Best laptops for college students in 2022
Best laptops for higher students in 2022
Included in this guide:
The best laptops for college students are powerful plenty to let yous tackle all your school projects, with plenty portability and power chapters to get you through a full day of classes. Whether you're going back to school in person or attending classes remotely, having the right laptop is key.
Our best higher laptop picks all share a few mutual traits. They have excellent battery life, which is crucial when running betwixt classes on campus all day. These laptops are likewise affordable, with many models under $1000 — though we've too listed some college-priced laptops that are great investments.
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If you're worried about spending over $1,000, know that our picks are made with your time to come in heed. The MacBook Pro isn't inexpensive, for example, merely mine has lasted for 8 years, which is plenty time for undergrad and graduate school (or for applying to your start jobs out of higher).
Read on for our picks of the best higher laptops you can buy now.
What are the all-time laptops for students right at present?
Right now we recommend the Acer Swift iii with AMD chips as the all-time laptop for nigh college students. This svelte fiddling fourteen-inch laptop is (relatively) cheap and durable, yet still manages to deliver excellent performance and battery life. The 1080p display is a bit dim, but as long equally you don't try to utilise information technology outdoors too often it shouldn't be an issue.
The Asus Zenbook 13 is too quite good, and has many of the aforementioned strengths: information technology'due south quite affordable, and its AMD chips deliver outstanding performance and battery life. It can go a bit more expensive than the Swift 3, but if you tin afford it the extra expense is worth information technology for the 13.3-inch 1080p OLED display, every bit it makes everything look better. The one big drawback to the Zenbook 13 OLED? No headphone jack.
If you'd similar an Apple tree laptop for school, nosotros recommend the MacBook Air M1. It's sparse and light, with plenty of speed for schoolwork and amazing bombardment life (xiv+ hours) thank you to the Apple tree M1 scrap which drives it. We're waiting for Apple to release a successor, but in the meantime the M1-powered 2020 MacBook Air is the all-time Apple laptop for most college students.
The best laptops for college students
College students learning to make a dollar stretch tin acquire a lesson from the Acer Swift three. That lesson? Yous don't demand to pay a premium for great performance. Its AMD Ryzen seven 4700U CPU is snappy and it'southward got infrequent battery life (11:09) — all packed into a lightweight design. Plus, its USB Type-C, HDMI and USB-A ports mean you're able to do more with whatsoever adapters or dongles.
On top of that, its keyboard is great for typing out term papers, with quiet, clicky keys that won't irritate your roommate. But don't look it to replace your Bluetooth speaker: we wish its audio had a bit more than kick. Its slightly dim display isn't groovy for Netflix either, but its mix of functioning and price is so potent that you'll be able to look past that minor concern.
Read our full Acer Swift 3 (AMD) review .
If you're looking to spend betwixt $500-$1,000 the AMD-equipped Asus Zenbook xiii OLED is an splendid value, offering an heart-catching 1080p OLED display and exceptional battery life in a slim, lightweight bundle for less than a thousand bucks.
Sure, the speakers aren't astonishing, the webcam leaves something to be desired, and at that place'southward no headphone jack (though it does ship with an adapter), simply these are stumbling blocks you tin work effectually. If you need a zippy little ultraportable with a groovy screen that volition concluding yous through a full solar day of classes and and so some, you can't practise better than the OLED-equipped Asus Zenbook xiii at this price.
Read our full Asus Zenbook 13 OLED review .
If you've got a decent budget and want a compact, powerful Windows laptop that will terminal you lot through a few years at school, the Dell XPS 13 is a great choice. It's one of our favorite laptops thank you to its splendid performance, beautiful display, and svelte design. While the battery life isn't as good as some other laptops of similar cost, it'south ordinarily more than enough to become you through a twenty-four hour period of classes without scrambling for a charger.
Plus, in 2021 Dell began offer the XPS thirteen with a 3.5K OLED touchscreen option. If you tin can beget the upgrade (it's ordinarily a couple hundred bucks extra, around the same price equally the not-OLED 4K screen configuration) it's well worth the investment, every bit the OLED's deep, inky blacks, vibrant colors, and high contrast ratios really smooth when mounted in the XPS 13's thin-bezelled InfinityEdge design. It's and then good that it won the awards for all-time laptop display and best laptop overall in our Tom'due south Guide Awards 2021.
Read our total Dell XPS 13 OLED review .
Not interested in OLED? Don't miss our Dell XPS 13 (2020, 11th Gen) review .
The 2020 MacBook Air will keep its charge through multiple classes, breaks and all-nighters. We mean that, as it survived on the Tom's Guide battery test for 14 hours and 41 minutes, the longest-lasting MacBook Air always. Its performance is too seriously faster: the M1 chip makes the MacBook Air a shockingly decent system in multiple means. Not simply did it run Rising of the Tomb Raider smoothly, only that was a Rosetta 2 conversion of that Intel app.
Plus, y'all can run iOS and iPadOS apps on the MacBook Air, as its M1 processor is similar to the A-series iPhone and iPad processors. Living the remote learning life? Yous'll look clearer and more than authentic than always, equally signal processing in the M1 makes the MacBook Air webcam meliorate than ever. Also, its Magic Keyboard is really great for typing comfortably for hours on cease.
Read our full Apple MacBook Air M1 (tardily 2020) review .
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 is the closest matter the company makes to a flagship Windows laptop. This 2021 improver to the Surface Laptop line packs premium components into a svelte chassis, and it comes with a clean Windows 10 install that's bloatware-free.
If you're looking for a premium Windows laptop to carry all 24-hour interval between classes or coffee shops, the Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 is the fashion to get. It has a comfortable keyboard with well-sized, satisfying keys and a prissy Alcantara deck selection that gives your wrists a piffling more comfort than a typical all-metal laptop. Factor in the respectable 10+ hour battery life and the screen's alpine 3:2 brandish ratio, which can help you read and edit documents more than comfortably, and you accept a great notebook for students looking to get things washed on the become.
Read our full Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 review .
The original Samsung Galaxy Chromebook'due south biggest perk was really creating its achilles heel. Yes, that 4K OLED display was sharp, simply a move to a 1080p QLED panel was a fantastic decision that should make this Chromebook a hitting. Now it's manner more affordable, and also has better battery life— 7:50 vs the previous model'southward 5:55. Of course, that's however non nearly as good as the other laptops on this list, most of which lasted 10-16 hours on a single charge.
Plus, the Galaxy Chromebook 2 pumps out a ton of book for such a small-scale laptop. Admittedly, nosotros weren't as happy with the vertical travel in its keyboard, which creates a typing experience yous may have to adapt to — unless y'all're coming from a MacBook from 2016 to 2019. Simply higher students will observe a lot of value in a Chromebook that looks this good — its Fiesta Ruby-red colour option will stand up out in your lecture halls — and works this well. Plus, at $549 (Celeron) or $699 (Core i3), you lot're getting a lot for a fair price.
Read our full Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 review .
College students looking for a portable ii-in-ane that can last a while should give the Surface Go 2 a shut look. Yep, the original Surface Go was not a striking, simply this model fixed practically everything wrong with the original. Its thinner bezels mean more screen space for your assignments (and a more modern looking tablet). We would accept ranked the Surface Get 2 a chip higher, but its 10.five-inch screen and keyboard may be small for some college students.
And its battery life, just as importantly, is nifty: it lasted eleven hours and 39 minutes in our bombardment test, which is over 5 hours longer than the original Surface Become lasted. College students will dear the Surface Go 2'southward Zoom-ready webcam, a 5-megapixel 1080p front camera that is perfect for this era of online learning. Plus, you get Windows How-do-you-do biometric login for unlocking the Surface Go 2 when y'all sit down to information technology, and if y'all get the eighth Gen Intel Cadre i3 version, y'all'll get the moderate multitasking capability you demand to grab up with your coursework (while you stream Spotify).
Read our full Microsoft Surface Go 2 review .
If yous're going off to higher to learn about making movies or master other visual media, y'all'll want to turn to the M1-powered MacBook Pro. Its display is better than the Air's and its battery lasts longer as well — it ran for xvi hours and 25 minutes in our battery test, which is absolutely epic. And one time your favorite applications update to back up Apple silicon, yous'll wonder what took Apple and so long to ditch Intel.
And just similar with the same Air, the MacBook Pro comes with the new Magic Keyboard, as Apple tree finally ditched the shallow and unreliable Butterfly keyboards. This combination of endurance and operation, mixed with a display that's bully for seeing your creations come to life makes for one of the best college laptops for Apple users, provided their budget allows for it.
If you prefer bigger screens, Apple tree just appear 2 new MacBook Pro models — one with a xiv-inch screen and i with a sixteen-inch display. They're not inexpensive, as the MacBook Pro 14-inch 2021 model starts at $1,999 and the MacBook Pro 16-inch 2021 goes for $2,499. But they do let you choose betwixt very powerful M1 Pro and M1 Max chipsets, and that power figures to keep your MacBook humming for a very long time. Stay tuned for our full reviews of those new models.
Read our total MacBook Pro with M1 review .
If you absolutely, positively need the lightest laptop possible for going back to school, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano is a bang-up choice. This svelte 2-pound laptop will exist like shooting fish in a barrel to carry and should last you through a full twenty-four hour period at school; it lasted 12 hours on our battery test, which puts it upward there confronting some of the very best laptops on the market place today. And that's quite impressive when y'all call up that the 2.nine-pound XPS thirteen is almost a whole pound heavier.
Lenovo didn't sacrifice on performance or usability either. The Nano's Intel 11th Gen Tiger Lake processors provide the speed y'all need for tackling your school projects, and its keyboard provides a snappy and comfy typing feel that lives up to the ThinkPad brand. You just might need to pack a USB-C hub, though, as it'southward a little light on ports.
Read our full Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano review .
- Our picks for the best Chromebooks
- All-time MacBook in 2021: Find the best MacBook for you
How to choose the all-time college laptop for you lot
Portability and battery life are often more than important than performance, screen quality, or whatever other attribute when you're shopping for a laptop that'south great for school. Luckily we put every laptop nosotros review through our Tom's Guide battery test, which involves continuously browsing the spider web over Wi-Fi with the screen brightness set to 150 nits.
Based on those results, we recommend upkeep shoppers consider purchasing the Acer Aspire 5, Asus Chromebook Flip C434 and Microsoft Surface Go 2, as all come in at less than $600 — and that's with the Surface Become 2'southward Blazon Cover Keyboard (sold separately). Picking between these iii is simple. If you prioritize operation, get the Aspire 5. Need a Chromebook? The Flip C434's your next laptop. Want a tablet? Go go a Surface Become 2.
The next toll tier of laptops, both under $700, has the Acer Swift 3 and the Google Pixelbook Go, which brings up an interesting selection. The Swift iii is fast for its price tag, but its screen is not that bright. If you tin can do all your school work via Chrome and Android, the Pixelbook Go's premium build and fantabulous screen are a solid combination.
Lastly, we get to the folks who tin can spend $one,000 or more. iPhone-using college students tin can get the MacBook Air if their majors don't require demanding programs, or spend the actress $300 for the remarkably long-lasting MacBook Pro if they're going to be living within Adobe's applications. (The latest MacBook Pro models with updated Apple silicon really push button the price skyward, simply they promise the all-time functioning from an Apple tree laptop.) The residue of the student trunk, who recollect the all-time college laptop has to be a PC, will determine based around performance and audio quality. The Dell XPS xiii has modern 11th Gen CPUs and Thunderbolt iv (neat for connecting an external monitor) only unimpressive sound, while Microsoft'south Surface Laptop 4 has smashing sound and a powerful 11th Gen Intel CPU, merely no Thunderbolt four ports -- just two USB ports, one USB-C and one USB-A.
How nosotros test the best college laptops
College students, no thing the season (or twelvemonth, for that matter) live in a highly mobile state of affairs, where they're going to want a laptop that can last a while on a single accuse. That's why we test laptops with our afore-mentioned web-surfing-based bombardment test, which involves setting each laptop's display to 150 nits of brightness and measuring how long it can last while loading an countless stream of web pages.
On superlative of that, nosotros test each laptop's functioning with a mix of every 24-hour interval usage, (opening tons of web browser tabs, streaming YouTube and move) and performance-measuring benchmarks such as Geekbench for the CPU and our ain storage speed tests to meet how fast these laptops can clone big blocks of data.
Nosotros measure each laptop's brandish via the readings recorded by our calorie-free gun, one of 2 pieces of hardware (the other being our colorimeter) that we use to measure how bright a screen tin can get and how much of the sRGB color spectrum it can produce.
Be sure to check out all of our guides to become you prepare to go dorsum to school:
Best office chairs | Best desk lamps | All-time pens | Best estimator speakers | All-time laptop numberless | Best webcams | All-time all-in-one printers | How to force quit in Windows
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/best-picks/best-college-laptops
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