Best Laptop for College Students: Top Laptops for School in 2024

There's a multitude of laptops on the market that would be a fit for students, and almost all of those models are available in multiple configurations to match your performance needs and budget restraints. If you are feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of options, we're here to help with advice on what to consider when shopping for a school laptop.

Price

The search for a new laptop for most people starts with price, particularly for cash-strapped college students. To end up with a laptop that will last you at least through four years of school, I would advise against choosing a bargain-basement, entry-level model. Additionally, you could get away with spending less upfront in past years with an eye toward upgrading memory and storage in the future. Laptop makers are increasingly moving away from making components easily upgradeable, so it's best to get as many laptop capabilities as you can afford from the start.

Generally speaking, the more you spend, the better the laptop. That could mean better components for faster performance, a nicer display, sturdier build quality, a smaller or lighter design from higher-end materials or even a more comfortable keyboard.

Right now, the sweet spot for a reliable laptop that can handle average school tasks is between $700 and $800. For art and STEM students who need to run demanding graphics or STEM apps (or those looking for a bit of gaming, after your homework is done, of course), you'll need to spend about $1,000 or a bit more. The key is to look for discounts on models in all price ranges so you can get more laptop capability for less.

Size

If you plan on taking your laptop to class each day, then you'll want a lighter and thinner laptop. We recommend a model with a 13- or 14-inch display for most students. Larger 15- and 16-inch models provide more screen real estate for getting work done and juggling multiple windows, but you'll probably get tired of dragging it across campus.

Specs

If you are targeting a 14-inch laptop for school, then the basic display resolution of 1,920x1,200 should suffice for creating crisp text and images. The sharpness of the picture will improve as you go up in resolution, but you don’t need a 4K display for such a small screen. If your budget allows, look for an OLED display with a 2240x1400, 2560x1600 or 2880x1800. Not only will the increased pixel count improve the picture, but the superior contrast ratio and color performance of an OLED will be evident compared with that of an IPS LED display.

For internals, Intel and AMD are the main CPU makers for Windows laptops, with Qualcomm as a new third option with its Arm-based Snapdragon X processors. Both Intel and AMD offer a staggering selection of mobile processors. Making things trickier, both manufacturers have chips designed for different laptop styles, like power-saving chips for ultraportables or faster processors for gaming laptops. Their naming conventions will let you know what type is used. You can head to Intel's or AMD's sites for explanations so you get the performance you want. Generally speaking, the faster the processor speed and the more cores it has, the better the performance will be.

Apple makes its own chips for MacBooks, which makes things slightly more straightforward. The entry-level MacBook Air uses an M1 chip, and the latest Air models feature M3 chips.

Battery life is paramount for a student laptop, and it has less to do with the number of CPU cores and more to do with CPU architecture, Arm versus x86. Apple's Arm-based MacBooks and the first Arm-based Copilot Plus PCs we've tested offer better battery life than laptops based on x86 processors from Intel and AMD.

If you plan to study art and your course of study will involve using graphics-intensive creative apps, then you will need a Windows laptop with a dedicated Nvidia GPU or a more powerful MacBook Pro. The same can be said for STEM students who will be using powerful scientific apps as well as any student who might want to play PC games on their laptop. Costs increase quickly, however, when you jump from integrated graphics to an Nvidia GeForce RTX GPU or from a MacBook Air to a MacBook Pro.

For memory, we highly recommend 16GB of RAM, with 8GB being the absolute bare minimum. RAM is where the operating system stores all the data for currently running applications, and it can fill up fast. After that, it starts swapping between RAM and SSD, which is slower. We suggest at least 16GB of RAM for a Windows laptop, but most students should be fine with the standard 8GB that Apple offers on its baseline MacBook Air. Plus, Apple charges a hefty sum for 16GB. 

For storage, get at least a 256GB SSD and 512GB SSD if you can. If you need to go with a smaller drive, you can always add an external drive down the road or use cloud storage to bolster a small internal drive. The one exception is gaming laptops: We don't recommend going with less than a 512GB SSD unless you really like uninstalling games every time you want to play a new one.

Operating system

Choosing an operating system is part personal preference and part budget. For the most part, Microsoft Windows and Apple's MacOS do the same things (except for gaming, where Windows is the winner), but they do them differently. Unless there's an OS-specific application you need, go with the one you feel most comfortable using. If you're not sure which that is, head to an Apple store or a local electronics store and test them out. Or ask friends or family to let you test theirs for a bit. If you have an iPhone or iPad and like it, chances are you'll like MacOS too.

When it comes to price and variety (and PC gaming), Windows laptops win. If you want MacOS, you're getting a MacBook. Apple's MacBooks regularly top our best lists, they are costly although the original M1 MacBook Air is still available for just $649.

Windows laptops can be found for as little as a couple of hundred dollars and come in all manner of sizes and designs. Granted, we'd be hard-pressed to find a $200 laptop we'd give a full-throated recommendation to, especially if you need it to last you through four years of school.

If you are on a tight budget, consider a Chromebook. ChromeOS is a different experience than Windows; more streamlined and easier to use. It's limited, in that basically everything runs through the Chrome browser. Just make sure that your school or coursework doesn't require you to use apps that run only on a Windows or Mac machine.

There is plenty of overlap between what makes a good laptop for college and a good laptop for high school. Without college-level coursework and with other PCs perhaps in the house, high school students may be able to use a Chromebook for all of their school needs and requirements. High schoolers may be able to look at a laptop purchase as a shorter-term investment: buy an inexpensive, lower-end model to get you to graduation, at which point summer job earnings or a grad gift from a grandparent could lead you to your next laptop for college and beyond.

The review process for laptops consists of two parts: performance testing under controlled conditions in the CNET Labs and extensive hands-on use by our reviewers. This includes evaluating a device's aesthetics, ergonomics and features with respect to price. A final review verdict is a combination of both objective and subjective judgments.

We test all laptops with a core set of benchmarks, including Primate Labs Geekbench 5 and 6, Cinebench R23, PCMark 10, a variety of 3DMark benchmarks (whichever can run on the laptop), UL Procyon Photo and Video (where supported) and our own battery life test. If a laptop is intended for gaming, we also run benchmarks from Guardians of the Galaxy, The Rift Breaker (CPU and GPU) and Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

For the hands-on test, the reviewer uses it for their work during the review period, evaluating how well the design, features (such as the screen, camera and speakers) and manufacturer-supplied software operate as a cohesive whole. We also place importance on how well they work given their cost and where the manufacturer has potentially made upgrades or tradeoffs for its price.

We also weigh the laptop to see how its heft compares to other similarly sized laptops, which is especially important for students who will be toting their laptop to and from school each day. We also pay attention to the build quality to assess how sturdy or flimsy a laptop is, which is another important consideration for students who will rely on a laptop day and and day out for at least four years.

The list of benchmarking software and comparison criteria we use changes over time as the devices we test evolve. You can find a more detailed description of our test methodology on our How We Test Computers page.

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Lenovo ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 Gen 4: I wish you could upgrade the display, but this low-cost two-in-one business laptop lets you add more RAM and a second SSD after purchase to extend your investment.

Lenovo Yoga 7 16 Gen 9: Lenovo's 16-inch convertible is a good budget buy, but it's better as a secondary machine than your daily driver.

Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 Gen 9: Lenovo's flagship two-in-one has AV advantages over its midrange sibling, but you'll pay a premium price for the OLED display and quad speakers.

Asus Zenbook S 14: Intel's Core Ultra Series 2 processors show improvement from the first generation, but Apple's and Qualcomm's ARM-based chips still lead the way.

HP OmniBook X 14: The latest Copilot Plus PC runs for more hours than there are in a day.

Lenovo LOQ 15IAX9I: It's super cheap, with a dedicated Intel Arc GPU that lends it a wee bit of 3D muscle for casual 1080p play.

HP Envy x360 16: This midrange convertible impresses with a premium OLED display. Its AMD Ryzen 8040 series CPU makes it pretty fast, too.

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16: It's a top gaming laptop for creators, too.

Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 7445: A dim display dulls Dell's otherwise well-rounded, AI-equipped and affordable 14-inch convertible laptop.

Microsoft Surface Pro 11: We've been waiting for decent Arm-on-Windows performance and for a screen upgrade, and together they've made the new Surface feel like a new tablet.

Acer Swift X 14 (2024): The design won't wow you, but the 14.5-inch OLED display powered by RTX 4070 graphics is a great combo for on-the-go content creation.

Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7640: Content creators may bemoan the display choices, but this midtier, 16-inch laptop offers well-rounded performance from its Core Ultra chip and RTX graphics.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold 16: Lenovo makes strides with its second foldable-display laptop, but further refinements are still needed before it's ready for the masses.

Acer Aspire Go 14: You could do worse for $300.

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED Q425: It's a boon to get an OLED display in such a portable package with great battery life for roughly $1,000, but the fit and finish feel decidedly midrange.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12: The latest X1 Carbon has many charms, but they will remain out of reach for many business buyers constrained by budgets.

Dell XPS 16 9640: Dell's new 16-inch XPS model offers a unique design backed by strong performance and surprisingly long battery life. Just be prepared to pay for its many configurable charms.

Alienware m18 R2 Gaming Laptop: When you're this big, the sky's the limit.