Best College Laptops

Battle Of The Best College Laptops: Apple Or Dell?

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Walk around any college campus today, and you will see that many of the students have laptops. You might also notice that most of them seem to be made by either Apple or Dell. But just which are the best laptops for college use?

Apple laptops are certainly popular. But what do they offer? Apple have three different laptop lines: the MacBook, the MacBook Pro, and the MacBook Air, with standard prices from $999, $1199, and $999, respectively. However, college students can take advantage of the generous discounts available from Apple’s Education Store, so you needn’t pay as much as this.

The MacBook comes in only one model. It is white, has a 13.3″ display, 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB RAM, a 250GB hard drive, and up to 10 hours of battery life, all weighing in at 4.7 pounds. It is the best laptop computer for college students who just have to have an Apple, but are on a limited budget.

The MacBook Pro comes in six variations. All are made from sleek metal. The displays vary between 13.3″ and 17″, the processor between 2.4GHz and 2.66GHz, RAM is 4GB, the hard drive is between 250GB and 500GB, and battery life is up to 10 hours, and the weight is as little as 4.5 pounds up to 6.6 pounds for a 17″ model. Prices range from $1199 to over $2000. The MacBook Pro offers the college student the ultimate portable Apple experience, with the most options, but with prices to match.

The MacBook Air wins among the Apples when it comes to portability. It is super thin and weighs no more than 2.9 pounds. It comes in four versions. The display is 11.6″ or 13.3″, the processor is a 1.4GHz or 1.86GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, RAM is 2GB, instead of a hard drive there is 64GB, 128GB or 256GB of flash-based storage, and battery life is up to 5 hours of doing typical college work. Prices range from $999 up to $1599. The specifications are quite a bit lower than the similarly priced MacBook and MacBook Pro models. However, they are more than sufficient for the typical college work of word processing, emailing, and browsing the web. Where the MacBook Air really wins is in being so small and light, leaving the college student with plenty of spare carrying capacity for all those heavy textbooks.

For the college student on a real budget, Dell laptops are an excellent choice. The Inspiron 15 costs as little as $399, yet is a very capable model. You can stand out on campus by selecting a blue or a pink color. The base model has a competent Intel Celeron 2.20GHz processor, 2GB RAM, a 250GB hard drive, and a 15″ display. All in all, a solid choice for the student wishing to make her money go as far as possible.

Alternatively, if you want something small, highly portable, and even cheaper — though with lower specifications — the Inspiron Mini 10 Netbook is an excellent choice. Costing as little as $299, and weighing as little as 2.66 pounds, it is light on your wallet and light in your bookbag. It has a lowly, but energy efficient Intel Atom 1.66GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, and a hard drive of up to 160GB. Despite being the least capable laptop discussed here, it is the cheapest and lightest, and works well for carrying around campus, taking notes in lectures, and keeping up with emails and the web.

Note that all five of the laptop lines we’ve covered allow you to connect to your college’s wifi networks out of the box. No matter your budget and needs as a student, there is a laptop model to suit you. Even if you want to show off with a fashionable Apple, reasonably priced models are available. If you want the very best, Apple also has the model for you. And if you want the best value for money, check out Dell’s offerings.

This post continues our Best College Laptops 2010 series.

Choosing The Best Laptop For College

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This is a guest post by Sami Dee, a long time friend and reader.

One of the biggest purchases most college students will make before starting their college career is a new laptop computer. Finding the best laptop computer for college students can be a daunting task because there are so many different brands and models available to choose from.

Currently, one of the most popular laptops for college is the Macbook Pro. This laptop is fairly expensive starting at $1199 for a 13 inch model and $2299 for a 17 inch model. Compared to the price of a PC with similar specifications, you will be spending quite a bit more money. What you are paying for in a Macbook Pro is the Apple operating system (Apples do not run on Windows), the style, and the build quality.

One of the benefits of owning a Mac is that there are fewer viruses targeted at Macs. Another perk of a Macbook pro is that it is one of the most stylish laptops on the market and is sure to be impressive among the college crowd. Because the Macbook Pro is rather expensive and most college students are unable to afford it, Macbooks are a viable option. These laptops also run Apple’s operating system but do not have the same high price tag (starting at $999) and conversely do not have quite the same power and style as a Macbook Pro.

Apple’s other major offering, the Macbook Air, is a good choice only if it will not be your main computer. Starting at $999, the Macbook Air is built for portability and not heavy use. If you will be taking it to class every day and want something light to put in your backpack, it is a great option, but it will not have the performance that other laptops have and you may run into problems with the computer not having enough power. PCs (running mainly on Microsoft’s Windows operating system) still outsell Macs today and the primary advantages of PCs include lower prices than Macbooks for models with similar specifications and a larger variety in brand, model, size, and style.

Many users also still prefer to use Windows because it is the operating system they are most familiar with. Dell and HP are currently two of the best selling brands in PC laptops and have a similar line up of notebook computers. These product lines start with fairly inexpensive netbooks (computers with screen sizes usually under 12 inches and usually priced between $299 and $599).

Netbooks are fantastic for portability, but do not have the same power as many full sized laptops and are, as their name implies, most commonly used for surfing the internet. The best screen size in a laptop computer for college students who will be taking the machine to class every day is between 13 and 15 inches. These laptops provide for greater mobility while still offering higher performance. Specifications to look for in laptops include the newest processors (such as Intel Core i3, i5, and i7), at least 3 or 4 gigabytes of ram, and a hard drive of at least 320 gigabytes to store all your files over the next few years.

Overall, the best laptop for college students depends on the student who will be using it. For some users, power and performance is the number one concern, but for others it is portability. PCs generally offer the best value in terms of price compared to performance.

Another major concern among students is price. While most students will greatly enjoy a Macbook Pro and a 15 inch Macbook Pro will likely meet both style and performance concerns, the price may be an issue. In this case, it is time to look into a similarly configured PC for a lower price. Many PC makers are trying to keep up with Apple’s popularity and offer great alternatives that may be even better than a Macbook pro with a lower price.

The best place to start when hunting for a new laptop is by exploring the various PC manufacturer’s websites and comparing specifications with price. Every student is different, but there is sure to be a laptop on the market that is right for each one of them.