Back to School Buying Guide: How to Choose a Laptop for College

If you're heading to college for the first time, the most important thing you will need is a laptop. You'll use your laptop for a wide variety of applications:

• Classwork
• Streaming movies, shows, and music
• Social media and staying in touch with friends and family
• Gaming
• Storing photos and videos
• Much more!

Education is going more virtual than ever before. Even if you're living on campus, you may have hybrid classes with some meetings in a classroom and others online. That means it's even more important to have a reliable laptop for attending your courses, completing assignments, and taking exams. So, what is the best laptop for college? The answer will depend on your specific needs and preferences, and you'll want to find one that lasts through your whole college experience.

Before you begin searching laptops for college, the first thing you should do is check with your school or department for specific system requirements. Some colleges, universities, and major-specific programs want their students equipped with a Windows-based PC laptop to cut down on software incompatibility issues. Others will let you use almost any operating system, but to be on the safe side, you should always check first. Once you get any specifications from your school, narrow your search down further by considering some of the most frequently-asked questions when shopping for a laptop for college.

Keep it light. A big screen may seem awesome visually, but hauling it back and forth from your dorm to class or the library can be a real pain. The most portable models have a screen size of 11 to 14 inches and usually weigh five pounds or less, making them much easier to transport. However, keep in mind the user experience of smaller screens may be different than what you're used to, so you might need some time to adjust.

The work demand of the classes you take will influence the amount of memory you'll want or need. If you'll only be performing basic tasks on your laptop, 4GB is ample for the average college student. However, if you can find a notebook with 8 or 12GB of RAM at a competitive price, get it. The more RAM you have, the more your computer will be able to handle all at once (running multiple programs, rendering games, etc.).

The baseline amount of storage for a laptop generally ranges from 64GB to 128GB. For college kids who use their laptop for classes, media or storing photos, this may not be enough. Consider going with 256GB (or even up to 512GB if you think you'll need it) so you probably won't have to worry about running low on storage space.

Most laptops have USB ports, so you can expand storage capacity as you need it. Upgrading to a 500GB or 1TB hard drive is a cost-effective option, but if you're not a video junkie or an aspiring filmmaker, you probably won't need that much storage.

The key advantage of having a Chromebook is that nothing is saved locally. Instead, all of your apps, preferences, documents, and data are saved on Google's servers in the cloud. This means if you lose your machine, have it stolen or spill a cup of coffee over it, there is no risk of your information being lost.

The Chromebook also offers superior security. Say you visit a suspicious website by clicking on a bad link, accidentally open a spammy email attachment, or download a program that has a fishy origin. Thanks to the device's stateless operating system, which has built-in multi-layered protection, using a Chromebook means viruses are one less thing to worry about.

With a day filled with classes and extracurricular activities, battery life is important. Many laptops today have multiple battery options. Figure out where battery life ranks in your list of importance when shopping laptops for college students. You may decide purchasing an additional battery is a good idea if an extended one isn't available. Unfortunately, a big battery adds more weight, but the extra weight might be well worth it if it means not having to plug in the entire day.

From basic laptops to models with all the bells and whistles, it's critical that your choice fits your price range. Try making a list of all the features you want, and rank them in order of priority. Look for a laptop model that offers as many of the most important elements as possible without breaking the bank. Shopping by price range is a good idea to ensure you're only looking at options that are affordable to you.

Explore a selection of laptops with your choice of:

While you're on the subject of academic tech, make sure you gear up with the computer accessories, tablet accessories, and wifi & networking equipment you need to be set up for success. Best of luck in your search, and have a great school year!