The best laptops for students, tested by a tech expert and former teacher
From budget-friendly laptops to those with the best battery life and creative capabilities, these devices will cover your every need
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If your child is off to university, college, or entering their final years at secondary school, the best laptops for students can cater to classwork, general tasks and some vital play in between lectures and lessons.
Whether it’s for coursework, day-to-day admin, or subject-specific programs and apps, it’s important to know how to pick the best laptop from the wide range on offer across the likes of Apple, HP, Acer and Lenovo. Especially when you can spend anything from £400 to £2,500. You’ll want to consider the size and weight of the machine, how smoothly it runs and the quality of the display. You should also look for a laptop with a battery that can last all day on a single charge.
I’ve provided answers to frequently asked questions at the end, and this article is also regularly checked and updated. If you’re in a hurry, though, here’s a quick look at my top five:
The best laptops for students: At a glance
- Best Buy laptop for students: Microsoft Surface Laptop 13
- Best Value laptop for students: Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x Gen 10
- Best MacBook for students: Apple MacBook Air 15 (M4)
- Best laptop for students for gaming: HP Omen Max 16
- Best cheap Windows laptop for students: HP Omnibook 5
How to choose the best laptop for students
Understanding what a student needs to use their laptop for is vital when choosing which model to buy. Graphically intense tasks like 3D modelling will be smoother with a powerful graphics card (often referred to as a GPU), while creative subjects like photography will also benefit from a colour-accurate display, which you’ll find with OLED screens.
A good battery life is essential for students taking laptops with them between lectures and the library, especially when plug sockets become hot property. It’s also worth considering the software and apps required for different courses to ensure you pick one with a compatible operating system (Windows or macOS). If your child needs a laptop for specific course-related work, such as coding, rather than general tasks like writing essays, then it’s worth checking with the college or university what operating system is best.
Many brands have student-specific discount schemes that are worth looking at, too. HP has a Student Store, as does Apple, Acer, Lenovo, Asus and Microsoft. Discounts can also be found elsewhere in places like the Unidays student perks website. As always, it pays to shop around.
If nothing in my guide below ticks all your boxes, you can look through my recommendations for the best laptops and best gaming laptops, too.
How we test laptops for students
It has been 35 years since I trod the halls at Leeds University as a History student, but I’ve spent the last 15 reviewing laptops and using them for work and gaming. I’m also a former teacher and well-versed in different student requirements. The models I choose to use every day include a Chromebook for when I travel, a Windows machine for playing games at home, and a Linux ultrabook to keep any sensitive data as secure as possible.
I use the laptops I’m testing as my main device for work and play, both in the office and out and about, to see how well they perform in the real world, which is where any issues usually arise. Each laptop is tested on five key areas; how well each model is designed and how easy it is to use and run through daily tasks, how simple and responsive the keyboard and touchpad is, the quality of the display and audio system, its battery life, and the laptop’s overall performance when placed under stress such as running the graphics chip and processor simultaneously and at full speed.
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The best laptops for students of 2025
1. Best Buy Laptop for Students: Microsoft Surface Laptop 13
Score: 8/10
We like: Long battery life, compact and light, decent speakers
We don’t like: Limited storage
As a general duties laptop, Microsoft’s latest and smallest Surface Laptop 13 ticks all the important boxes for university or college students. It’s small, light, and well-made, making it easy to carry around, and it is durable. It’s made entirely of aluminium and at 1.2kg, is lighter than the 13.6-inch Apple MacBook Air. It also has a powerful Snapdragon processor that not only supports the latest Windows AI functions but also means it has a longer battery life (it can run for 20 hours on a single charge).
It has a touchscreen, the keyboard and touchpad are among the best you’ll find on any compact laptop, and the sound system is impressive; there are no tinny speakers here. You don’t have to pay through the nose for all those features, either. The entry model costs £899, though that only includes 256GB of storage. The 512GB model only costs £40 more, which I would advise upgrading to.
The only negative worth mentioning is that the display is not as colourful as that of the MacBook Air or the Asus Zenbook A14. It is an accurate display, however, which makes it a good choice for image editing or video grading. It also has a broad brightness range, which is handy for using both in dark lecture theatres or bright sunshine.
Read our full Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch review.
Key specifications
- Display: 13 inch, 1,920 x 1,280, IPS LCD, 60Hz, touch
- Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon X X1P-42-100 with Adreno graphics
- Memory: 16GB
- Ports: USB-C x 2, USB-A x 1, 3.5mm audio
- Storage: 256GB
- Dimensions: W 286mm, H 214mm, D 15.6mm
- Weight: 1.22kg
- Battery Life: Up to 21 hours
2. Best Value Laptop for Students: Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x Gen 10
Score: 8/10
We like: Premium OLED screen, decent battery life, numeric keypad
We don’t like: Fewer ports, tinny speakers
This Lenovo isn’t the cheapest laptop in this guide, but it’s powerful and easy to use, and the rather reasonable £649 price tag includes all upgrade options, such as a premium OLED screen. A key selling point is the size of that display, which gives you the performance you’d expect from something much bigger. There’s a numeric keypad too, which will come in handy for maths and engineering students.
The battery life and overall performance are outstanding for a laptop this cheap. You can get 16 hours from a single charge, while the speed and capability is on a par with laptops that cost twice as much. Unusually for a budget laptop, Lenovo also offers a host of extra options, such as upgrading the storage from 256GB to 1TB for just £40. A keyboard backlight, higher quality webcam, increased memory, and a Wi-Fi 7 modem to support the latest internet speeds are also available for £10 each.
The IdeaPad does have one or two rough edges, however. The USB ports are limited to slower transfer speeds, the standard webcam is a little low-rent, and the speakers become fairly raucous at full volume. It also has an old-fashioned barrel power port, though you can use the single USB-C port for charging instead.
Key specifications
- Display: 15.1 inch, 2,560 x 1,600, OLED, 60Hz, non-touch
- Processor: Snapdragon X1-26-100 with Qualcomm Adreno graphics
- Memory: 16GB of RAM
- Ports: USB-C x 1, USB-A x 2, HDMI 2.1 x 1, SD card reader, 3.5mm audio
- Storage: 512GB
- Dimensions: W 343mm, H 240mm, D 17mm
- Weight: 1.46kg
- Battery life: Up to 16 hours
3. Best MacBook for Students: Apple MacBook Air 15 (M4)
Score: 10/10
We like: Premium design and fast performance, super-slim, superb battery life
We don’t like: Too few ports, decent storage costs more
Few compact laptops enjoy quite the same level of cachet as the MacBook Air, and that’s not unwarranted. The new M4 processor will give any creative student a fantastic graphics performance, you can quickly and easily render edited 4K videos, while the high resolution LCD screen is crisp, bright and colour-accurate, even if it doesn’t have the fastest refresh rate. The battery life is also superb. I spent 12 hours typing on it on a flight and still had 60 per cent battery left at the end.
Of course, a MacBook Air isn’t just about its high spec. Ever since Steve Jobs pulled the first model out of an envelope in 2008, it’s possessed a mystique that few others can match. And there’s no doubt that it is a quality computer with all the trimmings; the superior webcam, high-quality speakers and enduring design (at 11.5mm it’s still one of the thinnest laptops you can buy) are hard to beat.
When it comes to price, however, the MacBook Air can be a little deceptive. The entry-level machine looks like good value, but if you upgrade the base 256GB storage to 1TB, the price shoots up from £1,199 to £1,599. If you plan on keeping a library of music and video files on your laptop, I’d suggest 512GB of storage as a minimum. I’ve also never been able to convince myself that just two USB-C ports are enough, even if you don’t need one for charging.
Read our full Apple MacBook Air (M4) review.
Key specifications
- Display: 15.3 inch, 2,880 x 1,864, IPS LCD, 60Hz, non-touch
- Processor: Apple M4 10-core with 10-core GPU
- Memory: 16GB
- Ports: Thunderbolt 4 x 2, MagSafe 3 x 1, 3.5mm audio
- Storage: 256GB
- Dimensions: W 340mm, H 238mm, D 11.5mm
- Weight: 1.51kg
- Battery life: Up to 16 hours
4. Best Multipurpose Laptop for Students: Asus TUF Gaming A14
Score: 9/10
We like: Great value, impressive battery life, compact and light, great performance
We don’t like: Limited AI features
This Asus truly is a Swiss Army knife of a laptop. It can be used for everything from simple processing to intensive graphics tasks, and of course, gaming. This model is newer and £200 cheaper than the one in our best gaming laptop guide, and is the one I recommend for students, given that it offers much of the same graphics performance for a better price.
For gamers, the performance is truly impressive. Even when playing a demanding game like Cyberpunk 2077, the laptop runs it at 140 frames per second at full HD resolution and has high levels of detail visible from the full ray tracing lighting effects. (For the uninitiated, this means the game is able to produce life-like lighting and shadows) The 14-inch display is crisp and fluid too, with sharp colour accuracy, though it’s not as bright as the HP Omen 16 Max reviewed above.
The laptop can run at full throttle without the cooling system making an unholy racket, it has a 15-hour battery life, and adding more storage is a cinch. The only real drawback of this newer version is that it’s more limited when it comes to running AI tasks.
Read our full Asus TUF A14 review.
Key specifications
- Display: 14 inch, 2,560 x 1,600, IPS LCD, 165Hz, non-touch
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 260 with Nvidia RTX 5050 graphics
- Memory: 16GB
- Ports: USB-C x 2, USB-A x 2, HDMI 2.1 x 1, microSD card reader, 3.5mm audio
- Storage: 1TB
- Dimensions: W 311mm, H 227.5mm, D 19.9mm
- Weight: 1.46kg
- Battery life: Up to 15 hours
5. Best Laptop for Students in Creative Subjects: Asus ProArt 16
Score: 9/10
We like: Sharp display, clever DialPad, fast performance
We don’t like: Shorter battery life
One could argue long and hard whether the best laptop for serious creative or computer-aided design (CAD) work is the Asus ProArt 16 or the Apple MacBook Pro. I think the former, not least because of the price; a 64GB ProArt 16 with 2TB storage costs £2,799, while a 32GB MacBook Pro with 1TB of storage will set you back £3,499. The Asus also comes with two SSD slots for serious storage expansion.
But it’s not just these features that make it my preferred option for students taking creative subjects. The performance from the AMD Ryzen processor and Nvidia graphics card allows the laptop’s system to chew through even the most demanding of tasks in the blink of an eye (and play hardcore games at the highest settings).
The icing on the cake is the OLED screen, which is sharp, colourful and incredibly accurate, while the high refresh rate of 120Hz makes animation and video editing smooth and fluid. Add to that Asus’ clever DialPad, which lets you move intuitively between settings like brush sizes and switch between apps with greater precision than a touchpad, and you have a creative laptop without equal. The only real drawback is the shorter battery life, as you only get around 12 hours on a full charge.
Key specifications
- Display: 16 inch, 2,880 x 1,800, OLED, 120Hz, touch
- Processor: AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX370 with Nvidia RTX5070 graphics
- Memory: 64GB
- Ports: USB-C x 2, USB-A x 2, HDMI 2.1 x 1, 3.5mm audio, SD card
- Storage: 2TB
- Dimensions: W 355mm, H 247mm, D 17.3mm
- Weight: 1.85kg
- Battery life: Up to 13 hours
6. Best Gaming Laptop for Students: HP Omen Max 16
Score: 8/10
We like: High performing GPU, impressive speakers, funky keyboard
We don’t like: Short battery life, screen could be more colourful
As a gaming laptop, HP’s Omen Max 16 strikes the right balance between performance, practicality, style and value. It’s not cheap, but student gamers will get a lot for their money here. The potent GPU comes with 12GB of dedicated video storage known as VRAM, which renders detailed videos and images quickly and efficiently (crucial for games).
The bright, high-resolution LCD screen ensures that both gaming imagery and essay text appear detailed, and while the colours aren’t as vibrant as they appear on other laptops, they still look natural. The speakers are capable of plenty of volume and bass, creating an impressive audio-visual experience when immersing yourself in your favourite game.
The aluminium body means it should be durable enough to withstand the rough and tumble of student life. It is rather heavy, weighing nearly 3kg, but that’s par for the course with a gaming laptop. I like the keyboard, which not only looks funky thanks to the translucent sides of each key, but is also solid and pleasant to use for both typing and gaming, and it’s easy to add extra storage should you wish. The eight-hour battery life isn’t bad for a high-powered gaming laptop, but much lower than other options in this guide.
Key specifications
- Display: 16 inch, 2,560 x 1,600, IPS LCD, 240Hz, non-touch
- Processor: Intel Core Ultra 7 255HX with Nvidia RTX5070Ti graphics
- Memory: 32GB
- Ports: Thunderbolt 4 x 2, USB-A x 2, HDMI 2.1 x 1, Ethernet, 3.5mm audio
- Storage: 1TB
- Dimensions: W 357mm, H 269mm, D 28mm
- Weight: 2.7kg
- Battery life: Up to eight hours
7. Best Student Laptop for Battery Life: Asus Vivobook S16
Score: 8/10
We like: Battery lasts 24 hours, huge touchpad, detailed display
We don’t like: Can’t expand storage
It doesn’t matter how good your laptop is if the battery runs flat and you can’t find a free plug socket. Luckily, the latest processors from Intel and Qualcomm have brought a revolution in how long batteries can last, and the Vivobook S16 is currently the best there is. It can happily run for more than 24 hours on a single charge.
The S16 looks and feels more expensive than the price tag suggests, too. A webcam with facial recognition makes for smart security and authentication, while there’s a good selection of ports (except a memory card slot) to connect accessories and drives. The sound system is decent, the touchpad is responsive, and the keyboard is solid with clear keys and an adjustable backlight.
The screen is both fluid and sharp thanks to a speedy refresh rate and high resolution, and while it’s not the most colourful, it has an effective anti-glare coating to make it easy to see both in bright sunshine or under bright lights. A 180-degree hinge makes it great for knees-up sofa-slouching. While you can’t expand the storage, it is widely available for under £600, making it a superb laptop for students on a budget.
Key specifications
- Display: 16 inch, 2,560 x 1,600, IPS LCD, 144Hz, non-touch
- Processor: Snapdragon X1 26 100 with Qualcomm Adreno graphics
- Memory: 16GB of RAM
- Ports: USB-C x 2, USB-A x 2, HDMI 2.1 x 1, 3.5mm audio
- Storage: 512GB
- Dimensions: W 357mm, H 250mm, D 18mm
- Weight: 1.74kg
- Battery life: Up to 25 hours
8. Best Convertible 2-in-1 Laptop for Students: HP Omnibook Ultra Flip 14
Score: 8/10
We like: Versatile, comes with HP 700 pen, light and thin
We don’t like: Only has USB-C ports
Convertibles, or 2-in-1 laptops that can fold 360 degrees to be used as tablets, sit in an A-frame on a desk, and can be handy for certain tasks. They allow you to use a stylus on the touchscreen for digital art or watch videos for your course while cooped up on a train. HP bundles the HP 700 Rechargeable Pen in with this laptop, making it an ideal choice for those studying creative subjects or budding artists.
The star of the show is the high-resolution OLED touchscreen, which is crisp, bright, colourful and accurate. Performance and graphics capabilities are high, even from the entry-level model, though there are more powerful processor options available if you want extra performance.
The HP Omnibook Ultra Flip uses the latest (and fastest) wireless connection technology for both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and has three USB-C ports that all support DisplayPort video output if you want to connect it to an external display. The keyboard, webcam and speaker system are all first-rate, while the battery gets you more than 15 hours on a single charge. It is conveniently thin and light for a convertible laptop, making it easy to sling in a backpack for a long day on campus.
Key specifications
- Display: 14 inch, 2,880 x 1,800, OLED, 120Hz, touch
- Processor: Intel Core UltraCore 5 226V with Intel Arc 130V graphics
- Memory: 16GB
- Ports: Thunderbolt 4 x 2, USB-C x 1, 3.5mm audio
- Storage: 512GB
- Dimensions: W 313.7mm, H 216.2mm, D 15mm
- Weight: 1.34kg
- Battery life: Up to 15 hours
9. Best Chromebook for Students: Acer Chromebook Plus 516
Score: 7/10
We like: Bright and spacious screen, Google security features,
We don’t like: No keyboard backlight or touchscreen
Chromebooks tend to hit the sweet spot between affordability, smart features and high performance, and this laptop does just that. For just over £400, you get a 16-inch Full HD display with decent brightness, an expansive keyboard and decent speeds from the reasonably up-to-date Intel processor. There’s also seamless integration with all of Google’s cloud services and Chrome’s security features, which are worth considering in any educational environment or student halls with shared Wi-Fi networks.
For an all-plastic machine, the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 looks and feels well-made, with the grey paint finish that doesn’t leave any fingerprint marks. There’s a good selection of ports, and you can make video calls without the worry of fuzzy images with the high-quality webcam (it also has a manual shutter). The keyboard lacks a backlight, the screen is a bit colourless, and it’s not touch-enabled either, but at this price, these drawbacks are fairly minor.
Like all modern Chromebooks, the Plus 516 can also run Android and Linux apps, and there’s an ever-lengthening list of Google AI features like Generative AI images and the capacity to summarise long articles, which is very handy if you’re cramming for an exam. For what’s ultimately a cheap laptop, the sound system is pretty good, too.
Key specifications
- Display: 16 inch, 1,920 x 1,200, IPS LCD, 60Hz, non-touch
- Processor: Intel Core 3 100U with Intel HD Graphics
- Memory: 8GB
- Ports: USB-C x 2, USB-A x 2, HDMI 1.4 x 1, 3.5mm audio
- Storage: 256GB
- Dimensions: W 359mm, L 253mm, D 19.3mm
- Weight: 1.7kg
- Battery life: Up to 10 hours
10. Best Budget Windows Laptop for Students: HP OmniBook 5
Score: 7/10
We like: Great value, decent performance, good battery life
We don’t like: Slower Wi-Fi speeds, not suitable for creative subjects
If you want a basic Windows laptop that won’t break the bank, then I recommend choosing a model from HP’s Omnibook 5 lineup. The entry-level Intel Core i3 1315U model costs less than £500 but still comes with a decent memory and more than enough power for everyday tasks. It has a backlit numeric keyboard and touchpad combo, and a sharp and detailed webcam for video calls.
The display has sufficient brightness, though it doesn’t represent the broadest spectrum of colour, so it isn’t suitable for creative work. That said, if you want better, you’ll have to pay considerably more than £500. The battery life is solid at just under 12 hours, and the speaker system is one of the best I’ve heard on a budget laptop.
Unusually, at this price, the Omnibook 5 is also made from a mixture of aluminium and plastic, so it looks and feels rather more upmarket than expected. There’s a good range of USB-C and two USB-A ports, but its Wi-Fi radio doesn’t work over the 6GHz wavelength, so you may find internet speeds a little slower.
Key specifications
- Display: 16 inch, 1,920 x 1,200, IPS LCD, 60Hz, non-touch
- Processor: Intel Core i3-1315U
- Graphics: Intel HD Graphics
- Memory: 16GB
- Ports: USB-C x 2, USB-A x 2, HDMI 2.1 x 1, 3.5mm audio
- Storage: 512GB
- Dimensions: W 358mm, H 255mm, D18.6mm
- Weight: 1.77kg
- Battery life: Up to 12 hours
Laptop for students FAQs
A webcam with a minimum resolution of 1080p is a good place to start, so you look bright and colourful in video calls. If you plan on loading and offloading lots of data, you need fast USB ports. The basic USB 3.2 spec can shift data at 5Gbps, but USB 3.2 Gen 2 doubles that, while USB 4 or Thunderbolt 4 can handle 40Gpbs.
If you plan on using your laptop to store things like 4K video files or CAD projects, you’ll need a capacious hard drive. Buying a laptop with a 128GB or 256GB SSD is false economy, so I’d advise going for 512GB as a minimum, but better yet, go for 1TB, ideally with the option of adding a second storage drive.
Most modern CPUs have enough power for most tasks, but the more modern the CPU is, the better, because recent gains in efficiency have equalled gains in battery life.
Without listing all the available types of chips, you are on safe ground with Intel’s 12th, 13th and 14th generation chips with names like Core i5 and i7 and Core Ultra, as well as AMD’s Ryzen 7000 and Ryzen AI processors. If you see a chip with a U in the name, it’s likely to be a low-power processor, which could be an issue if you plan on running demanding programmes like image editing software.
For everyday use, it’s hard to beat a 16-inch 16:10 aspect ratio display. The square shape makes them more suited to work tasks than the traditional 16:9 ratio shape, though the latter still has the edge when it comes to watching widescreen videos. In my opinion, as a compromise between size and portability, 16-inch laptops are as close to the sweet spot as you can get.
If you want as much screen estate as possible, look for a 17.3-inch or 18-inch laptop. For ease of use, these are hard to beat, but the trade-off is excessive size and weight, which is an issue if you want a laptop that’s mobile rather than just portable.
You have four choices here: Windows, macOS, ChromeOS and Linux, though only a few laptop makers like Dell and Lenovo will let you opt for the last at the point of purchase.
Windows is the most common operating system, and for most users, this is the best option, but you can run Windows apps on macOS and Linux laptops using what’s called emulation.
Low-power Windows laptops and Chromebooks can get by with 8GB of RAM. That’s because ChromeOS doesn’t take up as much background memory and running Windows on a low power CPU will be a slow process anyway, so you won’t notice the lack of free memory. For everything else, 16GB is what you ideally need.
Specify in the right places. If you have no plans to run CAD projects on your laptop, forking out for a powerful discrete GPU is a waste of money and will crucify your battery life.
On the other hand, if you plan on using your laptop to create HDR videos, make sure you get one with an OLED or Mini LED display that can support HDR content. And one final thing, make sure you insure it against theft and damage.