1. The list in brief
2. Best overall
3. Best Mac
4. Best looking
5. Best Chromebook
6. Best gaming
7. Best 2-in-1
8. Best 13th Gen
9. Best under $1k
10. Best budget Chromebook
11. Best AMD
With the new academic year fast approaching, it's time to considering getting one of the best laptop for students. Whether you're a student looking for a new laptop, or a parent looking to kit their kid out with the tech they need for their studies, there are plenty of challenges to overcome in the vast sea of solid options.
One of the major considerations, for both student and parent alike, is to find a laptop that doesn't cost the planet, but simply finding the cheapest available machine isn't likely to be a worthwhile investment either way.
Thankfully, here at TechRadar, we get to review a vast majority of the laptops that hit shelves, and in doing so we get a great idea of the products that are worth their asking price – particularly when it comes to paying for features and specs that actually matter.
With that said, below are our recommendations on the best value laptops for students, no matter your budget and needs, we'll have a laptop to meet the demands of your study (and wallet).
The quick list
Best student laptop overall
An OLED screen on a powerful and competitively priced Ultrabook, the Swift Go is an unparalleled offering for students this year.
Best Mac for students
If you're already familiar with Mac OS, or you want a device that'll last all day without the need to charge then the late 2020 MacBook Air is still a solid choice for students.
Best looking student laptop
The Surface Laptop Go range offers a nice-looking PixelSense display and a slightly older but still powerful processor.
Best Chromebook
Chrome is a compelling OS for 2-in-1 devices that don't have quite enough power to run full-Windows operating systems and this is one of the best of the bunch.
Best 2-in-1
This affordable tablet is one of the most portable and versatile offerings here, but it's still powerful enough to run whatever software you need for school.
Best 13th Gen Intel Laptop
There are a range of current and older generation Acer Aspire 5 15-inch laptops out there, but whether you get AMD or Intel, the current gen or older laptops the whole range of Acer Aspire 5 devices are all competent performers.
Load the next 5 products...
Best under $1k
This laptop has plenty of power and a good set of customisable options that all come in under the $1k mark. A great device for students on a tight budget.
Best budget Chromebook
It might have lighter weight processors, but it comes with a lightweight OS that's capable of doing what young students need to do.
Best AMD laptop for students
You can get this device with a raft of decent processors, but the AMD model is our pick of the bunch.
The best student laptop overall
We’ve got the Acer Swift Go 16 as our best value laptop on the best laptops list but you can get this unit on sale for such a good price that it makes it a standout option for students. We’ve had the M1 MacBook Air at the top of this list for a while now, but the value offered by the Swift Go is arguably even better.
If you can live with a 14-inch display the Swift Go 14 starts for as little as $1,200, on sale. This approachable price gets you a 13th gen i5, 8GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD and a standout 2.8K OLED display. This is a powerful processor and more than enough storage to tackle any student workload, so it’s impressive that you’ll also get a screen that'd usually be exclusive to expensive professional devices.
For those wanting a little more power you can get an i7 variation that is able to outpace the current M2 MacBook Air devices and many Intel based professional systems. This is because it uses a more power hungry CPU that will drain battery in just 5.5 hours for both light work and 1080p movie playback.
For those happy to carry a charger however the Swift Go offers an excellent screen and powerful processor in a package that seems almost too good to be true. This is an exceptional value device that any price sensitive student should seriously consider.
The best Mac for students
Apple’s late 2020 MacBook Air might seem a little dated in 2023, but the M1 silicon chip was powerful enough when it was released to hold up well today… especially when you factor in battery life. Apple’s first Reduced Instruction Set Chip (the M1) is still the most powerful we have on this list of student laptops, and with a pricetag of under $1,500 before any student discounts it shouldn’t be too much of a stretch for many student’s budgets. This gets you an impressive colour-accurate HDR screen, a powerful CPU capable of any modern workload and a GPU that can offer light gaming capabilities.
Read the full review: MacBook Air (M1, 2020)
The best looking laptop for students
The original Surface Laptop Go was an impressive budget-conscious device and the Surface Laptop Go 2 has made some major improvements to make it even better. It keeps the 12.4-inch PixelSense display, and offers a similar compact and ultralight profile, but has updated the processor, keyboard and storage options. The new processor is 15-30 percent faster and the Gen 3 PCIe storage offers read and write speeds over 3000/1500 MB/s respectively. The device also offers a full work day battery lifespan, a fingerprint reader, and solid audio and web -conferencing capabilities.
Full review still to come.
The best Chromebook for students
While the hardware is not quite as suave as Microsoft's competing Go ranges, Lenovo's IdeaPad Duet Chromebook is even more affordable and includes a whole lot of value in its tiny cost. Chief among them is Chrome OS, which we find to be a richer experience when using a lightweight 2-in-1 (particularly compared with Windows 10S), especially if you're already in on G Suite apps like Gmail and co.
The Duet's 10.1-inch display has a 1920x1200 resolution and looks vibrant and bright, while the keypad isn't quite as nice as the likes of the Surface Go 2, it's fine to type on and is particularly comfortable for the price. Internally, it's not the most powerful unit on the market, but with a battery that lasts almost 8 hours in straight 1080p movie playback, this is a perfect portable machine for those that aren't looking to put the unit through its paces and are happy with mostly browsing and document processing.
Read the full review: Lenovo IdeaPad Duet Chromebook
The best gaming laptop for students
15-inch Gigabyte G5 is solid contender for the best budget gaming laptop in 2023 and so it happens to also be a pretty great laptop for students that need (or want) a little extra power for graphically intensive work. With either a Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 or 4060 GPU it’s also a capable aiming device that you’ll want to use even when you’re not studying.
The entry level Gigabyte G5 can be sold for as little as $1,199 on sale, making it cheaper than many contemporary professional Ultrabooks despite offering plenty of power. There are a few sacrifices required to achieve this price point, however. There’s only 8GB of included RAM, for instance, and the screen is much duller and less vibrant than any laptop outside the ultra-budget space, but these are worthwhile concessions for anyone wanting to game in downtime or run particularly demanding software.
The 4060 unit will get 60-plus fps on RDR2 using Ultra 1080p settings using the stock 8GB configuration, a respectable level of performance for an entry level gaming laptop. The G5’s 4060 has a Thermal Design Power (TDP) of just 75W, which means you’ll get 4-5 hours of battery life from a small 54Wh battery, but it definitely leaves some performance on the table.
At 2kg it’s perfectly portable, but you might need a bigger backpack for the thinker 2.3cm profile. The performance is well suited to the 15.6-inch 144Hz Full HD screen. You’ve got enough power to push that to its limits, but only using less demanding or older games. It is a little dull and colours are flatter than you might expect, but you’ll get used to it if you don’t have anything to compare it to.
Read the full review: Gigabyte G5
The best 2-in-1
The Surface Go 3 uses the same 10.5-inch PixelSense display with a 3 by 2 1920x1080 pixel resolution touchscreen display as its predecessor. This screen has a 400 nit typical brightness with a 1:1500 contrast ratio and 10-point capacitive touch, so you don’t really need much more in terms of visual quality or usability than what’s already on offer.
It’s also got pretty much the same RAM options and while the Intel Pentium Gold 6500Y is technically a new processor released in 2021, it's built from the same components as the Intel Core m3-8100Y that were on the most expensive Surface Go 2s. The only significant difference then is that there’s no longer an LTE option, which if we think about it, was an unnecessary premium feature that those looking for a budget 2-in-1 can easily live without.
While the new processor offers 20 to 40 percent performance improvements on CPU heavy tasks, it takes a pretty big hit in GPU performance dropping by up to 78 percent of the previous generation.
The Surface Go 3 runs on Windows 11 S Home, which should offer faster performance, but a reduced set of available applications. This is still a solid option, the competition has just developed quickly around it.
Read the full review: Microsoft Go 3
The best 13th Gen laptop for students
The Acer Aspire 5 comes with the option of either a 5000 series AMD or 11th Gen Intel CPU and 8 or 16GB of RAM locally and now that these aren’t the current generation they’re pretty affordable.
The full-size processors mean that whatever device you opt for here it’ll be one of the more powerful devices offered in this roundup. The device is more than capable of powering through most tasks on the Windows 11 Home OS it's packaged with, with enough overhead to download a wide variety of applications for stuff like light photo editing and browser based and older-title gaming.
Battery life isn’t quite a full day, but it’ll get you most of the way when you forget your charger lasting around 6.5 hours. It’s not the most portable offering here, but its the biggest device in the top half of this list, so a little extra bulk is to be expected.
The Acer Aspire 5 has all the essentials of a work/ study laptop at a much more affordable price, and you can even nab some decent sales on them these days.
Read our full Acer Aspire 5 review
The best under $1k for students
The Inspiron 15 from Dell is a great device for those on a student salary. With proper AMD and Intel CPUs on offer this unit is again one of the more powerful here and shouldn’t have any trouble tackling light photo editing and and other slightly more demanding tasks.
The keyboard isn’t ideal feeling a bit spongy and lacking a backlight, but the full HD screen is decent, and even offers 120Hz refresh rates on the AMD model. The onboard PCIe SSD is fast enough with 3500MB-plus read and 1000MB/s-plus write speeds. GPU was ok on the i5 model, but it’ll be better on the Ryzen and i7 Intel devices. Connectivity is pretty good if you ignore the omission of a USB-C port and 6.5h battery life will get you out of a bind when needed.
Read the full review: Dell Inspiron 15
The best budget Chromebook for students
If versatility is a top priority, then look no further than the Acer Chromebook Spin 311. This all-rounder has all the makings of a great student laptop, from its good battery life to its robust build and solid usability. However, the Acer Chromebook Spin 311 takes it further with its impressive levels of versatility, thanks to its abundance of ports considering its size, 2-in-1 design, portable size and excellent touchscreen display. It also boasts a keyboard and a touchpad that are not only reliable, but also satisfying to use. That’s a rare thing in a machine at this price point. It's worth noting this machine isn't sold locally in Australia, but there are plenty of ways to buy it from the US or importers without raising its cost all too much.
Read the full review: Acer Chromebook Spin 311
The best AMD laptop for students
There's a couple of Vivobook 15 devices available currently. Both have 8GB of RAM and a 15.6-inch FullHD display but you can get the Vivobook 15 with a more powerful AMD processor for less is you're open to it.
The Intel offering has an RRP of $1,099 and it comes with a 12th Gen Intel Core i5-1235U Processor and a 256GB SSD. The AMD offering we've seen for as little as $879 and comes with a more powerful AMD Ryzen 5 7530U CPU and a 512GB SSD. A configuration that's pretty hard to beat.
The FullHD display is pretty standard and battery life is a bit behind what you’d want, lasting just 5 hours and 20 minutes of light web browsing, but it’s perfectly usable if you have your charger handy.
Full review still to come.
How to choose the best student laptop for you
The best student laptop is going to give you the right balance between sufficient performance for productivity tasks, affordability for a student's budget, and durability to handle the kind of wear-and-tear that a student can put their laptops through – and having it look good never hurts.
But that can be a hard thing for students and families to balance, especially if they aren't as familiar with computer hardware as they'd like to be. Fortunately, there are some general guidelines that you can follow to get the right student laptop for your needs and budget.
How to choose the right laptop for students
There are a few other boxes that the best student laptops should check besides being able to handle the demands of your coursework. One of the biggest considerations you should have when choosing a student laptop is battery life - you need something that will last all day during your classes and still have juice leftover for late nights studying at the library.
Student laptops should also ideally be both versatile and lightweight because you’ll want something that can multitask all the programs you’ll need without being a drag to carry around campus. Versatility is crucial with a student laptop, especially with majors that will have you flipping back and forth between a published paper and the essay you’re trying to finish in time.
Budget is also a major consideration in choosing the best student laptop for your university experience. Not everyone can shell out a ton of money for a student laptop - we absolutely understand that - so you need to be sure to pick something that meets all your criteria without going overboard on your budget. It’s easy to find a great student laptop within your price range these days, and even better when you find a sale and get a good deal on it.
Is a MacBook a good laptop for students?
This is a slightly loaded question, because ultimately the best operating system for students (whether that's Windows 10 or 11, macOS, or ChromeOS) will always come down to which OS the student in question prefers to use. Some of us are married to the effective functionality of Windows; others might prefer the aesthetically pleasing UI of Apple devices, or the Android-esque, streamlined user experience Chromebook provide.
If you're already comfortable using a specific operating system, making the leap can be tricky. ChromeOS is arguably the easiest to pick up and use, but changing to MacOS after a decade spend familiarizing yourself with Windows might lead to confusion. Take this into consideration when choosing a new laptop for school or college.
On the hardware side, we're pleased to say that MacBooks are more competitive than ever. Apple's fantastic M1 and M2 chips are much more capable of running demanding tasks than processors with integrated graphics, making Apple laptops excellent all-rounders for the busy student. However, if you need to run highly intensive software, it's worth considering a Windows laptop with a dedicated GPU - ideally an Nvidia RTX one - since this will give you a lot more grunt in GPU-accelerated programs.
Which is better for students: a laptop or a desktop?
Simply put, most college-level students will need a laptop for their studies at this stage. While having a computer of some kind is practically a necessity at this point - with the rise of remote learning and content creation among university students - a laptop can be thrown into a rucksack and taken along to lectures and workshops, unlike a desktop PC.
Yes, a desktop will typically offer more processing power and the advantage of a bigger screen, but you might end up spending more (especially once you factor in the need for peripherals) and then still find yourself needing a portable device for note-taking and working on the go. If you've already got a small tablet or laptop that you can take out and about, you might want to consider buying one of the best desktop computers, but otherwise, we recommend you get a more capable laptop and use that in lieu of a desktop.
How we tested these student laptops
We know that buying a new laptop can be a huge investment. Even more so with laptops for college students. That’s why we take our jobs seriously, and test every laptop we recommend on this list extensively.
That process involves using them in our day-to-day lives to see how long their battery lasts, how robust they are – college kids have hectic lives, after all, and how cool they stay under pressure. We also look at their design, including how stylish they are, if they are thin and light enough to carry around with, and how comfortable they are to work on. Because the webcam and microphone in a laptop are also incredibly important, especially these days, we take time to test those out as well.
When it comes to performance, we use a mix of real-world tests and synthetic benchmarks to see how powerful (or not) these laptops are. This means using Windows 10 (or Chrome OS on Chromebooks and macOS on MacBooks) and running various apps and seeing how fast they load, noting down any problems.
Battery lives are also important, so we’ll keep track of how long we can use the laptop without needing to charge it. To get specific numbers, we also run our own battery life benchmark that plays a looped 1080p movie until the battery dies and the PC Mark 10 battery life benchmark, which replicates real-world usage, such as web browsing and document creation. These tests give us an excellent idea of how long the batteries in these laptops last.
When all is said and done, we then take everything we’ve learned about the laptop and compare it to its price, to see if it offers the best value to students.
Today's best student laptop deals
- The best laptops in Australia this year
- Australia's best ultrabooks on offer
- The best gaming laptops in Australia
- The best 2-in-1 available in Australia
Latest Updates
October 27, 2023
Updated to 2023 BG format. Added new devices.
