappoint when it comes to ports. On the left corner is where you'll find the charging port, a USB-C 3.1 port, USB 3.1, an RJ45 Ethernet port and HDMI. On the opposite side is home to 3.5mm headphone/microphone jack, two USB 2.0 ports, an SD card reader, and two indicator lights. When it comes to ports, you should be covered no matter your setup is since the laptop comes with enough ports to connect external displays, either through USB-C port or HDMI, along with Ethernet and USB ports for backup drives and accessories. It also has a nearly full-sized keyboard with chiclet keys is located beneath the FHD display. The keys are slim and are sensitive to touch.

​HP Spectre x360 Laptop

​A majority of 2-in-1 laptops have smaller displays. It's uncommon to get a 15-inch model such as this one. HP Spectre is described by the company as being "more artisan than engineered." The body is created out of quality, thick aluminum using a highly-precise production method, and finished with polished accents and brushed aluminum. The glass trackpad highlights a large format with a piano-style hinge. There is ample space with the backlit keyboard, as the keys are not crowded at all. This laptop has been developed for durability and quality. The laptop measures only 1.4 kg making it easy to be carried around on the go. An incredible feature about this laptop is the hinge. It has been skillfully designed and can flip 360 degrees such that the keyboard and screen are back to back effectively turning the laptop into a tablet.

However, the keyboard keys are non-responsive when in a tablet mode. Therefore there are no concerns about having them touch against the back of the screen. The thinnest of the design makes it also very comfortable to manage in tablet mode. You can also set it in an angle with the keyboard serving as a stand. This is excellent for watching trailers by setting it on top of a table. Unlike the carbon fiber used in the construction of other systems, the x360 has a sturdy chassis since it's made from milled aluminum. Enabling it to be swung around or flipped it into various styles easily, yet steadily.

The touchscreen display features optical bonding to bring pixels right to the surface for an excellent touch experience. Battery life is supported thanks to new laptops technology, which prevents the screen from refreshing when it's unnecessary for it to do so. Bluetooth and wireless technology are both included, as well as ports for connectivity.

Kali Linux & ​Pentesting Laptops Conclusion

Laptops are evolving and are now having the edge over desktops for many reasons. They are continually advancing in their technology and are serving varied purposes. Laptop computers maintain their usefulness in spite of the growing popularity of good laptops, tablets and ​smartphone. The best laptops for pentesting are making a niche in each categories and are offering pentesting with dedicated products which are easily portable. Just as each laptop is unique, every laptop user is unique as well. Everyone has somewhat different demands. Therefore, you need to carefully choose a laptop as per your requirements and buy the one that meets your requirements and suit your ​top pentesting laptop for your budget.