Boost your studies with these top rated picks

Few laptops, if any, have been the quintessential “student laptop” purchase as often as the MacBook Air, and it is no different in 2024 with the MacBook Air M3 13-inch.

The new model doesn’t switch much up when compared with the previous M2 model, beyond the chip itself. But, it offers a solid jump up in performance across the board if you want the cutting edge of fanless MacBook power.

What you get is whisper-quiet power in a chassis that can tackle serious productivity with ease along with plenty of light to middleweight editing workloads. It’s a package that is a delight to use with a bright LCD display, top-notch keyboard along with a big and responsive trackpad. Now, with MagSafe added last year, you get that and a handy set of Thunderbolt ports as well

Despite its thin, light and luxurious design that’s tremendously portable, you still get a stunning amount of battery life for those long study sessions. With up to 15 hours of battery life in our testing.

Reviewer: Max Parker
Full review: Apple MacBook Air M3 13-inch review

The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED is one of the best laptops we’ve reviewed in recent months. Costing just above £1000/$1000, it’s an expensive option for students, but offers such a well-rounded package that it’s worth stumping up the cash if your budget can stretch so far. 

Thanks to the inclusion of the Intel Core Ultra processor, it offers one of the faster performance available at this price point. In fact, it aced our benchmark tests, surpassing the vast majority of Windows ultrabooks from 2023. 

Despite its powerful performance, the laptop only weighs 1.29kg, making it portable enough to lug between lecture halls without back strain. It’s got a gorgeous OLED screen too, which will come handy when watching movies/TV shows during your downtime. Even battery life is impressive, lasting just shy of 13 hours during our tests. 

The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED is such a well rounded laptop that it’s hard to look past it unless you prefer macOS or need extra graphics power if you’re on a creative course. And if the price is too high, it’s worth checking out the Asus Vivobook Go 15 OLED further down this list. 

Reviewer: Stuart Andrews
Full review: Asus Zenbook 14 OLED Review

When opting for a budget laptop for your studies, roughly around the £500/$500 mark, you’ll be forced into making numerous compromises – but not so with the Asus Vivobook Go 15 OLED. 

This laptop has a well-built plastic design that’s light enough to carry around on the regular, and to our great surprise, a lovely OLED screen that makes movie marathons an absolute delight. The large 15-inch should also make it easier to fit more text on your screen, which should be helpful for both essay typing and scanning documents. 

The biggest issue with this laptop is that it’s not very powerful, falling behind the likes of the Surface Laptop Go 3 in our tests. But during our time with the laptop, we found it perfectly adequate for browsing the web, writing up essays and watching videos. As long as you’re not going to push it too hard – such as photo/video editing – the performance should be fine. 

So if you’re looking for a supremely cheap Windows laptop with a top-notch screen, you’ll struggle to do better than the Asus Vivobook Go 15 OLED. The Surface Laptop Go 2 is another great cheap Windows laptop worth considering, but Microsoft is sadly phasing it out of stores, so you may only be able to pick it up second-hand in the coming months. 

Reviewer: Josh Brown 
Full review: Asus Vivobook Go 15 OLED review

The Asus Chromebook Plus CX34 is an evolution of the ChromeOS formula. Not only does it represent a device that students can be safe in the knowledge that will help them get their essays written, but it now wields added creative chops and specs too.

Chromebook Plus launched last month as Google’s new initiative for products using its ChromeOS. The standard requires a minimum specs and Asus was quickly on the bandwagon. The Chromebook Plus CX34 we tested simply met that minimum spec, nothing more and nothing less. That means 8GB RAM and an Intel Core i3 processor. The latter part of that may scare you but, with the 8GB RAM and lightweight ChromeOS, the CX34 performed in a breezy fashion. This is a great device for essay writing, web browsing and media consumption.

But, the creative capabilities that a Chromebook Plus device brings with it means that this Asus is capable of running Adobe Photoshop for the web and wielding the power of Google’s Magic Eraser to swiftly tidy up your photos.

Outside of the performance and software, the Chromebook Plus CX34 helps with essays by having a keyboard that’s a joy to type on while helping you get easily connected to whatever peripherals you need for your course, due to the pleasing range of ports. Battery life won’t hold you back either, with this device managing over one day’s work.

Reviewer: Reece Bithrey
Full review: Asus Chromebook Plus CX34 review

For the longest time it was the excellent Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 16 that held this spot, but with tons of power and far more ports to boot, the Asus Vivobook Pro 15 was able to swoop in and take the win.

Operating as a powerhouse laptop for both creatives and gamers, the Vivobook Pro 15 has some impressive specs under the hood. The model we tested came with a powerful AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS CPU, alongside a modern RTX 4060 graphics card.

With that kind of power at your disposal, you won’t have any issues with diving between a bit of Photoshop and video editing during the day before switching things up by diving into your Steam library after your to-do list is done.

If you fancy hooking up an external monitor or bringing your favourite wired gaming mouse into the equation then you won’t have to prioritise one accessory over another here. On the port selection you’re absolutely spoiled for choice with three USB-A ports, a solitary USB-C and an ever appreciated HDMI out.

Knowing that all of this would amount to some heavy taxation on battery life, Asus has made sure to embed this thing with a whopping 70Whr cell. Under our battery tests, we were able to make the Pro 15 run for a total of eight hours and 30 minutes which is some impressive longevity and more than enough to get you through a day’s worth of lectures.

It’s not a perfect laptop by any means – the trackpad could easily do with being a bit bigger and the display a tad brighter, plus at over £1000 (depending on where you shop) the Vivobook Pro 15 will be too out of budget for plenty, but creatives who love to game on the side, it’s a fantastic choice.

Reviewer: Reece Bithrey
Full review: Asus Vivobook Pro 15 review

If you’re a student that needs a laptop with a big display that will go all day and beyond, the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro 360 is the answer.

We tested the 16-inch model and it managed to pack in a stunning stamina of around 15 hours of maximum battery life. Even under intensive productivity, it got comfortably beyond a working day.

But, one of the key highlights is the well-sized display, which offers up a high 3K resolution, 120Hz refresh rate and uses AMOLED technology. The size means it’s great for multitasking with multiple windows, while offering a large screen experience when it comes to watching movies and the like. The strong colour accuracy means this big screen is great for creative work too, and you get the excellent S Pen for all your drawing work.

For power, it’s got Intel’s latest Core Ultra chips. These offer solid productivity performance along with enabling the odd dabble in creative work.

Reviewer: Adam Speight
Full review: Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro 360 review

Being both a gamer and a student can be a pricey affair, as you’ll likely need a console, laptop and TV to survive the semester. So how about combining all of those devices together to save on money? The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023) is the perfect remedy, capable of doubling up as both your gaming rig and workstation with very few compromises. 

Firstly, the G14 is shockingly lightweight for a gaming laptop, hitting the scales at just 1.7kg. Most gaming laptops are significantly heavier, making them unideal for porting around university. The optional Mini LED screen ensures fantastic picture quality too, which is important for watching movies and playing games. 

Performance is plenty powerful enough to play all of the latest games. The intense graphics power here also opens up the opportunity for more creative pursuits such as editing video/photos and graphics design. The biggest issue here is battery life, with our tests seeing a result of just 3 hours and 20 minutes for productivity work. That could be a big issue if you’re working on the go away from a power mains. 

Nevertheless, if you fancy the idea of owning a laptop that can fulfil the duties of both gaming and student work, then we strongly recommend the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023). Or if you want something cheaper, make sure to check out our Asus TUF Gaming A15 (2023) review as an alternative option. 

Reviewer: Ryan Jones
Full review: Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023) review

If you’re wanting a MacBook on a budget, the MacBook Air M1 is a fantastic option. Though no longer available through Apple, the laptop remains available through a range of retailers for just £799, making it the perfect MacBook for any student. 

The standout feature of the MacBook Air M1 is its Apple M1 chipset. The M1 took over the Intel Core i3/i5 in this laptop, enabling faster performance beyond what you might expect from Apple’s cheapest laptop. We found the laptop to be snappier even than newer laptops such as the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 and the Dell XPS 13 Plus. 

The four-year-old laptop has since been outpaced by the MacBook Air M2 and Air M3, but you won’t find either at quite as low a price as the 2020 M1 model. 

The design also feels a little outdated compared to the Air M2, though the display is sharp and bright enough for most use cases and the Magic Keyboard feels fantastic to type on. 

App support is strong, with a growing number of native M1 apps available and Rosetta 2 ready to translate any stragglers from the x86 platform. We found that mainstream apps ran with no issue and you can even install apps from the iOS App Store. 

Finally, the MacBook Air M1 has an impressive nine to 11-hour battery life with looped 1080p video lasting up to 12 hours on a single charge. This is another major upgrade granted by the custom M1 chipset and the laptop’s standby time is excellent, too. 

If you’re searching for the perfect laptop to take to university lectures or complete schoolwork at home, the MacBook Air M1 delivers fantastic performance, battery life and app support without breaking the bank. 

Reviewer: Max Parker

Full Review: MacBook Air M1