Top-Ranking Academic Laptops: Comprehensive Reviews & Buyer’s Guide - Insights From Tech Experts

Choosing a laptop for college can be harder than final exams. You want something that will last the whole time you’re at university, but you also don’t want to spend an arm and a leg. Luckily, we’ve gone hands-on with multiple laptops that are particularly good for college students this year with strong performance and accessible price points.

Also: The best laptops of 2024: Expert tested and reviewed

We prioritized machines that scored well in durability, portability, and of course, battery life, and put all these laptops through our rigorous series of benchmarking and usability tests . These five stood out among the crowd, each with specialized use cases.

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What’s the best laptop for college right now?

At ZDNET, we’ve thoroughly tested the best laptops for college to help you pick the right one, no matter what you’re studying. Our pick for the best laptop for college overall goes to the Apple MacBook Air M3 . In terms of portability, sleek form factor, and a solid battery life, the MacBook Air M3 is as light as it is powerful, and is future-proofed to last the duration of a multi-year degree program. It might not be the best pick for you, however, so we included other options that round out the spectrum of most common use cases.

The best laptop for college in 2024

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Pros

• Sleek, durable form factor
• Powerful, versatile, and portable
• Upgraded neural engine

Cons

• Limited ports
• Uninspiring speakers

Apple MacBook Air M3

Best college laptop overall

Our pick for overall best laptop for college is a no-brainer: The Apple MacBook Air M3 brings a portable, sleek form factor to match impressive performance that’s pro enough for any student.

Available in a 13-inch and 15-inch display, the Air is as thin as it is light, and can be slipped into any backpack or bag without weighing you down. The MacBook Air M3 also is eligible for an Apple educational discount , perfect for students looking to save some cash on a new machine.

Review: M3 MacBook Air review: Apple’s AI computer for the masses has arrived

The M3 Air’s 18 hours of battery life also is some of the best out there, removing the need of having you vie for outlets while on campus.

But it all comes down to this laptop’s performance. The M3 chip’s 16-core neural engine future-proofs it with AI readiness, while the option to load it with up plenty of storage offers plenty of space to stick with you during your time at university.

Apple MacBook Air M3 t ech specs: 8-core CPU with 16-core Neural Engine | 8GB, 16GB, or 24GB of unified memory with 10-core GPU | 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB storage | LCD, 60Hz refresh rate, 500 nits max | Up to 18 hours of battery life | 13-inch: 2.7 points; 15-inch: 3.3 pounds

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Pros

• High-quality hardware
• Responsive RGB keyboard, haptic trackpad
• 8MP webcam
• Brightest display on a Chromebook I’ve seen

Cons

• Middling battery life
• No HDMI or USB-A ports

HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook

Best Chromebook for college

Instead of going for a Mac or a Windows machine, Chromebooks, powered by ChromeOS are a solid third option, and the best one for college students is the HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook.

Already called out as our pick for the best Chromebook for students , this intel-equipped laptop is stacked with quality hardware like a 12th Gen Intel Core i5 CPU, a super-bright display (the brightest I’ve seen on a Chromebook yet), and a sleek form factor that is just over three pounds, making it well-suited for the mobile college student.

Review: HP Dragonfly Pro review: The best Chromebook you can buy right now

The Dragonfly Pro also stands out from the crowd with a flashy touch: RBG lights illuminate the keyboard with colorful, glowing keycaps in a variety of color schemes (that can be turned off when you’re in class). And the haptic trackpad, by the way, is on par with a MacBook’s, making it a breeze to use without a mouse.

HP also offers an on select laptops and computers as part of a membership program.

HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook t ech specs: Intel Core i5-1235U | Integrated Iris Xe | 16GB memory, 256GB SSD | 14-inch WXQGA (1920 x 1200) display, 1,200 nits | Up to 11 hours of battery life | 3.33 lbs

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Pros

• Cheap
• Full keyboard, wide display
• Well-optimized for everyday use

Cons

• 8GB of RAM will limit demanding tasks
• Screen isn’t very bright
• A little bulky

Acer Aspire Go 15

Best college laptop under $500

We’re calling the Acer Aspire Go 15 the best college laptop under $500, but it’s actually well under that price. For just $300, this is a capable laptop that is ideal for students on a budget. Not everyone needs a powerful laptop decked out in high-end hardware, especially if you have a desktop as a primary computer. And for a portable notebook that is built to cover the basics, it doesn’t get much more affordable than this.

The Acer Aspire Go 15 has half the amount of RAM and half the amount of memory as the other Chromebook on this list, the HP Dragonfly Pro , but it’s a third of the cost, making it a great bang-for-buck device or secondary laptop for use on the go.

Review: I replaced my desktop with a $299 laptop for a week, and I was pleasantly surprised

I can see this laptop being ideal for business students, as the 15-inch screen gives enough room for working with spreadsheets and productivity software, where the full keyboard features a number pad on the right side. Add in a webcam, a good selection of ports, and a Kensington lock slot, and you have a laptop that has all your bases covered. In addition, the can knock some additional cost off of your purchase.

Acer Aspire Go 15 te ch specs: Intel Core i3-N305 | Integrated Intel UHD GPU | 8GB memory, 125GB SSD | 15-inch Full HD display | Up to 11 hours of battery life | 3.75 lbs

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Pros

• Powerful hardware
• Lightweight
• Handles both gaming and productivity
• Crisp OLED display

Cons

• Has a tendency to run warm
• Bloatware

Asus ROG Zephyrus G14

Best college laptop for gaming

You know what they say about all work and no play. Let’s face it, college is a grind, so it’s nice to be able to unplug by plugging into your favorite game. Luckily, there are laptops that can do both, and the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 gives you the best of both worlds. This is a sleek and lightweight laptop that you can bring to class, but it’s also powerful enough to run all your favorite games in the off-hours. Also, the offers student discounts on select laptops after signing up through a brief application form.

Review: Asus’ new laptop is a solid MacBook alternative that’s better in several ways

Armed with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU and 2K resolution OLED screen, games look vibrant and crisp, while the laptop’s flashy RBG lights can be turned off while you’re in that history lecture. Best of all, the Zephyrus G14 is incredibly lightweight for the amount of power it has. In fact, it earned a spot on our best lightweight laptops for that very reason.

Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 t ech specs: AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS | Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070, 8GB | 32GB memory, 1TB SSD | 14-inch OLED display | Up to 12 hours of battery life | 3.3 lbs

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Pros

• Versatile dual-screen design
• Solid battery
• Good performance

Cons

• Expensive
• Comes with multiple supporting parts

Lenovo Yoga Book 9i

Best 2-in-1 convertible laptop for college

In a sea of laptops that all look more or less the same, the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i dares to do something drastically different. Armed with two 13.3-inch touchscreen displays that can be configured in different ways, the Yoga Book 9i is the best choice for students that need a flexible 2-in-1 laptop and performance to boot.

The onboard Core Ultra 7 processor is snappy and well-optimized for AI, and comes with up to 32GB of RAM for more demanding tasks like rendering or video editing, both of which I can see being useful for art or media students.

Review: I tested Lenovo’s dual-screen laptop and it improved my productivity in profound ways

There are a few considerations, however. First, the $2,000 price tag puts it at the most expensive laptop on this list, although Lenovo does offer a student discount program . And the multiple configurations result in a device that comes with a separate keyboard, a stylus, and a kickstand, so there are more parts to carry around, potentially reducing its portability. However, the result is a stunning dual-screen laptop that’s the best of its kind for college students looking for something different.

Lenovo Yoga Book 9i t ech specs: Intel Core Ultra 155U | Intel Iris Xe Graphics | 16GB RAM, 1TB, storage | Dual 13.3-inch 2.8K OLED, touchscreen, Dolby Vision, 400 nits, 16:10 | Up to 8 hours of battery life | 14”, 3.8 pounds

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What is the best laptop for college?

The best laptop for college in 2024 is the Apple MacBook Air M3 . Portable, powerful, and with a long-lasting battery, the MacBook Air M3 is a versatile workhorse that you can throw in a bag and take with you anywhere you go. The M3’s 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU is armed to take whatever tasks your major requires of you, and the entire package weighs just 2.7 pounds.

Which is the right laptop for college for you?

The right college for laptop depends on first on what you want to get out of it, and second, what your budget looks like. The laptops on this list cover a broad range of prices, but I also included some common use-cases that applies to many users.

How we test laptops

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET

We use a combination of methods to test laptops here at ZDNET. First, we acquire data from benchmarking software to analyze a system’s metrics under the hood, and compare those to advertised numbers. Then, we spend an extended amount of time with the laptop (usually a week or two) using it the same way a normal consumer would, in order to analyze its portability, form factor, and how well the battery actually holds up, among others. For an extensive breakdown, check out our comprehensive laptop testing methodology .

• Benchmarking: First, we run a series of tests to put the computer’s hardware through the wringer in order to see what it’s capable of. Cinebench is one of the most commonly-used hardware testing suites, which tests the laptop’s rendering performance on single and multiple CPU cores. PCMark 10 is another powerful program that covers a wide variety of tasks performed in the workplace, and there are many others that we use in tandem to gather as much data as we can. Some components we run tests on include:
• Processor: The “brain” of the laptop, and one of the most important factors that determines performance. The four biggest manufacturers that make most of the CPUs found in laptops today are Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, and Apple (in their own machines only). This is tested in benchmarking software.
• The display: The size of the display (measured diagonally from corner to corner) is also what dictates the laptop’s overall size, and play a big role in the laptop’s cost. Brightness is measured in “nits”, and color spectrums are tested in benchmarking software.
• The graphics processor (GPU): Whether it’s integrated into the CPU or a dedicated graphics card, how well the machine handles graphics is a key factor when it comes to demanding visual tasks like video editing, rendering, and of course, gaming. We test the GPU with a combination of benchmarking software, gaming, and media playback.
• Physical form factor: Finally, the laptop’s overall appearance and physical form factor encompasses its weight, thickness, how the keyboard and trackpad feel, and whether or not it has a display that can be folded back to form a tablet. We carry the laptop around for at least a week and note how well it commutes.
• Battery testing: We test a unit’s battery in a few ways. A handful of benchmarking programs have their own battery testing components, but we also will just let the laptop run for as long as it can under a medium load. We ensure screensavers and hibernation mode are turned off, set the display’s brightness and audio at 50%, load up a livestream on YouTube in Chrome, and wait ‘til the end.
• The human element: As we mentioned earlier, metrics and system data is important, but numbers alone don’t give you the full picture. This is where we weave in our personal experience with the device and tap into the practical use cases that consumers actually care about.

Ultimately, our goal is to break down the capabilities of each and every laptop we test into digestible terms that real people can find useful. There is a lot of noise and confusion when it comes to navigating the laptop and computer consumer market, so we hope to bring an intuitive element to the whole process by leveraging our team’s decades of experience.

Factors to consider when choosing a laptop for college

Different students are going to have different performance needs, and it’s important to consider what exactly will be required in your courses before selecting a laptop. Students in media, design, animation, and production will likely need to opt for machines on the higher-end of hardware performance, while other students that will mainly be using their laptops for research and productivity apps may not need high-end GPUs or extensive memory.

These are the factors that I weighed when selecting the best laptops for college students for this list, that you may also want to consider before you buy:

• Battery life: In order to be considered for this list, I considered machines with better-than-average battery life. This is one metric that will vary significantly based on use case, but all of these laptops will easily last an entire day on campus (eight hours) on one charge, even while undergoing demanding workloads
• Price: Cost is an important factor, especially for students. I included laptops that cover a wide range of price points, from the inexpensive Acer Aspire Go 15 at just $300 to the pricier Lenovo Yoga Book 9i that will run closer to $2,000. Keep in mind that most computer manufacturers offer student discounts, and their buying links are included in each laptop’s section on this page.
• Portability: Carrying around a heavy laptop all day while on campus is a tough ask. That’s why all five of these laptops were considered to be light enough to be carried around a full day at school, the heaviest of which (the Acer Aspire Go 15) is only 3.7 pounds.
• Storage: The amount of storage on your college laptop determines not only how much data your computer can hold but also how fast it can move. If you plan to use this laptop for all of your college classes, you will likely need a larger amount of storage if you plan to store all those papers and projects on the local drive.

Which operating system should you choose: Windows, MacOS, Chrome OS, or Linux?

While every computing platform has its loyal supporters, most people end up using a particular operating system because of key applications running on it, employer preferences, or budgetary constraints. Windows, which ranges from budget to premium, and Apple’s MacOS, which is exclusive to premium devices, cover a broad spectrum. Chrome OS is mostly limited to mid-range devices.

Also: The best security keys you can buy: Expert tested

All Windows devices listed here meet the requirements for Windows 11. If you purchase a device with Windows 10 installed, you will be able to upgrade to Windows 11 if you choose to do so. Note that after October 14, 2025, Windows 10 support will end, and there will be no further security patches or feature updates.

What’s the difference between a Chromebook and a Windows or Mac laptop?

While premium Chromebooks like the HP Dragonfly Pro are available, these lightweight models are generally considered more budget-friendly alternatives to traditional Windows or macOS devices.

Chromebooks operate on Google’s Chrome operating system (OS) and are focused on mobile apps rather than traditional software. These laptops are used for basic browsing, studies, and entertainment, but if you have a particular software requirement, you must check for available support before you invest in a Chromebook. However, it is also possible to also use virtualization software (VMs) to circumvent such limitations.

Are there alternative laptops for college worth considering?

Depending on what your major is, there may be alternative selections that perform just as well than the five mentioned on our best list. The following laptops should be mentioned as devices with more niche capabilities that could appeal to specific students.

Best alternative college laptop for creatives Asus 2024 Vivobook Pro 15 Asus’ 2024 Vivobook Pro 15 is a solid option for art or media students that work with digital photography, design, or video editing. Its brilliant display includes Pantone-verified color accuracy, and its trackpad has a quick menu designed to work with the tools menu in Adobe software. View at Best Buy Best alternative ultraportable laptop for college LG Gram Pro 17 Taking portability to the extreme, the Gram Pro is just half an inch thick and weighs barely over three pounds, yet has the largest display of any other laptop on this list. This is a great pick for students that need ultraportability but don’t want to sacrifice screen size or performance. View at Amazon Best alternative Apple laptop for college Apple MacBook Air M2 2022’s MacBook Air with the M2 processor is a solid alternative MacBook choice for students that want to save some money. The previous generation is not much of a step down in performance from the M3, yet the price is right at several hundred dollars cheaper. View at Amazon

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