GoKawiilCollege laptops don’t have to be embarrassing. Nor do they have to be overly expensive. There are a lot of great, well-designed laptops for college students that combine long battery life, easy portability, and the performance needed for everyday coursework.
In my decade-plus of reviewing laptops, I’ve tested hundreds of models. If someone asked me what to buy for a college student, these are the ones I’d suggest.
Be sure to check out our other computing guides, including the Best Laptops, Best Budget Laptops, Best MacBooks, Best Windows Laptops, Best Gaming Laptops, Best Chromebooks, and Best Laptop Bags.
Updated July 2026: I’ve added the HP OmniBook 3 and Dell 14 Plus as picks, and the Dell 14S as an honorable mention. I’ve also removed some options that have become too expensive after price increases.
The Best Overall College Laptop
The MacBook Air (9/10, WIRED Recommends) is my choice for best overall laptop for everyone. But college students have specific needs—and often, specific budgets. In addition to being affordable, a college student’s laptop should be lightweight and easy to carry around. The MacBook Neo (7/10, WIRED Recommends) fits the bill perfectly. It’s only 2.7 pounds and starts at just $699. It also has a smaller display, which helps it fit on those tiny lecture-hall desks. What makes the MacBook Neo special, however, is its lack of compromise around quality. It’s a gorgeous piece of hardware, with fun colors, an excellent trackpad, a beautiful display, and that Apple “it” factor. I recommend the $699 model, which gets you twice the storage and a Touch ID fingerprint reader.
Of course, this isn’t a laptop without downsides. Apple invested its efforts in the front-of-screen experience, but made cuts to performance, ports, and memory to keep costs low. The limitation of 8 GB of memory is my biggest sticking point with this device; it means you’ll need to be mindful of how many applications, tabs, and background tasks you have running at once. Also, ghe Neo can connect to only one external display at a time.
The Best Windows Alternative
Laptop pricing has skyrocketed over the past few months, which has made it harder to recommend some of the flashier new laptops of the year. Fortunately, many really great laptops from 2025 are still available to buy. The Dell 14 Plus is a great example. It’s one of the few laptops you can get for less than $1,000 that doesn’t force you to make serious compromises. It’s not the world’s prettiest device, but the display is surprisingly sharp, bright, and colorful. The computer’s touchpad and keyboard are both high-quality, and it has tons of ports.
The newer Dell 14S came out more recently with the intention to replace the 14 Plus. The new model comes with an OLED display and superb battery life. While it’s a solid option (see Other Laptops to Consider, below), it starts at a pricey $1,350, and the screen has a lower resolution. For a college student, the Dell 14 Plus is the better buy right now.
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