Every college student needs a laptop, and with more and more work being done online, a good laptop is becoming a necessity for secondary school students too. But with so many laptops out there at different prices and all with different specs and buzzwords, it can be homework in itself to find the laptop that’s right for you!
No matter what laptop you’ll get there are a few extras you’ll want to pick up, such as a comfortable mouse, backpack and maybe a solid all-in-one printer. You shouldn’t neglect antivirus software either! It’s essential to keep your laptop secure when using any public Wi-Fi hot spots, whether it’s at college or Starbucks.
Then there is Microsoft Office — it’s essential for any student. The good news is you can save a few euros with our Back to School Office Deal. It’ll save you up to €40 on Microsoft Office when you buy a laptop from us.
This guide is broken down into 3 sections, budget, mid-range and high-end.
Best Budget Laptop Pick for 2019
We’re going to keep the budget laptop under €300. At this price the laptop would be best for someone that’s going to spend a lot of time writing in Microsoft Word and browsing the web.
Top Budget Laptop for 2019
Lenovo Ideapad 330 »
The Lenovo Ideapad 330 is the least expensive laptop on the list, but don’t let that fool you. It’s sturdy, durable and has plenty of space for all your files. It feels much more premium than the price would suggest, and beats more than a few more expensive laptops out there to boot!
One of the most important parts of any laptop is the keyboard. You need it to be solid and comfortable — especially if you’re going to be writing essays and assignments. The Ideapad 330 has a great keyboard that’s a pleasure to type on and you should have no problem getting work done here.
There’s plenty of room to expand with the 330 too. It has a nice selection of ports along its left side (USB 3.1, Ethernet, headphone/microphone port and an SD Card reader) and on the right it has a DVD drive.
The Top Mid-range Laptop for 2019
This is where we start to hit the sweet spot of performance vs price. There’s a lot of power available here for people who might want to do some photo editing, graphic design or complex scientific calculations. There’s the added bonus of some light gaming capabilities too!
Best Mid-range Laptop for 2019
HP 14-CK0994NA »
An excellent laptop with all-day battery life, great performance and super-fast storage. This HP laptop will keep up with just about anything you throw at it, from word processing and browsing to photo and video editing. All this is thanks to the 8th generation Intel processor and large 8 GB of memory.
You’re going to have your laptop in a backpack when you go from class to class so weight is something that should be considered. Thankfully the HP 14-CK0994NA weighs less than 1.5KG and is super slim at less than 2 cm thick.
It comes with lots of ports too. There’s two USB 3 ports for blazingly fast file transfers, Ethernet for a fast and stable internet connection, an SD Card reader for all you photographers out there and a HDMI port. This is super useful for presentations — you just plug it in and go. It can also connect to your TV for watching movies on the big screen.
No. 1 High-end Laptop for 2019
The laptops above are great for 90% of people, but some students need a laptop with a little more oomph. This is where our top performance laptop comes in. It would work best for people who are going to be doing more complex video and photo editing, 3D modelling and more. Think engineers, architecture students and graphic designers.
Our Best High-end Laptop for 2019
ASUS ZenBook UX433FA »
The performance, design and experience of using this ultra slim and powerful laptop can all be summed up in one word — stunning. Picking up the super light 1KG laptop you would be forgiven for thinking it wasn’t made for real work. But the specs speak for themselves; a CPU that boosts to 3.9 GHz, 8 GB of memory, a lightning fast SSD and a full HD screen are all packed into a laptop that’s just 1.5 cm thin. If the last sentence made your eyes gloss over, all you need to know is that it’s really fast.
Normally a thin laptop like the ZenBook would sacrifice durability for thinness, but that’s not the case here. Built to the MIL-STD 810G specification it is certified to military grade durability. Despite this incredible ruggedness ASUS have managed to make this 14″ laptop more compact than many 13″ laptops and the most of it’s 14″ competitors. It’s also super secure with an infrared face recognition camera that logs you in automatically when you open it up.
There’s also a nifty hidden feature on the ASUS ZenBook — a number pad that lights up under the touchpad. This is incredibly useful if your work includes a lot of number entry.
Along the right-hand side you get an SD Card reader, a USB 2 port and a combination headphone/microphone port. On the left there’s an HDMI port, USB 3 port and the new USB C port.
Bonus: The Best Gaming Laptop for 2019
This one isn’t strictly going to just be used for your homework, but hear us out! Modern games are incredibly complex and need some beefy hardware to run smoothly. So laptops built for gaming have a great side benefit — they are unbeatable when it comes to performance. So if our high-end pick isn’t enough for you, this one will be.
Top Gaming Laptop for 2019
ASUS TUF Gaming FX505DY »
It’s not the thinnest, or the lightest. But it is the fastest. This powerful laptop packs a punch with a quad core processor (4X the power) and a dedicated graphics card. This means it takes even the most complicated 3D work in its stride.
The FX505DY works great indoors and out as it’s full HD 15.6″ display is super bright, making it visible in bright sunlight. It also has all the ports you’d need with USB 3, USB 2, an Ethernet port, a combination headphone/microphone port and an HDMI 2.0 port. This means you can connect to an external monitor for gaming on the big screen.
