The school year may be over, but there’s never a bad time to think about the best laptops for students. There are still plenty of great laptops for college students to decorate their dorms with, even if we’re still waiting for the Surface Laptop 2. The best laptops for students will be elegantly designed and powerful, while still maintaining a modest price tag that frugal students can justify.
Because money can be hard to come by when you’re a college student, the best laptops for students won’t have the latest Coffee Lake or AMD Ryzen 2nd Generation processors and Nvidia graphics – they’ll feature the hardware they actually need to perform, no frills. And, even though Windows 10 is still the most popular operating system among the education sector, you should keep your eye on the best Chromebooks as well – you’d be surprised how much you can do with them.
And, now that Windows 10 allows you to toggle off Windows 10 S, and a new Windows 10 Lean mode is on the way . The best laptops for students will be flexible enough to do whatever you need them to do.
The next few years are going to be stressful, but the right tool is worth the expense if it’ll help you earn that degree. To alleviate some of the frustration, we’ve listed the best laptops for college students below so that you can buy one for yourself or a loved one. You won’t have to limit to yourself to an old clunker any more.
- Discover the best laptops you can buy in every category
- Dell XPS 13
- Microsoft Surface Laptop
- Microsoft Surface Pro
- Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid-2017)
- Dell Inspiron 15 Gaming
1. Dell XPS 13
Powerful, functional, aesthetically pleasing
CPU: 8th-generation Intel Core i5 – i7 | Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 620 | RAM: 4GB – 16GB | Screen: 13.3-inch FHD (1,920 x 1,080; non-touch) – UHD (3,840 x 2,160; touchscreen) | Storage: 128GB – 1TB SSD
There’s a reason the Dell XPS 13 is our best laptops for college students, best Ultrabook and best laptop overall. It’s all about options. So, even if your rigorous academic lifestyle doesn’t necessitate the high pixel density of a quad HD display, the XPS 13 gives you the freedom to opt for a lower-resolution 1080p screen as an alternative. The same goes for the processor, of which you can select between an i3, i5 and i7. To top it all off, the latest Dell XPS 13 can be dressed in Rose Gold, shielded by a stylish aluminum chassis that will make even Apple fans jealous.
Read the full review: Dell XPS 13 review
2. Microsoft Surface Laptop
Microsoft’s most direct shot at the MacBook yet
CPU: 7th generation Intel Core i3 – i7 | Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 620 - 640 | RAM: 4GB – 16GB | Screen: 13.5-inch PixelSense Display (2256 x 1504) | Storage: 128GB – 512GB SSD
Microsoft is gaining a reputation for making solid, attractive and overall desirable premium products to showcase its Windows software, and the Surface Laptop continues in this vein. The thin and light design makes it easy to carry around, while the careful component considerations, and high-quality build materials, make it a joy to use.
This is obviously a device that Microsoft’s designers and engineers have spent a lot of time working on, and for the most part it has paid off handsomely. This is one of the best-looking Windows devices on the market today, and, thanks to some nifty specs that power the carefully controlled Windows 10 S operating system, it's one of the smoothest Windows 10 experiences too.
Read the full review: Microsoft Surface Laptop
3. Microsoft Surface Pro
The tablet that can replace your laptop
CPU: 7th generation Intel Core m3 – i7 | Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 615 – Iris Plus Graphics 640 | RAM: 4GB – 16GB | Screen: 12.3-inch, 2,736 x 1,824 PixelSense display | Storage: 128GB – 1TB SSD
The 2017 Surface Pro is – in every way, shape and form – the Surface Pro 5 we’ve been waiting for. From its rounded edges to its refined selection of accessories, there’s no denying it’s a true Surface Pro 4 successor. There’s also the fact that the Surface Pro draws inspiration from the Surface Studio insofar as it bends back 165 degrees. The only real downside then (besides having to buy the Surface Pen separately this time) is that only the i7 version of the Surface Pro can compete with even the most affordable iPad Pro.
Read the full review: Microsoft Surface Pro
4. Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid-2017)
The MacBook Pro of the future, right now
CPU: 7th generation Intel Core i5 – i7 | Graphics: Intel Iris Plus 640 – 650 | RAM: 8GB – 16GB | Screen: 13.3-inch, WQXGA (2,560 x 1,600) IPS | Storage: 256GB – 1TB SSD
The 2017 MacBook Pro doesn’t offer much in the way of distinguishing itself from its predecessor, but it is a testament to just how much you can improve something by simply swapping up internal components and calling it a day. Because it’s finally equipped with the newest generation of Intel Kaby Lake processors and faster-than-ever PCIe 3.0 SSD storage, the MacBook Pro comes easily recommended, undeterred by its reluctance to bring back legacy ports like HDMI and standard USB. This is, through and through, a laptop built for the future.
Read the full review: Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid-2017)
5. Dell Inspiron 15 Gaming
Work hard, play hard, this laptop does it all
CPU: 7th generation Intel Core i5 – i7 | Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050; Intel HD Graphics 620 – GTX 1050 Ti; Intel HD Graphics 630 | RAM: 8GB – 16GB | Screen: 15.6-inch FHD (1,920 x 1,080) – UHD (3,840 x 2,160) anti-glare LED-backlit | Storage: 1TB HDD – 1TB HDD; 128GB SSD
Ditching the Alienware moniker for once, the Dell Inspiron 15 Gaming doesn’t cost all that much considering its rather lofty specs. Even if it can’t max out every game you throw at it, the Dell Inspiron 15 Gaming is both cheaper than a MacBook Air and way more capable. And, if you were worried about the battery life, the Inspiron 15 Gaming lasted a whole 5 hours and 51 minutes in our tests, longer than some Ultrabooks priced significantly higher. Whether for coursework or leisure, this laptop can do it all.
Read the full review: Dell Inspiron 15 Gaming
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