The best student laptops have to walk the tightrope between good value for money and top-notch performance, while also providing enough battery life to get you from the start of the school day to the end. With these factors in mind, I’ve curated this list of the best laptops for students of all ages – whether you’re heading off to higher education or just need a new laptop for the upcoming year of high school.
Trying to navigate the murky waters of the best laptops on the market can be a daunting tasks, so I’ve tightened the scope of our search here – including a carefully selected list of the best Ultrabooks to the best MacBooks and even some of the best Chromebooks, meaning that whichever operating system you like the most, I’ve got you covered.
Price (or at least, price-for-performance) should be the number one factor when it comes to buying a laptop for school or university. Students are often shopping on a budget, but studies show that a new laptop is typically the biggest individual purchase for a new student; an investment that shouldn’t break the bank but also shouldn’t crap out halfway through a three- or four-year course.
Specifications
Best for: All studentsCPU: Up to Intel Core i7-1165G7 or AMD Ryzen 7 5825UGraphics: Integrated Iris XE or Radeon graphicsRAM: Up to 16GB DDR4Screen: up to 17.3-inch 1080pStorage: Up to 512GB SSD
Reasons to buy
- Competitive price
- Solid build, with a 1.7kg weight
- Decent battery life for the price
Reasons to avoid
- Modest performance
- 720p webcam
- Limited port selection
The Acer Aspire 5 (2022) remains the pick as the best student laptop you can buy right now. That’s because it’s got a low price, but decent specs (OK, the 11-gen Intel CPU isn’t the most recent, but it does the job well, especially compared to the processors you find in similarly-priced laptops) mean it’s a dependable performer for most day-to-day tasks students will use it for.
As it’s a Windows 11 laptop, it can run full-desktop applications, unlike Chromebooks which often have to make do with pared-back apps that don’t offer the full range of features.
Of course, you need to set your expectations for this laptop. Its price and age means this isn’t going to be a powerful laptop that can handle media editing or gaming, but for writing up essays and researching for your course, it remains an excellent choice, especially if you’re on a budget, but don’t want a Chromebook.
Acer Aspire 5 (Silver) at Amazon for US$378
Acer Aspire 5: Two-minute review
When looking at Acer’s website, you could be forgiven for thinking that the Acer Aspire 5 is an expensive, high-end laptop that includes a 12th generation i7 processor and powerful GeForce graphics card. But, as we’ve found with Acer in the past, the company’s website tends to just focus on its top-of-the-range models, and leaves you to find out about other options that might be available.
In this instance, it turns out that the Aspire 5 is available with a wide range of different models and specifications – in fact, there are more than 60 different configurations listed on Acer’s US website, including 17.3-inch and 15.6-inch displays, with both Intel and AMD processors. And, if you search long enough, you may even find the entry-level 14-inch version of the Aspire 5 that we review here, which is based on an older 11th generation i5 processor.
That’s clearly not the powerful laptop “for accelerated photo and video editing performance” that Acer promises, but if you judge the Aspire 5 on its own merits then it undeniably is one of the best cheap laptops for routine web browsing and productivity tasks.
Spec Sheet
CPU: Intel Core i5-1135G7 @ 2.4GHz
Graphics: Integrated Iris Xe
RAM: 8GB DDR4
Storage: 512GB PCIe SSD
Screen: 14-inch, 1920×1080 resolution
Ports: 1x USB-C, 3x USB-A (3.2), 1x audio, 1x HDMI, 1x Gigabit Ethernet
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0
Camera: 720p
Size: 0.71 x 12.9 x 8.8 inches (18 x 327.7 x 223.5mm)
Weight: 3.75lb (1.7kg)
Acer Aspire 5: Price and availability
Around $600 in the US, and £450 in the UK
Available now in the US and UK, with limited availability down under
Wide range of models, some from Acer, some from online retailers
Acer’s pricing and sales information can also be a bit confusing. Some of the models listed on its web site can be bought direct from Acer, while others are sold through online retailers and high street stores – such as Currys in the UK – so you may need to search around online.
You can’t buy that model directly from Acer in the UK, although it is available from a number of online retailers for around £450.00. Australia, oddly, just gets a single Aspire 5 model with a larger 15.6-inch display and i7 processor for AU$1399.00.
Value: 4/5
Acer Aspire 5: Design
Bright 1080p display
Wi-Fi 6 and Gigabit Ethernet
Just one USB-C
You’re not going to get cutting-edge design at this price level, and the Aspire 5 has a fairly conventional clamshell design, with chunky borders around the edge of the screen that look a little dated. Acer’s website – unclear as ever – indicates that it’s available in a variety of colors, but the models sold on its website all seem to just be either black or silver.
It gets the basics right, though, with a sturdy chassis that should be able to cope with a few bumps in a backpack or bag when you’re traveling. And while it’s no ultrabook, the Aspire 5 only weighs 1.7kg and measures 18mm thick, so it’s perfectly portable when it needs to be. The keyboard feels firm and comfortable for typing, and there’s a fingerprint sensor on the trackpad for security. The only real weakness here is the thin L-shaped power connector, which sticks out from the side of the laptop and looks a little vulnerable.
The 14-inch screen only provides 1920×1080 resolution, but it’s bright and clear, with good viewing angles. We’re also pleased to see that it has a matte finish that helps to reduce glare and reflection. The 720p webcam is a bit basic, but the image quality was better than we’d expected – it gets a bit grainy if the light is low, but some decent daylight produces an image that’s sharp enough for video calls.
The built-in speakers are a bit feeble, though. The sound is fine for just watching some videos on YouTube, but if you want to listen to some decent music then you’ll need to plug some headphones or speakers into the audio socket on the right-hand edge of the laptop. However, connectivity is a bit of a mixed bag, with just a single USB-C port, and three USB-A (3.2) for connecting peripherals and other devices. Thankfully, the Aspire 5 does include Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 for wireless connectivity, with Gigabit Ethernet also available for wired networks, and HDMI for an external display.
Design: 3.5/5
Rather than the i7 processor and GeForce graphics that Acer boasts about on its website, this entry-level model is equipped with a more modest i5 processor, with integrated Iris Xe graphics. Even so, it still provides respectable performance for a laptop in this price range, with a score of 1,417 for single-core performance and 4,440 for multi-core. For real-world applications, the PCMark 10 test suite gives the Aspire 5 a score of 1280, which qualifies as a perfectly respectable ‘office laptop’. Admittedly, that score leaves it just below the halfway mark in the PCMark 10 results tables, but that’s not bad going for an i5 laptop in this price range, and the Aspire 5 will be fine for web browsing and running productivity software such as Microsoft Office.
The Aspire’s integrated Iris Xe graphics won’t win any awards either, with 3DMark scores that generally leave it in the ‘less than 20fps’ category. But, to be fair, 3DMark does use very high graphics settings, so if you don’t mind turning the graphics quality down a little you might even be able to get a bit of casual gaming done every now and then.
Performance: 3.5/5
Acer Aspire 5: Battery Life
hours for movies
6.5 hours for productivity software
Acer’s website goes typically overboard, boasting up to 10 hours of battery life for the Aspire 5. In fact, our tests recorded very similar scores of just over 6.5 hours for both playing movies and the applications-based PCMark test suite.
Even so, that’s not too bad for a low-cost laptop such as this, and if you’re not using wi-fi then the Aspire 5 should give you a full day’s work when you’re on the move.
Battery life: 4/5
