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MagyarThe Best Notebooks for School-Aged Kids and College Students
From our point of view, notebooks designed for educational purposes need to meet very specific requirements. These include things such as a certain degree of mobility, an ergonomic design and solid input devices. It is unusual for these qualities to be adequately addressed by a pamphlet at a store or a manufacturer's website. To assist you in the decision-making process, we have looked back over our huge data collection compiled from the many notebooks we have reviewed, and we will make recommendations split into three different price ranges. The display should have an ergonomic, matte surface, and the notebook's performance should be on par with at least that of an Intel Core i3 platform - otherwise it may not have enough stamina to remain useful over the coming years.
The following table contains notebooks and convertibles priced between 500 and 1,500 Euros ranked by weighted scores in the display, keyboard, and battery life categories. Many OEMs offer educational discounts for students and require proof of school or college enrollment. These prices are often noticeably lower than street prices and will thus allow you to save quite a bit of money. Keep in mind that our automatically updated price comparison cannot take educational discounts into account.
The Best Laptops for School-Aged Kids and College Students
Position | Weighted Rating | Total Rating | Date | Image | Model | Height | Weight | Size | Resolution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 88.4 % | 88.2 % | 02/2022 |  | Acer Swift 3 SF314-511-54ZK Intel Core i5-1135G7 Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 80EUs 16 GB Memory, 512 GB SSD | 16.55 mm | 1.2 kg | 14.00" | 1920x1080 |
| 2 | 88.1 % | 86.5 % | 10/2021 |  | Huawei MateBook 16 R7 5800H AMD Ryzen 7 5800H AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 4000/5000) 16 GB Memory, 512 GB SSD | 17.8 mm | 2 kg | 16.00" | 2520x1680 |
| 3 | 88.1 % | 88.8 % | 02/2022 |  | Huawei MateBook 13s i5 11300H Intel Core i5-11300H Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 80EUs 16 GB Memory, 512 GB SSD | 16.5 mm | 1.3 kg | 13.40" | 2520x1680 |
| 4 | 87.1 % | 86.4 % | 10/2021 |  | Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 14ITL05 82A300CNGE Intel Core i5-1135G7 Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 80EUs 8 GB Memory, 512 GB SSD | 14.9 mm | 1.4 kg | 14.00" | 1920x1080 |
| 5 | 86.5 % | 84.9 % | 05/2021 |  | Honor Magicbook 14 i7-1165G7 Intel Core i7-1165G7 Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs 16 GB Memory, 512 GB SSD | 15.9 mm | 1.4 kg | 14.00" | 1920x1080 |
| 6 | 86.5 % | 86.3 % | 05/2021 |  | Lenovo IdeaPad 5 14ALC05 82LM005YGE AMD Ryzen 5 5500U AMD Radeon RX Vega 7 16 GB Memory, 512 GB NVMe | 19.1 mm | 1.4 kg | 14.00" | 1920x1080 |
| 7 | 86.2 % | 85.7 % | 09/2021 |  | Dell Inspiron 13 5310-NJ24J Intel Core i5-11300H NVIDIA GeForce MX450 8 GB Memory, 512 GB SSD | 15.9 mm | 1.3 kg | 13.30" | 1920x1200 |
| 8 | 86.1 % | 86 % | 08/2021 |  | Lenovo IdeaPad 5 Pro 16IHU6 Intel Core i5-11300H NVIDIA GeForce MX450 16 GB Memory, 512 GB NVMe | 18.4 mm | 1.9 kg | 16.00" | 2560x1600 |
| 9 | 85.6 % | 87.7 % | 05/2021 New! |  | Dell XPS 13 9305 Core i5 FHD Intel Core i5-1135G7 Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 80EUs 8 GB Memory, 512 GB SSD | 16 mm | 1.2 kg | 13.30" | 1920x1080 |
| 10 | 85.6 % | 86.7 % | 08/2021 |  | Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7610 Intel Core i7-11800H NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop GPU 16 GB Memory, 512 GB SSD | 18.99 mm | 2 kg | 16.00" | 3072x1920 |
The table above contains an overview over the best notebooks between 500 and 1,500 Euros reviewed by Notebookcheck over the course of the past 12 months as well as still relevant and available older products. In cases of identical score the more recent device is listed first. All prices in above table and price comparisons are updated daily and can thus differ.
Link: all devices in this class reviewed
1st – Acer Swift 3
The 14-inch Acer Swift 3 fits perfectly inside a backpack and offers a slim metal case for extra protection. It also offers an incredible battery life of up to 12 hours.
This 14-inch notebook is able to squeeze out more performance out of Intel’s Core i5 than many bigger notebooks.
Thanks to Thunderbolt 4 it supports external docking stations for additional connectivity. Its matte display with good color accuracy is another plus.
The device starts at slightly over $600 and is available among others on Amazon.
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2nd – Huawei MateBook 16
The Huawei MateBook is a powerful all-rounder. Its fast Ryzen 7 paired with 16 GB of RAM offer plenty of oomph. Its webcam location inside the keyboard is suboptimal as its image results in what has been most commonly known as nose cam.
Without any major flaws and powerful performance the MateBook 16 is a versatile multimedia laptop.
Our only gripe was with its reflective display. In return, both performance and battery life were at a level compatible with school and university.
Huawei notebooks are not sold in North America.
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4th – Lenovo Yoga Slim 7
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 14ITL05 is a particularly compact 14-inch notebook with Intel Core i5 or i7, both of which offer a decent performance. In our review we praised its quiet fans, which did not exceed 30 dB(A) even under load, in particular.
Further benefits include a matte display, good connectivity, and a modern design. Both USB-C ports offer the same capabilities, which include Thunderbolt 4, USB 3, Power Delivery, and DisplayPort.
The Yoga Slim 7 14ITL05 is a well-balanced notebook.
The device is not sold in North America.
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5th – Honor Magicbook 14
Other than a new Tiger Lake CPU the MagicBook 14 remained largely unchanged. Its CPU performance is practically on a par with last year’s AMD Ryzen 5 4500U-equipped SKU, and both visually and in terms of connectivity it remained completely unchanged. Improvements can be achieved thanks to now 16 GB of onboard RAM and Intel’s Iris Xe Graphics G7 GPU, which helped boost both gaming and system performance slightly.
The Honor MagicBook 14 offers a slightly higher system performance than the AMD SKU but in return a shorter battery life.
The display offers decent color space coverage and higher brightness but lower contrast and higher black level in return. In addition, battery life has been reduced significantly. Potential buyers are thus stuck between a rock and a hard place when choosing between last year’s and this year’s model. Both are decent notebooks but differ significantly in various aspects.
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6th – Lenovo IdeaPad 5 14ALC05
The Lenovo IdeaPad 5 14ALC05’s main benefits include a low power consumption and long battery life. Its CPU and GPU performance are on a par for a typical Ryzen 5500U system. Its matte 14-inch display offers wide viewing angles but suffers from color inaccuracies. Nevertheless, its low weight and thin design make this a great notebook for school.
Decent input devices, a bright and matte display, and long battery life turn the IdeaPad 5 14ALC05 into a decent allrounder.
Overall, the IdeaPad 5 14ALC05 showed only a few minor flaws and turned out to be a solid notebook for office, streaming, browsing the web, and more. Even occasional gaming is within the realm of its capabilities.
The 14-inch IdeaPad 5 is not available in North America.
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7th – Dell Inspiron 13 5310
Thanks to a powerful 35 W Intel H-class processor, a dedicated GPU, a matte FHD sRGB display, two Tunderbolt 4 ports, and a large 54 Wh battery the Dell Inspiron 13 5310 scored fairly well overall. Despite the fact that this small 13-inch laptop did get rather loud under load it can also run virtually silent if necessary. Its MX450 GPU should be good enough for occasional gaming albeit its cooling capabilities are rather limited overall.
Despite a low weight of just 1.3 kg (2.87 lbs) it manages up to 10 hours of battery life, and it is therefore an ideal companion if you are looking for something small and portable. It also allows for further expandability via an optional docking station.
The device can be purchased directly through Dell USA.
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8th – Lenovo IdeaPad 5 Pro 16ACH
Lenovo’s IdeaPad 5 Pro 16ACH is living proof that 16:10 displays are no longer relegated to high-end laptops only. Its 16-inch WQXGA display offers decent quality and fast response times and turns watching movies or playing games on this multimedia laptop into pure bliss. Gaming, in turn, requires powerful hardware, and thanks to AMD Ryzen processor and Nvidia GeForce GPU the IdeaPad can deliver. The AMD SKU is also significantly faster than Lenovo’s Intel SKU dubbed IdeaPad 5 Pro 16 IHU. The price for this extra performance: noise. The Intel SKU had fairly loud fans already, and they have gotten even worse on the AMD SKU. In return, the AMD SKU remains cooler and runs longer to boot.
Lenovo’s IdeaPad 5 Pro 16ACH offers a symbiotic combination of Ryzen 5000, 16:10 display, and a low price.
The RedmiBook Pro 15 with its 3:2 LCD can be a great alternative. However, unlike the IdeaPad it is not available outside of China and has to be ordered via Chinese retailers. Another fairly similar competitor is the Honor Magicbook Pro with its 16:9 16-inch LCD, which fares for movies but worse for office applications and browsing the web.
The IdeaPad 5 Pro is not available in North America.
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9th – Dell XPS 13 9305
The Dell XPS 9305 is one of the most affordable premium laptops in Dell’s XPS line-up. It features a very narrow display bezel as well as an overall very thin design, making this a good everyday companion. We found barely any flaws in our review yet plenty of pros, such as its battery life, its image quality, and its performance. Even current games will run smoothly with reduced settings.
The Dell XPS 13 9305 is an exceptionally powerful subnotebook.
Students will appreciate its very low noise emissions, its long battery life, and its above average speaker quality.
The device is available through Dell’s own webshop as well as the usual retail channels, such as Amazon. Prices start at just over $1,000.
