The Ultimate Laptop Buying Guide For Students

 I recently posted a best laptop roundup. But it was very 'generalized' list, it didn't cover all the budget and use case scenarios. Realistically, no one can cover every single budget and use case scenarios in a single post. It would be more like writing a book. So, in this post, I'll be targeting a specific user base, students. 

First, we need to categorize students based on their requirements/workloads. We can put students in following categories of users:

1. Light Users: They don't require a very high end system. All they need to do is make presentations, digitally document projects for printing, browse the internet, watch tutorials on YouTube or other educational sites. Examples of such students are: Literally any student who has not taken programming related course.
2. Moderate Users: They require slightly more powerful systems, but not high end ones. Example of such workloads are coding, web design, graphics design. These works can also be done on low end systems but these works require more reliable PC. You wouldn't want your PC to hang or crash in middle of a project.
3. Power Users: They work on heavy softwares like CAD, Game Engines, AI related works(DL, ML), 3D modeling and video editing students. Also if you are into gaming, you fall into this category.

Now we need to decide budget. If you read my post about best laptops of 2020 then you know that there's on laptop that I can recommend to everyone of you and end the post right here. Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is powerful enough to handle all these tasks with ease. But the problem is, not all of us can afford it. Specially students. So instead of recommending just one best candidate, I'll give you some options to choose from.

Best laptops for School students and non programming students(Light Users)

Since they are light users, any laptop will do. So they have a wide range of options, limited by their budget only. Being a light users, they can consider Chromebooks, Netbooks and 2in1 laptops as well. Light users can further be divided in more subcategories. So here is what you need.

Type 1: Windows is optional

As you know, smartphones are getting powerful enough to replace a PC for common day to day usages. But there are still some tasks that are faster and more convenient on laptops. For example, making presentations, managing blog, etc. These users don't require traditional Windows ecosystem, they just need something better than a smartphone/tablet. Such users can consider Chromebooks, 2-in-1 laptops and Macbook. 

Type 2: I need a Windows PC

If you say students, people generally assume school and college/university students. But there is one more category of students, the ones preparing for specific jobs. Today, everything is going digital, so many jobs require some sort of Computer literacy, nothing advanced just enough to be able to operate a PC, type something and use some common softwares. So people are joining institutes just to learn computer basics. Those basic courses usually consist of unnecessary theories and lots of practice on a PC to lengthen the course duration to justify the fee. If you have your own PC then you can just join a 1 month crash course to save money and practice on your own time.

These users will be okay with any Windows laptop having atleast 4GB RAM. But I strongly recommend picking something with 8GB RAM and SSD for long term usage. Something like this.

Best laptops for programming students(Moderate users)

I was BCA and MCA student. So I can assure you that if you lack money, you can complete your education with a Dual core processor and 4GB RAM. In fact, over 90% of my batch mates actually had laptops with just dual core processors and 4GB RAM. But I recommend getting slightly more powerful system if the budget allows it. Latest IDEs can really bring such systems to its knees while working on some large projects. And if you are learning App development and MATLAB then you definitely need more than 4GB. 

So, what should you look for if you are a programming student? Look for a laptop that comes with

• Latest Quad core processor(Ryzen 5 or Intel i5 10th/11th gen)
• Atleast 8GB RAM
• SSD Preferred 
• 1080p IPS display if you are into graphics designing
• Dedicated GPU is optional but beneficial
  
• Rest are personal preferences

My personal pick Asus Vivobook.

Best laptops for Students in research fields like Deep Learning, Machine Learning, AI and other Heavy Applications (Heavy Users)

These works require high end systems. There are some 'workstation' laptops designed specifically for these tasks but they tend to so costly that building a desktop makes more sense. But, if for some reason you can't sacrifice portability then your best bet is gaming laptops. A powerful gaming PC can handle all sorts of workloads if picked carefully. Now the question is, what kind of gaming laptop you should look for? Well it is a little complicated. It depends on what software you're planning to use. But summarizing minimum and recommended system requirements of various softwares, here is what you should consider

• Minimum Quad Core processors, but 8 core is recommended
• Minimun 8GB RAM but 16GB or more is recommended
• SSD Mandatory(good thing that gaming laptops are more upgradable than regular laptops, so if the laptop you like comes with just HDD, there's probably a M.2 slot for SSD) 
• Dedicated GPU with atleast 4GB VRAM is a must
  
• IPS display is preferred, specially if you're considering video editing and 3D modeling too

My personal pick Asus Zephyrus G14.

If you like to see more options, read my post on best laptops of 2020. If this post was helpful to you, consider purchasing from Amazon affiliate links.