For college-going students, a good laptop is important in their academic life. Doing assignments, and surfing the internet or your other classroom and exam work. Nowadays, different types of laptops are made for different work, and it isn’t easy to find a great laptop within the price range due to so many options available, making it difficult to choose the ideal one. Hence, in this guide, we have picked our best 5 laptops for college students to help you select the best for you from brands like Apple, Lenovo, Dell, etc.
5 Best Laptops for College Students
For students, an ideal laptop should also be versatile, lightweight, and durable because you’ll want something that can multitask all the programs, making it easy to carry and work with around campus. Performance is something that cannot be overlooked here. Enough processing power, quality display, enough storage, and the capability to handle graphics-intensive tasks help in efficiency which is crucial in academics.
Additionally, one of the significant things to look at in the laptop is the battery life. A laptop needs to last the whole day with casual academic use. Apart from that, the pricing and budget is also a major factor when selecting a laptop. Being a student, not everyone can spend tons of money hence one should look for the best value-for-money product.
1. IdeaPad Flex 5i (14″ Intel) – Best 2 in 1 Laptop
One of the decent and cheapest 2-in-1 laptops, the IdeaPad Flex 5i takes the spotlight with its versatility. It is equipped with a 14-inch WUXGA 1920 × 1200, 60 Hz IPS touchscreen display panel. Also, this laptop comes with Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity. Additionally, it provides a battery backup of up to 14 hours and comes with a Fingerprint Reader, a physical shutter for the camera, and a digital pen. Moreover, you can cut a few specs in storage and RAM to get in for an even lower price.
Additional Specs –
- Storage:- 512 SSD
- Speaker:- 2x 2W User-facing Dolby Audio
- RAM:- 16 GB
- CPU:- 13th Gen Intel Core i5-1335U Processor
- GPU:- Integrated Intel Iris Xe Graphics
- OS:- Window 11
- Battery Energy:- 52.5Wh
- Price:- $639.99
Checkout on Lenovo
2. Acer Aspire 5 – Best Overall
The Aspire 5 is equipped with an NVIDIA GeForce 2050 RTX GPU, providing you with enough power to play games with great FPS and good art creation. Speaking of the display, it has a 16:10 aspect ratio and narrow bezel available in 14”, 15”, or 17” 1080p 60Hz LCD. Furthermore, laptops for college students should have multitasking capability, the Aspire 5 is powered by the latest 13th Gen Intel Core Processors for decent multitasking and productivity. Additionally, with onboard LPDDR5 memory and M.2 SSD storage can go fast with data transfer, and exploring, and you get the option to configure its few specs like processor, Graphics card, and storage.
Additional Specs –
- Storage:- 512 SSD
- Speaker:- 2x Stereo audio
- RAM:- 16 GB
- CPU:- Intel Core i5-1335U Dodeca-core 1.30 GHz
- GPU:- GeForce RTX 2050 | 4 GB
- OS:- Window 11
- Battery Energy:- 50 W
- Price:- $849.99
Checkout on Asus
3. IdeaPad Gaming 3 (15” AMD) – Best Gaming
If you’re looking for the best student laptop with decent gaming capabilities as well, then IdeaPad Gaming 3 is an ideal option for you. This gaming laptop is powered by the new AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop 6 GB, making it deliver outstanding performance. It features a 15.6″ FHD (1920 × 1080) IPS, anti-glare display with 120Hz refresh rate and 250 nits peak brightness.
Although it is a gaming laptop, it maintains a sleek and streamlined design with multiple I/O ports. One of the downsides for intensive users is the battery life, which is a little on the lower side compared to the other options on the list. Along with this, you save a few hundred dollars by configuring the specs which are available on the website.
Additional Specs –
- Storage:- 512 SSD
- Speaker:- 2 × 2W stereo
- RAM:- 16 GB
- CPU:- AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS
- GPU:- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop | 6 GB
- OS:- Windows 11
- Battery Energy:- 45 W
- Price:- $807.49
Learn more at Lenovo
4. Dell XPS 13″ – Value for Money
The Dell XPS has a minimalist and durable design, is constructed with aluminum, and is powered by the latest 12th Gen Intel i7 processors. It is Lightweight in design weighing around 1.17 kg, hence no issue with carrying it around, Also you can expect long battery life with its 51W battery pack and recharge 80% in less than an hour with Express Charge.
It features an FHD 13.4”, 1920 × 1200, 60Hz, with a peak brightness of 500 nits, non-touch display. However, you can opt for a touch screen for an additional $100. Lastly, it offers a Fingerprint reader for security and a backlit keyboard.
Additional Specs –
- Storage:- 512 SSD
- Speaker:- 2×2w Dual stereo speakers
- RAM:- 16 GB
- CPU:- 12th Gen Intel Core i7-1250U 4.70 GHz Turbo
- GPU:- Integrated Intel Iris Xe Graphics
- OS:- Window 11
- Battery Energy:- 51 W
- Price:- $849.00
Learn more at Dell
5. Apple 13-inch MacBook Air – Most Portable
MacBook Air is an incredibly portable laptop in its sleek design with a silent, fanless design and a beautiful 13.3‑inch, 2560 × 1600 resolution Retina display, offering sharp and clear visual output with bright color and vibrancy.
The Air moves at speed, working on intensive tasks like video editing and graphics designing with the help of the in-house Apple M1 processor. Additionally, it has an HD camera with 3 microphone array and is capable of providing up to 18 hours of battery life on a single charge. Hence, you don’t need to run around with a charger, to fill a little juice in the battery.
Additional Specs –
- Storage:- 256 SSD
- Speaker:- 4
- RAM:- 8 GB
- CPU:- Apple M1
- GPU:- Integrated Graphics 7 cores
- OS:- macOS
- Battery Energy:- 50 W
- Price:- $999
Learn more at Apple
While making the final selection, you should also consider the customer technical support the brand provides with their product, so you can have better and hassle-free after-sale service and experience. Additionally, you should also look for plans and offers brands provide for students to find the best deal. And that’s everything covered for the list of best laptops for college students. In the meantime, check out our other guides to learn How to get a MacBook Pro Student Discount Deal or How to Switch Adobe Creative Cloud Plan to Student Plan (2023).