The first customer category that is likely to be interested in a laptop is travelers. Their primary interest would be portability, which all such products provide to some degree by default (Idemudia, 2018). As Muller (2020) adds, they are also interested in battery life and screen brightness, as they expect to spend substantial time away from an electrical outlet. The only options that travelers have to satisfy their needs for connectivity are tablets, smartphones, and laptops. However, if they need to work or perform similarly convoluted activities, laptops outclass the other two types of devices due to having a keyboard.
The second category of customers for laptops would be students who need them for work. Walton (2016) claims that in 2008, 37% of male students and 25% of female students were using notebooks in university libraries. The figure is likely to have grown since then, as information technologies have seen increased adoption by universities. Students are likely to primarily be interested in price, as they need a somewhat portable machine on which they can perform simple work such as typing. In that regard, there is no viable alternative to a laptop, as the only other device with a keyboard, a desktop computer, cannot be brought to class.
The third and final category would be creative workers, especially those involved with graphics work. They would need a laptop because sometimes, they need to quickly do simple graphics work without returning home to access a workstation desktop. As Burek (2020) highlights, some high-power creative laptops and gaming can use the same components as their non-portable counterparts, serving as a viable replacement for such a device. No other tool can match the resulting convenience while also supplying the necessary power, which is why these customers opt for laptops.
References
Burek, J. The fastest laptops for 2020. PCMag. Web.
Idemudia, E. C. (Ed.). (2018). Handbook of research on technology integration in the global world. IGI Global.
Muller, M. 5 of the best travel laptops – 2020. Travelmag. Web.
Walton, G. (2016). University libraries and space in the digital world. Taylor & Francis.