Blogpost

The Apple MacBook Air has been the best student laptop ever since it was fitted with the Apple Silicon M1 chip, with our review noting how incredible the performance is for a laptop at this price.

Not only did it impress us during basic productivity tasks, but we were able to render 4K video content with a smooth performance, even with multiple apps running in the background. 

Since this is a fanless machine you will be able to work in the library without worrying about the annoying whirr of the fan, with our review claiming that it didn’t produce any sound even when used for heftier tasks. The battery also shines, with our model lasting up to 11 hours during normal day-to-day use, which will get you through those long classes with battery to spare. 

The MacBook Air M1 is a great all-rounder laptop, ideal for both those who need a high-powered productivity machine and others who need a bit more grunt to edit video. However, the new MacBook Air M2 is also worth consdiering if you crave an even faster performance. We’ll be publishing our review shortly, so keep an eye on Trusted Reviews.

Reviewer: Max Parker
Full review: MacBook Air M1 review

If you need a laptop for school or university, there’s a good chance you’ll be on a tight budget and can’t justify spending over a grand. If that’s the case, we recommend checking out Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Go 2.

This is one of the most affordable Windows laptops on the market, and yet still offers excellent build quality and is portable enough for frequent trips to the library.

Its processor is slightly out of date compared to more expensive laptops, but our tests proved it’s still perfectly speedy enough for day-to-day tasks such as web browsing, opening emails and hammering out essays. We’d only advise opting for a more powerful option if you need a laptop for gaming or content creation.

Our only major concern with this laptop is the poor screen resolution. At just 1536×1024, we found that video doesn’t look as sharp as it does on a more conventional 1080p laptop display. That dinky 12-inch screen isn’t ideal for video streaming either, proving problematic if you want to view multiple web browsers and apps simultaneously.

But if you don’t need a laptop for video streaming, or simply don’t care about crystal clear picture quality, then the Surface Laptop Go 2 remains one of the best student laptop options for your studies.

Reviewer: Ryan Jones
Full review: Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2 review

The Acer Chromebook Spin 513 is our favourite Chromebook on the market right now, and can be found for under £300, ensuring that it won’t make too much of a dent on your student loan. 

The Spin 513 weighs in at only 1.2kg and is very easy to take out on the go, which we found to be useful for hybrid working. Since this laptop runs on ChromeOS, this won’t be the best pick for those who need access to software like Adobe Photoshop, but is perfectly fine if you stick to the basics.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c processor worked wonderfully for us during web browsing, word processing and didn’t falter when we ran multiple Chrome taps on it at once. The processor also doesn’t require a dedicated cooling system, meaning that this machine will run quietly during those late-night study sessions. 

The foldable design of the Spin 513 – as well as the bundled stylus – also means you can use this as a tablet if you want to kick back and watch some TV after a long day of classes. While we wouldn’t recommend this as a creative device, it will fare fine for any essay-based work and ChromeOS should ensure a seamless and simple experience.

Reviewer: Reece Bithrey
Full review: Acer Chromebook Spin 513 review

If you are looking for the best performance for content creation, the MacBook Pro is your best bet. Our review gives this the title of best laptop for creative duties for a reason; the 14 / 16-inch Mini LED screen has a resolution of 3456 x 2234 and presents a wonderfully crisp and detailed picture based on our time using it. 

The latest MacBook Pro is available with either an M1 Pro or M1 Max chip, which offer blistering speeds that can handle everything from basic productivity tasks to complex 3D animation and 4K video renders. Our benchmark results show that there are very few laptops available that can deliver a performance as good as this for content creation.

We were also pleased to see Apple adding a number of ports to this laptop, with MagSafe charging, HDMI, Thunderbolt and an SD card reader all present and accounted for.

Since the MacBook Pro is most expensive laptop on this list, we would not recommend it to anyone who doesn’t need a high-end performance. Any creative student will definitely see a stark difference between this laptop and many others in regards to demanding media tasks, though any essay writers out there don’t need to splash out this much to find their perfect laptop.

Reviewer: Max Parker
Full review: MacBook Pro review

The Surface Laptop Studio is the best laptop on this list for any students who like to create digital art. Featuring a versatile hinge that allows it to be used both as a clamshell laptop and a tablet, this is ideal for typing up essays as well as drawing directly onto the screen.

During testing, we loved how easy it was to pull the screen forward and magnetically clip it to the deck just above the trackpad. Unfortunately, the Microsoft Slim Pen is not bundled with this device and will need to be bought separately. However, if you do get one, we found it felt great on the touchscreen with the 4069 pressure levels available making it wonderfully reactive and great for digital painting and design work. 

The Surface Laptop packs an 11th-gen H-Series Intel processor – with i5 and i7 options available – with our unit performing well during basic tasks like web browsing and watching Netflix. This is not the most powerful laptop on this list, but its touch screen and versatile hinge set it apart from the rest, and it will work great provided you don’t need the most powerful specs. 

While the MacBook Pro is the better option for high-performance tasks, any student who creates digital art should still seriously consider the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio.

Reviewer: Ryan Jones
Full review: Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio review