College is expensive—including tuition, housing, and textbooks, not to mention food and other miscellaneous costs—so students need a reliable laptop that’ll last for years of taking notes, writing papers at 3 in the morning, and editing slides for a group project. But choosing the right laptop can be more challenging than writing a thousand words on Proust.
We test dozens of laptops every year, and for this guide we’ve rounded up the picks from our other guides that are the best for students. A laptop’s price-to-performance ratio is the most important factor, followed by battery life, size and weight, keyboard and trackpad, and good-enough performance. Our top pick offers the best balance of all those factors for most high school and college students, whether they’re attending classes remotely or schlepping it to a physical classroom.
We also have more portable picks if you’re able to spend more, and for anyone on a tighter budget, we have less expensive options that are also well suited for younger kids who are learning remotely. To achieve their more-affordable price tags, these cheaper options all make serious trade-offs—in shorter battery life, bulkier size, or more-limited functionality—and they’re not likely to last as long as our picks. If you’re a film or photography student and you need a laptop for photo and video editing, or if you want a laptop that can also play games, we have picks for you, too.
