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laptop buying guide for STUDENT

How Much Power Do You Need?

Laptops offer a wide selection of processors across both budgets and usage cases—you can choose one that maximizes performance, or one that favors battery life. Or you can select one that plays to both strengths: Intel's 11th Generation "Tiger Lake" Core CPUs confer the benefits of both power and battery efficiency. AMD's Ryzen mobile chips are less common but also emerging as a viable pick for ultraportable laptops.

If you desire all-day battery life, and spend almost all of your time in a web browser, you might want to consider going with a Chromebook. These typically run on low-powered processors (Intel Celeron and Pentium chips, in most cases), but these CPUs suffice for the kinds of workaday online tasks that Chromebooks excel at. (More about Chromebooks in a bit, below.) If performance, on the other hand, ranks high on the list, a Windows 10 or macOS machine with an Intel Core i5 or Core i7 CPU (or an AMD Ryzen 5 or 7) gives you the most oomph.

If you like playing games in your downtime, you might want to splurge on a more expensive gaming laptop. Most general-purpose machines, especially at under-$800 prices, won't have the kind of discrete graphics chip (GPU) necessary to make the hottest AAA game titles look good and play smoothly. But if you hunt around a little, you can find gaming laptops these days starting at around $700 with a decent Nvidia GeForce GTX or (less commonly) AMD Radeon RX GPU for playing games at 1080p and moderate or better settings. (See our guide to the best cheap gaming laptops for lots more about budget GPUs, and about how to buy just enough gaming machine for your needs.) A powerful GPU can also help in certain high-end and scientific applications that can benefit from GPU acceleration, but, like a high-powered processor, they also feast on the battery.

The good news is that, in most other cases (unless, say, you're an architecture major with a heavy reliance on CAD software), integrated graphics solutions should suffice for the day-to-day tasks you'll face. This is the graphics silicon built into the processors of most budget and midrange laptops. Today, that overwhelmingly means some form of Intel integrated graphics: Intel HD Graphics, Intel UHD Graphics, or Intel Iris or Iris Plus graphics. Our reviews will detail their comparative performance levels, but none is a match for even a moderate dedicated GPU.

Storage Solutions: SSDs Are Tops

With the increasing prevalence of cloud storage and web applications, having plentiful local storage space is somewhat less vital now than it used to be, but you should still make sure that your laptop meets your needs. If you plan to install a lot of programs or want to hang on to lots of large media files, you'll need 500GB of space or more. If you don't foresee needing all that local storage, or are content with leaving a lot of your work online, you can get by with a laptop with less space.

Whichever way you go, remember that storage affects speed, too. If you go with a hard drive because you get more storage for less money, know that it will be noticeably slower than a snappy-feeling solid-state drive (SSD). The higher cost and lower capacity of a faster SSD is a trade-off that some students are willing to make. We strongly recommend SSDs for laptops that are carried around campus a lot, since the SSDs (if not the laptop itself) are impervious to drop damage. Plus, they are a lot faster than hard drives and give a laptop a much snappier perceived feel.

The good news is that by plugging an external hard drive into one of your laptop's USB ports, you can add more space whenever you need it. Although you probably won't have to do this unless you're a video junkie or an aspiring filmmaker, it's a good option to have.

Gamers may want to take an altogether different view. With many AAA game installations topping 40GB or 50GB each, a small SSD can get eaten up fast. You'll want to think about that before you buy a machine, say, with a 256GB SSD alone, or at least be prepared to swap games on and off the drive as you tire of or complete them.

Battery Life: How Long Must It Hold Out?

A sizable battery can be your biggest ally on a day filled with classes and extracurricular activities. A few school-oriented laptops come with multiple battery options. Most, though, have only one—and it's not removable.

In this case, figure out where battery life ranks in the grand scheme of things. If removable batteries are an option (most of the time, they are not, alas), it might be a good idea to get a second one, or a larger "extended" one if available, at the time of purchase. The more "cells" the battery contains within a given model line, the better the battery life, all else being equal.

A big battery can mean some heft, but the weight gain is well worth it if it means leaving the system unplugged from dawn until dusk. This is where our reviews come in especially handy; we've tested every laptop that passes through our labs for battery runtime with nonstop video playback, so you can get a good idea of relative endurance between models.

What About Chromebooks?

In the past several years, we have seen a strong push by Chromebook manufacturers into the education market. Chromebooks themselves have gone from being glorified netbooks running the Chrome OS to laptops that are still web-centric but have a relatively full feature set. If, like many schools, the one you're attending puts its coursework in the cloud, a Chromebook can offer you much of the functionality of a regular laptop, and it may deliver longer battery life.

It will also likely cost you a lot less than other types of notebooks. Prices for basic Chromebook models typically run between $200 and $400 (although higher-end models can go for as much as $1,000). Just be sure you have ready access to constant, stable Wi-Fi, as there is scant local storage on these systems, and you have to plan ahead to use them effectively offline.

PC gamers, of course, won't find much use for one of these laptops; they only run Chrome OS apps and (in the case of most recent Chromebooks) Android apps from the Google Play store. But a Chromebook can also be a good, inexpensive second laptop you carry around campus to take notes, while your beastly gaming rig (or desktop gaming PC, for that matter) hangs back at the dorm or at home.

(In the market for a Chrome OS laptop? We've rounded up today's best Chromebooks.)

Consider a Hybrid: 2-in-1s for School

In recent years, a new category of laptop has emerged. Hybrids, also known as 2-in-1s, are capable of functioning as traditional clamshell-style laptops when you need them to, but can transform into tablets when that's a more convenient form for what you're doing. Some (generally called convertibles) sport a folding design that flips the keyboard out of the way, usually by rotating all the way around its hinge. Others ("detachables") allow you to dock a tablet/screen portion of the PC with an accessory keyboard for laptop-like functionality.

A budget 2-in-1 might be just what you need to fill a number of roles. One thing to be mindful of: If you are considering a detachable 2-in-1 design, make sure the keyboard base is included in the price. In some cases, it is; in others, it is an added-cost accessory that will bump up the price, sometimes by more than you'd expect. (See how we test laptops.)

What About Windows 10 S Mode?

You won't run across Windows 10 S Mode in your shopping travels too often, but it's good to know what it is, since it's most often encountered in education environs.

Microsoft's student-centric version of its operating system is a locked-down version of Windows 10, aimed at preventing malware from being inadvertently downloaded. It's compatible with any app in the Windows Store, but it doesn't allow third-party Windows programs unless you convert your laptop to full Windows 10 Home or Pro. You can easily switch to the full version of Windows 10 for free using the Microsoft Store, but you won't be able to go back to S Mode once you convert. Also, this version of the OS supports only the Edge browser.

A Word on Warranties

Almost every laptop you might buy today is backed by at least a one-year warranty on parts and labor. Extended warranties are also available, but whether they're worth it depends on who you are as a user.

For starters, know that the standard warranty doesn't cover accidents that stem from a spilled drink or a drop on concrete. Most manufacturers sell accident coverage as a separate plan, on top of extended warranties that supplement a standard one, so you might end up spending close to $300 for three years of coverage. Apple offers a maximum extended warranty of three years ($250), while some makers of Windows laptops will offer up to four years.

In our opinion, if the warranty costs more than 15 percent of the total laptop price, you're better off spending the money on backup drives or services that minimize downtime in case something does go awry. Of course, you can't put a price on peace of mind. In rare instances, the logic board or the display—the most expensive pieces of a laptop—can fail and cost you in repairs half of what the laptop is worth. Faulty components usually break down during the first year; anything after that is probably more about regular wear and tear.

This again, though, is a case where the college itself may be an X-factor. Some schools have special arrangements with specific vendors for onsite service of their laptops, so it could pay, once again, to check with the college's bookstore or computer store to see if any such special circumstances apply. 

So, Which Laptop to Buy for College?

True, there are ever more choices on the market today, and slogging through them can be daunting. No worries, though: We did the work for you. Scroll or swipe down to check out the hottest laptops to grace the dorm room, college classroom, and campus quad for this school year.