r/LaptopForStudent

Im starting college this fall 2026 as a biology major.
I have a budget of 1000 and need a laptop that will be sufficient for many years, atleast 5+. At home, I have a regular pc that I occasionally use and a iPad that I intend to use to hand write notes in college

My criteria:
-under 1000
-can last for atleast 5 yrs
-can buy used aswell
-Mac/windows
-atleast 5hrs or more of battery life

Nice to have:
-OLED screen
-120hz+
-powerhouse for light gaming

I’m starting collage this fall and I can’t figure out what laptop to buy. I’ve been looking at Dells but I’m not sure. I’m going to be taking a lot of notes so I’ll need a fair bit of storage. I’ll be using it everyday. I would perfect something with a good battery life but if I have to charge it a little more often it’s not a huge deal. I want it to last me at least 4 years, hopefully more. I’m trying to stay under $2000 USD.

I’m stumped on what specs I’ll need for my laptop going into college as a freshman. I’ll be in mechanical engineering not sure what subdivision yet. Ideally I want a laptop that’s not so bulky and good battery life, but can still run majority of programs I may need. I’ve been looking at laptops with cpus like the intel core ultra 5 226v, core ultra 7 256v, and core ultra 9 288v, just wondering if anyone has experience with these specs or if anyone has recommendations for a laptop. The specific laptop I’ve been looking at is the Acer Aspire 14 Ai which has any of the 3 cpus mentioned above, although no dedicated gpu I think the IGPU’s are well enough to run majority of programs?

Im a bioengineering major looking for a laptop that can handle CAD, Fusion360, MITK, and heavy datasets (for stats) as that’s what my current laptop is currently struggling with. So far I’ve heard that 32 GB RAM 1-2 TB, and special graphics(?) is what I need. I found 3 options but can someone tell me if these are good or can I do better?

1. Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 (32GB RAM, 2TB, NVIDIA T1200) (this one is the cheapest so far, but the model I would get is refurbished, so idk how much that affects performance)

2. Lenovo Legion 5 (32GB RAM, 1TB, AMD Ryzen 7)

3. The same Lenovo legion 5 but with 2TB instead of 1 for an extra $130 CAD

I'm helping a friend choose a laptop for university and we’re not 100% sure 🤔

She’s starting a marketing degree next year and needs a laptop. Her use case won’t be very demanding: mostly office work, browsing, assignments, and some light multitasking.

She’s considering the MacBook Neo because she likes that it’s small, lightweight, and has good battery life. From what we’ve seen, it should be smooth enough for this kind of basic usage.

That said, we’re aware of some limitations:

• Few ports
• Limited storage (although she could rely on cloud/external drives)
• 8GB RAM with no upgrade option

In theory, it seems like it should be fine for basic use and very portable.

Does anyone here own it or have experience with it?
Would you recommend it for a marketing student, or is it better to go for something like a MacBook Air or a Windows laptop?

Any advice or experiences would be really appreciated 🙏

coding, mainly data analyst/science. currently in a learning phase.

Ideapad slim 3 15ahp10

ryzen 7 8840hs, 16gb ram(soldered), 512gb, wuxga ips 60hz,

Back in the days, I don’t even have a laptop. Everyone goes to the computer labs. Well I know things have change . However in my work , I just use the laptop to connect to the compute farm. Strictly speaking , you don’t need high end laptop as a computer engineer.

Now back to the college situation. I assume you want to prioritize portability and efficiency? Is there a need for dgpu? Is high end ultra book not suitable for college?

Do you really need run compute intensive sw on your laptop, especially in freshman year for EE maior?

Kiddo is going to college in a year, and his laptop is old. Thinking of buying a new one now, or replace the current laptop battery / upgrade ssd to keep it alive for another year or two. The current laptop have i5 10th gen, 16gb ram.

Hello I’m looking for laptop recommendations for someone who is specifically a mechanical engineering major. I know the “basic requirements” for cad are 32gb of ram, ssd storage, i7 processor, and I don’t know the exact gpu needed to run cad software. My question is do I need to run cad software during my first two years of college or can I get away with just buying a MacBook Neo or Air for now and then buying a windows laptop in the future to run cad software. In the case that I do need a windows laptop what are good laptops that can run cad software for $2-3k. If I were to get a windows laptop now I’d get the thinkpad p16 but I don’t want to spend all that money right now if I don’t have to. I’m sorry if it’s hard to understand what I wrote but thank you if you took the time out of your day to read and reply.

Hello everyone so I’m an incoming freshman and I want to become a graphic designer along with a photographer!! I was wondering if anyone could help me pick the best computer for my college courses! I would prefer for it to be under $700 without tax BUT I’m completely okay with used or new laptops!! Any help appreciated thank you!!