Top 7 Best Laptops for College Students in 2024- Ultimate Guide

You’ll need a laptop that can manage your academic workload if you’re heading off to college. A basic Chrome book, a MacBook, or an ultraportable Windows CPU. A potent mobile workplace could be the best laptop for students, depending on your program.

To work anywhere, without needing an electrical outlet, you should look for a portable device with a long battery life. The reason is that this will make it easier to carry around.  Since you’ll be using the CPU for work purposes, you should also search for one with a good user experience. Like a bright, clear display, a calm keyboard, and an open touchpad. As a result, this guide will give you the top and best laptop for college students.

Best Laptops for College Students in 2024- Reviewed

1. Asus ROG Zephyrus G14

For students of all skill levels, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is an incredible laptop. This frothy, portable all-metal Windows computer boasts a bright 3K OLED display. Also it has one of the greatest CPUs on the market, a discrete graphics card, and 12 hours of battery life. The best part is that it’s hundreds of dollars less expensive than the Razer Blade 14 and MacBook Pro 14 M3 Pro, which are similar.

Also, it has a great processor and the discrete graphics of the ROG Zephyrus G14 will be very useful to students using CAD engineering software. For those who create video content as well, this laptop is fantastic. Because of its 120Hz OLED panel, which offers full P3 color coverage and fast reply times for HDR content. Overall, this is the best laptop for college students.

2. Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i is a sturdy and dependable 2-in-1 laptop with a starting price of $650. That is much less expensive than other laptops on this list for students wishing to buy a new one. For the performance, reliability, and flexibility this model offers, its $800 price tag is still a great deal.

So, its CPU remains good with Intel’s 12th-gen Core i7 H-series chips, it has every kind of port you could possibly require, and it looks pricier than it is. Also, it has an open touch screen, a vital element of any 2-in-1 laptop that fascinated us. Overall, this is one of the best laptops for college pupils.

3. Apple MacBook Air 13 M3

This is one of the best college laptops for college learners. The MacBook Air 13 M3 from Apple is a jack of all trades. Not only is it among Apple’s most affordable laptops, but it’s also very fast, thin, and packed with an amazing display. Its battery life also goes above 10 hours.

Cheers to its M3 processor, it performs better than most Windows productivity laptops in its price range. Moreover, its 2K HDR-compatible display rivals the best OLED screens available.

The M3 processor in the Apple MacBook Air 13 has one drawback: its graphics performance isn’t as good as that of integrated graphics found in the newest CPUs from AMD and Intel. But it’s still good enough for daily work and light creative content.

4. Lenovo Legion Slim 5 Gen 8 

It is a great laptop and option for those who cannot afford the ROG Zephyrus G14 is the Lenovo Legion Slim 5. Also, it can easily fit in your bag and carry to the lecture hall without worrying about finding a power outlet. Further, it has a 14.5-inch gaming laptop that is lightweight and thin. Its battery lasts for more than 8 hours.

This Lenovo laptop has an elegant 2K OLED panel that makes it feel like it belongs on a much classier laptop. And it regularly retails for about $1,000 when on sale. Gamers and content producers will find this display to be a visual feast. As a result, this is a quick and potent machine suitable for almost any task; the Legion Slim 5’s processor and discrete graphics are no different. Overall this is one of the powerful laptops in 2024. As a result, this is one of the best college laptops.

5. Asus ZenBook Duo UX8406

This is one of the perfect and best college laptops you must buy in 2024. You may not have the option of making room on your desk for a second monitor if you are away at college. In this situation, the Asus ZenBook Duo is useful and it is also a great laptop. With both of the 14-inch screens on this laptop turned on, the total screen size is 28 inches.

In addition, this laptop can be stacked vertically and held horizontally like a book. Or set up like an old-style laptop by hiding a display beneath the attached standalone keyboard. In order to avoid negotiating with touch inputs when you require a stylus’s accuracy for art assignments, the Zen Book Duo also includes a stylus.

6. Acer Swift X 14

This laptop has separate graphics and a powerful processor that enables the Acer Swift X 14 to perform admirably on any task related to content creation. With a 2K OLED display and nearly 8 hours of battery life, the Swift X 14 is an excellent laptop for both teachers and students.

This laptop isn’t quite as great as the ROG Zephyrus G14 or Lenovo Legion Slim 5, but it can frequently be found for less money. While it can edit tough Premiere video projects and play multiplayer games with ease. On the other hand, graphics performance is not fast enough to render complex 3D scenes in Blender (though modeling them is fine). Neither is the touchpad as well-designed as that of the MacBook Air 13 M3. Overall, this is one of the good laptops for college.

7. Lenovo Slim Pro 7 14

The Lenovo Slim Pro 7 is a great laptop to consider if you require a device with sufficient power for performing light video or audio tasks and a battery that can last for an entire day of classes. In addition, this is one of the good laptops for college you must think about in 2024.

In contrast to our Best 2-in-1 pick, the HP Envy x360, the AMD processor in the Slim Pro 7 is much faster. It is an eighth gen Ryzen chip. For $1,200, the laptop is aimed to provide the maximum performance possible in a thin profile.  But naturally, this increases the cost.

How to Select the Best Laptop for College?

In this section, we will talk about how you can choose good laptops for college in 2024,

1. Operating System

Which version of an operating system is the best? The pupil will decide how to respond to that question. While some people may prefer Windows or Android, others will likely be more familiar with and at ease with MacOS. So, you will need an operating system for a laptop also depending on how it will be used.

Once choosing the best laptop for college consider sticking with Windows if you will require specific software for gaming or school. Due to Apple’s total control over the design of Macs, the laptop operating system is kept up to date through an excellent auto-update system.

Chrome OS isn’t a complete operating system, in contrast to Windows and macOS. You’ll be using web-based tools in the Chrome browser for the majority of your time when using Chrome OS.

2. Battery life

For students, laptops with a long battery life are essential. Nobody wants their computer to die while they are using it for schoolwork, studying in the library, or playing late-night video games with friends.

This is the reason we looked at battery life when assessing laptops for students. To gauge the amount of work each laptop could complete on a single charge. We had each one browse through different websites until the battery ran out.  As a result, the battery life of our suggested laptops ranges from roughly five hours to more than seventeen hours.

3. Price

Especially when paired with a laptop for college, a computer can be considered an asset in a student’s future. But CPUs can get expensive.

To ensure that the price of the best laptop for college aligns with its performance and features. But we advise considering value when searching for the best student PC.

4. Processor

You will want a little more “oomph” if you are doing more demanding tasks, such as editing photos and videos or playing the newest PC games. So, a dedicated graphics card will ensure your games run smoothly, and Intel’s higher-end i7 processors will make those video encodes run noticeably faster. On the other end, Lower-power chips, such as Intel’s i3 and i5, are fine for web browsing and office software use.

Do College Students Qualify for Free Laptops?

For students who prove their need, some colleges and universities will give away free laptops for students or at a reduced cost through subsidies. So, you need to ensure to check if the educational institution of your choice offers any hardware grants or tech support programs. The answer to whether you qualify will probably depend on your individual financial circumstances.

In the event that you are ineligible for these or your school does not have a tech support program, students can also obtain discounted or free laptops from outside organizations. Midst of these are Dell Scholars, Notebooks for Students, and Computers with Causes.