10 Best Laptops for College Students + Buying Guide

In today's world, a laptop is as essential as textbooks for any college student. Not just for taking notes or completing assignments, but it should also handle some big tasks such as streaming movies or playing games.

Laptops are more important ever for every college student this year due to the implementation of distance learning. So, if you're a student who is mostly at home attending online classes, then a laptop that you can use wherever you're is very vital.

Best Laptops for College Students

With the rise of competition in the market, there are so many choices available at so many different prices, which is homework in itself to find the best laptop out there that meets all your needs.

So, if you're a college student looking to buy a laptop that can handle all the significant tasks and doesn't burn a massive hole in your pocket, then you're in the right place. In this article, we're going to see a list of the Best laptops for college students.

But the real question is, which is the best laptop in 2024? Which laptop you can buy under $500, $700, $1000 and so on.

Unfortunately, the answers aren't that easy. Everything differs from one person to another.

Each model has its unique features and specs. Therefore we have compiled some of the best tips to help you research the best laptop for you.

Let's go into detail:

ASUS VivoBook S15

ASUS VivoBook S15 laptop is a fantastic example of computer hardware engineering done right. ASUS has used all its tricks to make this book- Slim body, the lithium-polymer battery in a metal chassis while completely eradicating the VGA port. With all these, they managed to include both an SSD and an HDD.

This laptop has 4 GB of RAM that's sufficient for any college work and allows you to upgrade your VivoBook S15 up to 16GB of DDR4 2133 memory. In addition, it has a Full HD IP display with a 178-degree wide viewing angle and a fingerprint sensor for quick login. It is the best choice for students who love lightweight and sleek laptops.

Pros:

• Lightweight, Sleek design
• Lithium-polymer battery with Fast charging capability
• Equipped with the fast fingerprint sensor
• Improved cool running solution
• It has an Nvidia GeForce 940MX GPU

Cons:

• Small battery capacity
• Cheap VGA cam
• Has only 4 GB of memory

Apple MacBook Air (M1 Late 2020)

Apple MacBook Air is one of the most portable laptops one can have. Its laptop is also considered the thinnest and most lightweight laptop available in the market.

This beautifully designed laptop comes with a 2560*1600 screen and has extraordinary features such as Touch ID fingerprint login, Scissor switch keyboard, and a massive trackpad. The Macbook air comes with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.

It gives a battery life of 18 hours and can handle intensive apps like Photoshop and other software without crashing. Apple MacBook Air is available at $999, which is the best price among all MacOS laptops.

Pros:

• High-quality keyboard
• Portable design
• Improved performance
• Value for money product

Cons:

• Only 2 USB type-C ports are available.

ACER Chromebook 514

Acer Chromebook 514 is a low-end Chromebook that manages to give you a lush feeling with its beautiful design. It is covered with a metal case and has a lovely large touchpad under the keyboard. It comes with 4GB RAM and 32 GB storage and consists of Chrome OS. That's a pleasure to use and works much better than windows.

With a 14-inch Full HD screen, Chromebook can last for about 12 hours to survive a school day without using a charger. With all the fantastic features, this laptop betrays its actual price by outperforming.

Pros:

• Outstanding battery life
• Huge touchpad
• Slick design with aluminum body
• Comfortable backlit keyboard.

Cons:

• Processors need improvement

Dell Inspiron 14 7000

Dell Inspiron 14 7000 series is a well-rounded ultrabook that offers many features in an affordable price range. With a sturdy hinge design, the body comes with 14's aluminum body which is comfortable and looks good when closed.

This ultrabook has a chiclet-style keyboard that feels very light and smooth while tying. It features 2 USB ports, a 1-in-1 SD card reader, and HDMI output for connectivity options. It utilizes HDD and a small SSD which makes it a bit heavier than regular ultrabooks. However, it weighs 4.4 lbs and 0.6 inches thick that is still portable.

Pros:

• Outstanding battery life
• Lightweight and portable
• Wi-fi 6

Cons:

• The touchpad can be a bit noisy

Acer Swift 5 14-inch

Acer Swift 5 14-inches is a feature-rich laptop that earns the title for lightest 14-inch notebook ever made. This laptop has a robust body that is made of magnesium-aluminum alloy, making it very light.

It includes a Tiger Lake CPU, long battery life, a slim build, adequate brightness for display, Intel Core i5-1135G7, 8GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. A pretty good screen and smooth hardware make this laptop very attractive to customers.

Pros:

• Lightweight
• Keeps cool under heavy load
• 1080p matte touch screen display

Cons:

• No bass speakers
• The trackpad is clunky when clicked

Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5 14

Lenovo Ideapad flex 5 14 is a flexible laptop that offers better computing performance than any other competitors in their price range. This beautifully designed laptop has a 360-degree hinge and a 1080p touchscreen that carries the latest Tyzen 7 5700U zen two processors. It includes 512GB NVMe SSD, 16GB DDR4 3200 MHz RAM. In addition, it gives up to 9 hours of consistent battery life with a single charge. So, If you're looking for a laptop to get your work done at home, then this might be the perfect option for you.

Pros:

• Comfortable keyboard
• Gives outstanding performance
• Robust computing
• Value for money

Cons:

• The display isn't bright enough
• It can be a bit buggy in tablet mode

HP Envy x360 13(2020)

HP Envy x360 13 delineates the sub-1000$ category by delivering a premium 2-in-1 laptop. Envy x360 has an excellent 13-inch touchscreen with a comfortable keyboard.

The CPU of this laptop has AMD's new 4000-series processors that deliver outstanding performance. It includes Ryzen 5 4500U, 8GB of RAM, and also a 256GB SSD.

The performance of this laptop is so good that it outperformed MacBook pro in specific tests. In addition, envy's battery lasts for an entire workday on a single charge. This laptop is recommended to those who want a premium notebook in an affordable price range.

Pros:

• Sturdy design
• All-day battery life
• Outstanding performance
• Good keyboard

Cons:

• No thunderbolt 3
• There's some bloatware

Microsoft Surface Pro 7

Microsoft surface pro 7 is the first model in its series to have a Type-C port. It has a fluid and responsive UI that's very easy to use. It comes with 4GB RAM and 128GB SSD and uses Intel's 10-nanometer processors making the device much faster at processing everyday tasks.

In addition, it has more robust streaming at high resolutions. It is equipped with a 14nm Intel core CPU.

When it comes to battery power, we don't see much improvement made from its windows-tablet predecessors. It gives up to 10.5 hours of battery life on a single charge.

Pros:

• Improved performance
• Snappy Intel "Ice Lake"
• Sharp display
• Supports Wi-fi 6
• It comes with a USB-C port

Cons:

• USB-C isn't thunderbolt C
• The battery isn't much improved

Lenovo Yoga 730 (13-inch)

Lenovo Yoga 730 is a versatile laptop ideally made for users who want speed, comfort, and portability. It has a sleek design and is very lightweight.

The area around the keyboard is made of aluminum material which makes it stronger. It comes with a 13.3 inch IPS LCD touchscreen with two display options. It comes with 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD.

Lenovo Yoga 730 is specifically made to perform your daily workload without any hitch. The battery life could be better, but nevertheless, it's a perfect deal.

Pro:

• Gives extraordinary performance
• Bright and colorful display
• Good keyboard

Cons:

• Bit pricey
• Weak speakers
• Keyboard gets hot quickly with CPU

Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch M1

Apple MacBook Pro is a dream laptop for any Apple fan. It comes with M1 SoC (8 CPU cores, 8 GPU cores), 8GB RAM, and 256GB of storage. It has graphics powered by Intel integrated iris plus graphics 645. It comes with two connectivity options and comes with two Thunderbolt 3 USB ports, headphones, and mic combo jack ports.

The battery life of this MacBook is beyond impressive, and it's something you don't have to worry about every day. Considering all features and performance, the Macbook pro remains a workhorse for people who want compact macOS to complete their intensive tasks.

Pros:

• Best Display
• Improved performance
• Good graphics
• Four Thunderbolt 3 ports
• Outstanding Battery Life

Cons:

• Only 2 USB-C ports
• No support for wi-fi 6

Buying Guide For Laptop

Research your college

The first and most important task is the check with your college for system requirements.

For example, some colleges require their students to have windows laptops for software compatibility and technical assistance in case students run into any issues.

At the same time, other colleges don't concentrate much on software, whether it's windows or macOS, or Linux.

Also, some colleges tend to have on-site repair computer repair centers that repair the laptops purchased from the college or some affiliated computer store of the university.

So, check your college campus as your first shopping place before going to your local electronic store.

Choose a portable Laptop.

A student will have to travel every day carrying a huge laptop most of the time.

It is nice to have a 5 pound plus laptop in your room, but the same laptop becomes a bother when you carry it across your campus while you're running from class to class.

Hence, it's better to buy a laptop that's lightweight and easy to carry around. If screen size doesn't matter much to you, then a 13inch -14inch wide panel laptop is ideal for you.

Power consumption

The battery is very important, especially for a college student who is away from the power outlet for longer periods. While buying laptops, you get two options- either choose one that maximizes the performance or gives you long battery life.

If you want to have long battery hours to spend your time on web browsers, then Chromebook might be good for you. As they have run on the low-powered processor, its CPU is sufficient for everyday tasks.

And if you're a person who plays games in your downtime, then an expensive gaming laptop would be best to buy.

Storage

With the increasing development of cloud storage, having local storage is somehow of less importance than it initially used to be, yet this factor should be taken care of while buying your laptop.

If you have a lot of large software and files that you want to store locally for a long time, then you'll need a laptop with at least 500GB or more, and if your work is mostly online, it's better off with a laptop having less space.

However, it would help if you remembered that storage highly affects your speed. So it is recommended to buy SSDs regardless of their cost as they are better than hard drives and are much faster than hard drives.

Warranty

In every laptop, Faulty components usually break in the first year of buying. So it's recommended to buy a laptop with at least a one-year warranty on its parts and labor charge. Also, it would help if you remembered that warranties do not cover any accidents caused by spilled water.

Some laptops give you extended warranties; for example, Apple offers an extended warranty of three years.

Although, warranties cost more than 15% of the laptop. Still, it's better to be backed up with a warranty if the motherboard fails or the display stops working.

Conclusion

Laptop Model	Brand	Display Size (inch)	Pros	Cons	Buy
ASUS VivoBook S15	Asus	15.6	Lightweight, Sleek design Lithium-polymer battery with Fast charging capability Equipped with the fast fingerprint sensor Improved cool running solution It has an Nvidia GeForce 940MX GPU	Small battery capacity Cheap VGA cam Has only 4 GB of memory	View on Amazon
Apple MacBook Air (M1 Late 2020)	Apple	13.3	High-quality keyboard Portable design Improved performance Value for money product	Only 2 USB type-C ports are available. Incompatible with older hardware	View on Amazon
ACER Chromebook 514	Acer	14	Outstanding battery life Huge touchpad Slick design with aluminum body Comfortable backlit keyboard.	Processors need improvement	View on Amazon
Dell Inspiron 14 7000	Dell	14	Outstanding battery life Lightweight and portable Wi-fi 6	The touchpad can be a bit noisy	View on Amazon

In today's age, the competition in the electronic industry is so high that it's getting hard to choose a good or bad laptop. Each day a new laptop is getting released with better features. But what separates the best laptop from a good laptop is efficiency, portability, battery life, and comfort.

So, which laptop should you buy? There are more choices on the market today than ever. And going through all of them is pretty daunting. Hence, we advise you to go through buying guide we've mentioned in this article before making your final decision and choose a laptop the laptop of your dreams.

Last update on 2024-10-12 using Amazon Product Advertising API.