The Best Laptops For College Students

When you’re a student, a laptop is as essential as your textbooks and school ID—and not just because of your school work.

- Tom Brant, John Burek

It should also be able to handle your big extracurricular activities: keeping up with your social networks, streaming movies, listening to music, posting photos, gaming, and video chatting with the ‘rents back home. Of course, the best laptops for college students last for the long haul, preferably through four years of undergrad and maybe a year of grad work.

Lucky for you, we have a bunch below that fit the description perfectly—and they won’t drain your savings account. Here are the basics you should keep in mind while looking at a laptop for college.

RESEARCH YOUR COLLEGE

The first and most important thing to do is check with your school for specific system requirements. They may have hard-and-fast hardware recommendations (or not).

Some colleges and universities want their students equipped with Windows-based laptops to cut down on software incompatibility issues or to keep technical support concentrated on one platform. Others don’t care which operating system you use, whether it’s Windows, macOS, or even Linux. Some institutions have on-site computer repair centers that service laptops purchased from the university or an affiliated computer store on campus; the turnaround time will be much quicker at one of these facilities than if you were to send it overnight to the original manufacturer.

Also note most schools offer price breaks for particular vendors and include extensive software bundles, which can shave offa good amount from your laptop purchase. So you might want to look into the campus store before you hit your local superstore or favorite online seller.

WEIGHT MATTERS

Not every student will agree, but depending on how far you’ll haul it every day, a big-screen notebook may not be such a good idea.