Finding the best student laptop requires balancing value, performance, and battery life to power through the school day, but there's never been a better time to be in the market.
With Black Friday deals approaching, now is the perfect chance to find excellent deals on the best laptops for students. I’ve curated a list of my picks to get students through their coursework, from high school to college, covering a range of options and operating systems to fit every need and budget.
For students, price-to-performance is key. You'll want affordability without sacrificing quality or performance, as many students work with tight budgets, but they'll need something that can actually get the job done. With that in mind, my top pick, the Acer Aspire 5, is more than up for the task. If money is less of a problem, the Apple MacBook Air with M3 or Dell XPS 13 Plus are also great options.
If you’re after something particularly budget-friendly, check out our best budget laptops page for strong options under $500, as well as our Black Friday laptop deals page, where you'll find savings on many of the best student laptops on this list.
The quick list
If you want to get right to it and see the best student laptop in every category, check out our quick roundup of top picks below. Don't worry though, you can easily jump to a more detailed view of every pick along with a price comparison tool to help you find the best laptop deals for students no matter your budget.
Best student laptop overall
With a solid build and decent weight, this extremely affordable 14-inch laptop offers decent battery life and performance for the price.
Best budget student Chromebook
It might not be the flashiest, but it's built to last, especially in terms of battery. ChromeOS is also a great, versatile OS - especially for younger learners.
Best student Chromebook
The best Chromebook for students overall, the Duet 5 Chromebook features a gorgeous OLED display, excellent battery life, and a portable design.
Best premium Chromebook
It may not be cheap, but its performance more than justifies the extra expense, delivering one of the best Chromebook experiences.
Best premium Windows laptop
A sleek, lightweight design and powerful performance make this a top-notch pick for Windows fans looking for a premium laptop for college.
Best laptop for creative students
Generally the best laptop out there for most people, this is a dream machine for creative students. Just be prepared to pay the steep price.
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Best affordable 2-in-1 for students
This laptop has an attractive price, good design, great performance, and excellent battery life. And it offers a great degree of versatility.
Best premium 2-in-1 for students
Sometimes, you need more than just good enough from a 2-in-1, and this delivers performance and build - though it's generally more expensive.
Best gaming laptop for students
It can't be all work and no play, but on a student budget, the MSI GF63 Thin has great performance and affordability you need from a gaming laptop.
Understanding what makes a good laptop for students is more than just knowing an awful lot about laptops (although I do know an awful lot about laptops). As someone who went through higher education with a decidedly lackluster laptop, I learned the hard way what's needed - and I've put that knowledge to use here to ensure you get the perfect laptop to carry you through a full course of studies.
The best student laptop overall
✅ You’re on a budget: This entry-level model only costs around $600/£450, which makes it a capable option for budgeting students.
✅ You travel a lot: It’s not an ultrabook, but a sturdy design and weight of just 1.7kg mean that the Aspire 5 will happily live in your backpack all day long.
❌ You’re a gamer: Acer’s website talks about a discrete GeForce graphics card, but most Aspire 5 models rely on more basic integrated graphics.
❌ You need all-day battery life: Six and a half hours certainly isn’t bad for a laptop in this price range, but you’ll need to spend a bit more if you need a long-lasting laptop.
The Acer Aspire 5 (2022) remains our pick as the best student laptop you can buy right now. That's because it's got a low price, but decent specs (OK, the 11-gen Intel CPU isn't the most recent, but it does the job well, especially compared to the processors you find in similarly-priced laptops) mean it's a dependable performer for most day-to-day tasks students will use it for.
As it's a Windows 11 laptop, it can run full-desktop applications, unlike Chromebooks which often have to make do with pared-back apps that don't offer the full range of features.
Of course, you need to set your expectations for this laptop. It's price and age means this isn't going to be a powerful laptop that can handle media editing or gaming, but for writing up essays and researching for your course, it remains an excellent choice, especially if you're on a budget, but don't want a Chromebook.
Read our full Acer Aspire 5 (2022) review
The best budget Chromebook for students
✅ You’re after a great value 2-in-1 Chromebook: Despite its low price, this Chromebook punches above its weight.
✅ You want the flexibility of a 2-in-1 device: Not only can this be used as a laptop, but it can turn into a tablet-like device as well.
❌ You need a powerful device: While the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 is fine for daily web browsing and media streaming, we wouldn't recommend it for anything more intensive.
❌ You want a great display: The small size and resolution of the screen keeps the price down, but that means it doesn't wow.
The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 Chromebook is a decent Chromebook for students who are looking for a bargain. Its low price means this isn't a particularly powerful device, even by Chromebook standards, but ChromeOS runs impressively well, and it won't let you down for day-to-day tasks like web browsing, document creation and emailing.
It can also be used for media streaming when you're winding down after a day of studying, though the small screen isn't ideal for truly immersing yourself in TVs and films.
The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 Chromebook is a great laptop for students because of its 2-in-1 design, which can be quite rare for laptops at this price. This allows you to use it as both a laptop and as a tablet-like device, and this kind of flexibility is super handy for students - especially as it means they don't need two separate devices.
The battery life lasted an excellent 16 hours in our video playback test when we reviewed the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 Chromebook, so it'll easily last an entire school day without needing to be charge.
Read our full Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 Chromebook
The best overall Chromebook for students
✅ You want the best 2-in-1 Chromebook around: The flexible design of this Chromebook is ideal for students who want both a laptop and a tablet-like device.
✅ You want outstanding battery life: Hitting almost 19 hours on a single charge, there are few laptops or other Chromebooks that can match the IdeaPad Duet 5's lasting power.
❌ You want a cheap Chromebook: The premium features on the Duet 5 Chromebook means that this is relatively expensive, though still a lot less than most Windows laptops.
❌ You want more of a tablet-first form factor: The aspect ratio and 13.3-inch display size makes this bulkier than a standard tablet.
The brilliant Lenovo Duet 5 Chromebook is a great example of how Chromebooks don't need to be cheap, budget affairs. Thanks to its gorgeous 1080p OLED display, 8GB RAM and Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen2 processor, this is one of the most powerful Chromebooks out there, and is ideal for students who want a device to work and watch movies on.
The design itself is excellent, with a slimline body and detachable keyboard - there's certainly no chance of this being mistaken for a budget device. And as a 2-in-1 device, you can use this as both a traditional laptop, or a tablet-like device. Putting it into 'tent mode' also makes it a small screen for watching TV and movies on - so this is a great option for students who don't have the money (or space) for multiple devices.
In our review, we were particularly impressed by the stunning OLED screen - which is a rarity in Chromebooks, and thanks to its Snapdragon CPU, battery life is amazing, lasting over 16 hours in our tests. That blows past most Windows 11 laptops and MacBooks - and even a lot of Chromebooks as well. So, students can happily work on the Lenovo Duet 5 Chromebook for multiple school days without needing to charge. All of these premium features does mean the price tag is higher than you may expect from a Chromebook, but it still offers plenty of value, making it a great option for students with a bit of flex in their budgets.
Read the full Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook review
Get your laptop for less with our Lenovo voucher codes.
The best premium Chromebook for students
✅ You need a powerful Chromebook: Despite being similar in price to a mid-range Windows laptop, this is a more high-end Chromebook with solid internal specs to match.
✅ You care more about performance than aesthetic: Not that this looks hideous, but it certainly doesn't have the fancy trimmings of something like the HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook.
❌ You're on a very tight budget: Though not quite as pricey as other premium Chromebooks, this might be out of reach if you're seeking something sub-$500/£500.
❌ You need a Windows or a Mac laptop: If most of your workload and casual computer needs to be done on a full operating system, this one's not for you.
The Acer Chromebook Spin 514 might be a bit on the pricier side when it comes to Chromebooks, but it offers a lot for the money: powerful components, great user accessibility, and strong versatility thanks to its 360-degree hinge and touch display - just like the best 2-in-1 laptops. When we reviewed it, we praised its great performance, robust build quality, and all-day battery life.
Still, starting at the $500/£500 mark means the Spin 514 is cheaper than many Windows laptops with similar specs, and it should still be accessible for students who want a high-end Chromebook. It's not the most expensive Chromebook on the market - that would be the HP Elite Dragonfly Chromebook.
Pricing aside, this is a solid 2-in-1 laptop with great internal specs, meaning that it should be easily capable of lasting through three, four, or even five years of study at university. A student laptop is often an investment - and in this case, you can rest assured it's a good one.
Read the full Acer Chromebook Spin 514 (2022) review
The best premium Windows student laptop
✅ You want ultraportability: There are very few laptops out there that are this easy to carry around. It also looks fantastic so you shouldn't have any qualms about showing this one off.
✅ You want a premium laptop: The Dell XPS 13 Plus (2023) looks and feels high-end, with a sleek yet robust design.
❌ You want great performance: Thanks to its 13th-gen Intel CPU, it's a great everyday performer that will handle general workloads, but beyond that, this laptop is going to struggle.
❌ You loved the older XPS 13 design: With a major aesthetic redesign, if you're a fan of the old XPS 13s, it's very likely that you're going to dislike this laptop.
The Dell XPS 13 Plus (2023) is a sidestep from the main XPS series from Dell, but it's no less excellent - this is the definitive Windows Ultrabook, a sleek combination of portability, performance, and refined design. We've reviewed a lot of XPS laptops over the years, and this ranks among the best.
With a 13th-gen Intel Core i7 processor and up to a hefty 32GB of RAM, the XPS 13 Plus chews through productivity workloads despite its compact design. Weighing in at 1.26kg and just 1.5cm thick with the lid closed, it's easy to toss into a bag and take with you on the go. In our review, we praised its responsiveness and noted that it could even handle some light gaming on the side.
If you're looking for something with a bit more muscle, you might want to consider the Dell XPS 15 - the big brother to the 13-inch XPS models, which offers a larger screen and a dedicated GPU for students who need the processing power to work on video-editing or 3D-modelling workloads.
Read our full Dell XPS 13 Plus (2023) review
The best creative laptop for students
✅ You need a powerful laptop for content creation: Apple's M3 chip represents a bigger step up in performance than we saw with the M2, making this a powerhouse laptop for creative workloads.
✅ You want a thin and light laptop: The MacBook Air 13-inch (M3, 2024) is one of the best thin and light laptops you can buy, and it's completely silent thanks to the fanless design too.
❌ You’re after the cheapest MacBook: It's the latest MacBook Air to be released, but macOS fans on a budget should consider the M2 or even M1 models.
❌ You need ports: The thin and light design that arrived with the M2 model comes at a cost of ports, and the new MacBook Air comes with just two Thunderbolt ports.
If you're a student taking a creative course - or you're a serious hobbyist when it comes to content creation - then the latest MacBook Air is arguably the best choice. Apple's M-series silicon is almost unparalleled when it comes to creative workloads, and the latest 13-inch MacBook Air crams all that creative power into a svelte, compact, but durable metal chassis. Students who prefer a bigger display can opt instead for the M3 MacBook Air 15-inch.
The M3 system-on-a-chip (SoC) offers yet another step up in performance from the 2022 M2 model, marking this as a prime pick for any students who plan to spend a lot of time doing tasks like digital art, video editing, 3D design, and animation. Despite the great performance, it's also silent in use since it's passively cooled with no fans, and the battery life is phenomenal.
Naturally, you'll be paying the infamous 'Apple Tax' here - this is one of the most expensive laptops on this list, so it's not for the faint of heart. You'll probably want to opt for a model slightly above the base version too, since that iteration skimps on RAM with only 8GB where 16GB should really be the minimum. However, Mac lovers on tighter budgets should definitely still consider older models, like the 2022 M2 MacBook Air or even the still-excellent 2020 M1 MacBook Air.
Read our full MacBook Air 13-inch (M3, 2024) review
The best affordable 2-in-1 laptop for students
✅ You want a well-rounded 2-in-1 laptop: It performs incredibly well in the areas it needs to like speed and an HD display, and even in areas it doesn’t like gaming or battery life.
✅ You need longer battery life: Its battery lasts quite long for a 2-in-1, lasting nearly eight hours or a full work day and boasting a fast charge time.
❌ You want something thinner and lighter: Though it’s a great laptop, it’s a bit on the heavier and thicker side at a little over three pounds and under an inch.
❌ You need a 2-in-1 with a tablet pen: This is a laptop made for work, which would have been perfect for an included tablet pen to go with it.
The Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 is a great laptop, but it's a tad on the large side for the average student (and a bit expensive too). On the other hand, its little sibling the Inspiron 14 2-in-1 could be the perfect college companion.
Besides the smaller 14-inch display, it's largely similar to the bigger Inspiron 2-in-1 model: strong performance, versatility thanks to its touchscreen and 360-degree hinge, and competitive pricing. It does fall short in the same areas as the 16-inch model, with the lack of a bundled stylus being a key point of contention in our review.
Despite this, we still found a lot to love when reviewing the Inspiron 14 2-in-1. The 1080p webcam is a nice touch for video calls and virtual classes (who'd want 720p in 2024?), and the overall performance is strong - with even some light gaming possible. The battery life and speedy charge time were also excellent to see, making this a hard laptop for us not to recommend.
Read the full Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 review
The best premium 2-in-1 laptop for students
✅ You need a powerful 2-in-1: Not only does the Acer Spin 5(2022) handle general computing tasks easily, there’s also enough performance power to handle creative tasks.
✅ You require a great screen and speaker combo: Between the lovely 14inch 2.5K screen and excellent DTS compatible speakers, there’s much to appreciate on the audio/visual side of things.
❌ You don’t like loud cooling fans: When running general apps like web browsers and video conferencing software, the fans on the Acer Spin 5 (2022) get loud.
❌ You want a 2-in-1 with a bit of design pizzaz: Looking a lot like its older sibling, the angular form factor with the steel gray and rose gold accents lacks excitement.
Acer's Spin series of laptops and Chromebooks have been good choices for students for years, thanks to their solid performance and good versatility. The 'spin' part of the name refers to their 360-degree hinges, which combined with a touchscreen let you flip instantly between laptop and tablet mode - and the Acer Spin 5 (2022) is a great example of this.
A built-in garaged stylus that charges when it's nestled inside the laptop makes this a fantastic laptop for artistic types, and the all-day battery life means you'll still have charge leftover when the school day is done to kick back and watch some Netflix. Add a high-quality webcam for distance learning and some generally strong performance in our internal tests, and you've got one stellar student laptop.
This is one of the more expensive laptops on this list, marking it out as a more premium device, but for those students who are willing to view their college laptop as an investment, it's a great choice that should carry you through several years of coursework.
Read our full Acer Spin 5 (2022) review
The best gaming laptop for students
✅ You want to game on a budget: Gaming laptops can be bloody expensive, but the MSI GF63 Thin walks the line between value and performance expertly.
✅ You need a multi-purpose laptop: Decent performance in just about every area and a reserved design means that the GF63 Thin can happily double as a laptop for study.
❌ You need good battery life: The battery life on offer here is far from dismal, but it’s not what we’d call impressive.
❌ You want high-resolution gaming: While some gaming laptops offer models with different screen resolutions, the GF63 Thin is only available at 1080p
Even the most studious of students need some downtime, but even the best cheap gaming laptops can cost way more than a student's budget can afford. Fortunately, for them, the MSI GF63 Thin is almost tailor-made for their academic and non-academic needs.
While it might not have the portability of a MacBook Air or Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1, the GF63 Thin is still fairly manageable for a gaming laptop. What's more, its specs include up to an Intel Core i7-11800H CPU, up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti GPU, and plenty of RAM, so performance isn't going to be too much of an issue. When we reviewed it, we ruled that it offered fantastic value for money in terms of performance, and the dedicated GPU means that it should handle graphically-intensive tasks better than many of the other laptops on this list.
Those beefy specs are also going to be great for productivity work, especially if you're going into technical fields like engineering which often require special computer hardware for coursework. The MSI GF63 Thin is a fair compromise, then, between getting your school work done and having something to mess around with once you're done — all without absolutely blowing a hole in your budget.
Read the full MSI GF63 Thin (2022) review
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.
Can students get a free laptop?
Some schools and universities will offer free (or discounted via subsidy) laptops to students who demonstrate need. Be sure to research your chosen place of education to find out whether it offers any tech assistance schemes or hardware grants; whether or not you qualify is likely to depend on your personal financial situation.
If you don't qualify for these or your school doesn't offer a tech assistance program, there are also third-party groups that offer free or reduced laptops to students. Computers with Causes, Dell Scholars, and Notebooks for Students are some examples of these.
If you still need to buy a laptop, take a look at our best cheap laptop deals page to see if you can snap up a bargain.
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
