Best student laptop deals and sales: save big on your favourite brands

two laptops, one silver and one blue, against a blue background
(Image credit: Future)

Many of the best student deals are now wrapped up, but you can still shop the latest discounts over at our Best Laptop Sales in Australia guide.

Jumping back into study can be very expensive – especially if you want to be equipped with one of the best laptops for students. Thankfully, a lot of retailers offer back to school sales running at the start of the year to help reduce that cost, so you can find a suitable device at a reasonable price. It's also worth browsing our full best laptops deals to see options we might not have highlighted here.

When shopping for a student laptop, you’ll need to consider what you plan to use the laptop for so you don’t overspend on features and performance you don’t need (laptops can get very expensive!), and for students it probably needs to be light enough to carry around all day.

If you’re taking notes, writing reports and using it for research, you can save a lot by opting for a machine with lower or older specs without compromising your work. But if you need it for video editing or graphic design, you might need to pay a little more for a more powerful device that can handle any software or tasks you throw at it.

There’s plenty of good laptop brands out there, including Apple, Microsoft, Lenovo, HP and Dell, so the TechRadar team has scoured the web to round up the best student laptop deals to help you ace the upcoming school year.

Best student laptop deals

Under AU$1,000

HP Pavilion Aero (13-bg0069AU) | Ryzen 7 / 16GB RAM / 512GB SSD
HP Pavilion Aero (13-bg0069AU) | Ryzen 7 / 16GB RAM / 512GB SSD: was AU$1,399 now AU$999 at eBay

Save AU$400 with code HP20FF

This very portable laptop a decently powerful spec, plus a 13.3-inch 1920 x 1200, 400-nit, 100% sRGB IPS display. Plus it weighs in at under 1kg. We have seen it very slightly cheaper before, but this is still a great deal for the Aero.

HP Laptop (17-cn3029TU) | i7 / 16GB RAM / 512GB SSD
HP Laptop (17-cn3029TU) | i7 / 16GB RAM / 512GB SSD: was AU$1,999 now AU$996.80 at eBay

Save AU$1,003.20

Kitted out with a decently powerful Intel i7-1355U CPU, 16GB of RAM, a large 512GB SSD and monster 17.3-inch display, the HP Laptop (yes, that is the actual name) is currently over 50% off using code HP20FF. The IPS display has a 1920 x 1080 resolution, 300-nit brightness and covers 45% of the NTSC colour space. It can run for up to 10 hours unplugged thanks to the 41Wh battery, includes Wi-Fi 6 and has a full-size backlit keyboard with numpad.

HP Chromebook 14-inch (14a-nf0007TU) | Intel N100 / 4GB RAM / 64GB storage
HP Chromebook 14-inch (14a-nf0007TU) | Intel N100 / 4GB RAM / 64GB storage: was AU$429 now AU$299 at JB Hi-Fi

Save AU$130

This is a very basic machine meant for emails and web browsing, but you can't expect too much from a 14-inch laptop fat this price. The 1366 x 768 display resolution is low but fine for normal use, and HP rate the battery life for up to 11 hours. It includes a 720p webcam for video calls and comes with 100GB of Google cloud storage free for the first year.

Under AU$1,500

Apple MacBook Air M2 16GB
Apple MacBook Air M2 16GB: was AU$1,599 now AU$1,377 at JB Hi-Fi

Save AU$222

This is not the cheapest price we've seen for the 16GB M2 MacBook Air, but it's still a great option for those who need a capable yet affordable machine. This deal is 13% off vs buying the M2 Air from Apple, but keep in mind the newer M3 Air is also on sale for AU$1,577, so you currently save 12% by opting for the older M2 version. Want to know if that's the right move? Check out our Apple MacBook Air (M2, 2022) review. You can also grab the M2 Air for the same price from The Good Guys.

Lenovo ThinkPad T14s (Gen 4) | Intel i5 / 16GB RAM / 512GB SSD
Lenovo ThinkPad T14s (Gen 4) | Intel i5 / 16GB RAM / 512GB SSD: was AU$2,779 now AU$1,449 at Lenovo USA

Save AU$1,330

This ThinkPad T14s features an Intel Core i5-1335U CPU with Intel Iris Xe graphics in a lightweight chassis – starting from 1.25 kg. The versatile T14s has work focused features, such as a 5MP RGB+IR facial recognition webcam, fingerprint reader, all-day battery life, and a 14-inch WUXGA (1920 x 1200) display that can fold through 180º to lay flat. Need more power? The Gen 6 AMD AU 7 Pro 360 variant is currently on sale for AU$1,919.

HP Envy x360 16-inch 2-in-1 | Ultra 7 / 16GB RAM / 1TB SSD
HP Envy x360 16-inch 2-in-1 | Ultra 7 / 16GB RAM / 1TB SSD: was AU$2,799 now AU$1,499 at HP Store

Save AU$1,300

Score a great 46% off this versatile 2-in-1 HP Envy x360 from HP. It features an Intel Ultra 7 CPU along with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. Plus of course a 1200p 16-inch touchscreen that conveniently folds through 360 degrees. Even better, it's actually Au$100 cheaper than during Black Friday.

Premium Laptops

Apple  MacBook Air 13.6-inch (M3, 2024)
Apple MacBook Air 13.6-inch (M3, 2024): was AU$1,799 now AU$1,577 at JB Hi-Fi

Save AU$222

The 13.6-inch M3 MacBook air is one of our favourite laptops, and is an even better deal now Apple has made 16GB of RAM the base configuration. JB Hi-Fi's is current deal offers a decent saving, and is much cheaper than buying direct from Apple.

HP  OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 | Ultra 5 / 16GB / 1TB SSD
HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 | Ultra 5 / 16GB / 1TB SSD: was AU$2,999 now AU$2,399 at HP Store

Save AU$600

This premium 2-in-1 from HP uses the latest Series 2 Core Ultra CPUs, for solid performance and amazing battery life. The 14-inch laptop has a 2.8K OLED display and comes in Core Ultra 5, 7 and 9 variants – all of which are 20% off. This deal is for the more affordable Ultra 5 model, but if you need more processing power or RAM, consider the deals below. You can also grab the standard (non 2-in-1) model of the Ultra with a Ryzen 9 AI CPU and 32GB of RAM from AU$2,318.

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Lindsay Handmer
Senior Writer – TechRadar Australia

Lindsay is an Australian tech journalist who loves nothing more than rigorous product testing and benchmarking. He is especially passionate about portable computing, doing deep dives into the USB-C specification or getting hands on with energy storage, from power banks to off grid systems. In his spare time Lindsay is usually found tinkering with an endless array of projects or exploring the many waterways around Sydney.

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