Did you get admission to college and want to buy the best laptop for your college? But before buying a laptop for your college journey you want to know “what are the requirements of a laptop for college students?”.
If yes, just relax and read this complete article, in order to know the exact requirements of laptops for college students.
Laptops have now become an essential need for every student, it just not helps them in doing academic work it also helps them to perform some extracurricular activities such as helping them connect with their social networks, watching movies, playing games, listening to music, doing video chatting and much more.
In the whole world, there are too many institutes that offer their courses, some conduct their courses physically and some institutes conduct courses online through videotelephony software such as Zoom, Microsoft teams, etc.
So in both cases, you need a laptop for doing your work.
Apart from studying choosing the best laptop that suits their needs is a headache for the students, if you are not familiar with the laptops too much and want to purchase a laptop for the first time then you should read this article completely.
After reading this article you will be able to buy a good laptop for your college which works best for you.
We will discuss all the possible requirements of a laptop for college students, what you should look for in a laptop before buying it, and also we will recommend you some laptops for your college life journey.
An average student spends around 70-80% of the time with technology, so it’s important to choose a laptop wisely that fulfills your needs.
So without wasting time let’s discuss all the requirements for college laptops one by one.
Read More: What are the specifications of a good laptop.
Keep in Mind The Requirements of Your College:
First of all, you have to research the system specification requirements of the college, they have some recommendations for you or not.
Some colleges want their students equipped with the Mac, but others want Windows or Linux, so first of all you should be aware of the college requirements.
If your college is system-specific either with windows or mac then you should go accordingly, but if they are not system-specific then you can go with either Mac or Windows.
Always Check For Weight & Size Of Laptop:
In college, most of your time is spent with your laptop so the screen size and weight of the laptop is an important things that you should consider before buying a laptop.
Imagine you have to spend 5 to 6 hours in your college and you have to take 5 to 6 different lectures by going into different classrooms and if your laptop weight is above 5 pounds with 16 to 17 Inches screen size then it might create a problem for you to walk door to door with your laptop.
Read More: Best Laptops For Lawyers.
Among most people a laptop with a 3.5 to 4 pounds weight with a 13 to 14 Inches screen is ideal these laptops are easy to carry, and you can take them at any place.
If you just want to perform some basic tasks on your laptop just like word processing, then, in this case, a laptop with a small screen and having light weight is good for you.
But some people want to play games and watch movies than in this case they like the laptops that have large screen size.
Now it totally depends upon you which one you want to buy, a laptop with a small screen size and weight or a laptop which has a large screen and has a weight above 5 pounds.
So, you should always consider the weight and size of the laptop before buying it.
Check For Battery Timing Of Laptop:
When it comes to choosing a good laptop for yourself battery is also an important factor to consider, imagine you have to spend around 5 to 6 hours in your college and all the time you have to work on your laptop.
But if you have a laptop that doesn’t have enough battery timing and it has battery timing of only 2 to 3 hours then there might be a problem for you if there is no option of charging the laptop in a classroom.
Read More: Best Laptops For Accounting Students.
Among students with 7 hours or above battery life laptops are popular, so before buying a laptop for college you have to check for its battery and how much battery life is suitable for you.
Check For Display & Resolution Of Laptop:
If you want to perform some basic tasks just like word processing, or web browsing then a laptop with a small display and resolution is best for you.
But if you want to watch movies or want to play games on it, along with your work then you can go with the laptops that have large screen resolution and display.
Among many students, a laptop that has 1080px resolution works best, but it entirely depends upon you which one you want to go with.
Laptops with high display size and screen resolution might be expensive. So, before choosing a laptop for your college you should check for display and resolution.
Check for RAM of the Laptop:
This is by far the most important factor for choosing the best laptop for your college, if you want to run some heavy programs like Video Editing, Graphic Designing, MatLab, SolidWorks, etc.
Then you have to buy a laptop which has a ram minimum of 8GB but 16GB ram(random access memory) is recommended in order to run these types of heavy programs, but if you have to perform some basic tasks on your laptop that does require heavy program then 4GB ram is enough for you.
So you should always check for the RAM of the laptop that matches your needs.
Check The Processor Of The Laptop:
After checking the RAM you should check the processor of the laptop also known as the CPU(Central Processing Unit) which is the brain of the Computer.
In your good laptop requirements list processor is the main part. The more powerful the processor of the laptop the more smoothly your laptop will run.
If you have a powerful processor on your laptop then you can easily run heavy software like Solidworks, and Video Editing Software or you can play games as well easily.
Read More: Best Laptops For Nursing Students.
Intel provides a wide range of processors like Corei3, Corei5, Corei7, etc. The latest version of the intel processor is intel Corei7 which is incredible for playing games and running heavy programs.
So always check the processor of a laptop before buying it.
Check For Hard Drive And Storage:
All the information that we create is stored in our computer hard drive.
It has two types, one is HDD (Hard Disk Drive) which is the data storage device it lives inside the computer, it stores the data that is in our computer and the other is SSD (Solid State Drive) which has a low capacity for storage and it is not moving in the computer.
HDD can store a lot of data but SSD can’t. In most laptops, SSD is not available but HDD is available in almost every laptop.
For most of the heavy laptops that are used for gaming or running heavy programs, SSD is installed. The Computers which have SSD installed on it are faster than those that don’t have an SSD. That’s why people who want to use heavy programs on their laptops will go with those laptops that have SSD on them.
A laptop that has an SSD installed on it runs faster than those laptops that don’t have an SSD, so if you can afford a little bit expensive laptop then you should go with the laptop that has SSD installed on it.
A laptop with 500GB SSD storage is popular among students.
Check The Operating System Of The Laptop:
There are two operating systems that are mostly used nowadays, one is Windows OS which is very popular and most people use Windows operating system because they are easy to use and the other one is Mac OS.
Both operating systems offer compatibility and functionalities but Mac os based laptops are a little bit more expensive than Windows laptops.
If you want to perform basic tasks on your laptop then a Windows laptop is good for you but if you want to run heavy programs on your laptop then Mac os based laptops are best for you.
The choice is yours, ask yourself which one works better for you.
Keep Price In Mind Before Checking Laptop For College:
As there are too many laptops in the market ranging from 200$ to 2000$ or above but ask yourself how much is budget, a laptop with a lower price has less powerful hard and it offers lower performance but a laptop that is expensive provides a good user experience.
In general, a laptop with a price of (400$ to 700$) has all the specifications that a college student needs if they don’t want to run heavy programs on it. If you want better quality then you have to increase your budget and buy a laptop that fulfills your needs.
Check For 2-in-1 Laptop:
A 2 in 1 laptop is very popular among young generations as they have a 2 in 1 feature, they can be used as tablets and as well as laptops.
Their screens are detachable and rotatable. So users can use them as a tablet and laptops. There are many brands (Dell, Hp, Acer, Asus) that introduced the 2-in-1 laptop in the market.
So if you want to use both laptop and tablet features in a single device then you can go with the 2-in-1 laptop.
Bottom Line of Laptop Requirements for College Students:
Many people don’t have enough knowledge about which laptop they should pick for their college studies. Before buying a laptop for college or any other purpose you should first know the requirements of that particular laptop.
We have mentioned all the possible requirements of the laptop that you should consider before buying a laptop for your college study, when you are going to buy a laptop for yourself you must have to keep these things in your mind so that you can choose the best laptop for your needs in the best budget.
We hoped that after reading this article you are now able to buy a laptop according to your needs.
Frequently Asked Questions:
What Laptops Do Most College Students Use?
College students have a lot of choices when it comes to buying a laptop. But what laptop do most college students use?
According to a recent survey from Student Monitor, the most popular model is the Apple MacBook Air with a 13-inch display. This is really amazing laptop for college students it has all the features that any college student wants in their laptop.
Most college students use a laptop for their coursework and other activities. So what kind of laptop do most students use?
The answer is… it depends!
The type of laptop you need depends on what you’re using the computer for, how much money you want to spend, and how portable you want your computer to be. For example:
If you’re just using your laptop for web surfing, writing papers, and watching videos, then an inexpensive Chromebook is probably all you need.
But If you need something with more power(you are an engineering student and you need to run heavy software) under the hood or faster performance, then consider a Windows 10 laptop (Dell XPS 13) or MacBook Air or Pro.
If portability is your main priority, then a tablet might be better than a standard laptop.
How much RAM does a College Student Need?
Well, it totally depends upon your field of study, if you are an engineering student and you need to run heavy software on your laptop like Android Studio, Solidworks, AutoCAD, etc then 4GB ram is not enough for you.
To run these types of heavy software you need at least 8GB of ram but 16GB of ram is best for running these types of software without any issue.
Apart from it, if you want to just do web surfing, word processing, writing and watching movies, listening to songs, etc then 4GB to 8GB ram is enough for you.
Is 256GB of Storage enough for a College Student?
256GB SSD storage is enough for a college student but it also depends on the field of study of a student. If you are studying engineering in your college and you need to save heavy files on your laptop and apart from files you have to store some movies, and songs on your laptop then 256GB storage might not be enough for you.
Keep in mind when you install an operating system on your laptop like windows it automatically consumes a few GB of storage. If your laptop storage is full then your laptop starts creating problems for you like automatically restart problems, laptop freezing problems, etc.
So, we recommend you pick a laptop that has SSD installed in it because a laptop that has SSD installed in it is faster than those that do not have SSD.
If you don’t want to store much data on your laptop then 256GB SSD storage is enough for you.