Although smartphones and tablets are now the most common and popular tools among students, in order to study the subjects of high school, high school or university courses properly, a laptop is practically irreplaceable, given that many programs and services are decidedly simpler and more comfortable to use when there is a monitor of adequate size and a physical keyboard to write on.
Choosing a student notebook can be more difficult than you think, since students need a device with precise requirements to be able to use it every day without problems. In this guide we will show you the characteristics that a good student laptop must have and we will present the inevitable Buying Guide, so that you can buy the best products online and have a reliable yardstick when buying in stores or shopping malls.
Choose the laptop for study
Student notebooks must have precise characteristics, so that they can effectively replace a desktop desktop computer (which can only be used at home in the bedroom) for the execution of all programs and to better manage all the sites that can be viewed during the study.
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Features for a good notebook
A good laptop suitable for students of all classes (from middle school to university studies) must have the following characteristics:
- Weight: in order to be easily transported from home to the place of study (and vice versa), the notebook must be as light as possible. The ideal weight is between 1 kg and 2 kg, so as not to strain while moving (even in the carrying bag).
- Monitor: in order to effectively replace a desktop PC without having to sacrifice your eyes with the size of the tablet, we recommend that you focus only on models with a 14-inch or 15-inch display. We avoid larger displays, as they tend to be much heavier and more inconvenient to carry.
- Battery: this aspect is often underestimated, but if we focus on models with the Windows 10 operating system, the battery must last at least 3-4 hours in all conditions of use. By focusing on the MacBook we will have a much higher autonomy (even over 6 hours).
- Keyboard: the keyboard must be comfortable to press and with the keys well spaced (a lot also depends on the size of our fingers and hands). The presence of the numeric keypad helps a lot if we often use numbers and mathematical operations, but on many models it is now integrated into the standard keys.
- webcam: the presence of a webcam integrated in the body of the monitor is essential, since we will often have to contact friends and relatives especially if we are off-site university students.
- Processor: to be able to run all the programs and open the browser tabs necessary to study, we only focus on laptops that have a CPU with at least 4 cores. We can find you processors with 4 physical cores (to be preferred) and processors with 2 physical cores and 4 virtual cores (to be chosen only if we want to save money).
- RAM memory: we do not consider laptops with less than 8 GB of RAM; more RAM have greater fluidity we will have when we open multiple programs or browser tabs simultaneously.
- Internal memory: to have a fast and snappy laptop we focus only on models that have an SSD as the main drive (often in version M.2); let’s avoid models with mechanical disks, now too slow and obsolete for a modern laptop.
- Video Card: all modern processors have the integrated video chip inside them, more than enough to support the graphic effects of the operating system and to provide 3D acceleration in web browsers and programs normally used for the study. Since we don’t have to play with this laptop, let’s be satisfied with the integrated solution, so that we also have less heat to dissipate and less autonomy problems.
- Connections: in order to connect the laptop to all wireless networks and wireless devices, make sure that the Wi-Fi module (preferably Dual Band) and the Bluetooth module are present, so that you can connect your smartphone or a pair of wireless headphones.
- Ports: at least 2 USB ports must always be present (preferably USB 3.0 or later), as well as the Ethernet port and an HDMI port (in order to connect a larger monitor). We try to prefer models that have a Jack headphone output, so you can connect headphones or wired earphones at any time.
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As we have noticed, we no longer report the presence of the burner, which is slowly falling into disuse especially on lighter and thinner notebooks: if it is present it can be useful for reading CDs or DVDs, but if it is not present we will have an extremely light laptop and compact to which we can connect a USB CD / DVD burner (€ 19) or a USB Blu-ray burner (€ 154) if necessary.
Some laptops recommended for students
After seeing together the characteristics that a good student notebook must have, let’s see together the models that we can buy on Amazon, the famous e-commerce site with a 2-year warranty and made simple and immediate in case of problems or malfunctions.
LHMZNIY Notebook
Directly from China one of the cheapest and most interesting notebook models, given that it provides a 15.6-inch FullHD IPS display, Intel Atom X5-E8000 processor, 4 GB of RAM, 128 GB of SSD, a USB 3.0 port, 2 ports USB 2.0, an HDMI port, an Ethernet port, an integrated webcam and a Windows 10 operating system.
We can view this laptop from here -> LHMZNIY Notebook Computer (€ 249).
CHUWI AeroBook Ultrabook
If we are looking for a very compact and light notebook we cannot miss the CHUWI AeroBook Ultrabook, which features a 14.1-inch FullHD IPS screen, Intel processor, 8GB of RAM, 256GB of internal SSD memory, weight of 1.26 kg and Windows 10 operating system.
We can view this laptop from here -> CHUWI AeroBook Ultrabook (390 €).
Asus Vivobook Silver
If we are looking for a nice branded laptop we can focus onAsus Vivobook Silver, which boasts a 15.6-inch display, a 2.3ghz Intel Core i3 processor, 8GB DDR4 RAM, 48GB SSD, integrated HD Graphics 620 graphics, HDMI port, 3 USB ports, integrated DVD burner, Wi-Fi module / Bluetooth and Windows 10 Pro operating system.
We can view this laptop from here -> Asus Vivobook Silver (419 €).
HP G7
One of the most powerful and practical laptops we can buy for the studio is theHP G7, boasting an anti-glare 15.6-inch LED display, 3.7 GHz Intel Core i5 8265U processor, 8 GB DDR4 RAM, 250 GB internal memory with M.2 SSD, 500 GB HDD secondary disk, DVD burner, module Wi-Fi, Bluetooth module, integrated webcam, active license for Office Pro 2019 and Windows 10 operating system.
We can view this laptop from here -> HP G7 (589 €).
Apple MacBook Air
If we want to focus on an Apple MacBook for studies, we recommend that you focus on MacBook Air, which features a 13.3-inch Retina display with True Tone technology, Intel Core i5 processor, Intel UHD Graphics 617 integrated video card, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, Touch ID authentication system, Speakers with a stereo sound and MacOS operating system.
We can view this laptop from here -> Apple MacBook Air (€ 1314).
Conclusions
Choosing a laptop for school students or for university studies is not at all easy, since buying with your eyes closed will definitely re-emerge a defect that will make using the laptop quite tiring and frustrating during your studies. With the advice shown and the models seen in this guide we will be perfectly able to choose our new laptop for personal studies or for our children to study.
If, on the other hand, we would like to recycle an old, still working laptop, we advise you to refurbish it by reading the tips in our guides Get the old laptop from a few years back fast is Add RAM to the laptop and change the disk to improve and renew it.
To buy a laptop suitable for all uses, we can read the tips in our article Guide to buying a laptop to avoid mistakes.