10 Best Laptops for College Students Under $500 in 2024

Below we have enlisted the best laptops for college students under $500. We have hunted down the best price-friendly and feature-rich laptops that you’d definitely look at before you finalize the best for yourself.

We understand and know the best laptop as a college student you can get should be powerful enough to let you cover everything that you want to perform with your laptop, and this could include covering up your college assignments and projects, have power capacity to get you by classes, i.e., lasts a good battery life, have a system build enough which works excellently well with upcoming applications and programs that you might need on your working laptops.

As a student, you know your laptop will deal with the bulk of coursework and research paper.

Laptops that do not have enough storage or a good CPU can give you slow performance or could make you wait as you lookup for the files and assignments that you need on the spot.

And to be very honest, you want your laptop to perform everything that your smartphone can, if not well, then at least equal.

To have a fast laptop/ computer hasn’t been cheaper. A solid computer is necessary when you have an app, live for online courses, and interact with professors and classmates online.

How to Know Which Laptop to Buy for college?

There are many choices present in the market.

These choices are equally good, and some even come with exciting offers and extended warranties (which, as a student, we recommend you should definitely get as they cover parts to repair and labor). Please scroll down to our lists of laptops for your school year.

Below we are describing specifications for your college laptop must-have. 

What are the main features to look for when buying a Laptop?

1. Excellent Battery life– Should last your entire day.

2. Price friendly/ under budget– Getting the laptop should not exclude your budget. Even on a low budget, you can get a laptop that fulfills all your requirements as a student. There are even some laptops with lower prices but have amazing specs for a working laptop.

3. Display – For most students, 14 inches to 15 inches screen is ideal. Some even prefer to have a much more compact laptop with a 13 or 12.4 inches screen. Usually, a lower inches screen would give you a much more compact computer design, directly making the laptop lesser in size and lighter in weight.

If screen size matters to you, make a note- the increase in the laptop screen will maximize your backpack and the weight burden.

Getting the ideal display size again would depend on your tolerance level.

4. Processor- A fast computer is essential for productivity applications. A fast processing computer is most useful when multitasking.

If the laptop’s performance ranks high in your checklist of getting the ideal laptop, you should reserve your serious thought to looking up the CPU performance of the computer.

Choose between Intel Core i5 or Core i7 CPU, Or to have an AMD Ryzen 5 or 7, whichever is giving you the most oomph.

5. RAM- While some of you care more about the design, display, price, and storage features of a laptop, some students are more into the storage and tech specifications of the computer.

Running specific programs and applications may require a good RAM space. We have also enlisted these laptops with good RAM below.

6. Storage- Data storage on hard drives or a cloud gets saved through the computer. If you know you are going to have a bulk data store on your laptop, make sure you get the one that has the storage space as per your needs.

7. Intelligent and practical Security features- Security feature protects data and would defend your (students) identity and personal information. Some laptops come with preinstalled biometric systems. Some come with a webcam privacy switch.

8. Entertainment- College students, like anyone else, use their laptops for gaming, streaming TV series or movies, surfing the web, or just being present over social media.

A computer you are getting should perform these tasks and the functions you need for your college and project work. You can also opt for Multimedia laptops or Chromebooks for this function.

9. Design- Let’s be truthful here, and face the elephant in the room, there are not too great-looking laptops you can get for a lower price.

Luckily, there are a couple of convertible laptops, Chromebooks, notebooks, and even newer laptops that have come out with the most fantastic designs. You can even get them for a fair price.

You could very well opt for a convertible notebook that gets converted into a tablet. Some of the old-fashioned designed laptops are low-budget friendly. You can overlook the design requirement if you are under a tight budget.

10. Check Warranty- Laptop comes with Warranty. Almost all laptops come with a warranty; some are backed by at least a one-year warranty on parts and labor. If you are being offered extended warranties, they are definitely worth getting.  

As you have gathered some ideas of what you should actually be looking for in an ideal laptop for college use. You can now refer to our list of best laptops for college students and decide the one you prefer the most. 

Best Laptops for College Students To Buy In

By now, you have gained some idea, how we are trying to rank out laptops (based on the list given above)

Note- we have only included the well-reported laptops and have gained higher ratings from high-quality customers sites such as CNET, PC Mag, Laptop Mag, etc.

1. Acer Aspire 5 A515- 55

The new Acer Aspire 5 A515-55 packs in enough power for you to tackle all your daily tasks.

It is the best laptop choice for a student due to minor compromises and just enough storage drive and battery life. Ace Aspire 5 A515- 55 gives out multi-core performance and an impressive array of posts making up for the shortcomings and with an affordable price of just $500(on amazon).

Specifications-

• Processor- Intel Core i5- 10210U
• Display- 15.6 inches
• GPU- Intel HD Graphics 620
• RAM- 8GB DDR4
• Storage- 256GB SSD
• OS- Windows 10
• Battery Life- up to 9.5 Hours
• Weight- 3.75 pounds.
• Webcam- 720p
• Biometrics- Fingerprint Reader.

Reasons to Buy- 10th generation processor, long-lasting battery, Brilliant display, WI-FI 6 compatible, sleek-looking, solid single and multi-core performance. 

Reasons to Avoid- Restricted Storage Capacity, no memory card reader. 

2. HP Chromebook x360 14C

HP Chromebook x360 14C neatly wins the best laptop for students with the right cost of $480. It is a sleek silver-grey with four slash HP logos in Chrome as the design.

With the dimensions 0.7 x 12.8x 8.6 inches, they make it the most elegant and not too beefy, which easily slides into a backpack. 

What sets this laptop back is its weight. It is a pound heavier than the 14 inches Asus Chromebook flip C236. 

Its backlit keyboard makes it stand out. Its typing feel is pleasantly crisp. 

You can easily open a dozen browser tabs and even play youtube videos, and its performance stays uncompromised. The Chromebook has minimal internal storage, but boost-up time is speedy. 

Its suite works perfectly well with Google’s suite of productivity products- Gmail, Sheets, Docs. It is fantastic for web conferencing and applications like Zoom, Google Meers, Google Hangouts, and Microsoft teams.

Specifications-

• Display- 12 inches.
• CPU- Intel Core i3- 101110U
• RAM- 8 GB DDR4- 2666 SDRAM
• Storage- 64GB eMMC
• Tech- WI-FI 6
• Battery life- 13.5 hours.
• Webcam- HD Camera

Reasons to Buy- elegant design, backlit keyboard, fingerprint reader, webcam security, WI-FI 6.

Reasons to Avoid- eMMC flash instead of SSD storage, weights more, lesser screen brightness. 

3. Lenovo Ideapad Chromebook Flex 5 2-in-1

 

Lenovo Chromebook flex five isn’t the first two in one Chromebook. It is produced to be a great educational model similar to the Chromebook 500e. The Chromebook is speedy and available at a great affordable price. 

It has a 360-degree flex hinge that allows you to hold the lid as the chassis back. That is, you can use your laptop as a tablet. It has a full HD screen with the processor of choice of i3 or i5 core intel. You can also choose whether you want a 4GB ram or 8 GB ram. For a student, 8 GB is perfect. 

Specifications- 

• Processor- AMD Ryzen 5 4500U
• Display- 14 inches full HD
• GPU- AMD Radeon Graphics
• RAM- 16 GB
• Storage- 256GB SSD
• Battery Life- best battery life of 10 hours

Reasons to Buy- Good Ram, good for casual gaming, active pen supports, excellent battery life, webcam privacy shutter.

Reasons to Avoid- No Wi-Fi 6 support, not too great acoustic output. 

4. Asus Vivobook 15

Known to be the best budget laptop for college students, Asus Vivoboos 15 is affordable at the lowest price of $400. It has an intel core i3-004G1 model with 8GB RAM and 128 GB SSD storage.

If you can spare $200 more within your budget, you might want to look at another variant of Asus Vivobook with an Intel i5 1035G1 processor and 512GB SSD.

You can also opt for another variant of the Asus Vivobook that comes with an AMD option with a Ryzen 7 3700U processor and 512GB of storage for only $650.

There’s plenty that you can do with Vivobook 15. It is not only the best performing laptop for an excellent value of rice, but it is also the excellent laptop all around, coming with a great feature set. It is ideal for everyday use for a student. 

Specifications-

• Processor- AMD Ryzen 3-3200U
• Display- 15.6 inches Full HD (1920 x 1080)
• GPU- AMD Radeon Vega 3
• RAM- 16 GB
• Storage- 256 GB SSD
• Battery life- up to 9 hours.

Reasons to Buy- Powerful processor, Vega 3 GPU supports Light gaming, good Display, good battery, decent RAM. 

Reasons to Avoid– Weaker storage support, No nVM Support. 

5. Lenovo IdeaPad 3i 14 inch

Getting Laptops is confusing enough when manufacturers offer intel and AMD powered options. Similar is the case with Lenovo Ideapad series.

While Lenovo also has the same feature set with different processors, displays, and SRAM options, it quickly could get very confusing to select for yourself.

But, if you know what feature set you are looking for in a laptop, deciding the final laptop for yourself can be cut short.

To say, if your focus point is the price \value of the computer getting Lenovo Ideapad 3i 14 inches should be it for you, but if your focus point is the day-to0day performance or the multimedia needs of the laptop, you might want to look at Lenovo Ideapad 3i variants. 

Specifications-

• Display- 14 inches.
• CPU- Intel core i3- 1004G1
• RAM- 4GB RAM
• Storage- 128GB SSD
• Weight- 3.2 pounds.
• Dimensions- 327x 241x 19.9.
• Webcam- 0.3mp.

Reasons to Buy- Stylish and well made, brilliant for day-to-day tasks and performance, good keyboard and trackpad.

Reasons to Avoid- Short battery life, 0.3mp webcam. No USB.

6. Microsoft Surface Go

 

Coming with $499 at Amazon, Microsoft Surface Go might not be the best feature-rich amongst the best laptops for college students. But it is a well-engineered, well-designed, lightweight, and mediocre performance laptop that for sure wouldn’t break your bank. 

It is a petite 12.4-inch display laptop. Its design includes an aluminum display lid and polycarbonate base coming with the three colors of; ice blue, sandstone, and platinum. 

Get it if you want the flexibility and portability of a tablet. The laptop can be attached and detached from the keyboard. It is a unique device for you if you love working with a smaller laptop and is perfect for carrying around campus. 

Specifications-

• Processor- Intel Core i5 1035G1, 3.6 GHZ CPU Speed.
• Display- 12.45 inches (1536 x 1024)
• GPU- Intel HD Graphics 615 (Integrated)RAM- 8GB
• OS- Windows 10
• Storage- 123GB SSD
• Weight- 1.20 pounds.
• Battery Life- Up to 9 hours.
• Ports- USB type A and USB type C.

Reasons to Buy- Dual Shooter, TPM 2.0 Security Chip, 8GB RAM, Ultrafast Storage, brilliant battery life. 

Reasons to Avoid- Small Display Screen, has 7th Gen processor which isn’t future proof. But, if you could get past these two down points, it Is a fantastic choice. 

7. Lenovo Ideapad S145

Lenovo Ideapad S145 has a clean and modern look. It has a 180-degree hinge which is perfect for viewing angle. A Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution gives you clarity and LED backing provides a thinner and more energy-saving screen.

Its keyboard is built for more extended experience for typing, which makes it perfect for finishing up assignments and research papers that take long hours of working.

The performance of the Ideapad s14 is equipped with AMD Ryzen 3500 processor, which has four cores. The processor is rated for 15we and based on 12 nm technology, which is too mainstream.

The laptop is efficient for everyday general use. It has excellent ratings and stands at an over average position in its class of IdeaPad series.

It could be used for casual gaming. Speakers are loud enough for a medium-sized room.

Specifications-

• Processor- AMD A6- 9225
• GPU- AMD Radeon R4
• RAM- 16GB
• Storage- 123GB SSD + 1TB HDD
• OS- Windows 10
• Battery life- upto 5.5 hours.
• Weight- 3 pounds.

Reasons to Buy- Amazing processor, good storage space, Ergonomic Keyboard, Portable.

Reasons to Avoid– low-resolution Display, Basic Laptop design, the battery isn’t great.

8. Dell Inspiron 5593

Dell Inspiron is a little pricey and is over the budget of $600. But it is an excellent laptop with the overall best performance.

It could be a great purchase If you have a lot of use for it. It could be an ideal laptop for a student who might want to use it for word processing or sharing educational videos.

Its i5 Core processor wouldn’t give you difficulty when working with video editors and applications.

Dell Inspiron 5593’s i5 intel processor is a solid selling point. Its 10th generation makes its battery life longer and gives you longer working hours.

It is perfect for Streaming 4k videos. It is fast and has reliable connectivity. The laptop has photo masking and video filtering. It works best for large files and creative programs.

Specifications-

• Processor- Intel Core i5- 1035G1
• GPU- Intel HD Graphics.
• RAM- 8 GB.
• Storage- 256GB SSD.
• Display- 15.6 inches FHD (1920 x 1080)
• OS- window 10 Home
• Battery life- up to 6 hours.
• Keyboard- BackLit keyboard

Reasons to Buy- 10th generation processor. Expandable RAM, Interactive OS, a good set of ports. Slimmer aesthetics.

Reasons to Avoid- Not too extraordinary battery life, No Wi-FI 6 support.

9. Samsung Chromebook 4

Samsung’s Chromebook is the cheapest Chromebook that you would get. The Chromebook has curved edges and comes in a silver hue. Their Chromebook looks much like the Mac book.

It comes with Intel 3000N processor and a solid aluminium chassis. The device boasts a solid battery life. The battery gives the students room for multitasking.

If you need a good keyboard for typing, it is good to go for the students.

Specifications:  

• CPU: Intel Celeron 3000N
• GPU: Intel UHD 600
• RAM: 4GB
• Storage: 32GB
• Display: 11.6-inch, 1366 x 768
• Size: 11.33 x 7.96 x 0.66 inches
• Weight: 2.6 pounds

Reasons to Buy: It gives a longer battery life and is lighter than most of the competitors.

Reasons to avoid: Audio quality isn’t par to quality.

Final Words

We hope the article has helped you come to a conclusion which laptop is best for your college life. Above enlisted Laptops can be used for both in-person classes and online classes, they work amazingly well for both. 

If you have questions regarding the choice of laptops or regarding the article, do not hesitate to leave them in the comment section. We are always ready to answer your questions and help.

Let us know in the comments your recommendations for the best laptop for college. 

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