The Best Laptops for College Students

Recommended configuration

Who these are for: Budget ultrabooks—thin and light laptops with good performance and long battery life and a price tag in the $700 to $800 range—are ideal for high school and college students because they provide the best value. These cheaper ultrabooks tend to make minor trade-offs compared with ultrabooks over $1,000: They may be a bit larger and heavier, may not last quite as long on a charge, may feel less sturdy or solid, or may lack convenient features such as a fingerprint reader or USB-C charging. But even with those drawbacks, budget ultrabooks still provide far better performance and overall quality compared with $500 laptops.

Why we like this one: Most high school or college students shopping for a laptop to last through graduation should get the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED, either the UM3406HA-WS74T or UM3406HA-PS76T model. It’s powerful and portable enough for a full day of classes, and it has a vivid screen and a solid keyboard and trackpad. At 14 hours, the Zenbook 14 OLED has the longest battery life of all the Windows laptops we’ve tested so far in 2024. Unlike most cheap ultrabooks, the Zenbook 14 is sturdy and comes with a USB-C charger, which you can use to charge more devices and is generally cheaper to replace than specialty non–USB-C chargers.

You can read more about the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED and our other picks in our guide to Windows ultrabooks.

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Who these are for: If you prefer macOS or need exceptional tech support, a MacBook is a safe bet; the 13-inch models usually offer the best combination of size, weight, and speed. They’re great for most types of schoolwork, including writing, researching, and basic video and photo editing and coding. Once you factor in Apple’s education discount, you can get one with good enough specs and storage to last three to four years for less than $1,000. MacBooks are usually more expensive than Windows ultrabooks, especially if you want to upgrade the memory or storage; Apple’s SSD upgrade prices are so high that we usually recommend looking into cloud storage or an external SSD instead.

Why we like this one: The 13-inch MacBook Air (M1, 2020) costs just $700 at Walmart, the lowest price we’ve seen for a MacBook. If you have a higher budget, we recommend the newer MacBook Air (M2, 2022, 13″), which has a brighter screen, a superior webcam, and a MagSafe charging port. Both models are more than fast enough for web browsing, working on documents, and light photo and video editing, plus they can even handle professional work like 3D rendering or compiling code. They also have great keyboards and trackpads, as well as all-day battery life. Like Apple’s other laptops, the Air has only USB-C ports; you may need a USB-C hub for certain peripherals. But the Air’s light weight, solid construction, and industry-leading support make it a great laptop, especially if you also own an iPhone or other Apple devices.

For more details on our Mac picks, take a look at our full guide to MacBook models.

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Who these are for: Chromebooks are ideal for students who don’t need Windows or macOS for specific programs. A good Chromebook can do almost anything a regular laptop can do, including document work, video calls, and streaming video—as long as it’s possible in a web browser or via Android apps. And $500 Chromebooks tend to be faster, lighter, and sleeker than similarly priced Windows laptops. Plus, Chromebooks are secure and easy to maintain. But Chromebooks may have trouble connecting to campus printers, and they can’t play Windows games. And they’re not good for people who need access to Mac or Windows apps for photo, video, or audio editing, or other specialized software.

Why we like this one: If you can complete all of your coursework on a Chromebook, we recommend the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook Plus because it has the best combination of features and price of all the models we tested. It has fast performance, a reliable keyboard and trackpad, a tall touchscreen, surprisingly good speakers, and enough battery life to last a full day of classes. But we wish it were lighter—at 3.6 pounds, it’s heavy for a 14-inch laptop.

For more options, you can read our full guide to Chromebooks.

Recommended configuration

Who these are for: If you need a Windows laptop for school and you can’t afford to spend a lot, you can find a decent one for less than $500, but you have to make some compromises. These models are best suited for grade-school or middle-school students, because most budget Windows laptops that are fast enough for school work tend to be bulky, heavy, and stuck with battery life that won’t last a full day of classes. You have to be extra-vigilant when shopping for a laptop in this price range to avoid slow or old processors, not enough memory, sluggish storage, and terrible, low-resolution displays.

Why we like this one: The Acer Aspire 3 Spin 14 (A3SP14-31PT) in any of our recommended configurations (37NV, 38YA, or 32M6) is the best Windows laptop you can find for the price. But we strongly recommend saving up for our top pick if you can—it’s better in nearly every way.

The Aspire 3 Spin 14 is fast enough to meet most people’s computing needs, and its keyboard and trackpad are reliable. It also has a decent-looking 14-inch 1920×1200 touchscreen with a tall aspect ratio, as well as a 360-degree hinge that allows you to use the device as a tablet to take handwritten notes (if you have a stylus). Compared with most bulky Windows laptops in this price range, the Aspire 3 Spin 14 is also more compact, and it has long enough battery life to last a full day of classes.

The Aspire 3 Spin 14 ships with Windows 11 S mode, which allows only apps from the Microsoft Store and limits you to Microsoft Edge for web browsing. But you can switch it to Windows 11 Home for free to install any program you need. It also comes with a ton of bloatware; we recommend following these steps to get rid of it.

Choosing a budget laptop is tricky, because you can find hundreds of variations, their prices fluctuate constantly, and companies release and discontinue models with no warning. If our pick isn’t available, check our full guide for other available options and advice on how to shop for a budget laptop.

For additional details, you can read our full guide to budget laptops.

Who these are for: Windows laptops and Chromebooks that cost around $300 are almost uniformly unpleasant to use—washed-out screens and crappy performance are the two biggest problems. A tablet isn’t good at all the things a laptop is good at, and if you’re taking programming classes or learning how to do high-end photo and video editing with apps such as Photoshop or Premiere, a tablet probably wouldn’t work for you. But if you mainly need to browse the internet, write papers, stream videos, draw, and take handwritten notes, an iPad can be a workable, inexpensive substitute for a traditional laptop. iPads feel faster than cheap laptops, they run the App Store’s huge selection of games (in addition to productivity apps), and their light weight makes them more convenient to use in bed or on a couch when your homework is done and you want to unwind.

Why we like this one: The 10.9-inch Apple iPad (10th generation) is responsive and pleasant to use, its larger screen is bright and colorful, it has good battery life, and the Apple Pencil is great for drawing or taking notes. And Apple has made big strides forward in keyboard and mouse support, which makes the iPad feel a lot more like a traditional laptop when you put it in a case and pair it to a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse (or one of Apple’s Magic Trackpads). If you can afford it, and especially if your iPad will be your only computer, consider the 256 GB version instead of the 64 GB version; with that version, you’ll need to rely on cloud storage less, and you’ll have more space for apps and other files.

Head to our reviews of the best tablets and pro tablets to read more about our picks.