THE BEST STUDENT LAPTOP OVERALL
The Acer Aspire 5 (2022) is a 14-inch Windows laptop that makes some compromises to get to its price point, but thankfully it doesn’t scrimp on too much so it’s performance is more than enough to get students through several years of school work, whether that’s in secondary school or university-level coursework.
The model we reviewed was an entry-level unit (all the better to test its value for money) packing an 11th-gen Intel CPU. Although it hardly blew us away in our testing process, we ruled that it would make a ‘respectable office laptop’ given its reliable mid-range performance and decent battery life – we even ruled that a bit of casual gaming should be an option here, provided you’re willing to dial back your graphical settings a bit.
If you’re a student who isn’t looking for the highest-end specs and you need to come in under a budget, but still need your laptop to last you through the day and perform well, the Acer Aspire 5 definitely has you covered.
Read our full Acer Aspire 5 (2022) review
THE BEST BUDGET CHROMEBOOK FOR STUDENTS
The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 Chromebook isn’t flashy by any means, and its MediaTek processor and 4GB LPDDR4 RAM is just about enough to run Chrome OS, but there’s no denying that this is a solidly-built Chromebook that’ll get you through your school day without much trouble.
A laptop like this doesn’t need to have great specs thanks to the lightweight OS. Plus, as a 2-in-1 Chromebook, you’ll be able to get the most out of notetaking in the cloud and other collaborative apps like Office 365, Google‘s G-Suite, and more thanks to built-in WiFi 6.
When we reviewed it, we noted that despite its modest specs, ChromeOS ran smoothly and general productivity workloads were a breeze. The battery life was also nothing short of epic, lasting for a whopping 16 hours in our video playback test. Best of all, this durable Chromebook is among the cheapest laptops for students you’ll find.
Read our full Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 Chromebook
THE BEST OVERALL CHROMEBOOK FOR STUDENTS
The Duet 5 Chromebook isn’t the most powerful on the market, nor is it the cheapest, but the mix of solid performance, adaptability, excellent battery life, and a very fair price makes this a Chromebook that you’ll not only want to use, but one you’ll want to show off.
This 2-in-1 detachable Chromebook features a full HD OLED display, giving you vibrant color and clarity that is almost impossible to find with even the best Chromebook using a standard IPS display. What’s more, with 8GB RAM and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen2 processor, you’re looking at some very solid performance as well. We loved the lightweight chassis and detachable keyboard back when we reviewed it.
And because it’s a Snapdragon CPU at its core, its battery life is phenomenal, lasting just over 16 hours in our tests. To be clear, this is downright unheard of for an OLED laptop, so you really can’t miss with this one. It’s not the best for note-taking, owing to its tighter 16:9 display ratio, but it can definitely do that and more, making it a great option for students with a bit of flex in their budgets.
Read the full Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook review
THE BEST PREMIUM CHROMEBOOK FOR STUDENTS
The Acer Chromebook Spin 514 is an easy Chromebook to love, thanks to its generally powerful hardware, ease of use, and great functionality owing to it being an Acer Spin 2-in-1 device, but like the best 2-in-1 laptops, the Chromebook Spin 514 can be fairly expensive, at least for a Chromebook anyway.
Still, for a student budget, where ‘expensive’ can still be a couple hundred bucks/quid south of a grand, the Chromebook Spin 514 sits right at the top end of that budget while not being the most expensive Chromebook around (that would be the HP Elite Dragonfly Chromebook). But the Spin 514 earns its price tag with solid all-rounder performance and battery life that breaks that crucial 8-hour mark.
Despite the slightly higher entry price, you get a fairly rugged 2-in-1 with excellent specs that mean it can last you through most, if not all, of a four-year course of study at university – making the decent investment in this device at the start of a program money well spent.
Read the full Acer Chromebook Spin 514 (2022) review
THE BEST PREMIUM WINDOWS STUDENT LAPTOP
Further down this list you’ll find the Dell XPS 15, which packs a larger display and a discrete GPU- an ideal choice for students who need a bit more processing oomph to power through video-editing or number-crunching workloads. This model uses integrated graphics, which means that it’s better suited to more everyday tasks like answering emails and writing up essays.
But oh, what a great little device it is for doing those lower-intensity tasks. Dell’s XPS laptop line has long been one of our favorites, and this new-for-2022 model is no exception, with a superfast 12th-gen Intel processor and some extremely competitive pricing on the lower-spec models. In our review, we found that it offered good bang for your buck in terms of overall performance – though you might want to consider something with a dedicated graphics card if you’re planning to run resource-intensive software like Adobe Premiere Pro.
The Dell XPS 13 is also incredibly thin and light, making it perfect for fast-moving students. If you’ve ever had to run across campus to make it between two classes (this writer certainly has), you’ll understand the value of a lightweight but sturdy laptop that can be quickly tossed into a bag for your next campus sprint.
Read our full Dell XPS 13 (2022) review
THE BEST CREATIVE LAPTOP FOR STUDENTS
If you’re looking for the best student laptop for those with a serious creative ambition, look no further. When Apple rolled out its line of M1-powered products in 2020, the company made a huge splash. As the first laptop to receive Apple’s in-house system on a chip (SoC), the company’s thinnest and lightest MacBook Air ever became one of the most exciting Apple laptops in recent years.
This next-generation MacBook Air is powered by the new M2 SoC, making it better than ever, and delivering outstanding performance. The only real criticism we had to level at it was the price, which is a bit steep – if you want a MacBook but you’re on a tighter budget, you may want to consider the 2020 M1 model.
Though its fanless design can result in thermal throttling compared to the Pro, we were able to run demanding software in our testing process without experiencing any major incidents of throttling. Another upside for intensive users is the battery life, which is quite stunning, and beats out many of its competitors. It’s not going to be the cheapest option for students, but for those wanting to go into creative industries one day, the MacOS platform is pretty much industry-standard, so this is a great entry point.
Read our full MacBook Air (M2, 2022) review
THE BEST AFFORDABLE 2-IN-1 LAPTOP FOR STUDENTS
If you like the look of the Inspiron 16 2-in-1 but think it’s just a little bit too big (or a little bit too expensive), then perhaps its little sibling might be the right laptop for you.
A very similar hybrid touchscreen laptop, the Inspiron 14 excels in the same areas – good performance, versatility, good value – and falls down in largely the same areas too: once again, the lack of an included stylus is a real shame, since it could’ve added a lot to the package. Still, we found in our testing process that the performance remained strong, even managing some light gaming. We also praised the 1080p webcam and excellent battery life – with speedy charge times too.
The overall specs of the Inspiron 14 are ever-so-slightly less impressive than its big brother the Inspiron 16; the drive capacity caps out at 512GB, and the i7 processor is a marginally less powerful i7-1255U as opposed to the i7-1260P found in the 16-inch model. Given the lower starting price of $849.99 (£699 / AU$1,278), though, it’s still an easy recommendation from us.
Read the full Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 review
THE BEST PREMIUM 2-IN-1 LAPTOP FOR STUDENTS
The Acer Spin series has long been one of the top student laptops for its incredible functionality, great performance, and innovative design, and that’s never been more true than with the Acer Spin 5 (2022).
The cost of entry here is rather high, making this a premium device for those students who are willing to invest more upfront to have a 2-in-1 device to carry them through several years of school work, but if that’s where you’re at, then this device is all you’ll need.
From the built-in stylus with an on-device charging garage, to the stellar webcam and mic array, to its incredibly solid battery life, this 2-in-1 will last you an entire school day and have some juice left over for watching movies or web browsing. Add in the phenomenal productivity performance we saw in our tests, and you’ve got one of the most capable student laptops you’re ever going to find.
Read our full Acer Spin 5 (2022) review
THE BEST GAMING LAPTOP FOR STUDENTS
Even the most studious of students need some downtime, but even the best cheap gaming laptops can cost way more than a student’s budget can afford. Fortunately, for them, the MSI GF63 Thin is almost tailor-made for their academic and non-academic needs.
While it might not have the portability of a MacBook Air or Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1, the GF63 Thin is still fairly manageable for a gaming laptop. What’s more, its specs include up to an Intel Core i7-11800H CPU, up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti GPU, and plenty of RAM, so performance isn’t going to be too much of an issue. When we reviewed it, we ruled that it offered fantastic value for money in terms of performance, and the dedicated GPU means that it should handle graphically-intensive tasks better than many of the other laptops on this list.
Those beefy specs are also going to be great for productivity work, especially if you’re going into technical fields like engineering which often require special computer hardware for coursework. The MSI GF63 Thin is a fair compromise, then, between getting your school work done and having something to mess around with once you’re done — all without absolutely blowing a hole in your budget.
Read the full MSI GF63 Thin (2022) review
THE BEST OLED LAPTOP FOR STUDENTS
If you’re seeking a thin and easy-to-carry laptop for schoolwork with a brilliant OLED screen and great battery life, the HP Envy 13 x360 may be the most ideal — and affordable — option for you. Much more accessible than the Spectre line, price-wise, the Envy 13 x360 is a fantastic 2-in-1 laptop, especially for budget-minded students.
The fact that it can compete with 16-inch 2-in-1 laptops in terms of performance is even more impressive. We’ve been able to run spreadsheets, word processors, conference calls, and multiple browser tabs playing videos at the same time without issue. And our battery life experience with the Envy 13 x360 has been quite excellent as well, giving up a little over nine hours in our movie battery test.
It’s not exactly a budget buy, but considering the OLED technology you’re getting that delivers vivid colors, it’s pretty reasonably-priced. On top of that, the keyboard is solid and its port selection is varied, perfect for students with a lot of flash drives and for connecting to an external monitor.
Read our full HP Envy 13 x360 (2022) review
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