- For today's college students, no tech is as essential as a good laptop that's designed for productivity and entertainment.
- For anyone starting or returning to college and looking for a new laptop, we have five excellent options to choose from.
- Overall, the best college laptop is the Dell XPS 13 for many of the same reasons it stands as our best laptop altogether, like ease of use and power.
Besides tuition, textbooks, and lodging, many college students will need to spend money on a new laptop. The best college laptops will get you through four (or more, depending on your program) years of schoolwork as well as downtime entertainment: games and YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, and Spotify binges.
An ideal laptop for college is one that won't slow down after a couple of years or crash constantly while you're trying to get work done or finish that game. It's also slim and lightweight for carrying around campus, and has ample battery life so that it doesn't die on you at inopportune times. You'll also need to consider your major area of study: some will require you to do computing work that's way more demanding than others or can only run on certain operating systems.
To help you find the best college laptop, we've rounded up the best ones we've tested. Where needed, we've included some picks based on extensive research and our decades of computing expertise and knowledge. Before we get to the recommendations, here is one major aspect to consider: the operating system (OS). Each of the laptops in our guide runs one of the three major OSes: Windows, MacOS, and ChromeOS. Each OS has its own set of pros and cons.
- Windows 10: Windows 10 is the most popular computing operating system, and you'll have no problem finding the right software to help get your work done. It's also the best OS for games, if that's how you plan on spending your free time. The downside is that, because it's so popular and open, hackers generally target Windows first, so it's important to run antivirus software regularly and update the OS as security patches get released.
- MacOS: Like Windows, MacOS is a fully fledged OS with a robust library of apps. If you need a popular app to get your work done, it's almost definitely available for the Mac. The downside is that MacOS only runs on Apple hardware, which is typically a lot more expensive than Windows alternatives. The two upsides are that MacOS has far fewer viruses than Windows, and it shares many of the same apps as the iPhone. If you're an iPhone user, your photos will automatically sync with your Mac, and you'll be able to send and receive iMessages from your computer, among other things. As you probably guessed, MacOS only runs on Apple computers.
- ChromeOS: ChromeOS is different from MacOS and Windows because it's entirely based on Google's Chrome browser, and it requires online connectivity. You won't have access to the same types of software as you would on a Mac or PC, but you can still use Google's G suite to write papers, prepare presentations, create and edit spreadsheets, and more. You can also use third-party applications that are web based, and some services even let you download content for offline access, like Netflix. Because it's not a traditional OS, you also won't have to worry about computer virus infections or your computer slowing down because it's full of random system files. If you need to run Mac or Windows software, this isn't for you. ChromeOS only runs on Chromebooks, which are generally less powerful but more affordable.
The hardware inside of your laptop - often referred to as the "specs" - will determine how well it will run on a daily basis, and how long it should last before it gets replaced. All of the laptops below should have enough processing power, storage, memory, and battery longevity to last for at least an entire four-year term of study.
Of course, the more powerful laptops below will be faster and could last a lot longer, but they're more expensive. You'll have to look within your budget, but we are recommending laptops that work for most college students.
Here are the best college laptops you can buy:
- Best college laptop overall: Dell XPS 13
- Best college MacBook: Apple MacBook Air (2019)
- Best college 2-in-1 laptop: Lenovo Yoga C940
- Best budget college laptop: Acer Chromebook 15
Updated on 03/11/2020 by Joe Osborne: This guide has been completely updated with four new recommendations.
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