3 Best Laptops with a Built-in CAC Reader in 2024
From this article, you will know what are, in our opinion, the best laptops with a built-in CAC reader you can buy and use in 2024.
CAC (Common Access Card) is a smart identity card for Active Duty United States Defense personnel. One of its usage is to provide access to restrictive buildings, rooms, and computer systems for its holder.
To access computer systems with a CAC, you can use a laptop to facilitate you. However, as the laptop needs to be able to read your CAC before giving you access to the computer systems, you need to have a CAC reader in the form of an external device connected to your laptop or a built-in CAC reader in your laptop. If you don’t want the complication of having to bring an external CAC reader around whenever you need to use your CAC, then it is better if you have a laptop that has a built-in CAC reader.
Besides having a built-in CAC reader, however, it will be great if the laptop you use also has the right specification quality to support your daily activities. If you want to use a laptop for activities related to your CAC but don’t have a laptop yet for that purpose, you might be interested in buying a new laptop that has the specification quality you need while also having a built-in CAC reader.
Nevertheless, it can be confusing to pick the right laptop from many laptop models and specification choices out there. This is why Compute Expert has tried to compile a list of the best laptops with a built-in CAC reader that you can make as your laptop-buying reference. Keep in mind, though, that the built-in CAC reader in these laptops we recommend is optional so you need to check again with the seller if you decide to buy one of them.
Want to learn more about those laptops that we recommend? Let’s start digging into the list right away.
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| Image | View on Amazon | Product |
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Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 | |
 
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HP EliteBook 840 G10 | |
 
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Dell Latitude 5540 |
Table of Contents:
What are the Best Laptops with a Built-in CAC Reader?
Now, let’s see more about the laptops with an optional built-in CAC reader that we think are excellent for you to use. Using one of these laptops should give you the laptop support you need to do your daily activities with your CAC more optimally.1. Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 3
Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 is the first laptop with an optional built-in CAC reader we recommend for you to use. Coming from the popular Lenovo ThinkPad series, this laptop has an excellent performance level to let you do your activities well with your CAC.
The processor of this laptop is an AMD one with AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 6650U. This is a nice processor with a quite fast base clock and turbo speed to give you a stable performance when running your software. The 16GB RAM capacity that this laptop has should provide the memory space you need to multitask adequately.
This laptop has a stretchable hinge (up to 180 degrees) so you can view its display in a more comfortable position for you. When you want to use this laptop for long hours, its friendly-to-the-eye display should give you much less eye strain compared to if you use many other laptops.
The keyboard of a ThinkPad laptop is one of the best around so you should type comfortably when you need to input something to the software you use. All in all, this Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 can be an excellent laptop choice with an optional built-in CAC reader for you to buy and use.
Key Features
- Screen Size, Resolution: 14 inches, 1920 x 1200 pixels
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 6650U with speed up to 4.5 GHz
- RAM Capacity: 16GB
- Storage: 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD
- Battery Life (Estimation): up to 8 hours of usage capacity
Pros
- Excellent specifications with an optional built-in CAC reader
- Quite sleek and lightweight
- USB-A, USB-C, and HDMI ports
- Friendly-to-the-eye display
- Stretchable hinge (up to 180 degrees)
- Comfortable keyboard to type on
Cons
- No SD card reader slots
2. HP EliteBook 840 G10
HP EliteBook 840 G10 is the next laptop with an optional built-in CAC reader that can be very suitable for your activity needs. Considering the model and specification quality that it has, this laptop should perform well when supporting what you need to do every day.
This laptop has a 13th Gen Intel Core i7 processor and 16GB RAM capacity as its main performance specifications. With these specifications in place, handling tasks related to your usage of this laptop should be smoothly done. When you need to use its battery, it can last up to 13 hours to let you stay productive for a long time without a power outlet.
The design of this laptop is quite portable so you should be able to bring it around in your bag or hand easily. To help you browse or work online optimally, there is Wi-Fi 6E technology in this laptop that can give you an optimum internet connection speed from your Wi-Fi network.
The full-HD webcam and speakers supported by Bang & Olufsen technology this laptop has should also make you do video calls more clearly. Overall, this HP EliteBook 840 G10 is a fine laptop with an optional built-in CAC reader that can be a good choice to help you do your daily activities optimally.
Key Features
- Screen Size, Resolution: 14 inches, 1920 x 1200 pixels
- Processor: 13th Gen Intel Core i7 with speed up to 5 GHz
- RAM Capacity: 16GB
- Storage: 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD
- Battery Life (Estimation): up to 13 hours of usage capacity
Pros
- Excellent specifications with an optional built-in CAC reader
- Quite portable design
- USB-A, Thunderbolt 4 USB-C, and HDMI ports
- A full-HD webcam
- Great speakers
- Comfortable keyboard to type on
Cons
- No SD card reader slots
3. Dell Latitude 5540
Dell Latitude 5540 is another laptop with a built-in CAC reader you might want to take a deeper look at during your laptop-buying process. It is a nice laptop from Dell that should be able to deliver the performance level needed to accompany you in your activities.
To run its operations, this laptop uses a 13th Gen Intel Core i7 processor and 16GB RAM capacity. They should be adequate to run typical software smoothly. To accommodate the files you need to store internally, there is 1TB SSD storage space in this laptop you can use.
This laptop has a solid build so a few slight bumps here and there shouldn’t be a problem. This should make this laptop more durable for you to use. When you need to connect external devices to this laptop to support your daily activities, there is a full range of ports with two Thunderbolt 4 ports available on its sides.
Want a laptop with a built-in CAC reader that can support you capably? You may want to consider buying and using this Dell Latitude 5540 laptop.
Key Features
- Screen Size, Resolution: 15.6 inches, 1920 x 1080 pixels
- Processor: 13th Gen Intel Core i7 with speed up to 5 GHz
- RAM Capacity: 16GB
- Storage: 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD
- Battery Life (Estimation): up to 8 hours of usage capacity
Pros
- Excellent specifications with an optional built-in CAC reader
- Solid build
- Quite portable design
- A full range of ports with two Thunderbolt 4 ports
- A full-HD webcam
Cons
- Average display quality
What are the Things We Should Consider When We Want to Buy a Laptop with a Built-in CAC Reader?
Here are the things we think you should consider when you want to buy a laptop with a built-in CAC reader.- The built-in CAC reader availability. This seems obvious and yet you might forget to make sure of it. Most laptops that can have a built-in CAC reader as one of its specifications (usually the ones that come from Dell, Lenovo, HP, Toshiba, or Fujitsu) only offer it optionally. Thus, you should ask the seller whether the laptop you buy does have the built-in CAC reader you want to make sure of it
- Processor. You should have a good processor in the laptop you buy so it can run the software you need to use smoothly. We recommend a laptop with at least a late-generation i5 or Ryzen 5 processor for this
- RAM capacity. The RAM capacity of the laptop you buy should be adequate to provide the memory space needed for your activities. We recommend a laptop with at least 8GB RAM for this
- Storage. You may need to store some files related to your activities internally on your laptop for much easier access to them later. Thus, the laptop you buy should have adequate storage space to accommodate those files. We recommend a laptop with at least 256GB SSD storage space for this
Wrap Up
When you want to buy a laptop, you may want one that has a built-in CAC reader and can help you do your daily activities smoothly. However, it can be confusing to pick the right laptop from many laptop choices out there. This is why Compute Expert has created a list of the best laptops with a built-in CAC reader to help you.To summarize, here are three laptops with an optional built-in CAC reader that we recommend on our list.
We hope our list can help you buy the best laptop to support your daily activities with your CAC!
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