Best student laptops in 2021
No matter what you're studying, these are the best student laptops
The Acer Swift 3 (2020) ticks pretty much every box for what makes the best student laptops. It's affordable, without making too many compromises, and yet it's powerful enough to easily handle day to day tasks, including web browsing and document creation, making it perfect for students.
It's also thin and light enough to easily carry around school or campus, but with a decent build quality which means it won't easily break. The latest model brings some choice hardware upgrades, so it's now a better performer than ever before, and battery life has been given a boost as well.
It's not the most powerful laptop in the world, and it won't handle games, but for an affordable and dependable student laptop, this one is hard to beat.
Many of the best student laptops are Chromebooks due to their fantastic value for money. They run Chrome OS, which is less resource-hungry than Windows 10, which means Chromebooks can use lower-powered hardware and still offer excellent performance.
This means Chromebooks are often a lot cheaper than Windows 10 devices, and the Acer Chromebook 314 is in our view the best budget Chromebook for students. With a low price, it means you're not blowing your student loan on a laptop, and it still offers great features including a bright and vibrant 14-inch display and 12 hour battery life. So, you can work on this thing throughout an entire school day, and you'll still have battery life left over.
The keyboard is also incredibly comfortable, which is very important in a student laptop, as you're going to be doing a lot of typing on this thing.
It's also a good media playing machine, so you can whack on Netflix when you (or the student in your life) needs to unwind - and all for a very affordable price.
Just bear in mind that Chrome OS doesn't run all of the programs you usually get on Windows 10, but there are usually great alternative applications.
The Pixelbook Go is the best Chromebook money can buy right now – which also makes it one of the best student laptops as well. While the Acer Chromebook 314 is higher up on this list because of its ultra-low price, the Pixelbook Go is the better all-round Chromebook, packing a premium design and powerful components that would shame many Windows 10 laptops.
Even with its more premium bells and whistles. the Pixelbook Go is still a lot more affordable than many other laptops, and it's got a fantastic battery life as well. It's slightly more expensive than many other Chromebooks, but you really are getting some brilliant extras with this thing, including a fantastic screen, excellent webcam (essential these days with lots of remote learning) and top-notch performance.
However, what really makes it stand out as a brilliant student laptop is its excellent keyboard. This really is one of the best keyboards we've seen on a laptop, and it means you can type on it comfortably all day long.
At the end of 2020, Apple produced what many people (including us) think is the best laptop it ever made - the M1-powered MacBook Air. Rather than using hardware made by Intel, Apple has created its own chip to power the new MacBook Air, and it's a gamble that has paid off massively.
Performance is excellent, easily beating older MacBook Airs, and it has a hugely improved battery life as well. It can now also run iOS apps, giving you a larger library of apps than ever before. Its screen also supports the P3 colour gamut, making this an excellent laptop for photography or video editing students. It's also the most affordable MacBook, and while it's more expensive than other laptops, it offers you the cheapest way to get a MacBook, making it a great choice for students with a slightly larger budget.
If you're looking for a student laptop that can also be used as a tablet, then the Microsoft Surface Go 2 is an excellent choice. Offering the premium and stylish build quality of Microsoft's other Surface products, the Go 2 is a lot more affordable.
While it's not as powerful as the Surface Pro 7, for example, it's more than capable of helping students with their studies. From researching on the web, to writing up documents or creating presentations in Microsoft Office, the Surface Go 2 is a great choice, and it runs Windows 10, so you have access to a wide variety of applications as well.
Not only is it a tablet that's great for scribbling down notes using a stylus (or watching Netflix on when you have some down time), if you get the keyboard attachment (which we strongly recommend), you can comfortably type up whole essays on this thing as well.
The Dell Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1 is a versatile hybrid device that can be used as a laptop and a tablet, making it a great choice for students who'd like to have both, but don't want to buy two devices. While it's not got the premium design (or price tag) of Dell's XPS line of laptops, the Dell Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1 still offers excellent build quality and an attractive thin and light design.
You can get the Dell Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1 in a variety of configurations to suit your budget, including a gorgeous 4K display and extremely impressive speakers. Battery life isn't the best, but for a solid and dependable workhorse of a laptop, this is a brilliant choice.
Being a student involves a lot of hard work, but you still need to unwind and blow off steam. If you like doing that by playing games, then getting a gaming laptop like the Dell G3 15 is ideal. It also means you don't have to lug around a big gaming desktop if you're moving to Uni.
The Dell G3 15 also proves you don't have to spend a fortune if you want a great gaming laptop. This is an affordable gaming laptop that offers excellent performance with modern games without leaving you with no money for rent or study essentials.
While the spec isn't going to let you play intensive games like Cyberpunk 2077 with ray tracing and other visual effects all whacked to max, you'll still be able to play almost any modern game with a few tweaks.
If you're a student looking for a powerful laptop, and you want an Apple device, then the new MacBook Pro 13-inch (M1, 2020) is for you. Like the new MacBook Air, this new MacBook Pro also comes with the M1 chip, but with a few tweaks to make it even more powerful. This means this is an absolute beast when it comes to video editing or 3D rendering.
It's also got the best battery life ever in a MacBook, while keeping that gorgeous thin and light design that MacBooks are renowned for.
Without doubt, this is one of the best, and most powerful, student laptops money can buy right now. It's expensive, but definitely worth the investment if you need something with a bit more oomph.
While not strictly a laptop, the Microsoft Surface Pro 7 more than earns its place on this list of the best laptops for students. It's actually a Windows 10-powered tablet, but by attaching the Type Cover, which is an optional extra, you can turn it into a laptop-like device that's perfect for writing up essays on.
As a tablet, it's also compact and easy to carry around, and it's powerful as well. It comes with a quad-core Intel processor, and up to 16GB of RAM, which means it can handle pretty much any app you need for your studies. And, as we mentioned earlier, it runs on a full version of Windows 10, so you have a huge library of compatible software.
It also features a USB-C port and Wi-Fi 6 connectivity, and you can configure it before you buy to ensure you're getting a device that's ideal for your needs - and your budget.
This is yet another Chromebook on this list, which just goes to show how good these Chrome OS-powered devices are for students. With a low price and long battery life, the Asus Chromebook Flip is ideal for students who want a machine they can work on throughout the day without worrying about running out of juice, while also not spending too much money at the same time.
It can handle day-to-day tasks when studying, including writing up documents or creating presentations, and it can be used as a tablet-like device for watching Netflix on after a hard day's work (films look great on its 1080p screen).
The Asus Chromebook Flip is also great for younger students as well, or as a first laptop for children. Not only is it cheap and sturdy, but it's easy to set parental controls on the laptop, and as it's a Chromebook, you don't have to worry about viruses or keeping it updated.
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