Best 15- or 16-Inch Desktop Replacement for College. A sizablebatterycan be your biggest ally on a day filled with classes and extracurricular activities. The Surface Laptop Go 2 occupies a middle ground between Microsoft's mini tablet (the Surface Go 3) and its mainstream clamshell (the Surface Laptop 4). Waseem, who uses his laptop for a hodgepodge of activities, including streaming, coding, social media, video chatting, and Microsoft Office work, would prefer to prioritize a large screen to keep track of his multitasking. The PixelSense display is on the small side, at 12.4 inches, and its resolution isn't ultra-sharp, but the Laptop Go 2 weighs only 2.5 pounds despite a battery that lasts over 12 hours, so it's hard to complain. The Inspiron 16 Plus (7610) is a top-notch value in a burgeoning category of laptops with 16-inch displays, capable Intel H-series CPUs, and Nvidia GeForce RTX graphics. To get the obvious out of the way, the new-for-2022 MacBook Air with Apple's more powerful M2 processor is a faster, more desirable machine; if you can swing its $1,199 starting price or a costlier upscale configuration, don't look back. As kids get older, their best laptop choice will vary depending on their needs. Kristin Wallace purchased a budget HP laptop for her daughter, Bella, but didnt realize how quickly the nine-year-old would fill up 32GB of storage. Expect to bring it between classes, meals, meetings, the library, and other locations on campus. At 3.3 pounds, the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i is a little heavy for a 14-inch ultraportable. Miles Riehle, a student at Laguna Beach High School, has a high-end Surface Pro 7 but finds it overwhelming. The Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2 doesn't reinvent the original, but some minor upgrades and a new CPU put this affordable, stylish notebook back among your best budget options for 2022. Glogovacs five-year-old son uses an iPad for Webex meetings with his kindergarten class. Another universally-lauded feature: battery life. Keep an eye on your inbox! The best operating system may depend on what your child is used to. These typically run on low-powered processors (Intel Celeron and Pentium chips, in most cases), but these CPUs suffice for the kinds of workaday online tasks that Chromebooks excel at. It'll play the latest, most demanding titles at frame rates approaching those of much more costly machines, with a 144Hz screen refresh rate to show them to their best advantage. Some institutions have onsite computer repair centers that service only laptops purchased from the university or an affiliated computer store on campus. Lucky for you, we've collected our favorites from recent reviewsnotebooks that not only fit the above criteria but (for the most part) are priced under $1,000, so they won't replace tuition as the biggest threat to your bank account. Scroll or swipe down for detailed specs on the hottest laptops to grace the dorm room, college classroom, and campus quad for this school year. In rare instances, the logic board or the displaythe most expensive pieces of a laptopcan fail and cost you in repairs half or more of what the laptop is worth. The Pavilion Aero is a surprisingly premium piece from HP's unassuming consumer brand that is a great match for highly mobile campus dwellers. The M1-equipped MacBook Air now packs far better performance than its predecessors, rivaling at times the M1-based MacBook Pro. (In the market for a ChromeOS laptop? But among high-end, capable devices theres still a wide range of options. Please confirm your subscription to Verge Deals via the verification email we just sent you. Look for a 13- or 14-inch screen, or a lighter 15- to 17-inch model. Students also noted that its worthwhile to pay for a laptop that will last for a few years after graduation. That's because it's a convertible whose screen flips and folds from laptop to tablet mode, pausing in between for kiosk or easel modesif you're torn between a laptop and tablet, or anticipate annotating documents or sketching or scribbling with a stylus (our test unit came with one, though not all configurations do), the Flex 5i hits the sweet spot. But almost every student I spoke to agreed that the most important feature of a high school laptop is portability. With the increasing prevalence of cloud storage and web applications, having plentiful local storage space issomewhatless vital now than it used to be, but you should still make sure that your laptop meets your needs. Just be sure you have ready access to constant, stable Wi-Fi, as there is scant local storage on these systems, and you have to plan ahead to use them effectively offline. Most general-purpose machines, especially at under-$800 prices, won't have the kind of discrete graphics chip (GPU) necessary to make the hottest AAA game titles look good and play smoothly. My recommendations here are meant to accommodate a variety of preferences and price ranges. There is so much other stuff that I dont use very often, he said. I'm a lifetime New Yorker, a graduate of New York University's journalism program, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Some (especially in STEM courses) can expect to do some fairly demanding work. The Asus VivoBook 17 M712 not only weighs less than most machines its sizefive pounds, which may be a chore to carry to class but sure beats the seven- and eight-pounders we've seenbut costs considerably less, with our test unit only $550 at Amazon. MSI has a laptop for you: The Katana GF66 is an exceptional value among 1080p gaming laptops, with a speedy Intel Core i7 CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU, plus a roomy 1TB solid-state drive. Either way, start your "best college laptops" short list with these top-rated, value-focused models. Today, that overwhelmingly means some form of Intel integrated graphics: Intel HD Graphics, Intel UHD Graphics, Intel Iris/Iris Plus graphics, or Intel Xe Graphics. I need a computer with more storage space, said Bella, who uses the laptop to Zoom with friends and take virtual guitar lessons and math enrichment classes. You may not go to Faber College (you've seen Animal House, right? A comfortable keyboard, several students told me. The Inspiron 16 Plus is one of Dell's best bargains and a great general-purpose PC. How do you narrow down the list above, let alone other laptops not mentioned here, to find the right one to be your college colleague? Waseem isnt satisfied with his laptops audio and picture quality, which he says has made it difficult to pay attention in class and to engage with other students. This is the graphics silicon built into the processors of most budget and midrange laptops. Battery life is another key feature. Riehle says he would prefer a Chromebook because he has an Android phone and often uses Google services. It's a great platform for cloud-based productivity using the Google Workspace apps and Gmail (or the online or Android versions of Microsoft Office). Then you've caught me testing gear and editing reviews of laptops, desktop PCs, and tons of other personal tech. Chromebooks with poky processors and cramped flash storage dominate the market, but Lenovo's fair-priced IdeaPad Flex 5 shows how a Chromebook can benefit from an Intel Core CPU and a "true" onboard SSD. It's a backpack accessory you won't have to apologize for. Most high schoolers Ive seen will throw their laptop in their bag without too much care, says Moses Buckwalter, a student at Penn Manor High School. Plus, being a lot faster than hard drives, they give a laptop a much snappier perceived feel. We just got the most basic Chromebook and it is totally perfect, says Gabrielle Hartley, an attorney and mother of three children. For students, a laptop is as essential as textbooks and a school IDand not just for taking notes and writing papers. Most manufacturers sell accident coverage as a separate plan, on top of extended warranties that supplement the standard one, so you might end up spending close to $300 for three years of coverage. Some (generally calledconvertibles) sport a folding design that flips the keyboard out of the way, usually by rotating all the way around its hinge. Speakers and webcams are often overlooked, even in top-end devices. The display of third-party trademarks and trade names on this site does not necessarily indicate any affiliation or the endorsement of PCMag. If your college or university doesn't require specific Windows or macOS programs (especially demanding apps like computer-aided design for engineering or the Adobe Creative Cloud suite for graphic design and video editing), there's a lot to be said for choosing Google's Chrome OSlower cost, seamless automatic upgrades, and no need for antivirus software, for example. Im the deputy managing editor of the hardware team at PCMag.com. Like Apple's iPad but with an even better software library (the full universe of Windows apps), the Surface Pro 8 is a clever handheld computer that makes a paper pad or notebook look primitive. If you go with one of the increasingly uncommon budget laptops that uses a hard drive, because you get more storage for less money, know that it will be noticeably slower than a snappy-feeling solid-state drive (SSD). Nambiar uses the feature for his biology class, where he does a lot of visual modeling. It's possible, say, that you could get parts and repairs for your Lenovo ThinkPad done overnight. Our expert industry analysis and practical solutions help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology. Microsoft's Surface Pro 8 doesn't revolutionize the iconic 2-in-1, but it delivers the most noteworthy update in years, with a larger display, an attractive chassis redesign, and improved performance. Pleasing light design, with aluminum construction, Solid port and slot selection, including USB Type-C and microSD, Though common at this price, 128GB SSD is limiting. I would really like a gaming PC or gaming laptop that can plug into a monitor and run video games with 120fps, but I really dont need that, Max says. Agrawals online classes are sometimes interrupted by powercuts, so he recommends an LTE model. ), but all work and no play makes a dull student. No worries, though: We did the work for you. Not every student will agree, but depending on how far you'll haul it every day, a big-screen notebook may not be such a good idea. Looking for a computer for taking remote classes, or just for carrying around campus? Speaking of giving your eyes a break, there's no mainstream laptop display larger than 17.3 inches diagonally. Students also recommend something sturdy. Of course, you can't put a price on peace of mind. In our opinion, if the warranty costs more than 15% of the total laptop price, you're better off spending the money on backup drives or services that minimize downtime in case something does go awry. In this case, figure out where battery life ranks in the grand scheme of things. Most eighth graders arent going to be running any video games on their laptops or any software that requires a lot of power.. See our ethics statement. Matej Plavevski, a junior at Yahya Kemal College in North Macedonia, recommends looking for an Ethernet port in case slower connections disrupt meetings. Gamers may want to take an altogether different view. Although you probably won't have to do this unless you're a video junkie or an aspiring filmmaker, it's a good option to have. Unlike college students, many high schoolers dont have frequent breaks to juice up their devices, so try to find something that can last a full day.