Every college student needs a laptop, but with so many choices at so many different prices, it can be homework in itself to find out the very best laptops.
There are plenty of upcoming laptops that could soon find their way onto this list. That includes Lenovo’s Yoga C940, which we recently reviewed and compared to the excellent Spectre x360 13. Laptops recently announced at CES 2020 include Dell’s redesigned XPS 13, and Samsung’s gorgeous Galaxy Chromebook.
When you’re buying a laptop for school, make sure it has sure it has long battery life and fast CPU performance. And if you prefer to take notes by hand, buy one of the best 2-in-1 laptops. Whichever laptop you get, you’ll also want to pick up a few extras, such as a comfortable mouse, a well-appointed backpack and perhaps a solid all-in-one printer.
Here are the best college laptops for every type of student.
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1. HP Envy 13 (2019)
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The best laptop for students is now better than ever. Refreshed with a new design, powerful speakers and useful security features, the new HP Envy 13 is the best sub-$1,000 laptop for students or anyone who needs a portable machine with loads of power and long battery life (11+ hours on the FHD model).
New to the 2019 version is a fingerprint sensor and a webcam kill switch that shuts power to the camera so you don’t have to worry about people snooping on you. Combine those features with a sleek chassis, bright 4K or 1080p display and plenty of performance from 8th Gen Core i5 and Core i7 CPUs, and it’s easy to see why the Envy 13 is the best college laptop for students.
2. HP Spectre x360 (Late 2019)
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The Spectre x360 13 is the best 2-in-1 laptop ever and one of the best college laptops for students with about $1,000 to spare. Updated with a 10th Gen CPU and a more modern design, the Spectre x360 13 is improved in almost every way over its excellent predecessor.
Highlights of this laptop include its stunning design, a bright 1080p display, epic 13+ hour battery life and fast overall performance. You also get a webcam kill switch for shutting out snooping creeps, and a super comfortable keyboard.
3. Lenovo Yoga C940
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With the Yoga C940, Lenovo took a proven formula and refined it. Subtle design improvements, longer battery life (up to 11:46) and refreshed 10th Gen Intel processors make the Yoga C940 a worthy successor to last year’s excellent Yoga C930.
As you’d expect from a Yoga-series laptop, the C940 has a premium, ultra-portable chassis and a unique hinge that doubles as a soundbar speaker. As a 2-in-1, that hinge can rotate 360-degrees to convert the Yoga C940 into a proper tablet. When it comes to viewing content, the Yoga C940’s 1080p and 4K displays are crisp, vibrant and bright — just beware, the UHD display drains the battery.
4. Asus ZenBook UX333FA
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The Asus ZenBook UX333FA is a gorgeous, premium laptop that offers fast performance at a reasonable price. For just $849, you get an Intel Core i5-8265U CPU, 8GB of RAM, 256GB SSD and integrated UHD 620 graphics — only the Envy 13 can compete with this value.
But perhaps the best reason to buy the ZenBook UX333FA is for its outstanding 11+ hours of battery life. Combine that exceptional endurance with a sleek aluminum chassis and it’s easy to see why the ZenBook is one of the best college laptops for students.
5. Dell XPS 13 (Late 2019)
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The best portable laptop overall, the Late 2019 XPS 13 is identical to the previous model but now packs 10th Gen processors. Those chips, especially the six-core Core i7 CPU, offers a significant boost in performance over 8th Gen processors. There are so many reasons why the XPS 13 is a great laptop for college students, but the price could be a problem for some.
If you can spend on one, the 4K model we tested has a gorgeous 13.3-inch InfinityEdge display — with practically no bezels — and now the ‘nosecam’ webcam is no longer, as Dell’s engineers managed to fit it in the notebook’s top bezel, which is still super-thin. If you want long battery life, opt for the 1080p model as the 4K version lasted just under 8 hours on a charge, a decent if below-average result.
6. MacBook Air (2019)
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The latest MacBook Air is only a minor update over its refreshed predecessor but it’s still the best Apple laptop for college students. The new 13.3-inch system is $100 cheaper than last year’s model and the display now features Apple’s True Tone technology. Along with its sharp, 2560 x 1600-pixel display, the MacBook Air has powerful speakers and a thin, light and completely recycled aluminum chassis.
7. Acer Aspire 5
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Acer’s Aspire 5 is the ultimate budget laptop. For under $400 you get a sleek design, a bright 1080p display and fast performance. Best of all, the Aspire 5 lasts 8 hours and 51 minutes on a charge, which means you shouldn’t have problems bringing it to class or work without a charger. The specs you get for the price are really second-to-none, from the large 15.6-inch display to 128GB of speedy SSD storage. And with an aluminum design that weighs 3.8 pounds, the Aspire 5 is both premium and relatively portable.
8. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (7th Gen)
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Whether you’re an entrepreneur or aspiring CEO of a Fortune 500 company, the X1 Carbon will let you live in luxury. The 14-inch ThinkPad X1 Carbon is ready for the boardroom with a vibrant 1080p or 2K display (with an optional HDR option), an incredibly slim body and one of the best keyboards you can get on any laptop. The 8th Gen Intel Core CPU is powerful and it lasts over 11 hours on a charge.
9. Asus Chromebook Flip C434
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Asus returns to the top of our Best Chromebooks page with the $569Chromebook Flip C434, a 14-inch convertible that would make for an excellent college laptop thanks to its slim profile and relatively affordable price. The first thing you’ll notice about this laptop is the razor-thin bezels, which draw your eyes toward a vivid 1080p display while keeping the chassis compact.
At just 0.6 inches thick, you won’t have any problems moving the Flip C434 around campus from one class to the next. You can also save space in your backpack by leaving the charger in your dorm because the Flip C434 can last a full class schedule on a charge.
10. Lenovo Legion Y7000
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Need to blow off some steam after an impossibly difficult exam? Go to your dorm room and crank on the Lenovo Legion Y7000. This 15.6-inch laptop packs enough GPU performance to play most modern games at medium settings, and it does so in a relatively small chassis. The Legion Y7000 even offers solid battery life to go along with a comfortable keyboard. Just make sure to buy headphones so you don’t have to listen to its poor speakers.
