Ethical hacking is quickly becoming one of the most sought-after professions in India. With that comes the need to own a laptop that can handle the demanding hardware requirements of a good hacking laptop.
If you want to jump on the bandwagon of ethical hacking, you need all the tools you can get to stay above the rest.
A hacking laptop requires powerful hardware that runs software like Kali Linux, virtual machines, and password-hacking tools. All these activities need the hardware to handle multi-tasking capacity and require high processing speed.
Selecting the right hacking laptop also depends on what type of hacker you are. If you are a beginner and just learning to hack, you might not need all the necessary hardware power.
But on the other hand, if you are a real stealth hacker with loads of experience, having a laptop with all the necessary hardware requirements is paramount.
It is not an easy task to find a good hacking laptop with the right configuration since it demands hours of searching and comparing various laptops.
We have done all the scrapping work and have filtered the essence below.
HP Victus Gaming
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 5600H
RAM: 8GB
Graphics Card: 4GB Radeon RX5500M
Storage: 512GB SSD
Display: 16.1 inch(40.9 cm) FHD
This all-AMD laptop is our first pick as the best laptop for hackers. The laptop is powered by an AMD processor and with an AMD graphics card to top it, is one of the most value-for-money laptops available in the market today. This value for money can also be seen on Amazon because, at the time of writing this article, this laptop was the second bestselling laptop on Amazon.
So what makes this the perfect machine for hacking? Starting with the processor, which is an AMD Ryzen 5 5600H processor. This is better than the Intel i5 counterpart in a lot of aspects. This makes the laptop powerful enough to go through code and compile faster. Not only that, it can cycle through large algorithms easily.
The graphics card in the laptop is also an AMD-made Radeon RX5500M. The graphics card is also comparable to and better than the Nvidia counterpart at this price range. The only place where the AMD graphics card is not as good as the Nvidia one is for Ray Tracing. But that is not important when it comes to hacking.
The laptop has a backlit keyboard that helps type during the night. The keyboard is full-sized so it is easier to type on. The speaker system on the laptop is a Bang and Olufsen speaker that makes a great sound. Excellent for listening to music while trying to hack those routers.
The laptop comes with Windows 11 preinstalled. But you can install Kali OS or Ubuntu or any other operating system that will help your cause.
Excellent venting keeps the laptop cool even during long hours of usage.
The tiny bezel around the screen makes it feel so slick and modern. The screen size is also large enough to accommodate enough stuff on it.
You can easily upgrade the RAM so that you get better performance from the laptop not only during coding but also if you want to game. You will see a noticeable bump in performance if you upgrade your RAM.
The laptop weighs 2.5kg and is a behemoth. It is a bit hard to carry around but that is the price you pay for performance.
Overall, one of the best value-for-money laptops available in the market right now makes it one of the, if not the best laptop for hacking in India.
HP Pavilion (2021) - 15-eg0103TX
Processor: 11th Gen Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor
RAM: 16 GB DDR4-3200 SDRAM
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce MX450 Graphics
Storage: 512 GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
Display: 15.6-in Display
HP Pavilion is built with incredible features and comes within the affordable price range making it the best laptop for hacking that is also budget-friendly.
This sleek device is covered with shining silver and the HP logo is placed in the centre in black and white. This may look like your standard entry-level laptop, but the hardware is fueled with incredible features.
It comes with a 15.6-inch monitor and is pixilated with 1920*1080 resolution. The screen is equipped with full HD, which emits stunning colours and weighs just 1.75 kg.
It supports a Windows 10 Home with a 64-bit Operating System architecture.
It has dual speakers with integrated dual-array digital microphones. The audio quality is satisfactory.
It comes with a 720p HD camera with Wide Vision. Though the camera quality is not up to the mark, we are not exactly looking for camera quality in a hacking laptop.
The keyboard is backlit and the keys are softer and feels good on the fingers. This is an important attribute for a hacking laptop.
The touchpad is wider than other laptops and provides enough width to provide maximum cursor movement.
It has a SuperSpeed USB Type-C port, 2 SuperSpeed USB Type-A ports, and an HDMI port. It also has a microphone jack.
It comes with Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 and Bluetooth.
This HP laptop has an incredible combo of Intel Core i5 11th Gen 1135G7 processor with a clock speed of 4.2GHz and NVIDIA GeForce MX450 graphic card with 2GB dedicated graphic memory.
It has a DDR4 16GB of RAM with 3200MHz as RAM frequency. It also has an additional RAM slot, in which the RAM can be extended up to 32GB.
The storage capacity is 512GB SSD and it ensures there is enough memory space to perform multitasking without any lag.
A superior amalgamation of these features ensures that the laptop runs smoothly and pulls off the heavy duty required for a hacking laptop with ease.
It proves it can run software like Kali Linux effortlessly and can perform SQL injections without any hindrance.
Password cracking tools can take a long time to do their magic, especially if you are a beginner in coding. This GPU system allows hackers to code continuously and is built for long working hours.
The cooling system is impressive and heat dissipation is uniform, which is always a plus.
It has a 3-cell Li-ion battery with a battery life of up to 8 hours. It also comes with an AC adapter.
Although this device is equipped to handle all the necessary hardware requirements for a hacking laptop, it is not an ideal hacking laptop. It lacks some finer upgrades to fall short of a perfect hacking laptop.
Having said that, if you are a novice hacker, then this laptop is more than capable of your hacking needs. Coupled with its pricing, this incredibly featured laptop is a steal.
Acer Swift 5 - SF514-55TA
Processor: 11th Gen Intel Core i7 processor
RAM: 16 GB of LPDDR4X RAM
Graphics Card: Iris Xe Graphics 5
Storage: 1TB SSD
Display: 14-in Display
The Acer Swift 5 SF514 passes the hacking requirement test with flying colours. The performance is top-notch and we are mightily impressed with its multitasking capability.
It doesn't matter if you are a novice or an experienced hacker, this suits all. Its eye-popping hardware features make it the best laptop for hackers.
Weighing only about a kilo, it is extremely portable. This comes in handy for a hacker who travels frequently.
This laptop case is built with magnesium-aluminium alloy, which makes it light and extremely robust.
It comes with a 14-inch display that is protected by Corning Gorilla glass. The whole laptop is covered by a coating layer that provides an antimicrobial effect.
The display consists of a 14-inch touch-capable IPS panel that supports a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels.
The display offers a good black value of 0.25 cd/m² and a very good contrast ratio of 1616:1. The colour space coverage is also impressive.
It has a 0.9 MP webcam, which is not outstanding but does the job as efficiently as any other laptop in this segment.
It also comes with a touchscreen. The screen senses our finger movements perfectly and adapts to the pressure exerted by our fingers.
The keyboard is smaller and offers a swift response for coders. The keys are packaged together in a way to makes typing tasks easier. It also has a single-step keyboard illumination.
Acer has a ClickPad in the Swift 5 SF514. The touchpad is very smooth and very responsive to the pressure points.
The left side has a power button, an HDMI port, a USB Type-A port, and a Thunderbolt 4. The right side has a combined audio port, a USB Type-A port, and a Kensington lock.
This laptop can create wireless connections via WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0. WLAN speed while data transferring registers an impressive 1329 Mbit/s on average, while its speed reduces to an average of 744 Mbit/s when receiving data.
The Intel i7 - 11th Gen used here clock speeds lie between 2.4 and 4.2 GHz, which allows hackers to multitask and code efficiently.
With the configuration of Swift 5 with a PL2 of 64 watts and PL1 of 28 watts, the maximum performance of the processor is ensured.
It is equipped with an Intel Iris Xe graphics card with 8GB of RAM. Though these graphics is sufficient for pedestrian tasks, it is not reliable for high-end gaming.
The memory storage is impressive 1TB SSD which proves its worth in handling endurance-testing password-cracking tools.
Its cooling mechanism is praiseworthy as it does not overheat during prolonged working hours.
It has a Lithium-ion battery which can last up to jaw-dropping 17 hours. The other impressive factor is during idle operation, it has the lowest average performance consumption.
Owing to its incredible battery life and powerful processor, this device easily beats its competitors in performance.
Overall, this is a laptop with well-rounded performance and more importantly, it can endure high-end hacking software.
ASUS ROG Zephyrus - GA401II-HE127TS
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 4600HS processor
RAM: 8GB DDR4 RAM
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650Ti GDDR6 4GB VRAM Graphics
Storage: 512GB M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 SSD
Display: 14-in Display
The Asus ROG series has been one of the most reliable laptops for content creators. Taking a closer look at its impressive specifications, it might also be the best laptop for hackers.
The device has a smooth finish with a magnesium-aluminium chassis. It has a slight texture that hides fingerprints. The bottom of the device has 1215 mini LEDs which gives it a unique look. The chassis feels quite solid and looks rigid.
The build quality is quite good and considering the performance that it delivers, it weighs a surprisingly light 1.6kg.
It has a 3.5mm combo audio jack, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port, a couple of USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, a Type C USB 3.2 Gen port, a Display Port 1.4, an HDMI 2.0b port.
It also has a SODIMM slot, a micro SD card reader, an RJ-45 ethernet jack, and a WLAN module below m.2 SSD.
The keyboard is backlighted with Chicklet style. The keys are placed concerning typing fingers. This enhances the typing speed and it is ideal for coders and hackers.
The trackpad has a smooth glass surface with windows precision drivers.
The 14-inch display has a 120Hz refresh rate which makes the images look sharper and aids video rendering. Though this is not advisable for high-end gaming, this also doesn't suffer any noticeable lags.
The colours pop out vibrantly and it enhances the graphics' performance. It has a maximum brightness of 300 Nits and a contrast ratio of 1191:1.
It does not have PWM flickering, yet it surprised us with an impressive response time of 43 microseconds.
It has a Pantone Validated Panel which enables the content creators to create high-quality graphics.
The device is equipped with two 2.5W speakers with Smart AMP technology along with a Built-in array microphone.
The audio system is powered by Dolby Atoms Technology which allows the user to experience a decent audio performance.
The device comes with Windows Hello Support which enables a Single Sign-on Fingerprint Sensor. It allows the user to log in 3 times faster.
The device is powered by the AMD Ryzen 7 5800H processor and NVIDIA GTX 1650ti graphics card. It also has a dedicated graphics card of 4GB VRAM which ensures that this laptop is capable of providing a good gaming experience.
It might not have the most impressive core specifications, but the performance is surprisingly strong.
Its iGPU model is powered by AMD Radeon RX Vega 6, which boosts the performance to another level.
It comes with 8GB of RAM which provides sufficient speed when multitasking. This RAM is also proved to be more than capable of handling hacker software.
The device consists of a storage capacity of 512GB SSD which provides enough space to navigate the many different tasks that are required for a hacking laptop.
This laptop has a 4-cell Lithium-ion battery with 76 Watt-Hours. The battery lasts around 10.7 hours.
This device comes with a Windows 10 Operating System with a Home edition.
Overall, this device has an impressive core hardware specification that supports hacking software. Multitasking is swift and hackers will enjoy typing their way through this device.
HP OMEN FHD Gaming Laptop - 15-en0002AX
Processor: Ryzen 5-4600H processor
RAM: 8 GB DDR4-3200 SDRAM
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GTX 1660ti 6GB Graphics
Storage: 512 GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
Display: 15.6-in Display
HP recently launched this latest variant that is focused on delivering high-performance tasks with ease. Its Omen series always provides a unique blend of performance and convenience. This device is no different.
This heavily configured device features a "minimalist design" that focuses on content immersion. While the design is somewhat muted, there is no denying that it looks classy.
The device features a new HP Omen logo on the top along with redesigned chassis. The display gets a "3-sided micro-edge display" which offers thin bezels.
The bottom panel and back of the screen are made of plastic. The keyboard body feels premium and the deck is made of metal.
The keyboard looks classy with a white backlight. While it lacks a num pad, it acts as an advantage for hackers since the keys are nicely spaced out to provide a faster typing experience.
The screen rotates 180 degrees and gives a satisfactory viewing experience across all angles.
It has 3 USB 3.1 Type-A ports, an ethernet port, an HDMI, 1 Mini DisplayPort, 1 USB Type-C port which supports DisplayPort, a headphone jack, and an SD card slot.
The monitor has a 15.6-inch screen with an anti-glare IPS display. It has a full HD resolution with 1920*1080 pixels.
The screen also has a Micro Edge Bezel display that is responsible for sharper images.
One of the drawbacks of this device is the display comes with only 60Hz refresh rates. However, this does not affect the multitasking capabilities.
This device is equipped with B&O Audio technology and DTS: X Ultra Technology, which provides the user with a heightened audio experience.
This device has Omen Tempest Cooling Technology. This is a decent cooling system with an exhaust vent on the right side. It consists of 2 fans on either side which dissipates lots of air.
This laptop has an IR Thermopile Sensor, which is the first in the industry. This optimizes thermal efficiencies and maintains a quiet fan acoustic control.
Though this has gaming in its name, it is not an ideal gaming laptop by any standards. However, it does support an impressive array of hacking abilities.
The Ryzen 5 4600H is stunningly fast for this price segment. It comfortably beats the much more expensive Intel i7 variant found in most gaming laptops.
It is a productivity beast and mostly at par with its intel counterpart in most games.
The NVIDIA GTX 1660Ti graphics card is in itself a powerhouse but in addition to 6GB of dedicated graphics, it exceeds expectations.
It has 8GB of RAM which is nicely complemented by 512GB of SSD memory storage. The storage device is upgradeable to a 1TB SSD and 16GB of RAM.
It comes with a Windows 10 edition and weighs about 2.36kg.
The device is powered by 6 cell Lithium-Ion battery with 70.9 Watt-Hours. The battery lasts for an impressive 6 hours.
Overall, HP has done a really good job in redesigning this latest instalment that provides an incredible hacking experience.
Acer Nitro AN515-52
Processor: Intel Core i5-8300H Quad Core 8 processor
RAM: 8GB DDR4 RAM
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GTX Graphics 1050Ti 4GB GDDR5 VRAM Graphics
Storage: 128GB Fast SSD+1TB HDD
Display: 15.6-in Display
Acer offers the Nitro 5 series as an entry-level laptop. But this variant feels like a premium laptop mainly due to its impressive performance.
It is one of the few laptops that can run Kali Linux smoothly and efficiently. This hacking tool is important for any hacker and this makes it one of the best laptops for hackers.
The design is slick, and fully covered in black except for some red elements thrown at the bottom of the lid. There is a carbon-fibre-like pattern on the interior and lid, which provides a better grip to the user.
The keyboard comes with a red-backlit and keys are spaced apart to enhance the typing experience. It has narrow arrow keys, 15*15 mm main keys, and a NumPad section. The power button is integrated as the top-right key.
WASD keys are highlighted for greater visibility. Standard functions like keyboard brightness, screen brightness, media control, and volume adjustment functions are present.
The bottom of the laptop has 4 rubber feet which can be used to elevate the laptop when in use.
It has a 15.6-inch monitor with a full HD screen. The display has In-Plane Switching (IPS) technology with a resolution of 1920*1080 pixels. It also has a brightness of 300 nits.
The bezels are wider and tapered on the top left and right corners.
The colours aren't overly saturated and the images look sharper. The webcam supports 1280*720 resolution and it delivers better-than-expected camera quality.
The device comes with a Windows 10 Home edition and weighs about 2.7kg. Apart from this, a host of pre-installed software from Acer is available. It also comes with Norton security software.
It has a USB 3.1 port, a USB 3.0 port, two USB 2.0 ports, an HDMI 2.0 port with HDCP support, an Ethernet (RJ-45) port, a Kensington lock slot, and a headphone jack.
It has an SD card reader which accepts cards up to 128GP capacity.
The audio system is supported by Acer TrueHarmony Plus Technology Sound System, which provides impressive sound quality. Two built-in stereo speakers enhance the audio output.
In terms of connectivity, it has Intel Wireless-AC 9560 2×2 802.11ac wireless (for Gigabit performance), Bluetooth 5.0, and Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 port).
It has 4 cell Lithium-Ion battery with a battery life of about 5 and a half hours. This 48Watt Hour battery lasts for about 3 hours during uninterrupted coding.
NitroSense can be used to view and adjust power plans and fan control. Overall, the cooling system is adequately built and the heat dissipation does not heat the laptop.
The device is powered with an Intel Core i5-8300H Quad-Core processor with a speed Turbo boost up to 4GHz. It consists of NVIDIA GTX Graphics 1050Ti, which is powerful enough to multitask with ease.
It also has dedicated graphics of 4GB VRAM which enables a high-speed rendering ability for graphic content creators and it undoubtedly benefits professional hackers
This has a RAM of 8GB which can be upgradable to 32GB of RAM.
The storage capacity packs a punch with its 128GB Fast SSD + 1TB HDD.
The performance is extraordinary which is quite an achievement given its pricing. It does not compromise on its hardware features which aid in prolonged password-cracking activities.
This device supports password-cracking tools like no other in this segment. The performance never subdues even during epic hacking sessions and it is definitely among the best laptops for hackers.
Overall, this thoughtfully configured machine bodes well for gamers and hackers alike.
Hackers, in particular, should have an eye on this one, since it has the potential to become the best laptop for hackers with its forthcoming updated variants.
FAQ
Do you require a graphics card for hacking?
Yes and no. It depends on what methods you're using to hack. If you want to convert a hash back to the original string, a graphics card can help make the process faster. You can also use AWS machines for doing the same thing. In essence we don't think it is essential to have a graphics card.
Conclusion
There are a plethora of laptops that support hacking requirements. But not all of them have the right combination of hardware to provide the best hacking experience.
The above-mentioned laptops are uniquely tested and validated for the hacking experience.
They may not be the best gaming laptops, and they may not give a wholesome graphic content creation, but we bet on our lives that those laptops are the best when it comes to supporting hacking requirements.