The best student laptops: these machines will help you power through your coursework
We pick the best student laptops for different needs and budgets, from value options to creative powerhouses.
With the best student laptops, you'll be well-equipped to take on whatever work your tutors throw at you. Whether you're working up designs, editing video or writing essays, a capable student laptop is an investment that'll pay for itself many times over. So, which to choose?
At Creative Bloq, our experts have been testing and reviewing laptops for over a decade, using benchmark scores and hands-on expertise. We've curated our top-choice laptops that are ace for students but won't drain your savings. Right now, our top pick is the MacBook Air (M2) 2022, which offers tremendous speed and power without incurring the sky-high price tag of the latest M3 models.
Be sure to check the exact system requirements that you need for your studies to guarantee your laptop can handle it. Also, don't forget to make the most out of student perks like Apple student discounts and Samsung student discounts.
The quick list
Best overall
Screen: 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display
CPU: Apple M2 chip with 8‑core CPU
RAM: 8GB – 16GB unified memory
The most affordable MacBook isn't the newest, but with Apple's M2 chip, it offers excellent performance with a sleek and compact build, and we think it can meet most students' needs.
Read more below
Chromebook
Screen: 14in FHD 16:9 Touchscreen
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3500U processor quad-core 3.7 GHz
RAM: 8GB
This Chromebook is an excellent value choice for students since its very portable and affordable. It has a 14-inch FHD touchscreen, deft keyboard, and the solid metal chassis makes it a robust option for carrying in a school bag.
Read more
Best budget
Screen: 14in IPS LED
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700U 1.80GHz
RAM: 16GB
One of the best budget options for students, the Acer Swift 3 is well-equipped enough for most creative tasks, but won't break the bank. It's not too well-suited for 3D work or high-end video editing, though.
Read more
For creatives
Screen: 15.6in FHD (1920 x 1080), 2.8K
CPU: Up to AMD Ryzen 9 - 7940HS
RAM: 8GB or 16GB
I own this ASUS laptop and can highly recommend it for students and creative professionals. It has a beautiful OLED display, powerful hardware, and can be used for gaming too.
Read more
Best lightweight
Screen: 13.3in, 2.8K OLED
CPU: Intel Core i7-1355U
RAM: 8-32GB
One of the smallest, dinkiest laptops we've ever tested, this is the ideal choice for any student who doesn't want to be weighed down. It's also got a downright beautiful display.
Read more
Best 2-in-1
Screen: 14in HDR OLED
CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 155H
RAM: 32GB
A 2-in-1 hybrid laptop can offer benefits for those using their device in lectures, at a cafe, and on transport travelling to and from school. The HP Spectre offers a vibrant screen with some powerful hardware for productivity at the core.
Read more
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Most powerful
Screen: 16.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR
CPU: M3 Max
RAM: 16-96GB
A laptop for those who are also thinking beyond their studies, the MacBook Pro 16 M3 is a hefty investment, but one that will provide many years' computing for the power user.
Read more
The best student laptop overall
1. MacBook Air (M2, 2022)
Our expert review:
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
We think the M2 MacBook Air is the ultimate laptop for students looking for a balance between price and performance. It's not as affordable as the previous MacBook Air (M1) model, however, Apple has dropped the price of this 2022 model as a result of the Air M3 model. For the price, it offers exceptional value with a great processor, larger screen (13.6-inch) and lighter build than its sibling, making it great for streaming and transporting around campus.
It might not have an M3 chip, but we doubt you'll need one. To be honest we only recommend models with an M3 processor to creative pros who will really notice and benefit from the difference in power and performance. This laptop can perform well enough to handle most student's needs no problem, and handles creative software programs such as Photoshop with ease.
The MacBook Air (M2) 2022 ticks a lot of boxes, from impressive battery life to great portability, and a solid 1080p webcam to have you looking your best during online lectures and video calls with friends.
See our full MacBook Air (M2, 2022) review for more details.
The best Chromebook for students
02. Acer Chromebook Spin 514
Our expert review:
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
If you're a student on a tighter budget, or you only need a laptop for simpler tasks such as taking notes and writing essays, then we're confident a Chromebook may be all you need. These excellent value stripped-back laptops run ChromeOS, which means you won't be able to use some of the desktop software that you would use on a Windows or Mac computer, so keep this in mind. However, there is now a wide range of apps available for ChromeOS, and many popular programs are becoming available as browser-based apps instead for Chrome users.
We think the Acer Chromebook Spin 514 is the best Chromebook for students thanks to the 2-in-1 versatility of its laptop and tablet modes. It offers a solid, durable build, and a sharp 14-inch Full HD touchscreen. We tested the quad-core AMD Ryzen 5 configuration and found that it could easily handle all the tasks that ChromeOS is capable of.
The typing experience should be comfortable enough for those writing essays for university, and the solid metal chassis and sturdy hinges make this a reassuringly solid option for lugging around in a bag. There are plenty of ports on this laptop too for those who need to connect peripherals or additional storage. The screen is particularly impressive for a Chromebook, and means it could even please student artists, who will be able to make use of the tablet mode function, although it is a little heavy to hold. See our Acer Chromebook Spin 514 review for all the details.
Best budget laptop for students
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
The Acer Swift 3 is our pick as the best budget laptop for students right now. It's not the latest laptop, in that it isn't stuffed to bursting with largely unasked-for AI features and more computing power than god. However, it is a perfectly capable laptop for the majority of tasks that students are likely to throw at it. With a three-figure price tag and, um, 'only' 16GB of RAM, this is going to be a sensible buy for lots of students.
Granted, it did come in a little under-par in our benchmark tests. This and the limited Radeon graphics mean that it's not going to be anyone's laptop of choice for intensive 3D modelling. However, for general design work it's more than fine – our reviewer did various Photoshop tasks on it without any problems. The FHD display is good without being exceptional, though gamers may be put off by the 60Hz refresh rate.
The Acer Swift 3 may not be an especially remarkable laptop – but it's affordable, reliable and basically capable. For all but those with the most intense computational needs, it's realistically going to be more than adequate, and it comes at a tempting price point for students, especially if you can score a discount.
For more, see our Acer Swift 3 review.
Best student laptop for creatives
04. Asus Vivobook Pro 15
Our expert review:
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
As a photography student, this is the laptop that I personally owned while studying for my Master's degree. I highly recommend it for students as an excellent choice for multitasking as it offers a great balance between professional and personal use. For example, I used this laptop for essay writing, extensive photo editing, online lectures and Teams meetings, plus it could handle light gaming sessions in the evening.
I love that it has enough processing power to run any creative software, including 3D modelling slicers as the image above demonstrates, as well as Adobe's suite of Creative Cloud apps. The Pantone-verified OLED screen also makes it a perfect laptop for photo editing, and I loved the small design features like the built-in privacy shutter, fingerprint reader, and backlit keyboard for late-night essays.
Overall, I think the Asus Vivobook Pro 15 is a very well-balanced option for students on creative courses, and it's not extortionately priced, either. The specs can be configured with 16GB of RAM, enough to run most software for visual art and design students, although the performance is not super seamless when it comes to 4K video editing, with a noticeable fan noise.
Despite some hefty hardware, this laptop is ultra-lightweight, making it comfortable to carry around, and the slimline 180° hinge design means you can share on-screen work with colleagues in class. There are also plenty of ports for a range of peripherals like graphics drawing tablets, plus three USB-A ports as well as a Thunderbolt USB-C.
For students of graphic design specifically, we would suggest this laptop as a better alternative to many of the 2-in-1 devices available, since it provides more power and support for a dedicated drawing tablet, which will be a vast improvement over directly using a hybrid tablet device's screen as a pen display.
Take a look at my Asus Vivobook Pro 15 review for everything you need to know.
Best lightweight laptop for students
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
One of the smallest and lightest laptops we've ever tested, the ASUS Zenbook S 13 OLED is a dream for any students who like to travel light. However, despite this, it still packs in plenty of power and performance. ASUS likes to make claims about producing the best OLED screens on the laptop market, but honestly, use the Zenbook S 13 OLED for a spell and you'll be hard-pressed to disagree. It's incredibly bright and beautifully sharp, with 100% DCI-P3 colour coverage and a Pantone Validated certification.
Power-wise, the Zenbook also acquits itself well. For 2D design tasks in programs like Photoshop and Krita, we found it to be perfectly smooth and responsive. You'll get a little fan noise, but nothing anti-social. With moving images though, you start to feel the limits of the integrated GPU, meaning video editors and animators will probably be better off with something else.
Read our full ASUS Zenbook S 13 OLED review for more.
Best 2-in-1 laptop for students
06. HP Spectre x360 14 (2024)
Our expert review:
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
A lot of students opt for 2-in-1 laptops for college and university as an alternative to using both a laptop and a separate tablet for drawing and note organising. If you enjoy using a touchscreen or require a touchscreen for your course, then a 2-in-1 laptop is usually a more affordable option (and they're very classy too). More of a tablet person? We have a guide to the best iPads for students.
The HP Spectre x360 14 (2024) model in particular is a great choice for students, with a 14-inch OLED display, included magnetic stylus for digital artwork or note-taking, and it's super sleek and portable too for travelling around campus. You can also use it in tent mode for watching movies hands-free, and it has a strong hinge so you can feel confident that it will fold smoothly.
The only thing that really lets this laptop down is the Intel Arc integrated graphics cores that could prove problematic down the line, and has the potential to slow down graphics-heavy tasks. With that said, our reviewer found that it responded very well to Photoshop software, and didn't tax the GPU too much at all.
For more info, see our HP Spectre x360 14 (2024) review.
Best powerful laptop for students
7. MacBook Pro 16 (M3 Pro, 2023)
Our expert review:
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
The MacBook Pro 16 isn't just one of the best laptops for students right but one of the best laptops period. As such, it comes with a pretty hefty price tag, and it's a lot more than almost any student needs. That said, power uses on courses in 3D animation, video editing and other graphically demanding disciplines will without doubt appreciate the power and efficiency on offer here.
In fact, running benchmarks using Blender, we concluded that the Pro 16 is a viable replacement for a desktop machine in many scenarios. It feels smooth and fluid, interactive rendering runs with ease and high polygon and model count scenes showed no signs of slowdown and when video editing – even 8K or multicam timelines are responsive. Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve and Fusion projects feel super smooth.
And while many rival workstation laptops often sacrifice battery life in exchange for power, in our own tests we worked for 10 hours in Cinema 4D before the power indicator turned red, and the laptop never got uncomfortably hot. Sure, it's expensive but for those on demanding creative courses, we would say this is the best laptop for students who can afford it. The 14in version is more portable and slightly cheaper, but those on creative courses are likely to appreciate the larger screen of the 16in model as long as they're not regularly on the move with their laptop.
See our full MacBook Pro 16 M3 review for more details.
Also tested
We've tested many more laptops that are suitable for students in a range of disciplines. If you've not quite seen what you're looking for yet, consider these, and click to read our full reviews.
Acer Aspire 5
This is one of the best options for students on a tight budget. In fact, we're talking almost Chromebook prices, but without many of the limitations that come with using ChromeOS.
Read our 3-star review
MacBook Air (M1, 2020)
It might not have an M3 chip, but we think the MacBook Air (M1, 2020) is an excellent and affordable laptop for students. Its price is significantly lower, and it offers perfectly acceptable performance for most needs.
Read our 5-star review.
Microsoft Surface Go 3
The Surface Go 3 is one of the most affordable 2-in-1 tablets in the Microsoft family, and while it's nowhere near as powerful as the Surface Pro, it has a similar design and is capable of running low-demand software.
Read our 3-star review
MSI Prestige 14 Evo
For a Windows option firmly in the middle of the range, we think the MSI Prestige 14 Evo is a good option for students, with enough specs to cover a wide degree of uses while keeping costs down.
Read our 3.5-star review
How to choose the best student laptop
Choosing the best student laptop will depend on your needs and budget. Naturally, different students will have very different requirements for a laptop depending on what they're studying. Many will not need massive amounts of power, while those studying subjects such as video production and 3D design will have greater needs.
Students of creative subjects are likely to need at least 16GB of RAM and possibly a laptop with a dedicated GPU. They'll likely also have greater demands for the display of their laptop, requiring a good colour gamut for visual work. Other students can better prioritise value and portability.
We've considered these different needs when selecting the options to include in our guide above. In our experience, there are three major factors to consider:
Portability: If you're ferrying your laptop to lectures, seminars and the library for all-night cram sessions, you don't want it to be giving you back problems. A laptop that doesn't weigh too much and can easily fit into a standard backpack or shoulder bag should definitely be a priority for a student.
Battery life: The last thing you want is your laptop running out of power at a critical moment, and if your laptop can't get you through the day, it's probably not going to be hugely useful to you as a student.
Affordability: Of course, everyone is looking for value with any purchase they make, particularly tech, but for many students, affordability is a more important factor than it is for working professionals who still need a solid laptop. Thus, getting as much computing power on the dollar as possible is paramount.
How we tested the best student laptops
All the laptops in this guide have been reviewed and tested by Creative Bloq's hardware experts, who have not just run them through a gauntlet of benchmarking, but also used them in real life over weeks and sometimes months.
Our reviewers have specifically put these devices through their paces with tasks that students in different fields tend to carry out. We spend several days testing each device and comparing their specifications to pick the best laptops for students with varying needs. We run different benchmark tests on each device depending on its intended use by its maker, but the laptops we've included in this guide have all been run through the following:
• Cinebench R23/2024 - this assesses the performance of a computer's CPU and GPU using real-world 3D rendering tasks
• Geekbench 5/6 - this tests the CPU's processing power, both by using a single core for a single task at a time as well as all the CPU's core to see its ability to multitask
• Handbrake - we use this free and open-source transcoder for digital video files to render a short 4K animated film, using the same file for all our tests
• 3DMark - this assesses a computer's ability to run graphic rendering tasks, including for gaming
• PCMark 10 - this test assesses a computer’s ability to run all everyday tasks from web browsing to digital content creation, testing app launch speeds, 3D rendering and even battery life
But perhaps more importantly than technical benchmarking, we evaluate machines in real-world situations, pushing them to the limit with multiple applications running to see how they perform in real project-like conditions. Power, speed, flexibility, and what a computer looks and feels like to use are all criteria in our reviewing process.
We do much more than simply unpack a test unit, run some benchmarks and then pack it up again; we have lived and worked with all of the above computers, running them in real-life scenarios and completed projects relevant to the subject of this guide, otherwise, we wouldn't recommend these models to you. For more details, see our article on How we test.
FAQs
How much computing power do I need for a student laptop?
Different laptops offer varying levels of computing power, and different students will have different needs in this area. If your area of study doesn't require the use of demanding creative software for things like video editing or 3D rendering and you'll be using your laptop mainly for online research, writing essays or programming, you don't need a lot of power.
In this case, one of the Chromebooks or 2-in-1 hybrid laptops on our list with RAM in the 4GB to 8GB range should serve you just fine, still providing enough memory to handle entertainment needs outside of study time (also see our guide to the best laptops for writers).
However, you may be studying a course that requires more intensive processing power, in which case a student laptop won't necessarily be a budget option. If you're editing video, for instance, or working with 3D software, you'll need 16GB of RAM or more.
A laptop with a good dedicated graphics card can also be a useful investment for those working in visual arts or design (or just if you plan to do a fair amount of gaming in your downtime). The products featured in our most powerful laptops guide may be worth checking out if this is the case.
Which laptop brand is best for students?
When buying a student laptop, you want a device that is well built, affordable and reliable. For that last point, we generally recommend opting for brands that have a good reputation – you want your laptop to get you through at least your whole course of study, if not a lot longer.
Good brands for reliability that have consistently done well in our own testing over the years include Dell, HP, Acer, Asus and Microsoft for Windows laptops, and, of course, Apple. For creatives, Asus's VivoBook range offers good prices on devices built with creative work in mind, and we recommend considering these if you're starting a course for video editing or digital illustration.
It's also always worth checking whether your college has a particular policy or recommendation. Some recommend using Windows-based laptops to reduce software incompatibility issues or facilitate technical support.
How can students save money on laptops?
With budget a primary concern for students, it's worth exploring you're options for how to save money. Of course, there are the standard sales and deals offered throughout the year, but there is also opportunity for special student discounts available all year round, like the Apple Student discount, Samsung Student discount or the Dell student offers.
Another option is to look out for previous models of decent laptops. If you don't need the newest version (and you probably don't), there are excellent savings to be made by looking at older models.
Can a student laptop be used for gaming?
A student's gaming laptop will require a bit more power than one that's just used for writing and web-browsing. A good gaming laptop needs both graphical and processing power to ensure that modern games run smoothly, with no lag or stuttering. See our roundup of the best gaming laptops for more.
Why is a laptop important for students?
The vast majority of students are likely to benefit enormously from a laptop – even if it's a relatively basic lightweight Chromebook. Not only does a laptop allow you to work on assignments and courseworks wherever you are, it can also be used to take notes during lectures and seminars. They also serve for organisation, online research and more. Plus the vast majority of laptops also have integrated webcams, essential for those whose programmes include online classes.
Do Chromebooks make good student laptops?
Yes, they do. Not every student will need massive specs. We've included a Chomebook at number 2 in our guide to the best student laptops because for many students giving up a big storage capacity for super speed makes very good sense. The apps that Chromebooks run take up very little space, and with built-in support for Google Drive, it means your documents are all saved in the cloud as well.
Are hybrid 2-in-1s good student laptops?
Again, this is a resounding 'yes' in our opinion. Hybrids, also known as 2-in-1s combine the best of tablets and laptops into a highly portable package that's ideal for slinging in a bag to carry to school or university. Devices like the Microsoft Surface Go 3 above are great for working in spaces where you might not have a desk – even on the train, while you can still keep the convenience of a keyboard for when you need it.
Should I buy a refurbished or second-hand laptop?
Why you can trust Creative Bloq
Getting a student laptop that has had a previous owner is a great way to save money and be a bit more environmentally conscious. There are a couple of ways to do this:
Refurbished laptops are sold directly by their manufacturer, or through an official partner retailer. Essentially, they are previously used laptops that have been traded in, then given a professional once-over – cleaned up, wiped and made ready to sell again. They're often sold 'as-new', or given an official grade for their condition, giving you a good idea of what you're getting into.
Second-hand laptops will usually be sold directly from the previous owner, usually via a reselling platform like eBay or Facebook Marketplace.
Refurbished laptops will generally be more expensive, however for the price you'll get an assurance of quality and good working order, as well as usually a limited warrant. Second-hand laptops will be cheaper, but not offer the same kinds of guarantees, while also running the risk of potentially being infected with malware (which the previous owner may not have even been aware of).
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Matt has been a technology journalist for over 15 years, writing for publications such as T3, MacFormat and Creative Bloq. He's a managing editor of TechRadar, Creative Bloq's sister site, where he can be found writing about and reviewing laptops, computers, monitors and more. He often writes for Creative Bloq, helping creatives find their perfect laptop or PC.
- Tom May
- Beth NichollsEcommerce Writer