With each graduating class, parents and their son or daughter begin planning for college and with that comes the quest to find one of the best laptops for college students to take off to school with them. Questions include “what is the right model”, “what features do I need”, “do I need a laptop or will a desktop work”, and “what are some of the best laptop brands“.

Obtaining one of the best laptops for college students is much harder that you’d expect. The market is flooded with literally thousands of models all claiming to be the best. Hopefully there tips will help you find the best laptop for you.

If you grew up with a PC, you’ll say that PC’s are the best laptops for college students

Some of the more popular PC’s include companies like Dell, HP, Gateway, and Toshiba. PC’s are a great general use computer that can handle most tasks with ease. They’re also the go-to laptop for students when you’re on a budget because they tend to be very affordable compared to their Apple counter parts. You can pickup a good PC laptop for around $550.  If you want to stick with a PC, but are tired of having the boring grey colored computer, then you might want to look into some of those cool pink laptops that are available.

Note: Even the best laptops for college students usually don’t come with a license of Microsoft Office. While Open Office is a free alternative, most students will want to purchase a copy of Microsoft Office, the good news is students get a discount.

Students that grew up with Apple or Mac’s will say they are the best student laptops

If you were introduced or have used Apple computer before you will say the Macbook, Macbook Pro, and Macbook Air are the best laptops for for students. Their simplicity, reliability, and trendiness has done well for them. Now that Mac’s can run Windows if needed, they are becoming a great choice for a college laptop. They do however cost a bit more money than a comparable PC laptop.

If you are planning on spending over $800 on a student laptop then the Macbook is a great choice. It has everything a student could want is one of the best laptops for students. It has a Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB’s of RAM, Bluetooth, a webcam, DVD burner, and a great graphics card. Apple even helps students out by giving them an additional discount on not only Apple laptops, but also all Apple products including the iPod. Last time I checked you could get a Macbook with the student discount for between $840 and $900 dollars.

When the best laptop for college students means the thinnest, lightest, most ridiculous laptop for college students.

That’s when you buy the Macbook Air. This laptop isn’t the most budget friendly, but it definitely fits into the category of best student laptops. It’s just over 13 inches in size and has a total weight of under 3 pounds. It’s also extremely thin…and I mean thin. It’s just over 3/4′s of an inch thick. It also includes all the normal features and then some. So Bluetooth, wireless, a webcam, etc are all part of the package. It’s the complete package that unfortunately comes at a bit of a price. Although in the past 6 months the price has come down quite a bit. Make sure you notice and plan for the fact that the Macbook Air doesn’t come with a built in CD-ROM. They do offer an external USB CD-ROM though so don’t worry.

Finding the best laptops for college students can be difficult.  There are literally thousands of different laptops out there from companies like Dell, HP, Asus, and Apple, so which one is right for you?  I’ve decided to do the research for you and will update this post every month with the latest deals.  I’m always surprised that some of the best laptops for students and also some of the cheapest laptops for college students believe it or not.  One final note before we jump into the best and cheapest…I’ve broken it down by category to help you get right to which laptop is best for each student.

UPDATED: Dec 2011

Best Laptops For College Students – On A Budget

These laptops for students won’t be the absolute cheapest, but they won’t be the most expensive either.  They have been picked because they’re a good compromise between price and features.

The Toshiba Satellite L655 is one of my personal favorites and what I my girlfriend ended up picking out as her laptop of choice when it comes to laptops for students this is my go-to recommendation.  It’s got an Intel Core i3 processor, a 640GB hard drive, 4GB of RAM and over 5 hours of battery life.

Cheap Laptops For College Students – Lowest Priced Options

The Toshiba Satellite C655 is the little brother of the Toshiba Satellite L655 mentioned above and it’s reflected in it’s price.  It still has the same amazing screen and overall Toshiba quality, but has a 320GB hard drive, 2GB of RAM, and and AMD E-series processor.  Battery is around 3 hours depending on use.  Right now this laptop is almost $200 cheaper than other models which makes it the perfect laptop if you’re on a budget, but still want one of the cheapest and best laptops for college students around.  It’s also rated in the top 5 laptops on Amazon.com.

Best Laptops For College Students – Top Of The Line

I’ve actually got two choices here for the best laptops for students.  I went back and worth about which one to include or if I should include both and after using both and personally owning the Macbook Air, I just had to post both. Apple is one of the best laptops brands around.

The Apple Macbook Pro is simply amazing.  Every Apple computer I’ve had has been a pleasure to use.  They are extremely reliable and can even run Windows if absolutely needed.  Obviously they aren’t the cheapest laptops around, but I’ve never heard anyone who’s purchased one say they regretted it.

The Apple Macbook Air is my personal laptop of choice and what I would have used it was available in college.  This is the smallest and lightest laptop around.  I carry mine with me everywhere I go and even prefer it over the Apple iPad which believe it or not I sold to help fund the purchase of the Macbook Air.

Well these are my picks for the best laptops for college students.  Do you currently own one of these?  If so I’d love for you to leave a comment and tell me which model and what you love/hate about it.  If none of these laptops match what you’re looking for I’d recommend heading over to Amazon’s Best Selling Laptops.  I’m sure you’ll find what you’re looking for.

If you are looking for one of the best laptops under $500 however then some of the ones below might be a better fit.  These are all pulled from the top best laptops under $500 dollars on Amazon.  It appears that the Compaq at the bottom has jumped up in price however for some odd reason.

HP G62-340us 15.6-Inch Laptop PC – Up to 4 Hours of Battery Life (Charcoal)

Price: $479.95

(65 customer reviews)

14 used & new available from $285.99

Compaq Presario CQ62-220US Laptop PC

Price: $429.95

(13 customer reviews)

2 used & new available from $429.95

Toshiba Satellite L645D-S4036 LED TruBrite 14-Inch Laptop (Black)

Price: $380.00

(187 customer reviews)

6 used & new available from $380.00

These laptops under 500 range a lot in size.  The Toshiba Satellite T215 at the bottom right is a very nice laptop that is packed with performance in an incredibly small size, 11.6 inches to be exact.  Most other models fall into the most common laptop size of 15.6 inches which really is the perfect size when you’re considering laptops for students.  I personally own two Lenovo laptops and have been very happy with both of them.  Their new Ideapad line is great and the G550 is no exception.

It’s really hard though to justify spending more money on a laptop than you absolutely need to and with the HP G62-340us 15.6-Inch Laptop currently available at such a great price on amazon with a 3.5 star rating I’m not sure I can recommend that you spend MORE money unless you are sure you need a specific option that isn’t included with the eMachine.  So here is a quick rundown on my suggestion as the best laptop under $500.

• Intel Celeron Processor
• 15.6 inch High Definition Widescreen Display
• 160GB Hard Drive
• Wireless Card (802.11n)

If you’ve already purchased your laptop for school or work what did you get?  Do you have any other suggestions for laptops under $500?  If so please leave a comment below or get a hold of us through the contact us page at the top of the screen.  When it comes to laptops no matter what the price reliability should be your number one concern and that’s another reason why the eMachine is such a good choice with a customer satisfaction rating of 4.5 stars.

Lenovo 3000 N200
The Lenovo 3000 N200 model is the particular model I own and love. It’s got a Intel Core Duo processor in it instead of the Celeron found in a lot of laptops. It came in two different sizes, the 14.1 inch and the 15.4 inch. I opted to get the 15.4 inch model, but looking back having a slightly smaller screen would of been worth it for the ease of carrying it around.

Lenovo 3000 N100
The Lenovo 3000 N100 is quite a bit like the N200, so much so in fact that you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference just by looking at them. The Lenovo 3000 N100 did have a slightly larger harddrive (120GB instead of 80GB) and it also has a slightly faster processor (1.86Ghz vs 1.8Ghz).

Lenovo 3000 G530
The G530 model was a great laptop as well. It’s got very similar specs to the other sub models as you’ve probably started to notice. It came with an even larger than the N100 and N200 models. You had the option of 160GB or 250GB with 2 or 3GB of RAM. It’s also got a nice 6 cell battery that was rated at 4.5 hours.

Lenovo 3000 N500
I actually don’t know a lot about the Lenovo 3000 N500. From the little I’ve looked into it it’s almost the exact same at the G530, with the exception of the battery which is only rated at 3.8 hours compared to the G530′s 4.5.

No matter what model of the Lenovo 3000 you get you’ll be happy. They were such a popular model that finding things such as batteries, drivers, and other replacement parts is no problem. I also don’t know if I would rate this THE best laptop for school, but it’s definitely in my top 5 best laptops for college students. Mainly because you can get them used at such a good price right now and they are very reliable.

When looking for one of the best laptops for students it’s important to find one that has as many USB ports as possible. I made the mistake of getting a laptop in college that only had 2 USB ports. I thought there was no way I’d ever need more than 2 at any given time. I can’t even begin to tell you how wrong I was. Here is a quick list of the 7 things I had plugged in almost all the time when my computer was at my desk.

1. External hard drive for back up and storage of all my music, photos, documents
2. External keyboard because it was easier to type on
3. External mouse to go next to the keyboard
4. USB Flash drive that had my current school work on it
5. My digital camera
6. My iPod / MP3 player
7. My printer

You can see how this was going be a big problem. There are a couple of solutions with the easiest being to buy a laptop with a lot of USB ports. You probably won’t find any cheap laptops for students that have 7+ USB ports which is ok. As I’ve mentioned in a previous article, getting one of the best laptops for students should include Bluetooth which will help with the keyboard and mouse problem. You can also get a USB hub that turns one USB port into anywhere between 4 and 8 ports. They are extremely cheap and very useful. Believe it or not you can actually run 127 devices off from one USB port.

If you do happen to see any laptops for college students that do have the new USB 3.0 ports on them that’s great, but most likely you are going to see most of them will have USB 2.0 ports which is plenty fast and the current standard. It’s always nice to look forward and try to plan a head. It helps make your computer usable and relevant to the future which is great for making that computer last as long as possible.

College students will benefit from owning a laptop computer in a number of ways. Not only are laptops for college students an efficient and organized way of keeping notes, completing assignments, and conducting research, they are also a comprehensive and compact home entertainment system that perform multiple useful tasks outside of the classroom. Many students are now using their laptops to store and play music and movies, and with excellent internet resources, they can now even download the latest television shows in a manner that is completely free and legal.

In order to accommodate the multiple and varied functions of modern laptops, manufacturers are including higher levels of RAM and memory into each individual machine. Additional common features of the newest laptop computers on the market include Bluetooth technology, and built-in wireless cards, for anywhere internet access.

The biggest challenge when looking for laptops for college students is not finding a machine that has all of the above-listed capabilities, but finding one with all of the above that is within a moderate to low price range. To facilitate this search, students should begin by looking not at electronics stores or outlets, but within their own community. Some methods of obtaining inexpensive, all-inclusive laptops include searching E-Bay or Craigslist, looking into laptops that have been refurbished by the manufacturer, or by just getting the word out around school or work that they are searching.

Refurbished laptops for college students may not be the newest products on the market, but they are often of better quality that the brand new computers that are cheaply priced due to their lower quality. Refurbished computers, when purchased from the manufacturer, have been carefully inspected and upgraded with the newest features, in order to provide a slightly older product that functions like a brand new machine, without the accompanying price tag.

Frequently, in order to keep up with the most advanced technologies, individuals will upgrade their computers yearly, selling their gently used, slightly older model, for a fraction of the original price. By identifying what they require in a computer, and consulting trusted sources on what to look for when purchasing a gently used laptop, students can get great deals on products that they couldn’t afford to buy brand new.  Another thing to take a look at is a laptop computer stand.  Almost every student will be able to benefit from purchasing one and they aren’t a huge investment money wise.

802.11 (1997) – This was the first version of wifi released.  It’s been over 10 years since this version came out.  You won’t find this on any of the best laptops for students.

802.11a/b (1999) – This version was a great improvement both in overall speed and distance that you could still keep a decent signal.  A lot of used laptops for students that you find might have this version.  All current wifi systems still have backward compatibility for this version of wifi.  Transfer large files can be very slow using this type of wifi though.

802.11g (2003) – Most of the best laptops for students will have this version of wifi.  This was another huge jump from the 802.11a/b protocol released in 1999.  While there wasn’t a large increase in overall distance for this release, the speed increase is very noticeable.

802.11n (2007) – This is the current standard and the future of wifi.  When looking for the best laptops for students this is definitely the wifi type to look for.  This version supports both of the common frequencies.

My best suggestion is to get 802.11n if possible, but I wouldn’t have a problem settling for 802.11g.  While 5 laptops for students might all have the 802.11n version, some will have better range than others.  This is due to the manufacturer’s construction of the laptop and also what type of material the laptop is made out of.  For example a metal based laptop might not have the same distance as a similar laptop made from plastic.  If by some chance when looking for the best laptops for students and you do find one of the older protocols I would avoid it no matter how tempting the price may be.  Also make sure to check reviews about that particular laptop you are looking for.  Don’t forget that you can make your desktop computer wireless as well with a USB WiFi adapter.  It’s a lot better option then having cables all over your dorm room.

Over the next few weeks I’ll be adding posts to help people find cheap laptops for students along with buyer guides and even laptop reviews for all the laptops I’ve used recently.

If you’d like to submit a review or have any recommendation for the site or other members please leave me a comment.  Thanks for stopping by laptops for students!

If you want a very low priced laptop (as in $200 laptops or cheaper), it follows that you could consider going for a used pc as an alternative to a brand new one. There could be a few plus points to doing so but the big one should be the reasonable cost. One more benefit that a large number of buyers will overlook is that a second hand machine will have been previously de-bugged, seeing as the current owner has been using it. Going this route can be tough if you’re looking for the best laptop brand and selection will be a little lower.

One more reason mini notebooks may be the ideal student tools is the low purchase price. Most students are mostly on a budget and these mini notebooks are a flawless fit. Many high specification mini laptop computers are currently priced within the $300 to $500 range, although quite a few perfectly satisfactory ones go for well beneath $300. Furthermore, store prices are already steadily dropping, consequently almost any student could currently afford a mini notebook.