Best Laptop for College?

Alexmer
Fri, 02 Jan 2015 21:38:02 +0000

I’m assuming OP has already gotten a laptop but for other people who are looking at this thread for themselves:

The most popular among college freshmen, Macbooks, are expensive (the most basic ones will run you over $1000). The nice thing about them isn’t their speed (they are the worst laptop in terms of price/speed ratio), but rather how Apple uses parts tailored for their products as well as aluminum instead of plastic. This, along with how the OS is so picky about programs that it keeps registries mostly clear, leads to the sort of longevity that is rare (perhaps nonexistent) among Windows laptops. They are likely to last you your entire undergraduate career and beyond if you use common sense. Also, the battery life and weight are exceptional. If you can afford it and don’t need much processing power (as in you don’t mind a browser streaming Netflix using 40-80% of your CPU) then they’re fine laptops. Definitely recommend warranties on those.

If you’re looking for a cheaper laptop or a more powerful laptop (or both), then look at the Windows ones. I recommend Lenovo, especially their Thinkpad for a cheap option. You need to be more careful (be wary of viruses, overheating your computer, downloading and deleting a bunch of software and clogging the registries) to keep it going through college but it’s very doable. To bring down the price more avoid the touchschreens; they aren’t particularly useful.

Important: forget about “style” when it comes to laptops from college. Most of you will already be drowning in debt already, no need to make it worse. Only get what you can reasonably afford.