7 best budget laptops for college students
Whether you're heading out to college or about to start school virtually, a new laptop is almost a necessary school supply this year. Whether required or not, laptops certainly cost far more than a set of pencils and a notebook. But there are solid budget options that can certainly do the job of getting you online to attend class, finish a paper — and far more.
These laptops are all available now, and you can pick them up immediately without having to wait for pre-ordering. They start at $300 and go up from there, but not one of them will cost more than $1,000. Here are our picks then for some of the best budget laptops for any student.
Lenovo Yoga C740 — $899.99
Lenovo
The Lenovo Yoga C740 is a Windows machine with a Dolby Atmos speaker
The Lenovo Yoga C740 14-inch laptop is a favorite among Lenovo users, extremely high rated and starts at $899.99, which definitely makes it one of the pricier laptops on our lists. And that's because of a current deal offered on the company's site.
Inside is the 10th Gen Intel Core, plus you have a 14-inch touchscreen. There is a Dolby Atmos speaker, a fingerprint reader (to make sure no one else is getting inside your laptop when you're not using it) plus a privacy shutter for the 720p HD webcam. That's a nice addition since you may not realize your online class is showing you on screen as well as your professor.
You have an option to add Windows 10 Pro, but it does come with Windows 10 Home 64. Memory starts at 16 GB and you also have a 1TB Hard Drive — pretty great.
Battery is a solid 13 hours, and Amazon's smart assistant Alexa is baked inside. That's a very sweet addition for asking quick questions about the weather for those outside classes you may be having, or even setting reminders to not forget to turn in your paper. You can also ask Alexa to play some study music, all by asking aloud.
The basic model starts right now at $899.99, but students and teachers currently can save an additional 8 percent on top of that on the laptop through the Lenovo site.
Buy on Lenovo
▲Macbook Air — $999
Apple
The new Apple MacBook Air has TouchID for logging in and making purchases
The new MacBook Air is easily the most expensive option on our list, a laptop from Apple that still rings in below $1,000? That's pretty grand. (Okay, okay.) Apple released the new device in March, which starts with 256G of storage, 2TB SSD, and a 13-inch display. There's TouchID for logging in, and making purchases.
The computer boasts that 10th Gen Intel Are, with a 1.2 GHz quad-core i7 and Intel Iris Plus Graphics. You also get the Magic Keyboard, which trust us is a huge improvement over past keyboards. There's a three-mic array, which Apple says is great for voice clarity over FaceTime calls, and Thunderbolt 3 ports.
This is obviously an Apple computer, so you're using macOS and other Apple software programs including Pages and Sheets.
Students actually get $100 off the new MacBook Air, making it just $899, plus you get a free pair of Apple AirPods and one year of Apple TV+ for free.
Available on Best Buy for $100.
▲Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 — $799.99
Microsoft
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 has 11.5 hours of standby time plus Fast Chargin
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 comes in two different sizes, a 13.5-inch and 15-inch touchscreen. You get 11.5 hours of standby time, but more keenly you get Fast Charging, about 80 percent of your full power in just an hour. That means if you're running low between classes, you can charge up quickly and know you won't miss your next Zoom lecture even if you've decided to take the class outside (mask on!) in the quad.
The 13.5-inch starts at $799.99, making the best budget option of the two here. And inside is a 10th Gen Intel Core quad-core processor. It's also configured at the basic level with 256GB, 8 GB RAM and Intel Wi-Fi 6 inside.
You can stream 4K, and gaming is possible at 1080p. This is of course a Windows and Microsoft 365 machine, so Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Teams and OneNote will all work easily as will Netflix, Spotify and Adobe Lightroom.
What else? The laptop weighs in at 2.79 pounds, not bad, has USB-A and USB-C ports, plus headphone jacks. There's also a face authentication camera, plus a front facing camera for video conferencing, dual far-field studio mics and Dolby Audio speakers.
Buy on Microsoft
▲Samsung Notebook Flash — $399.99
Samsung
One of the most affordable laptops on the list, the Samsung Notebook Flash has a built-in fingerprint sensor.
The Samsung Notebook Flash is one of the most affordable of all the laptops on our list, at $399.99. You get a built-in fingerprint sensor, and an Intel Pentium Silver quad-core Processor N5000 built inside.
There's a 13.3-inch FHD display, and the entire machine is 16.9 mm thick. Built-in Wi-Fi supports gigabit download speeds, and you also have Universal Flash Storage, along with 4 GB of system memory and a 64GB hard drive. There is a standard microSD card slot, although you'll need to buy the card separately.
This is a Windows 10 machine, and it includes a USB-C, USB3.0, USB 2.0 and a HDMI port, plus dual stereo speakers, and internal digital microphone and a web camera.
Buy Here
▲Google Pixelbook Go — $649
The Google Pixelbook Go has a keyboard feature called Hush Keys which makes them ultra quiet.
The Google Pixelbook Go is a light machine weighing just two pounds, and measuring just 13mm. There's a 13.3-inch touchscreen 4K display and a 1080p webcam — classes are going to be clear, along with any material your teacher is showing.
There's an 8th Gen Intel Core processor, and battery life is 12 hours, and you can get an additional two hours in just 20 minutes. What else? You get dual speakers, a keyboard with what Google calls Hush Keys, making them a bit more quiet, and Google Assistant, Google's voice A.I. is baked inside. That means ask the weather, ask for reminders, ask almost anything you can imagine you need to search, and Google can respond just by you asking aloud.
This is a Chromebook, a machine that operates on Google's apps and features, and the laptop runs on Chrome OS. Basically, if you're using Google apps for school, this is a machine that's going to feel instinctive and simple to launch.
The laptop also features a textured bottom, make it stick where it's sitting, plus you can pick one up in black and what we think is a seriously cool shade of light pink.
Microsoft even released a way for Chromebook's to now play Minecraft: Education Edition. And if that isn't reason enough to consider one of these true budget laptops, we don't know what is.
Oh we know: Students can also qualify for a 10 percent discount on the laptop through Google's site. Plus, if you buy a Google Pixelbook Go through Best Buy right now, you can pick up a pair of Jabra 65t earbuds for just $20.
Buy on Amazon
▲ASUS ZenBook 13 — $699.99
Asus
The Asus Zenbook 13 has a backlit keyboard
The Asus Zenbook 13 is — as the name suggests — a laptop with a 13.3-inch FHD display. It clocks in at just 2.6 pounds, and is 16.9 mm thick. Inside this Windows 10 machine is an 8th Gen Intel Core i5 quad-core processor, along with 8 GB memory and 512 GB of SSD storage.
Asus promises Wi-Fi at Gigabit speeds, plus up to 14 hours of battery life. There's also a backlit keyboard, and facial recognition baked inside so the laptop will truly only open for you and you alone. You can also run tasks through voice recognition as well.
There are multiple ports including a USB-A, a USB 2.0, and a USB 3.1 Type C ports, plus an HDMI port and microSD card reader. You get an HD camera and one more nice perk? Harman Kardon speakers inside.
Available on Amazon
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Dell Inspiron 15 3000 — $299.99
Dell
The Dell Inspiron 15 3000 has a widescreen HD webcam
The Dell Inspiron 15 3000 is the lowest price laptop on our list. It's a bit hefty, at 4.48 pounds, but it has a 15.6-inch HD display and an Intel Celeron Processor.
This is a Windows 10 machine, which has 4GB of RAM plus a 128GB Solid State Drive. The display has an anti-glare filter, and you get two USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports, an HDMI port, and a USB 2.0 port.
And while this is a budget device, you still have an integrated widescreen HD webcam with a single digital microphone, plus two speakers.
