Best Laptops for College Students of 2025

Mike Davis Avatar
Mike Davis
Last Updated: Jan 7, 2025

* We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation.

Laptops are essential for college students today as they allow for easy access to course materials, research, and communication with professors and peers. Lightweight and portable options such as the MacBook Air and Dell XPS 13 are popular choices due to their long battery life and powerful processors. For those on a budget, the Acer Aspire 5 and Lenovo IdeaPad 3 offer decent performance at a lower price point. It is important to consider factors such as storage capacity, screen size, and keyboard comfort when selecting a laptop for college.

At a Glance: Our Top Picks

Acer Chromebook 514, CB514-1HT-C6EV, Intel Celeron N3450, 14" Full HD Touch Display Cover #TOP 1
Acer Chromebook 514, CB514-1HT-C6EV, Intel Celeron N3450, 14" Full HD Touch Display
ftb score rating icon 9.9
MSI Pulse GL66 Gaming Laptop Cover #TOP 2
MSI Pulse GL66 Gaming Laptop
ftb score rating icon 9.8
Lenovo Ideapad 14-inch Laptop Cover #TOP 3
Lenovo Ideapad 14-inch Laptop
ftb score rating icon 9.6

Top 4 Laptops for College Students

#TOP 1

Acer Chromebook 514, CB514-1HT-C6EV, Intel Celeron N3450, 14" Full HD Touch Display

CB514-1HT-C7AZ
Silver
4GB / 64GB / 14"
Acer Chromebook 514, CB514-1HT-C6EV, Intel Celeron N3450, 14" Full HD Touch Display Cover
Acer Chromebook 514, CB514-1HT-C6EV, Intel Celeron N3450, 14" Full HD Touch Display, 4GB LPDDR4, 64GB eMMC, Backlit Keyboard, Google Chrome

The Acer Chromebook 514, CB514-1HT-C6EV, is a great laptop for everyday use. It has an Intel Celeron N3450 Quad-Core Processor, 14" Full HD Widescreen IPS LED-backlit 10-Finger Multi-Touch Display, 4GB LPDDR4 Memory, 64GB eMMC, Backlit Keyboard, Google Chrome and Up to 12-hour Battery Life. It is fast, has a great trackpad and keyboard, and the battery life is excellent. It is a great value for the money.

What We Like
Fast processor
Gorilla Glass Trackpad
Night light mode
Sturdy metal construction
Good battery life
Chrome OS

MSI Pulse GL66 Gaming Laptop

MSI
Pulse GL66 11UGK-001
Black
RTX 3070
MSI Pulse GL66 Gaming Laptop Cover
MSI Pulse GL66 Gaming Laptop: 15.6" 144Hz FHD 1080p Display, Intel Core i7-11800H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, 16GB, 512GB SSD, Win10, Black (11UGK-001)

The MSI Pulse GL66 Gaming Laptop is a great value for gamers who want a powerful laptop without breaking the bank. It features an 11th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics, a 15.6" 144Hz FHD 1080p display, 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD. It is designed to be thin and light for gamers to carry around every day for games, study, or work. It also features MSI's exclusive Cooler Boost Technology to ensure optimal thermal dissipation. Pros include the great value, 144hz display, powerful processor, and NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics. Cons include the loud fan, small HDD, and poor sound quality.

What We Like
Great value
144hz display
Powerful processor
NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics
#TOP 3

Lenovo Ideapad 14-inch Laptop

IdeaPad 1
Gray
Lenovo Ideapad 14-inch Laptop Cover
Lenovo Ideapad 14 inch Laptop Computer, Thin Light PC Laptop 14 College Students, Intel Celeron Notebook, 4GB RAM 576GB(64GB eMMC+512GB SD Card), Windows 11, Camera, Long Battery Life

The Lenovo Ideapad Laptop is designed for your everyday needs, offering a 14-inch HD display that provides clear visuals, perfect for work or entertainment. Its Intel Celeron N4020 processor ensures reliable performance, helping you browse, stream, and multitask effortlessly. With 4GB of RAM and 576GB of storage, you can run multiple applications smoothly and store a variety of files without worry. Plus, Windows 11 enhances your experience with quick boot times and added security, making it easier to express your creativity wherever you go.

What We Like
Lightweight and portable
Good performance for everyday tasks
Generous storage options
Long battery life

HP 14" HD Laptop, Windows 11, Intel Celeron Dual-Core Processor, 4GB RAM, 64GB SSD, Dale Pink(Renewed)

HP
HP 14" Laptop
Dale Pink
14-14.99 inches
HP 14" HD Laptop, Windows 11, Intel Celeron Dual-Core Processor, 4GB RAM, 64GB SSD, Dale Pink(Renewed) Cover
HP Newest 14" HD Laptop, Windows 11, Intel Celeron Dual-Core Processor Up to 2.60GHz, 4GB RAM, 64GB SSD, Webcam, Dale Pink(Renewed) (Dale Pink)

The HP 14" Dale Pink Laptop is a great choice for everyday use. The 14" diagonal HD SVA BrightView micro-edge WLED-backlit display provides a clear and bright viewing experience. Powered by an Intel Celeron Dual-Core Processor up to 2.6GHz, you can easily browse the web, work on documents, and stream videos without any lag. With 4GB of RAM, multitasking is a breeze, and you can run multiple apps at the same time. The 64GB SSD provides fast boot-up and load times, and the Intel Integrated UHD Graphics 600 delivers great visuals. The laptop also comes with 802.11 ac 2X2 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for easy connectivity. The HP 14" Dale Pink Laptop is a great choice for those who need a reliable and affordable laptop for everyday use.

What We Like
Clear and bright display
Fast performance
Lightweight and portable
Best Laptops for College Students Feature Image

Finding the Best Laptops for College Students

Laptops give students the freedom and flexibility they need to work on their college assignments. It allows them to carry out their homework anytime, anywhere. In general, students need laptops that perform well in storage capacity and speed.

It is a device that will assist a student in his or her college years. For most students, laptops are a device that offers both luxury and convenience. In today's buying guide, we will tell you how to choose the best laptops for college students.

Buying Guide

Once you understand everything about the student laptop, it's time to learn about the technical factors that differentiate one model from another. But to find out which features and technologies are right for you, you also need to look at how you use the laptop.

Whether for basic everyday activities or educational use, there is a model with ideal specifications. So, the following are the key factors that you need to consider before purchasing the student laptop.

Processor

The processor is the main component of the laptop, responsible for coordinating all actions. So the better the processor, the faster your laptop will be. Most laptop models currently have Intel Core i3, i5 or i7 processors.

The i3 is the simplest and therefore suitable for those who perform simple activities such as surfing the Internet, watching videos, and working or studying with light files.

On the other hand, laptops with Intel Core i5 are more powerful and faster. Therefore, it is recommended for those who work with photos, tables and more elaborate calculation programs. It is better for computer science students.

RAM

RAM is what organizes the processes that the processor runs. That is, RAM will determine how many programs you can open at once and how fast these programs will run. That is why the higher the RAM, the better your laptop will perform.

In general, today's laptops can have between 4G and 16GB of RAM. If you use your laptop to open simple programs like email, social media, and text editors, the laptop with 4G of RAM will suffice.

But if you need to work with heavier programs like image editors, software and games, we recommend the laptop with at least 8GB of RAM. For you who need a lot of internal space to work with even heavier programs and video editors.

Hard Drive

In addition to RAM, there is also the laptop's internal storage space that varies between the available models. Therefore, the number of files and programs that you can store on your laptop can be stored in three types of memory: HD, SSD and Hybrid HD.

HD memory is the standard hard drive and also the cheapest form of storage present in notebook computers. Generally, you will find internal HD storage from 250GB to 2TB. To access the Internet and save text, a laptop with a 250GB or 500GB hard drive is sufficient.

The most common today is 1 TB HD notebooks, which are sufficient for average actions such as saving text files, spreadsheets, and photos. For those who need to store larger files, such as long videos or academic courses, we recommend a laptop with 750GB HD, 1TB or more.

Battery

You should also take into account the average battery life of the student laptop. This duration will vary depending on the model you choose. In this way, you can choose from laptop models that have a battery life ranging from 3 to 14 hours. This is especially important if you use your laptop a lot in hard-to-reach places.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Which laptop is best for students affordable?

List Of Best Budget Laptops For Students (Mar 2022)Lenovo Duet Chromebook (10.1)Apple MacBook Pro (14", 2021)Apple MacBook Pro (13", M1, 2020)Microsoft Surface Pro 8Microsoft Surface Pro 7Dell XPS 13 9310Google Pixelbook GoMicrosoft Surface Go 2Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 (13.5")Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5 (13)Acer Swift 5Dell Inspiron 15 3000 SeriesLenovo Yoga 7 (14)Microsoft Surface GoLenovo ThinkPad C13 YogaMicrosoft Surface Go 3Google PixelbookHP Chromebook 14a-na0000 SeriesAcer Chromebook Spin 13 CP713

Editor's Notes

During our laptop for college students research, we found 26 laptop for college students products and shortlisted 4 quality products. We collected and analyzed 37,007 customer reviews through our big data system to write the laptops for college students list. We found that most customers choose laptops for college students with an average price of $333.42.

The laptops for college students are available for purchase. We have researched hundreds of brands and picked the top brands of laptops for college students, including acer, MSI, Lenovo, HP. The seller of top 1 product has received honest feedback from 640 consumers with an average rating of 4.8.

Written by
Mike Davis Avatar

Mike Davis is a professionally trained electrician with six years of working experience in the electronics industry. He has written an array of web and mobile-based articles for e-magazines and blogs. He loves trying out some novel and popular gadgets and his expertise is in the areas of electronics and computers which is built over many years of working and personal experiences.