Best laptops for students: See where the MacBook falls on our list

You had to know we’d throw a MacBook Pro in here. And not just because MacBooks give you great street cred, but because the newest MacBook is a badass powerhouse. They’re the most expensive in our list, but with the introduction of Apple’s first chip designed just for Macs, the price makes sense. The performance on this laptop is almost three times as fast as previous generations and the eight-core CPU in this model has graphics that are five times as fast. Plus, MacBooks will seriously last through beatings, taking you from college straight into the working world.
While Apple hasn’t gotten around to a totally touchscreen laptop yet, the OLED touch bar is such an Apple thing to do. Here, you can control brightness, sound, use touch ID, and do what you would with FN keys. (A lot of people question the point of this, though.) The Retina display has True Tone technology, which automatically adjusts the yellow and blue tones in your screen to match your environment, making things easier on the eyes. As people who appreciate the iPhone’s Night Shift feature will say, the color of your screen can affect your health, and too much blue light before bed can affect your sleep. This is extra clutch for students, because you’re going to need all the shuteye you can get. 
The Pro is a great general-use laptop (and is probably what everyone in your classes will have) but is especially nice for serious apps like Adobe Premiere. Its importing and exporting times are lickety split, even for large files like long 4K videos. If you’re in school for anything like photography, film, graphic design, or music, this will be an ace choice to keep up with your assignments. Its fast internet connection and insane download speeds also allow most webpages and apps to load in less than a second. 
At the end of the day, there are PC people and there are Mac people, and if you’re a Mac person, no amount of shortcomings will change your mind. There are a few different configurations of the 13-inch MacBook Pro depending on the storage and speed you want. Also check out the 16-inch for something a little larger and more powerful.

Not everyone has close to a grand to drop on a laptop, and if you’re trying not to solely exist on instant ramen for all four years, then Asus’ Chromebook Flip is a great choice. It’s almost half the price of others on our list but holds up under the pressures of student life: It’s thin but sturdy and has a 14-inch full HD touchscreen that can be flipped 360 degrees. Plus, it weighs just over three pounds — which makes it manageable for carrying around campus — and can muster 10 hours of battery life. 
Inside is a Intel Core M3-8100Y processor, up to 4GB RAM, a fully backlit keyboard, and ultra fast loading speeds thanks to the 802.11 b/n/ac WiFi connection. What that means: A super-powerful machine that’ll keep up with you semester after semester. 
Asus has never compromised quality when it comes to their machines, and that’s why they’re one of our favorites. For a budget pick, it doesn’t get much better than this.

The Acer Aspire 5 looks like it tried to take a page from the MacBook Air’s book with a thin, angled design. (Albeit a little clunkier than the sleek Apple computer.) Regardless of what it looks like, it’s what’s on the inside that matters.
It has a surprisingly powerful AMD Ryzen 3 3200U processor that’s good for having lots of tabs open while you’re doing your schoolwork (or for late night gaming, let’s be honest). This laptop is available in a few different configurations with 8GB to 16GB RAM and 128GB to 2 TB HDD.
The 15.6-inch FHD display has a 1920 x 1080 resolution and the laptop itself is pretty lightweight at just over 4 pounds. Some of Acer’s other budget laptops have pretty bulky, ugly designs, but you won’t feel embarrassed sitting in the library with the Aspire 5. Don’t forget your charger, though, because this thing only gets about six hours of battery life before it dies.
Now, we’re obviously only condoning gaming if it’s happening when all of your studying is done, BUT… this laptop is pretty damn good for entry level gaming. It’s not usually marketed as such, and isn’t for hardcore gaming, but any Ryzen processor will give you enough speed to keep up with your favorite games, glitch-free.
For less than $500, this is honestly an unbeatable laptop — you won’t be disappointed by the quality.

The Dell Inspiron 11 3195 2-in-1 is a compact and personal 11 inches and is ideal for minuscule desk space or working on the bus or train. Though it’s small and lower-priced, it’s sturdy where it needs to be and doesn’t feel cheap. Where it falls a bit short is with the display: At a measly 1366 x 768 resolution with less-than-stellar viewing angles. Don’t expect to impress your boo with a Netflix and chill night. (There is an HDMI port to stream to your TV, though.) 
The 128GB of storage will probably be okay for everyday use, but there is an SD card slot as well as two USB 2.0 ports and a USB 3.1 port. As for speed, it’s equipped with a 2.6GHz AMD A9-9420e processor and Radeon R5 graphics card, which is just fine. 
This little machine has a 360-degree hinge for setting it up in different positions and it features a webcam, though don’t hold your breath for anything too outstanding. But for those on a seriously tight budget who are also low on space, it’s a really solid option.

If you want a machine to take you from studying to streaming and gaming seamlessly — at a price point that won’t make your eyes water — the latest VivoBook is a great bet. The ASUS VivoBook not only comes with some style cred to stand out from the crowd, but it has the specs to back it up. This sleek and stylish laptop has a 15.6-inch full HD display with a super-thin bezel, giving you more than enough screen space to multitask and still comes in under 4 pounds. 
Under the hood it has a AMD Ryzen 5 3500U processor with up to 3.7Ghz processor, 8GB of RAM, and a larger 512GB SSD drive. The laptop also doesn’t skimp on connectivity, flaunting two USB 3.1 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, HDMI, Bluetooth 4.1, a MicroSD card reader. (Mac could never.) Nine hours of battery life will get you through most of the day of classes before you have to recharge, too. 
The 15-inch screen does make the laptop feel bigger than some of the others on our list, but it isn’t a sacrifice for those wanting a less cramped workspace. The graphics card in this model is better than previous Vivobooks, but it might not be quite good enough for serious gamers. Still, for everyday use and a solid, stylish build, this computer gets top marks.