While we patiently await the Surface Laptop 2, there are still plenty of amazing laptops for college students to decorate their dorms with. The best laptops for college students are going to be elegantly designed, powerful enough to handle anything in a semester and is is affordable enough for even the most frugal students to justify.
However, as cash can be hard to come by for many students, the best laptops for students won’t be featuring the latest and greatest AMD Ryzen or Coffee Lake CPUs and Vega graphics. Still, much has changed since the days of tiny netbooks with frustrating performance and noisy fans. The best laptops for students in 2018 are slim, powerful and all but silent. There have been plenty of advances recently making laptops a seamless part of your learning experience, rather than distracting you from it.
And, now that Windows 10 allows you to toggle off Windows 10 S and a new Windows 10 Lean mode is on the way even the best laptops for students will be flexible enough to do whatever you need them to do.
These next few years are going to be a hassle for certain, but right tool is worth the expensive if it’ll help you earn that degree. To alleviate some of the frustration, below we’ve listed the best laptops for students that you can buy for yourself or a loved one today. No longer will you have to limit yourself to an old clunker suffering from poor performance and a virtually nonexistent battery life.
What’s the XPS 13 if not the best? For three years in the running, we’ve been unable to answer this question due to Dell’s stunning flagship Ultrabook, well, being the best. Thin, light and ready to rumble once again, the Dell XPS 13 is more powerful than ever, albeit at a higher starting cost than before. Then again, the slight bump in cost means you can expect an 8th-generation Intel Core i5 processor at the very least, paired with a gorgeous (and bezel-less) InfinityEdge anti-glare display as well as an Alpine White-woven-into-Rose Gold color option. It’s a bit more expensive than the traditional Platinum Silver version, but it’s worth it for the cred.
Read the full review: Dell XPS 13
The Samsung Notebook 9 is what other 2-in-1 laptops have aspired to be since their conception. It hones in on the S-Pen, Samsung’s own proprietary stylus with 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity (the same as Microsoft’s new Surface Pen), a nifty little accessory that conveniently doesn’t require charging. Although the touchscreen display is only 1080p, at between 350 and 450 nits of brightness, you won’t be paying any mind to the pixels, or lack thereof. Plus, the lengthy battery life more than makes up for this hybrids few setbacks.
Read the full review: Samsung Notebook 9 Pro
- This product is only available in the US and UK as of this writing. Australian readers: check out a fine alternative in the HP Spectre x360 15.
The Asus Chromebook Flip C302 could be seen as an apology for Google’s own missteps with the Chromebook Pixel that preceded it. Rather than costing over a grand for unnecessarily high performance that would put a lot of Windows notebooks to shame, Asus has cut the price in half while adding a 360-degree hinge that effectively makes it a 2-in-1 laptop, but with Android apps from the Google Play Store that only sweeten the deal.Now you can experience a Chromebook whose style rivals that of the MacBook Pro without spending even remotely what you would on one of Apple’s machines.
Read the full review: Asus Chromebook Flip
It should come as no surprise that the Samsung Notebook 9 has a gorgeous display, considering who made it. But, even beyond the screen, this laptop just breathes quality, from its useful fingerprint scanner, insane portability to its bleeding-edge, 8th-generation Intel Core i7 processor. Sure, its keyboard is a bit lackluster, and you’ll fill up the storage quickly but even those flaws are serviceable. Finally, thanks to its insane battery life, this is hands down one of the best laptops students can buy in 2018.
Read the full review: Samsung Notebook 9 (2018)
As we wait for the Surface Pro 5, the 2017 Surface pro is still the most advanced Windows tablet on the market. Everything from its rounded edges to its refined accessories all but screams that it’s the next generation of the Redmond hardware lineage. There’s also the fact that the Surface Pro draws inspiration from all-in-one PCs in the way it can bend back 165 degrees. The only real compromise here is that only the i7 version of the Surface Pro can give Apple’s cheaper, entry-level iPad Pro a run for its money.
Read the full review: Microsoft Surface Pro
While it might not win any beauty contests, the Acer Aspire e15 does one thing, and it does it well: work. If you need a laptop that you can carry with you between classes and get some work done, without needing to break open the piggy bank, this laptop will go a long way. Rocking one of the new 8th-generation Coffee Lake U-series CPUs, you’ll never have to worry about your laptop holding back your studying. Just don’t expect a chassis you can proudly display in the coffee shop.
Read the full review: Acer Aspire e15
It shares a name with one of our past favorites, and though we still adore the Samsung Notebook 7 Spin, we admit that it’s not the same device it once was. Instead, it’s a 13-inch convertible laptop that literally bends over backwards to suit your creative needs. Although you won’t find an included stylus in sight, nor are discrete graphics present in this year’s model, the lengthy battery life and punchy processor nearly makes up for any concessions.
Read the full review: Samsung Notebook 7 Spin
- This product is only available in the US and UK at the time of this writing. Australian readers: check out a fine alternative in the Asus ZenBook Flip UX360.
It’s not every day that you see a 15.6-inch Chromebook decked out with a full HD, 1080p touchscreen. However, it’s even less frequent that we get on our hands with a laptop that lasts this long under pressure. Surviving 16 hours and 47 minutes in our signature battery test, the Acer Chromebook 15 prioritizes having an excellent battery life over everything else. Although it’s performance is still satisfactory given its low-power Intel Pentium processor and flexible operating system, its long battery life and outstanding looks separate it from the pack.
Read the full review: Acer Chromebook 15
- This product is only available in the US at the time of this writing. UK and Australian readers: check out a fine alternative in the Asus Chromebook Flip
Ditching the Alienware moniker for once, the Dell Inspiron 15 Gaming doesn’t cost all that much considering its rather lofty specs. Even if it can’t max out every game you throw at it, the Dell Inspiron 15 Gaming is both cheaper than a MacBook Air and way more capable. And, if you were worried about the battery life, the Inspiron 15 Gaming lasted a whole 5 hours and 51 minutes in our tests, longer than some Ultrabooks priced significantly higher. Whether for coursework or leisure, this laptop can do it all.
Read the full review: Dell Inspiron 15 Gaming
The 2017 MacBook Pro doesn’t offer much in the way of distinguishing itself from its predecessor, but it is a testament to just how much you can improve something by simply swapping up internal components and calling it a day. Because it’s finally equipped with the newest generation of Intel Kaby Lake processors and faster-than-ever PCIe 3.0 SSD storage, the MacBook Pro comes easily recommended, undeterred by its reluctance to bring back legacy ports like HDMI and standard USB. This is, through and through, a laptop built for the future.
Read the full review: Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid-2017)
Watch the video below for the top 7 things to consider when buying a laptop.
Gabe Carey has also contributed to this article
from TechRadar - All the latest technology news http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/laptops/10-best-laptops-for-students-983385
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