The Best Laptops for College Students

I can't think of a better device to bring to class than the Surface Pro 12 (6/10, WIRED Review). While I prefer the larger Surface Pro 13 for most people, college students are the exception. The thinner and lighter size of the Surface Pro 12 works to its advantage in this case, giving you a super-portable Windows device. It has really solid hardware too, using the Snapdragon X Plus to provide just as much power and long-lasting battery life as the larger model. I wish it were a bit more affordable, though, as you'll still need to add on the Surface keyboard. You'll need to add on a USB-C power supply too.

But remember, this is a 2-in-1 laptop, meaning it pulls double duty as a laptop and tablet. When you're done typing up your homework, you can detach the screen and hop into bed to catch up on Dandadan.

Lenovo's Flex 5i Chromebook Plus (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is a good choice for students all in on Google services. It's one of the fastest, most versatile Chromebooks we’ve tested. It strikes a great balance between price, power, and features, with a 2-in-1 design that lets you seamlessly switch between laptop mode for homework and stand mode for late-night binges.

The 14-inch 1920 x 1200-pixel resolution screen is a bit taller than 16:9 displays you’ll find on some Chromebooks, which is great for working on documents and browsing the web. The Intel Core i3 processor and flash storage never struggle to keep up. Even if you have dozens of tabs open doing research, this won't let you down.

While there are better overall Chromebooks out there now, such as the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14, the price of the Flex 5i makes it the best overall Chromebook for college students right now.

When it launched at full price, I had problems with the value proposition for this laptop. But now that it's been sitting at a comfortable $700 or less, the Dell 14 Plus (6/10, WIRED Reviewed) becomes a fantastic option for college students. It has a better screen than most laptops at this price, with both a higher resolution and wider color coverage. It even comes with a full terabyte of storage, which is a rarity for laptops under $1,000.

I found the keyboard and touchpad to be more than serviceable, and the system even gets really astounding battery life. Similar to other laptops with the latest Intel V-series chips, I got up to 18 hours of run time on the Dell 14 Plus in my tests. That's just in local video playback, but I was easily hitting a full day away from the outlet in my normal work routine. Some of its shortcomings remain, and its lack of a premium shine makes it harder to recommend at its full MSRP. But at $750? Absolutely.

The M1 MacBook Air (9/10, WIRED Recommends) from 2020 with the original M1 chip is still available, and at $600, it's a really good deal. The battery will last more than a full workday, under most workloads, and it's powerful enough for college use. These days, you can only buy the base model with 8 GB of unified memory and 256 GB of storage, but that should be sufficient for college tasks. If you push it with many browser tabs and apps running simultaneously, you may run into some slowdowns. The 720p webcam isn’t great, but for this price, it's hard to argue.

Laptops with discrete GPUs aren't cheap. Even janky-looking budget gaming laptops tend to be well over $1,000. This content creation-focused mid-tier laptop, the Asus Vivobook Pro 15 (6/10, WIRED Review), is one of the few you can get for under $1,500.

It comes with not only a 16-core Intel Core Ultra 9 processor but also an RTX 4050 GPU. Now, that's not the most powerful graphics card in the world, but it will certainly speed up 3D rendering and video timeline exports more than the integrated graphics you'll find on cheaper machines. The Vivobook Pro 15 also comes with tons of memory and storage, as well as an impressive OLED panel that is both sharp and fast (120 Hz). It's not a looker, and it's a bit thick, but when it comes to performance, it'll get the job done.

You'll need a competent machine for when you want to play games and take your mind off coursework. But certain students will also need a powerful PC for graphics-intensive work, like video editing. A gaming laptop is the way to go, and the Acer Nitro 17 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is a great place to start. It's frequently sold for just $900 at Micro Center, which is a killer price considering the performance it delivers. The RTX 4060 graphics card will handle most games at low to medium settings, and you get to enjoy all of it on a spacious 17-inch display and a 165-Hz refresh rate.

The downside is it's very heavy at 6 pounds, an important factor to consider if you have to lug it to class. It also doesn't have great battery life, so you'll want to keep a charger handy. If those are deal-breakers, then consider the older Acer Nitro 5 ($1,098), which has lesser specs but is slightly smaller and lighter, and its battery life is a bit better.

Framework's 13-inch laptop is a good choice for budding programmers and sysadmins. The Laptop 13 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is available with either Windows or Linux, but I much prefer it with Linux—a DIY laptop needs a DIY OS. The hallmark of this laptop is how you can repair and replace components down the road, making it more environmentally friendly and cost-effective.

Right now, you can get a Ryzen AI series system with 32 GB of RAM, a 2-TB SSD, and whichever mix of ports suits your needs for under $1,400. That will ship with no operating system. When it arrives, you can install Linux (or opt to ship it with Windows if you need to dual-boot). See our Best Linux Laptops guide for more options. If you like the idea of the Laptop 13, you should also consider the newer Laptop 12, though it's a little smaller.

Most people buying a laptop for college are on a budget, which is why most laptops on this list are under $1,000. But if you need something cheaper, the Asus Chromebook CX15 is the best thing you can get under $300. There are things you probably won't love about it, such as the colors of the screen and the quality of the touchpad. They're not unusable, but they're the most noticeable giveaway for being a budget-tier product.

But beyond that, it's a solid laptop that's got a comfortable keyboard, great specs, and lots of ports. I think the design is nice, the pop of color adding some flair to an otherwise generic look. Read our Best Chromebooks guide for more recommendations.

Sometimes you just need something small and portable to carry to class and type on. That's the epitome of the Lenovo Chromebook Duet Gen 9 (8/10, WIRED Recommends), an 11-inch 2-in-1 even smaller than the Surface Pro 12. It's been one of our favorite Chromebooks for a while now, and it’s easy to see why. The ultra-portable detachable has excellent battery life thanks to its MediaTek Kompanio 838 processor, regularly getting nearly 10 hours on a charge in my testing. It’s also plain fun to use—since it’s in such a small package, you can easily toss it in a bag and take it anywhere. The display detaches from the keyboard, perfect for when you want to curl up on the couch with the Netflix Android app.

You can get this Lenovo with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of eMMC storage, but I recommend upgrading to 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. A Lenovo stylus comes in the box and can be easily tucked away into a magnetic spot on the back of the display (which looks great, by the way). The whole package feels great to use; just be aware that there are only two USB-C ports, and the smaller keyboard and trackpad take some getting used to.

iPads are about to become really solid laptop replacements. In the upcoming launch of iPadOS 26, Apple is bringing real windowing to the iPad, giving it a much more Mac-like feel. iPads are already great at things like taking notes or reading textbooks, and now, they'll get a proper boost in multitasking. With that in mind, it makes a lot more sense to recommend the iPad Air (8/10, WIRED Recommends) to college students.

You don't need the power of the iPad Pro just to use it as a basic laptop replacement, so long as you get a proper keyboard attachment, such as the Logitech Combo Touch ($230) (8/10, WIRED Recommends) or Apple’s own Magic Keyboard ($299), both of which add trackpads to the mix for a more computer-like feel. Our Best iPad Accessories guide has more options, including the Apple Pencil Pro, which is a must-have.

Not an iPad fan? If you'd prefer an Android-powered slate, check out our Best Android Tablets guide for alternatives.