Quality, Affordable Laptops for College Students
If there’s one thing that any college student needs – it’s a state of the art laptop. In fact, college students spend an average of 4-5 hours a day reading, writing and watching digital content on their laptop computers. It’s essential, therefore, that the best laptops offer fast processing, durability, portability and a sufficient memory to hold a wide variety of files, software and applications.
Finding the perfect laptop isn’t a walk in the park, especially for cash-strapped students looking for a bargain. The good news is that you can still find great deals even on top of the range brands like a Macbook or the awesome Chromebook. What’s more, if you need a more powerful computer, it’s worth considering a laptop that can be paired with a mini desktop pc. To help you navigate these crucial questions, we’ve sent our team to test out the Top 3 College Laptops of 2023, so that you can get excellent value for money. To give you an honest review, we’ve weighed up everything from price, size, OSX, screen resolution, memory, battery life, processor, and durability to ports and extra features.
So, which laptops made it to our Top 3?
1) Acer Aspire 5
Overview
The Acer Aspire 5, 15.6” full HD is a worthy contender. This super-slim laptop offers a compelling specification at a very reasonable price. Sporting the latest Intel 10th Generation CPU, the Quad Core processor can handle most multitasking capabilities with ease. The hard drive may not be the most powerful on the market, but the fact that it utilizes an SSD is welcome especially at this price point. Those students who spend the majority of their term time downloading content instead of revising hard (you know who you are) may wish to consider buying external storage. With NVidia’s Geforce MX150 graphics card this laptop is ideal both for students, and the hardcore gamer. 8GB Ram and Windows 10 complete the line up to make this a compelling laptop.
What We Like
We love the honest simplicity of this laptop and its sturdiness. The CPU is a masterpiece, as is the SSD HDD which notably reduces load times. This laptop should serve students well throughout their academic endeavors at a price point that should be applauded. Another fantastic machine by Acer.
What Needs Improving
This laptop isn’t the lightest option but if you’re happy to carry a little extra weight, in return you’ll get solid performance, good features and a sizeable memory.
2) Macbook Air Retina 13”
Overview
Another stunning Macbook Air from Apple. The Macbook Air Retina 13” Display is a great option for Apple lovers. Now, this Macbook is not about to replace NASA’s supercomputer and send the next Apollo on a space mission but it will deal with your university needs with ease. It comes with a powerful 1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, and is available in three stunning colors – gold, silver and space grey. Other trimmings include a touch display, 8GB built in memory, next generation keyboard, stereo sound, and an SSD drive.
What We Like
There’s a lot to love about this Macbook Air. The four million pixel retina display is among the best in the market – offering staggering screen resolution that’s ideal for not only studying, but catching up on your favorite TV shows in your downtime. The touch pad design works well and features such as fingerprint unlock are useful for college students who are always on the go. For anyone who lugs their laptop around throughout the day, this Mac is light as … well, Air.
What Needs Improving
This eternally popular laptop comes with a higher price tag than some; your money will be well spent, however, as this can do everything, and more.
3) MSI GF63 15.6″ Gaming Laptop
Overview
Catchy name aside the 15.6” MSI has all the features and attributes that any student (or gamer) will ever need, wrapped in a stylish design, and at a compelling price. The laptop hosts the latest version of Intel’s 9th Gen CPU except this time it’s clocked to an impressive 2.4Ghz with 4.0Ghz available on boost. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is an excellent graphics card which can deal with most gaming requirements. Whilst we would have preferred to see 16GB of ram, the 8GB is more than capable given the immense power of the CPU. The 16GB Optane Memory allows instant load up times whilst 512 GB SSD of storage truly providing the best of both worlds. For those students who stay up all night after realizing that the deadline is but a few hours away, the backlit keys make those end of term papers slightly less taxing.
What We Like
Everything! Future-proof for a good few years with easily upgradable components. The features and large sized screen make this laptop not only a dream for gaming but anyone looking for a powerful, smart and dependable work laptop. Don’t be fooled by the exterior as this super machine is surprisingly light, allowing you to carry it to classes or to have in your lap at ease.
What Needs Improving
Performance is strong so battery life will inevitably be slightly diminished. We recommend taking your charger for the longer Starbucks study sessions.
1 used from $589.00
Buying a high-quality college laptop is a serious and worthwhile investment, as it’s likely you’ll be using it for the entire duration of your studies, and beyond. Make sure you know exactly what you’re looking for among these three picks by taking a look at other considerations when buying a laptop.
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