10 Best Laptops and Laptop Discounts For College Students
Grab the best tech before you head to campus.
Picking a laptop for college is one of the most important decisions you make for a multitude of reasons. Aside from housing your entire academic life on it, it’s also a huge investment you want to seriously consider—you definitely don’t want to just up and purchase something without thoroughly thinking it through and weighing your options. That’s why we’re here.
When it comes to finding the best student laptops, we’ve done all the legwork for you. Plus, we’ve got a whole bunch of student laptops deals here, too—because we’re all about helping you save money. We’ve done a roundup of the best places to shop for student laptops along with great deals on student laptops to help save you money. Ready? Let’s get to shopping!
Best Laptops For College Students
Best Apple Student Laptops And Discounts
1. 13-inch Macbook Air
There’s a reason the MacBook Air is a wildly popular model of laptop for students—because it’s that good. With 8 GB of memory, 256 GB of SSD storage, retina display, and touch ID, you’ll be able to get all your assignments done with ease. The toughest decision you’ll make is choosing which color to get!
Save $100 on eligible MacBook Air or MacBook Pro laptops with Student Beans
2. 13-inch MacBook Pro
If you need a heavy-hitter and think you’ll end up using your laptop for just about everything, opt for the MacBook Pro instead of the Air when it comes to choosing the best student laptop. The True Tone retina display means you’ll be seeing everything more vividly than ever before, and that backlight magic keyboard is oh so cool.
Save $100 on eligible MacBook Air or MacBook Pro laptops with Student Beans
3. iPad Pro
If you want something with the power of a laptop without the bulk, the new iPad Pro is the perfect fit for a less traditional student laptop. You can easily add a keyboard to it to work on assignments, plus you have the option to use the Apple Pencil if you want to take notes in class the old fashioned way.
Save $100 on eligible MacBook Air or MacBook Pro laptops with Student Beans
Best HP Student Laptops & Discounts
4. HP Pavillion
A touch optional student laptop? Yeah, sign us up. With higher performance built into a smaller laptop, you won’t have an issue taking this all over campus to get your work done. Plus, it’s designed with a higher quality screen specifically built for things like streaming—win-win!
Save up to 45% at HP with Student Beans
5. HP Chromebook
This HP Chromebook is the perfect student laptop since it’s designed to move with you. Big battery life? Check. Apps for everything you could possibly need? Check. An anti-glare screen, perfect for nice days on campus when you want to work outside? Check. This Chromebook really has thought of everything you could need as a student.
Save up to 45% at HP with Student Beans
Best Dell Student Laptops & Discounts
6. Dell XPS 15
The Dell XPS 15 can easily give you the power of a full desktop computer with the portability of a laptop—the best of both worlds when looking for a great deal on a student laptop, if you ask us. The display is optional OLED, so if you need to conserve your battery, you can easily switch it off. The sleek design just looks cool, too. And don’t let the steeper price tag deter you—you know we’ve got that Dell student discount ready for you.
Save 10% at Dell with Student Beans
7. Dell XPS 13 OLED
If you’re looking for a more portable laptop for college, the Dell XPS 13 packs a serious punch in a smaller size for a student laptop. The OLED screen is one of the brightest and most vibrant available right now with a display that wows. The processing speed is great, too considering it’s a 13-inch student laptop. The only flaw is that the camera is still at 720p and not 1080p.
Save 10% at Dell with Student Beans
Other Great Student Laptop Brands & Discounts
8. Samsung Galaxy Book2
With the computing function of a desktop but the versatility of a laptop, the Galaxy Book2 does it all as a student laptop. Cutting edge speed gives you lightning fast performance on even the toughest of assignments. Plus, it has some of the best video chatting features on the market—perfect for calling your friends and family back home!
Save up to 20% at Samsung with Student Beans
9. Galaxy Chromebook
This slim Chromebook will fit into your backpack without adding any extra bulk, which is a huge plus when it comes to shopping around for student laptops. The Ambient EQ will adjust the color of your screen depending on the time of day (bye-bye blue light headaches!), and it even comes with a built-in pen, ready and waiting for you to use.
Save up to 20% at Samsung with Student Beans
Best Graduate Student Laptop
10. ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo OLED
We seriously can’t sing the praises of the ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo OLED enough as a graduate student laptop. With two screen to work with, your productivity will get a serious increase—trust us. It even has an anti-glare coating on the screen, allowing you always have the best screen quality, no matter where you’re working. The keyboard has a bit of a learning curve, but once you get used to it, you’ll never want to go back to a standard laptop again.
Get 6 free months of Amazon Prime with Student Beans
If you need even more suggestions for laptops that are perfect for graduate school and graduate students (along with great deals on graduate laptops), check out our comprehensive list here.
People Also Ask…
Which Laptops Are Best For Students?
It really comes down to what you’re using your student laptop for. Are you going to be streaming a lot of videos? Then a high-res screen is a must. Are the bulk of your assignments going to be done on your laptop? You’re going to want to have plenty of RAM to handle the workload. This requires research on your part, but if you’re looking for a good place to start choosing your student laptop, be sure to check out our ultimate laptop buying hub!
Are Chromebooks Good For College?
Chromebooks are a great student laptop choice for college students for a variety of reasons. They tend to be smaller in size, meaning it won’t weigh you down as you’re walking around campus. They are also generally more affordable than other laptops on the market, so if you’re on a budget, they’re worth looking at when buying your student laptop. Just don’t expect a lot of extra bells and whistles due to the lower price tag.
What Is The Best Laptop For Gaming & School?
If you’re looking for a student laptop that can handle gaming as well, there are certain brands you’re going to want to check out:
- Razer (Save up to 20%)
- Corsair (Save 15%)
These brands are both built for gaming, but they can easily handle anything you’d use as far as school goes. Gaming laptops tend to be more expensive since they have higher RAM and CPU, so tread carefully if you’re on a budget.
There’s also plenty of places that sell accessories to help make your student laptop more gaming-friendly, like HyperX and EKSA.
MacBook Or Windows For College?
This comes down to personal preference. Most students tend to choose a MacBook as their student laptop, as it’s the most popular choice and Apple has huge brand awareness. Art and design students tend to like how their software runs on MacBooks better than on a Windows laptop, too. However, for certain majors (or if you want to do any gaming while your in college), Windows is going to be the best bet. Just be sure to research what your curriculum is before you purchase your student laptop.
You should now feel sufficiently confident when it comes to student laptop shopping. Whichever one you pick, just make sure it checks off all the must-haves on your list. Hopefully this will be your student laptop for the next four years (or longer, if you take care of it!), so be sure to choose wisely. Good luck!
Need more shopping advice before you head back to school? Check out affordable dorm decor and where to buy it. And we have all your college dorm storage solutions right here.
You need so much more than just a good laptop — see our guide to everything you need to smash college life.
