The 6 Best Laptops For College - Fall 2023 Reviews

The best laptop for college we've tested is the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023), a newer version of the M1 Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2021). Like its predecessor, this is a premium model with a sleek, compact design, sturdy build, and all-day battery life. You can spec it with an M2 Pro or Max SoC (System on Chip), both of which can handle nearly every type of workload, making it an excellent choice for students in fields like graphic design, architecture, or engineering.

In addition to incredible performance, this laptop provides a fantastic user experience with its sharp Mini LED display, comfortable keyboard, and gigantic, easy-to-use haptic touchpad. If screen real estate is more important than portability, you can get the larger Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023). It's essentially the same device but has slightly better-sounding speakers and longer battery life. The only downside is its higher price.

The Dell XPS 15 (2023) is also a great choice if you prefer or need Windows. Like the MacBook Pro, it's a premium model that provides a great user experience. You can configure it with up to an Intel 13th Gen Core i9-13900H CPU and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 discrete GPU, giving you plenty of processing power for intensive tasks. You can also play more games than on a MacBook because there's a wider selection of Windows games, and the NVIDIA GPUs let you access DLSS and Frame Generation, features that can dramatically boost performance in supported titles. Unfortunately, it has a bad 720p webcam and fewer ports, and its keyboard gets uncomfortably hot under load.

Our best upper mid-range pick is the Apple MacBook Air 13 (2022), the best laptop for students with a light workload like text processing, web browsing, and video playback. It has a gorgeous display that gets bright enough for use outdoors in broad daylight, a comfortable keyboard that you can type on all day, and a gigantic and responsive haptic touchpad. Its M2 SoC is plenty fast for general productivity tasks like text processing and web browsing, and it can also handle some light video editing. The downside is that it only has two USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports with support for a single external display.

An alternative would be the newly-released Apple MacBook Air 15 (2023). It's essentially the same laptop as the 13-inch model but with a larger 15.3-inch display and a few tweaks. You also get better speakers, a 35W dual USB-C charger, and an M2 chip with ten GPU cores. All this comes with a price increase of $200 USD over the 13-inch model. If you have a tighter budget but want to stay in the Apple ecosystem, there's the Apple MacBook Air 13 (M1, 2020), which you can easily find for as low as $750 USD during the back-to-school season. It isn't as sleek as its M2 successor, but it's still a great laptop with incredible battery life.

For Windows users, get the LG gram 14 (2023). It's also a high-end ultraportable laptop, and as its name suggests, it's incredibly light, even lighter than the MacBook Air 13. It provides a good user experience with a sharp display, a comfortable keyboard, and good thermal and noise handling. Its wide port selection includes two USB-C/Thunderbolt 4s, letting you connect up to two 4k displays at 60Hz with a single cable. Build-wise, although it feels sturdy, its lightweight magnesium alloy chassis just doesn't feel as rigid as the MacBook Air's. It also has a smaller touchpad and a dimmer display.

If you want something less expensive than the Apple MacBook Air 13 (2022) but not overly cheap, check out the Lenovo Yoga 7i 16 (2023). This 2-in-1 convertible has a large 16-inch display, giving you plenty of room for side-by-side windows, making multitasking easier. While there's an FHD+ display option, we recommend getting a QHD+ panel, which looks sharper and gets brighter to combat glare. Don't worry about battery life; even the QHD+ model lasts over 12 hours of light use. There's Wi-Fi 6E, a fingerprint sensor and facial recognition camera, and a wide port selection that includes two Thunderbolt 4s and an HDMI. Its Intel 13th Gen CPUs can easily handle general productivity tasks; however, don't expect to do anything overly intensive due to thermal throttling. The webcam's video quality is decent; the image looks fairly detailed but has an unnatural tint, and the microphone picks up some background noise.

Another mid-range laptop worth mentioning is the Acer Chromebook Spin 714 (2022). It's also a 2-in-1 convertible, but it has a smaller 14-inch screen and runs Chrome OS. If you like taking handwritten notes, it supports pen input and comes with a stylus that you can dock into the side of the laptop for transport. Its Intel 12th Gen CPU has more processing than you'd ever need on a Chromebook, but know that Chrome OS is limited in the type of applications you can install, so make sure you can do everything through a Chrome browser or an Android app. Unfortunately, this model is getting hard to find because there's a newer 2023 version, which we haven't tested but expect to perform similarly. The upgrades include faster Intel 13th Gen CPUs and a 1440p webcam, but it no longer comes with a stylus. You can see the 2023 model on Amazon and Best Buy.

The best budget laptop for students we've tested is the Acer Swift 3 14 (2020). Acer's Swift models aren't exactly considered budget, but because this is an older model from 2020, the price has decreased considerably, making it a great option for those on a tight budget. It's compact and lightweight, and its battery lasts over 13 hours on a full charge. You get a nice FHD IPS display, a decent keyboard, and a wide port selection that includes two USB-As, one USB-C/Thunderbolt 4, a full-size HDMI, and a headphone jack.

Spec-wise, you can get this laptop with an Intel 11th Gen Core i5 or i7 CPU, up to 16GB of memory, and up to 512GB of storage. The Intel 11th Gen CPUs are a few years old but are still adequate for general productivity tasks like text processing, web browsing, spreadsheets, and video playback. Our only major complaint is the webcam's video quality; the image looks underexposed, and the microphone sounds staticky.

Our best cheap pick is the Lenovo Chromebook C340 15 (2020), a 2-in-1 convertible with a 360-degree hinge. You can configure it with an Intel Core i3 or Pentium Gold CPU, which are both powerful enough to provide a smooth experience on Chrome OS. However, you can only get a maximum of 4GB of memory, which means it may stutter if you have too many applications or Chrome tabs open. Battery life is excellent at around 12 hours of light use, more than enough to get through the day.

Of course, as it's a cheap model, there are a few compromises. First, the display doesn't get very bright; it's fine for most indoor settings but not well-lit environments or outdoors. Second, keyboard backlighting is only available on models with an Intel Core i3 and 64GB of storage (model 81T90002UX). If you're new to Chrome OS, know it has limitations as to which types of apps or programs you can install, so you need to ensure that it suits your needs.

If you want a device you can also game on during downtime, get the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2022). It has a nice 120Hz QHD display with support for variable refresh rate to reduce screen tearing when gaming. It gets bright enough for use outdoors in broad daylight and has full DCI P3 coverage, meaning you can use it for your color-critical work. Its AMD Ryzen CPU and dedicated GPU are powerful enough to provide a smooth gaming experience, and they can also handle other demanding tasks, making the laptop suitable for students in technical fields like 3D graphics. The battery lasts around 10 hours of light use; however, if you do more intensive stuff that requires the dedicated GPU, you can expect it to be closer to an hour and a half.