Choose a laptop by featureBy the feature you need
Look for a refurbished laptop by the feature you actually need. Pick what fits your work below.
- Laptop with SIM cardOnline anywhere, without wifi.Use mobile internet straight on your laptop, with a suitable SIM card and a data plan.
- Touchscreen laptopWork straight on the screen.Tap, scroll and work without a mouse or a touchpad.
- 2-in-1 laptopLaptop and tablet in one.Fold the screen all the way round and use your laptop in tablet, tent or presentation mode.
- 4K laptopExtra sharp, detailed picture.Ideal for photography, design, video and other visual work.
- Laptop with fingerprint readerSign in quickly and safely.Unlock your laptop with your finger through Windows Hello.
- Laptop with face recognitionSign in by looking at your laptop.An infrared camera recognises your face through Windows Hello.
- Laptop with smart card readerSign in or identify yourself with a card.Mostly used by companies, healthcare organisations and government bodies.
- Laptop with dedicated graphicsExtra power for graphics work.Suitable for 3D, CAD, video editing and other graphically heavy work.
Our advice
-
With a built-in 4G or LTE module you are online wherever there is mobile coverage, without a hotspot draining your phone's battery. Note: a SIM slot alone is not enough, there also has to be an antenna. The lease market has models with a slot but no module, so we check that machine by machine. The SIM card with a data plan is yours to bring.
Laptops with a SIM card -
A touchscreen is handy for notes, drawing and scrolling quickly through a document. Two things to know: the glass is almost always glossy rather than matt, so you will sooner see the reflection of a window behind you, and it costs some battery life. On a 2-in-1 it comes with the format; on an ordinary laptop you choose it deliberately.
Touchscreen laptops -
On a 2-in-1 the screen folds all the way round, so you use it as a laptop, as a tent or as a tablet. The hinge and the glass make it a little heavier than the same laptop without, and in tablet mode the keyboard lies open on the table. Choose it if you really write or present; otherwise a plain screen is lighter and cheaper.
2-in-1 laptops -
On 4K you see four times as many pixels as on full hd, so you judge sharpness at actual size instead of zoomed in. For photo and video work that is the difference between guessing and seeing. It does cost noticeable battery, because the screen is the biggest power user in a laptop. If you mostly work at a fixed desk that hardly matters; if you travel a lot, full hd is the calmer choice.
4K laptops -
A dedicated graphics card has its own memory and takes the image calculation off the processor. That is exactly what counts in CAD, 3D and editing, where the processor would otherwise be doing two things at once. For office work, watching video and video calls the built-in graphics are plenty, and those laptops are lighter and quieter.
Laptops with dedicated graphics -
The fingerprint reader works through Windows Hello and sends nothing to the cloud: the pattern stays encrypted on the laptop itself, in a separate chip. That makes it safer in practice than a password you reuse everywhere. With wet or cold fingers it does not always read; your PIN keeps working.
Laptops with a fingerprint reader -
That works with an infrared camera, not with the ordinary webcam. It measures the shape of your face instead of taking a picture of it. A photo of yourself therefore will not get you in, and in the dark in the evening it still works. So check that there really is an infrared camera in it; the name Windows Hello on its own says nothing yet.
Laptops with face recognition -
Then you need a built-in smart card reader, the slot your card goes into. You find it in government, healthcare and banking, where logging in with a card and a PIN is compulsory. Privately it is of no use to you. Separate USB readers exist, but built in is less hassle and you cannot lose it.
Laptops with a smart card reader
Questions? Answers.
That depends on how you use the laptop. If you work on the road a lot, 4G or LTE can be handy. A touchscreen or a 2-in-1 is interesting if you like working straight on the screen. For graphically heavy work a dedicated graphics card matters more. Fingerprint and face recognition are mainly useful if you want to sign in quickly and safely.
A touchscreen only means you can operate the screen with your fingers. On a 2-in-1 laptop the screen also folds all the way round, so you can use the laptop as a tablet as well. Nearly every 2-in-1 therefore has a touchscreen, but not every touchscreen laptop is a 2-in-1.
No. For mobile internet a laptop needs suitable 4G, LTE or WWAN hardware. A visible SIM slot on its own does not automatically mean mobile internet is supported.
In our laptops with a SIM card category you only find devices where our data records that the mobile module is present. A SIM from EE, O2, Vodafone or Three will then work, and so will the providers that run on one of those networks.
Not for everyone. A 4K screen has more pixels and therefore gives a sharper, more detailed picture. That is mainly interesting for photography, video editing and design. For normal office work Full HD is usually plenty, and it generally uses less power.
Windows Hello is the sign-in method in Windows that lets you use a fingerprint reader or face recognition, for example, instead of typing your password every time. Face recognition needs a suitable infrared camera.
Both belong to Windows Hello, so you sign in without a password. The difference is in how.
Face recognition happens by itself: you open the laptop, look at the screen and you are in. That works in the dark too, because the infrared camera needs no light.
A fingerprint reader works whatever the light, and whether or not your camera is taped over. Only with wet or greasy fingers does it not always read well. Some laptops have both.
A smart card reader reads secured cards that let users identify themselves or get access to systems. Think of staff passes, government ID cards and, in the UK, the NHS smartcard. The feature mainly appears on business laptops and is used in companies, healthcare organisations and government bodies.
For browsing, Office, admin and most everyday work a dedicated graphics card is usually not needed. For work such as 3D, CAD, video editing and certain graphics programs a dedicated GPU does offer considerably more graphics power.
Yes. At Hej Refurbished you can select laptops by features such as touchscreen, 4G and LTE, 2-in-1, 4K, fingerprint reader, face recognition, smart card reader and dedicated graphics. That way you first work out which features you need, and then compare the laptops available.
That depends on the feature. A SIM card module can still be fitted in many business models, but only if the antenna cables are already in place; without those cables you get no signal. A touchscreen, a fingerprint reader or an infrared camera are built into the lid or the chassis and cannot be added afterwards. So pick those features right the first time.
Two of them do and the rest do not. A touchscreen and a 4K screen draw noticeably more power, because the screen is the biggest consumer in a laptop. A fingerprint reader, an infrared camera and a smart card reader cost almost nothing. A SIM card module only uses power when it is actually holding a connection.
It is stated on every device, and we are strict about it. A laptop only appears among our SIM card laptops if the WWAN antenna is genuinely fitted: an empty card slot without an antenna gives no signal and does not count. The same goes for the other features; what the page says is what is inside the machine.
A fingerprint reader and an infrared camera often sit together in the same business models, because both are used for Windows Hello. A smart card reader turns up mainly in models built for government or healthcare. A touchscreen is most common at 13 and 14 inch, and a separate graphics card precisely in the larger sizes.
Yes. We put a clean installation of Windows 11 on every device and make sure the features work before the laptop leaves the building. The drivers for a fingerprint reader, an infrared camera or a SIM card module are already in place, so you do not have to install or set up anything.