Top 3 Best Laptops for Students In 2023

Searching for the best laptop for students?

Navigating the labyrinth of laptop specs can be daunting, but fear not; the perfect student laptop of 2023 is within reach. It’s not about the flashiest brand or the highest specs—it’s about a dependable workhorse that’s got your back through all-nighters, presentations, and everything in between.

What you need is a gadget that can keep up with the pace of your studies, a battery that doesn’t quit before your last class, and a design that’s as mobile as your lifestyle. Sure, a vivid display and a comfortable keyboard might not seem like game-changers now, but they’re the kind of details that elevate a study session.

Forget the sales pitches and the technical jargon; let’s dive into the real meat of what makes a laptop truly student-friendly. Stay with me as we explore the ins and outs of picking a laptop that’s tailored for the classroom, the dorm room, and wherever else your learning takes you. Ready to find the one? Let’s get started.

Our Top Picks

• 1. Asus Vivobook 16X – Our Top Choice
• 2. Apple MacBook Air 2023 – Best Premium Laptop For Students
• 3. Dell Inspiron 15 3525 – Best Budget Laptop For Students

Why Should You Trust Us?

Why should you trust our take on the best laptops for students? Simply put, our expert, Talha Zuberi, is a tech virtuoso with over a decade of meticulous PC building and a profound grasp of computing needs. His journey, rooted in 2009’s tech landscape, has been one of relentless pursuit of performance and practicality in the digital realm.

Talha isn’t just about piecing together the most powerful rigs; he’s dedicated to understanding and advocating for what works best for you, the student. He dives deep into the ever-evolving tech scene, ensuring that his guidance is not just based on what’s trendy, but what’s truly beneficial for your educational journey.

With Talha’s seasoned insights, you’re tapping into a well of knowledge that promises to steer you toward a laptop investment that’s as smart and reliable as his reputation.

How We Choose The Best Laptops For Students

Getting the perfect laptop that suits our needs can be tricky. There are too many options to choose from and it is easy to make the wrong decision.

To pick the best laptop if you are a student, I would follow these guidelines:

1. Key Specifications – When choosing the best laptop for any purpose, it is easy to get lost in finding the best specifications. However, it is best to find a decent balance and make a judgment based on the following information:
   1. CPU – The CPU needs to be fast and efficient. Since most tasks are general-purpose tasks that do not stress the computer too much, it is best to get at least a 4-core 8-threaded CPU. My minimum requirements for the CPU in laptops for study in 2023 are Intel 10th-gen, AMD Zen 2-based CPUs, or Apple M1 for MacBooks. The best CPU will always be considered if it offers more performance at higher efficiency.
      
   2. RAM – Many tasks need a lot of RAM and at minimum, the laptop should be equipped with 16 GB of RAM. Ideally, the laptop allows RAM upgrades for future and more intense workloads. If it is a budget laptop with only 8 GB of RAM, then it should be upgradeable because the lack of RAM becomes apparent immediately.
      
   3. SSD – Most students do not need to store a lot of files on the laptop itself, however, 512 GB is a sweet spot. The more the merrier.
      
   4. Battery – Battery life is subjective to the overall power requirements of the laptop’s CPU, GPU, and screen. Typically, Windows laptops are known to not have long battery lives. However, a laptop continuously playing a YouTube video should not last less than 4 hours on a full charge. Ideally, the battery should last at least 6 to 7 hours.
      
   5. Screen – For display, the screen size should not be smaller than 14” and the resolution should be 1080p or higher. Most screens with these specs have good color reproduction and brightness levels.
      
   6. Bonus specs – After making sure that all the laptops have the aforementioned specs, it is a good bonus if the laptop offers some additional features. These features could be a decently powerful GPU, a premium display with touch, a thin-and-light body, or an eye-catching design. Remember, these are bonus features and should not be the main focus when choosing the best laptop.
      
2. Chassis Ruggedness and Portability – One overlooked aspect in choosing a good laptop is how well the body of the laptop is built in contrast to how lightweight and easy it is to carry around. After determining everything in terms of performance and heat, it is best to choose a laptop that is lighter and stronger than its competition. Since students need to carry around a laptop for long hours, it needs to be light and under 2 KG.
   
3. I/O Ports and Other Features – It is important for a laptop to have a good set of ports to plug in high-speed devices and multiple displays in a professional work environment.
   
4. Upgradeability – The best laptops let anyone upgrade whatever needs upgrading. Sometimes, this may not be the case and parts are soldered on the motherboard of the laptop. Manufacturers do this to significantly reduce the thickness of the laptop. It is however a bonus if the SSD, RAM, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth card, and battery are user-replaceable.

1. Asus Vivobook 16X – Our Top Choice

Pros:

• Excellent display
• Great battery life even with a fast 8-core CPU
• Light and portable despite having a large 16” screen
• Comes with a free copy of MS Office

Cons:

• Average I/O ports

My number 1 pick for the best laptop for students is the Asus Vivobook 16X. I chose this laptop because it balances everything from performance, battery life, and price to suit the needs of any student.

Starting with the specs, the Asus Vivobook 16X is powered by the 8-core 16-threaded AMD Ryzen 7 5800HS based on the AMD Zen 3 architecture. This CPU is very fast and can handle complex multithreaded tasks if needed.

The variant I selected comes with 24 GB of DDR4 RAM which is plenty for almost any task. The 24 GB RAM and powerful 8-core CPU are ready for anything like coding, virtualization, 1080p video editing, and even some basic 3D modeling. Easier tasks such as web browsing, watching videos, or using Excel are a breeze for this laptop.

Speaking of watching videos, the display is very nice and produces excellent colors. Even though the laptop is light-weight at just 1.8 KG, it has a large 16” IPS display with 1920 by 1200 resolution. This means that it will have more room thanks to the 16:10 aspect ratio while being the size of a 15” laptop.

Since this laptop is compact and easy to carry around, my concern was that Asus must’ve compromised on the battery, especially since it packs a beefy 8-core CPU. However, in testing, this laptop can easily last for 5 to 6 hours even under moderately intense workloads. You can watch 4K videos on this laptop continuously for almost 7 hours on a full charge.

The laptop comes with a 1 TB PCIe 3.0 SSD which is snappy and quick with read speeds of 2 GB/s and write speeds of 1.5 GB/s. As a bonus, you get a free copy of MS Office 2021 which alone is a saving of $149!

The laptop’s trackpad is large and very comfortable to use. In fact, it is one of the best trackpads on any Windows laptop as most tend to be quite small. The keyboard has a good typing experience and it is backlit so you can see the keys in dim or dark conditions.

If we look at the competition, most of the laptops near the $600 price point, including variants of the Asus Vivobook, are powered by the Ryzen 5 7530U. AMD’s naming scheme has been confusing because both the 5800HS and 7530U are based on the Zen 3 architecture. While the 7530U is newer and gives the impression that it must be faster, it is actually a 6-core 12-threaded CPU. This is why It is very important to confirm the actual specs by referencing AMD’s website. Another issue is that RAM upgradability is uncertain on many 7530U-based laptops.

The laptop that I was most excited to recommend was the Asus ZenBook 14X OLED, but it is a really unbalanced laptop. It only comes with 8 GB of RAM which is not enough in 2023 and the RAM is not upgradeable. Even though the ZenBook is $700 and comes with an i5, you will be seriously limited by its RAM capacity and will need to get the $1000 version. 

All in all, if you are looking for an all-rounder laptop that offers portability, a great screen, good battery life, a free MS Office copy, top-notch performance, and heaps of RAM, then the Asus Vivobook 16X is my goto recommendation.

RATINGS:

• Design: 8/10
• Cooling: 8/10
• Performance: 8/10
• Screen: 8/10
• Value for Money: 8.5/10
• Overall Rating: 8/10

2. Apple MacBook Air 2023 – Best Premium Laptop For Students

Pros:

• The best battery life on any laptop
• Excellent performance with a fast 8-core CPU
• Amazing color-accurate display
• Full aluminum and fanless design

Cons:

• Terrible I/O ports
• Non-upgradable RAM and storage

If you are a student and budget is not an issue, then my recommendation is the Apple MacBook Air.

Since Apple started making its own CPUs, it was able to make ultrathin and light laptops that did not compromise on performance. Although I see this as too much of a luxury, the M2-powered Apple MacBook Air makes sense in all regards.

The CPU can offer desktop-like performance at a mere 15 Watts of power and the MacBook Air ironically does not have a dedicated fan to cool the chip. Instead, it is passively cooled by the heatsink which makes it dead silent just like smartphones.

The power efficiency and fanless design mean that the laptop can offer a whopping 20 hours of video playback. Charging it once means that on a normal use, it doesn’t need to be charged again until the next day.

My only concern with the fanless design is that if a really intense task needs to run for a long time (e.g., render a 4K video), then the CPU starts to throttle in these edge cases. If this wasn’t the case, then it would simply have been the perfect cooling solution on any laptop. Except for this, the laptop is always cold and comfortable to touch at all times.

My configuration of the Apple MacBook Air has an M2 chip with an 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16 GB of RAM, and 512 GB of storage.

Merely looking at these specs, I was not impressed because a laptop at this price can easily have double the storage and RAM capacity.

However, since Apple takes care of the MacBook’s deep integration, this configuration is really fast and does not run out of memory even under intense load. Do keep in mind that there is no method to increase the RAM or storage on MacBooks anymore.

But if you are using this laptop for coding, 4K video editing, web browsing, text documents, spreadsheets, or more, then this configuration will not be challenged at all.

The display is one of the best that I have seen at this price range. It is a sharp 15.3” Liquid Retina display with a 2880 by 1864 resolution. The resolution is significantly high, which aligns with Apple’s emphasis on maximizing sharpness by adding more pixels.

The trackpad is large and a joy to use especially since macOS uses hand gestures better than Windows or Linux. The keyboard is decent to type on but the keys have virtually no travel which makes it a little awkward to adjust at first.

While the laptop is great in almost every aspect, I do not understand why it only has 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports, a headphone jack, and a MagSafe power plug. Having non-existent ports forces one to invest in dongles and wireless accessories and since there is no type-A USB port, having a type-A to type-C converter is a must.

While Apple’s laptops are annoying at times, it is hard to ignore how much of an impact they have had on other Windows devices. Asus has its ZenBook and LG with its Gram series of thin and light ultrabooks that mimic the MacBook Air. Both are incredible machines at a much lower price but until they can offer battery life as good as Apple’s, it is hard to pass up on the MacBook Air. It has great performance to back it up as well and the design and screen are also stunning.

RATINGS:

• Design: 7/10
• Cooling: 9.5/10
• Performance: 9/10
• Screen: 9/10
• Value for Money: 6/10
• Overall Rating: 8/10

3. Dell Inspiron 15 3525 – Best Budget Laptop For Students

Pros:

• 120 Hz 1080p display even at a budget
• Excellent performance with a fast 6-core CPU
• Very light and portable design

Cons:

• Poor I/O ports
• Battery life is average

If you are looking for a laptop as a student but don’t have a huge budget, then chances are that most laptops simply don’t make sense. They cut corners to make the laptop as cheap as possible by stripping away things that matter.

Among a sea of poorly made cheap laptops, the Dell Inspiron 15 emerges as a budget laptop with premium features. 

The Dell Inspiron 15 3525 is powered by the AMD Ryzen 5 5625U which is a 6-core 12-threaded CPU based on the AMD Zen 3 architecture and it comes with Vega integrated graphics. The CPU is fast enough for any application like coding, spreadsheets, text documents, web browsing, watching videos, and more. If you like to play indie titles or esports games, then you can easily run them at 60 FPS.

You will need to install more memory though, as the Dell Inspiron 15 3525 comes with 8 GB of DDR4 RAM preinstalled. Getting another stick of 8 GB DDR4 for only $18 will fix that.

My favorite aspect of the Dell 15 3525 is that it is really light at only 1.7 KG, yet it features an excellent 15” 1080p display with a 120 Hz refresh rate. Most budget laptops only come with a 60 Hz panel and the 120 Hz panel makes the entire experience of using the laptop much smoother and faster.

In testing, the laptop could easily run for around 5 hours on a full charge. The battery life isn’t amazing, but it is certainly much better than other laptops that only offer around 2 to 3 hours of battery life. You can increase the battery life to almost 7 to 8 hours by running the laptop’s screen at 60 Hz with power saving enabled.

The trackpad is decently large and the keyboard is comfortable to type on with large evenly spaced keys. These keys aren’t backlit but I guess that’s what you expect at such a low budget.

While that is forgivable, the port selection is not. It is a basic setup with just 2 USB type-A ports (one USB 2.0 and one USB 3.2 Gen 1), one USB 3.2 Gen1 type-C port, an HDMI 1.4 port, an SD card reader, a headphone jack, and a barrel power jack. I feel disappointed because the USB type-C port does not charge the laptop and the HDMI port only outputs 1080p at 60 Hz or 4K at 30 Hz.

Now, every laptop looks perfect in a vacuum if we ignore the shortcomings, so we need to see what others are offering.

If we look at the alternatives from other manufacturers, such as the HP Laptop 15, we see that Dell is offering a lot more for the budget. The HP Laptop 15 comes with a rather poor display with a 1366 by 768 resolution. While other laptops in the sub-500 dollar category come with a 1080p display, Asus, Lenovo, and HP are pairing them with the 6-core 12-threaded AMD Ryzen 5 5500U on the Zen 2 architecture.

I don’t particularly have a problem with the Ryzen 5 5500U as it is a decently powerful CPU, but it is less powerful than the 5625U. This is, in my opinion, AMD’s fault for having an extremely confusing naming scheme.

In conclusion, the Dell Inspiron 15 3525 is a great but slightly unbalanced laptop. On one hand, the performance of the laptop is excellent and it features an amazing 15” screen in the body of a 14” laptop. On the other hand, Dell needs to offer much better ports and a battery that matches the real needs of the Ryzen 5 5625U processor. I overlook these aspects of the Inspiron 15 3525 because other laptops under $500 undercut their performance and features alike. For students on a budget, it is an excellent choice because they get more than what they would typically find.

RATINGS:

• Design: 7/10
• Cooling: 7/10
• Performance: 7.5/10
• Screen: 8/10
• Value for Money: 8.5/10
• Overall Rating: 8/10

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What should be the minimum battery life I look for in a student laptop? Aim for a laptop with a minimum of 6-7 hours of battery life. This should cover a full day of classes without needing a recharge.

2. Is a touchscreen laptop a good idea for students? Touchscreen laptops can be beneficial for tasks like note-taking or design work, but they’re not a necessity. Evaluate if a touchscreen aligns with your coursework needs.

3. How much storage space do I really need? For most students, 256GB of SSD storage is sufficient, but 512GB offers more headroom for various applications and files.

4. Are 2-in-1 laptops useful for students? 2-in-1 laptops offer versatility for both typing and tablet use, which can be handy for reading and marking up academic papers or doing creative work.

5. What’s more important for a student laptop, CPU or RAM? Both CPU and RAM are important, but prioritize a robust CPU for overall speed and performance, supplemented by at least 8GB of RAM for multitasking.

6. Do I need a laptop with a dedicated graphics card? Unless you’re into gaming or video editing, integrated graphics should suffice for day-to-day student tasks.

7. How crucial is the laptop’s weight for a student? Portability is key for students. Look for laptops under 4 pounds to avoid adding too much weight to your backpack.

8. What kind of ports should I make sure my laptop has? At least one USB-C or Thunderbolt port, a couple of USB-A ports, and an HDMI port can cover most connectivity needs.

9. Is it worth investing in a laptop with a higher resolution than 1080p? While a higher resolution is nice to have, it’s not critical. A 1080p display is sufficient for studying and multimedia consumption.

10. How important is the build quality of a student laptop? It’s quite important. A laptop with good build quality can withstand the rigors of daily transport and use. Look for laptops with metal chassis or reinforced build materials.