3 Things You Should Consider When Buying a Laptop for College

A good laptop is absolutely essential if you’re a college student. The quality of your laptop will affect what kind of work you can do and how well you can do it. Students usually have restrictions when it comes to the kind of device that they can buy, which makes buying more difficult. But even if you’re strapped for cash, it’s still possible to get a great device that will get you through your next semester without a problem. Here are some of the things you should consider when buying a laptop as a college student.

Your Budget

If you’re the one buying the laptop, then there’s a strong chance that you have a limited budget to work with. Your budget will affect what kind of device you can get, and you’ll have to be ready to make some compromises.

The screen is usually where you’ll have to make sacrifices. You cannot have a device with a great processor, loads of RAM, and a decent graphics card with a top of the line screen. So the finish might not be as glossy as you’d like and the viewing angles probably won’t be the best, but as long as you can see what’s on the screen, you have to be willing to accept these shortcomings.

Since you’re buying your laptop as a student, we suggest that you look around to see if you can find student discounts on laptops online. Companies like Lenovo routinely offer student discount PCs, so you should visit their website often for the latest deals and consider signing up for their newsletter.

What Do You Want to Do with the Laptop?

Another thing you have to think about when buying a laptop is the kind of work you intend to do. If you’re in a major that revolves around creative arts, then you will have to get a good processor. You need something with a clock speed of 3.5ghz to 4hz with 6 cores and 12 threads minimum just to make sure, but the more the better.

In addition, you have to look at what you want to do outside of work. If you’re heavy into gaming, for instance, then you’ll want to get yourself a device with a good graphics card. But we have to warn you, you will have a hard time finding a device with a good processor and a good GPU on the cheap, so you might have to satisfy yourself with the strict minimum when it comes to graphics cards. Look for a machine with a GeForce RTX card in the low 30s and scratch off anything with an AMD card as it will probably be out of your budget.

Battery Life

Battery life should also be a priority if you intend to do a lot of work on the go. You never know when you’ll need to finish an assignment and won’t have access to an outlet, so do not neglect this. Look for anything with a run time of at least 9 hours or more. 

Conclusion

These are some of the main things you should think about when picking a laptop for college. This should get you a device that will run any application that you need with no problem and give you the freedom to get work done from wherever you are.

This is a collaborative post you can read my disclosure policy here.