Best College Laptops

Saving Money On A College Laptop

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So you need a laptop, but you’re a little low on cash. You’re not alone. Over 55 million college students buy laptops each year, though, and with a little advice on the best value laptops, you can afford one no matter what your budget.

Try to avoid purchasing the cheapest laptop you can find. You don’t want to end up with something that is low quality or wont function well. Processing speed, RAM and Hard Drive space are all essential aspects to consider. What follows is a list of the best college laptops around for the money.

ASUS A52F-X3 15.6-inch

For as little as $550, this laptop packs a lot in. The medium speed Intel dual core i3-350M processor and 4GB of RAM provides average to good performance. It isn’t very compact, and its built in web-cam has low resolution, however with a dual layer DVD burner, a 320GB hard drive, and a 15.6-inch display, you can’t go wrong for the price.

HP G62t

Another laptop with a 15.6 inch display, athis may be one of the best budget choices available right now. With a 500gb 7200 rpm hard drive, and 4GB of RAM, it can handle all your email, web browsing and media playing with ease. Gamers should look elsewhere, however. Its graphics card can’t handle anything visually intense. But when the price is 600 dollars, it provides exceptional function for what you will pay.

HP G42-240

 One of the downsides of many budget laptops is their unwieldy size. While the thickness of this laptop can’t compete with some of the more expensive compact laptops, with a 13.5×9 inch footprint and weighing less than 5 pounds, it is more portable than others. Contains an AMD Turion II P520 dual core processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 320GB, 7200 rpm hard drive. The interfact design takes a bit of getting used to, but you can’t beat the price, at as little as $550.

Samsung R780

A notebook in the slightly higher price range of 800 dollars, the Samsung R780 is beautifully designed, and its 1GB nVidia graphics card can handle even graphics heavy gaming. Its large17.3-inch display makes it a bit heavy to carry to class, but with the weight you get an Intel dual core with 2.26 GHz speed and 8 GB of RAM.

Dell XPS 15

Dell is a popular choice for many students due to their comprehensive technical support. The XPS 15 contains 2.4 GHz Intel quad core, 4GB of RAM and 500GB 7500 rpm hard drive, as well as the nVidia GeForce GT 420M 1GB graphics card. If you can afford it and don’t mind the 5.9-6.4 lbs of weight, it’s well worth the 800 dollars. If the prices still seem a bit steep for you, you can try to find a refurbished laptop in this range. Refurbished items usually come with a full guarantee, and work just as well as new ones, sometimes for a price as low as $300.

With budget laptop options improving constantly, whatever the state of their pocketbook, every college student can afford a good quality laptop this year.

Best Laptop Buys For College

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There are many things a college student such as yourself worries about these days. Money, relationships, parents, and homework all can cause massive headaches. One thing that I believe a you shouldn’t have to stress about is finding the best value laptops for your budget.

When you buy a laptop for college, I would look at three things: price, size/weight, and RAM/Processor speed. Higher RAM lets you run more programs at once. A faster processor makes your laptop run faster.

If you are someone who is very mobile and doesn’t play video games or use Photoshop, a netbook is best for you. They usually cost about $200-500, include 1 gigabyte of RAM, and have an 10 inch screen. They usually weigh about 2 pounds, have about 5 hours of battery life, and have a smaller keyboard than normal laptops, which can be uncomfortable for long periods of typing. I would recommend testing a netbook in a store before buying it to make sure its keyboard and screen size are right for you. A netbook is best for people who only run a few programs at once and spend most of their time on the Internet and typing up homework and is one of the best laptop buys for someone who doesn’t have a lot of money to spend.

If you need some more power or a bigger screen but don’t want to lug around a giant laptop everywhere, I would recommend a laptop with a 13 inch screen. Their prices vary widely, but an average one will cost you from $200-700. They usually include 2-4 gigabytes of RAM and are about 4 pounds. Their battery usually lasts 4-5 hours. They have enough power to play most games and run many programs at once, but are also portable enough to bring with you wherever you go. These are among the top college laptops available on the market.

If you are a hardcore gamer or use video editing or graphics editing programs, you’ll need a laptop with more power. I recommend a laptop with a 15 inch or 17 inch screen. They cost from $400-1500 and include 4 gigabytes of RAM. They usually weigh around 6 pounds and offer about 3 hours of battery life. I would not recommend these laptops unless you need the computing power that they give you.

Buying a laptop may sound daunting, but it is easy if you know what you are doing. Before you buy one, do some research on the Internet. Read customer and expert reviews, go to the product’s website, and see what other people say about a laptop. Ask your friends what laptops they have. With enough information, you’ll do fine buying a laptop.

More tips for saving money on a laptop:
• Buy programs like Microsoft Office from your college’s store. They offer deep discounts!
• I know this sounds counterintuitive, but get the service contract/extended warranty. Computers get viruses, overheat, and get dropped.
• Go to sourceforge.org or search the Internet for open source software. It’s free and can be just as good as paid programs!