Best Laptops for Undergraduate Students – 2022

Students have a budget but also need the most durable laptops to survive the harsh college or campus conditions. Here are the Best Laptops For undergraduate Students in 2022 that I would recommend. All the laptops are available at BESTBUY link in the description. If you are going to buy a laptop as a student, these are key features to consider to maximize your budget.

  • RAM – Minimum of 8GB
  • Storage – minimum of 250GB SSD
  • OS- support for windows 11/ MacOS
  • Graphics – minimum 4GB integrated or 2GB dedicated
  • CPU – at least 10th gen intel or at least 6 cores for AMD 2.5GHz with Turbo boost
  • Cache – 8MB
  • Battery – 51Wh minimum
  • USB ports – at least 2 USB 3.0 and a USB C Port

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1. ASUS ZENBOOK 14″ 2022 – Best Laptops For Undergraduate Students 2022

The Asus Zenbook 14 UM425 2022 is purely designed for portability. And as a student, you really don’t need something that is bulky. I have used the Zenbook 14 for about a month and these are my thoughts.

Key Specifications

OPERATING SYSTEMWindows 11 Home
CPU AMD Ryzen 5 5500U 6-core
GRAPHICS CARDNVIDIA GeForce MX450 (Dedicated)
SCREEN SIZE14 inches 1920 x 1080 (Full HD)
RAM8GB LPDDR4X
STORAGE256 GB SSD (PCI-e)
CACHE SIZE8MB
BATTERY51Wh
NUMBER OF USB PORTS2 – USB 3 Ports, 1 – Type C Port
WEIGHT1.13 Kgs (2.5lbs)

MY THOUGHTS

It’s worth noting that the Zenbook 14 has a decent battery life capable of full-day use. Approximately 7 to 8 hours of use. Accompanied with My Asus app that thrives on lots of features including but not limited to battery charging levels. The Ryzen 5, thanks to nAMD comes with tons of performance and reliability features have edited my video on this laptop and the only problem I ran into is it gets warm under intense use cases. And this may be due to it only having a single fun inside. also for student who do play the games the Zenbook can handle that except for more demanding games the it becomes very difficult to use.

At its current price of $470 on best buy (link in the description), I find it easy to recommend. The major downside is the Key Board color combinations. As it makes it more difficult to type as its grey keys on light grey. Also, the Power on key is close to delete hence might easily mistake it when deleting something.

Best Laptop For Students 2022
Zenbook keypad

Pros

  • Great Battery Life
  • Thin and high-quality design
  • great display and colors
  • 92% sRGB coverage has a greater color accuracy
  • High-Performance Ryzen Processor

N/B soldered Ram is not upgradeable.

Cons

  • noisy on the Performance mode
  • RAM Soldered to the motherboard
  • no Thunderbolt 3 connectivity
  • The keypad combination of colors Isn’t favorable

2. Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 – Best Laptops For Undergraduate Students 2022

The Best Surface Laptop and The best laptop for writers with one of the very best keyboards ever. For students portability and useability is key. The Surface 4 thrives in Performance, good battery life, and audio output.

Key Specifications

OPERATING SYSTEMWindows 11 Home
CPU AMD Ryzen 5 4680U 6-core
GRAPHICS CARDAMD Radeon Vega 9
SCREEN SIZE13.5 inches 2256 x 1504 Touch Screen
RAM16GB LPDDR4X
STORAGE256 GB SSD (PCI-e)
CACHE SIZE8MB
BATTERYup to 19hrs 65Watts
NUMBER OF USB PORTS2 – USB 3 Ports, 1 – Type C Port
WEIGHT1.26 Kgs (2.7lbs)

MY THOUGHTS

After Spending Close to 3 months trying to exhaust and maximize the Surface 4. its clear that for what its meant to do it does perfectly well. Priced at 899$ on BestBuy. The Surface 4 is a pretty nice deal. As stated earlier the surface 4 has a great design and very comfortable keyboard but easily gets dirty. Performance is outstanding and Accompanied with the AMD processor this laptop is a super beast lets just say it, With a super quite fun the Surface 4 is worth buying.

obviously, It has its own imperfections. For instance, their is no thunderbolt 4 ports, which is a possible problem for some. Also, irrespective of having a good keypad, the glossy screen is too reflective, and honestly found it too annoying. especially under bright conditions. Such as outside sunlight.

3. HP – ENVY 2-in 1 2022 – Best Laptops For Undergraduate Students 2022

In a nutshell, the HP envy has a professional look, sleek design, and is classy. want something you can carry to class and still doubles as a tablet especially when you want to handwrite notes when the professor is talking too fast? then this is the gear for you.

Key Specifications

OPERATING SYSTEMWindows 11 Home
CPU Intel Evo 12th Gen Intel Core i7-1250U
4.7GHz speed
10 cores
GRAPHICS CARDIntel Iris Xe Graphics
SCREEN SIZE13.3 inches 1920 x 1200 Touch Screen
RAM8GB LPDDR4X
STORAGE512 GB SSD (NVMe)
CACHE SIZE12MB
BATTERYup to 17hrs 65Watts
NUMBER OF USB PORTSThunderbolt 4 – 2 ports,
USB 3.1 – 2 ports
WEIGHT1.38 Kgs (3.05lbs)

MY THOUGHTS

The 2022 HP envy which starts at $800 which is a budget friendly segment. The 2in 1 laptop functions as a high performer laptop and also as a easy to carry tablet. The Performance of the HP envy x360 is top notch spent sometime using it and its satisfactory, especially for a student. well as a gamer or a video editor this I cant recommend, that’s because the Envy isn’t built to handle video editing or heavy gaming. But for simple tasks its Superb. Display is Great and inclusion of thunderbolt 4 ports makes it a better deal.

Audio quality is a 8 out of 10, the touch pad also has precision TouchPad which is a big thumbs up. All in All the Envy is a easy to recommend laptop But has its own limitations, weighing more than 1kg or rather 3.05 pounds, making it one of the heaviest laptops in this category. Its worth noting for those who spend time in online classes the camera in the envy is not appealing at all.

Best Laptops For Undergraduate Students 2022

PROS

  • Long battery life
  • Easy-to-use keyboard
  • Plenty of ports
  • great battery life
  • Awesome display

CONS

  • Large, bulky size
  • Mediocre camera quality

4. MACBOOK AIR M2 2022 – Best Laptop For Students 2022

The Most popular laptop is back and with it comes unique features and refreshed design.

Best Laptops For Undergraduate Students 2022

Key Specifications

OPERATING SYSTEMmacOS Monterey 12
CPU Apple M2
8 core
GRAPHICS CARDIntegrated Apple
SCREEN SIZE13.6 inches 2560 x 1664
RAM8GB DDR4
STORAGE256 GB SSD
CACHE SIZE12MB
BATTERY52.6 Wh Lithium polymer battery
NUMBER OF USB PORTSThunderbolt 4 – 2 ports,
USB 3.1 – 2 ports
WEIGHT1.22 Kgs (2.7lbs)

MY THOUGHTS

Its important to understand that the Macbook air M2 doesn’t replace the M1 option. For any MacBook air Buyer , the M2 is the ultimate choice. its more elegant, improved performance, incredible audio, and better display. in simpler terms the M2 is slightly better than M1. as it addson the already game changing M1 MacBook Air. While interms of Pricing one can be tempted to get the M1 due to pricing, the M2 variant is a better laptop around.

One thing worth noting is the M2 is not meant for gaming hence with no fans and dedicated GPU, it does handle the Apple Arcade titles pretty well and a few light weight games. Beyond that the M2 is not great for gamers. The issue with slower SSD is still on M2, also the display is fixed to 60Hz and has limited number of ports.

PROS

  • Refined design
  • Efficient performance
  • Outstanding battery life
  • Bright Liquid Retina display
  • Quality keyboard and trackpad
  • Improved webcam and speakers

CONS

  • Slow SSD on the base model
  • Limited ports
  • Display only 60Hz
  • Single external monitor only
  • More expensive than MacBook Air M1

5. DELL XPS 13.3 inch 2022 – Best Laptop For Students 2022

When you buy a Dell XPS laptop, you’re buying some of the best that money can buy. You’re getting a premium aluminum laptop and an immersive InfinityEdge display. Ultimately, you’re buying the best that Dell has to offer. With the Dell XPS 13 Plus, you’re still getting that, but the company is getting a bit more experimental.

Best Laptops For Undergraduate Students 2022

Key Specifications

OPERATING SYSTEMWindows 11 Home
CPU Intel 12th Gen core i7
4.7GHz
12 Cores
Evo platform
GRAPHICS CARDIntel Iris Xe Graphics
SCREEN SIZE
DISPLAY
13.4 inches
3456 x 2160 (3.5K)
Touchscreen
RAM16GB LPDDR5
5200 Megahertz
STORAGE512 GB SSD
CACHE SIZE18MB
BATTERY60 Watts Lithium ion battery
NUMBER OF USB PORTSThunderbolt 4 – 2 ports,
USB 3.1 – 2 ports
WEIGHT1.27 Kgs (2.8lbs)

MY THOUGHTS

Powered by the latest 12th Gen intel Core i7 processor, integrated iris Xe graphics card, the notebook is a sweet powerhouse to recommend. closing in is 12 hours battery life, the performance of the dell meets my expectation for the price tag.

Its worth noting that the integrated graphics card is an entry level and cant expect much from it. The Design is Attractive just as its performance, The laptop is smaller in size , lightweight, a large track pad greater keyboard for typing in class. Looking for a long term portable windows laptop here is where the search ends.

The dell isn’t perfect especially if you are someone interested in video calling and online classes as Dell stuck with the 720p Webcam which is mediocere for its price point.

PROS

  • Attractive, premium chassis
  • Powerful performance
  • No bezels whatsoever
  • Excellent battery life

CONS

  • NO Legacy PORTS
  • 720P WEBCAM
  • 28W processor uses more battery life

FINAL THOUGHTS

IN 2022 there is lots of competition, in the laptop segment and in the event you are a student and need a more budget friendly laptop click here

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