Best Laptop for Students: ULTIMATE GUIDE

[@JustJoshTech]

🛍 Our Favorite Laptops for Students: www.justjosh.tech/recommendations/Best-Laptops-for-Students 👇 Recommended Laptops 🍎Apple - MacBook Air 13 w/M3: geni.us/PhZq0 - MacBook Air 13 w/M2: geni.us/snNA - MacBook Pro 14 w/M3 Pro: geni.us/wOCd1 - MacBook Pro 14 w/M4: geni.us/p7lc - MacBook Pro 14 w/M4 Pro: geni.us/xSC3S 🪟Windows - Asus Zenbook 14 w/AMD: geni.us/O5n30O - Asus Zenbook 14 w/Intel: geni.us/dnD8Uv - HP Spectre 14 w/Intel: geni.us/tPhU - Microsoft Surface Laptop 13 Gen7 w/Snapdragon: geni.us/EdXka1 - Lenovo Legion Slim 5 14 w/AMD: geni.us/NzrSxbK - HP Omen Transcend 14 w/Intel: geni.us/7nJs - Asus Zephyrus G14 w/Intel : geni.us/Wsyry - Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 16: geni.us/n5UqzGi - Framework 13: frame.work/products/laptop-diy-13-gen-amd?q=processor

[@randomProducerMelon]

The quiz seems to not work right now....

[@JustJoshTech]

@@randomProducerMelon Can you recheck? It works for us. What did you try? Where does it break?

[@agrisimfarming]

@@JustJoshTech Your website is down

[@JustJoshTech]

@@agrisimfarming I've had tons of people try it and its working. What computer are you trying it from?

[@randomProducerMelon]

@@JustJoshTech The quiz says there is no recommendable laptops despite any combination of criteria i choose. I chose highest budget and answered yes/no to the 2 graphical needs questions and it is always returning "Unfortunately, right now we do not have a new laptop to recommend."

[@Sokenro]

If you go into engineering, absolutely DO NOT buy an Apple laptop. Many engineering applications do not run on them, the best example of which is solidworks.

[@JustJoshTech]

Extremely helpful. I'll mention this in our follow up live stream

[@Dani-js2ge]

I second that. Siemens NX, Creo, Catia, Solid Edge, Inventor or Ansys for example is only available for windows.

[@andyH_England]

Yes, back in the day, MS would allow BootCamp, but now, even with a VM, the Macs would be stuck with WOA and rely on native ARM versions of these specific software requirements (no guarantee). So sadly, MacBooks are no longer viable for some courses.

[@loganhyler9588]

Yikes, I never knew SOLIDWORKS couldn't run directly on it, that is probably the most well known engineering software. I understand something like Ansys not working, but SOLIDWORKS is shocking.

[@saragarcia2262]

Would it run on the new surface laptops?

[@kung_flu467]

“Yes mom I need an rog strix for college work”

[@rafaelmateodev]

Lmao will work on me if my kid studies computer graphics or game dev Else, mcbook air xD

[@akin242002]

@@rafaelmateodev Macbook Air seems like a default choice for non-engineering and non-business courses.

[@jntechreview]

What does ROG stand for, son?

[@loadhyperion4073]

@@jntechreviewrepublic of gamers

[@bobbyf.4406]

Mom: alright, how much is it?

[@beautyizeasy]

You need to do a video for laptops under $800 because a lot of these are not in a college kid’s budget

[@cameronbosch1213]

Sadly, I would try to save up for at least $1000 because below that price point, you might have to accept serious compromises.

[@marshallwilensky7932]

or a high school kid’s budget.

[@abigailbabagail9549]

@@cameronbosch1213i need to use google classroom not 4k gaming

[@theholt2ic219]

@@cameronbosch1213yes I would consider an Apple MacBook or a good windows laptop. And it’s worth spending the extra money if the kid needs it for college. A brand new M2 or M3 MacBook will get them through all 4 years or 6+ easy. Getting the $300-500 might start falling apart by year 3 or 4. For a high school I would do it but not a college student who heavily relies on their computer for pretty much everything

[@josephjunagee4363]

@@cameronbosch1213 dumb reply

[@LordTrayus]

If you're in Finance, stay away from a Mac. Finance classes often teach Excel based on PC shortcuts. You'd like to think it's just a simple swap of the Ctrl key for the Cmd Key but it's not. You WILL be lost.

[@akin242002]

Yep! Also, additional software like Power BI that doesn't work on MacOS.

[@remtene3821]

My advice: if shortcuts are your major problem, don't go into finance.

[@joyals2811]

so what laptop do you recommend?

[@akin242002]

@joyals2811 Either a refurbished Thinkpad T14s G4 or refurbished Dell Latitude 7440/7450. If you are short, Dell XPS 13 9340 with a $20 dongle to compensate for limited port selection.

[@innosanto]

@@joyals2811 Dell laptops are amazing. Especially higher tier inspirons, and then xps or latitude. But even other Dells can be amazing depending on each model. Thinkpads are great but many times have bad screeens and missing other things, but Thinkpad X1 csrbons are great and if used at great prices.

[@ameeraz03]

I finished university about a month ago but I just wanted to say DO NOT get a MacBook Air if you are planning to use Excel. The app crashes frequently, can't handle large datasets, lacks certain features and the shortcuts are really confusing. I literally had to use my old windows laptop to submit my assignments because my mac couldn't upload documents on safari or chrome.

[@HishamTheGreat]

weak

[@i39440]

I graduated with a degree in Info Sec 5 years ago. In my opinion, for an IT degree you need: 1. A 1920 x 1080p or 1920 x 1200p non-touch screen display. 2. Minimum 16 GB ram 3. At least 2 USB C (At least 1 being Thunderbolt) 4. At least 1 USB A 5. At least 6hr battery life 6. At least 512 GB SSD 7. Minimum Quad core CPU 8. Backlit keyboard 9. Windows OS 10. Less than 5 lbs 11. 13”-16” screen -HDMI and Ethernet port are nice, but not required -Touch screens and 2-in-1s are gimmicky -Higher res is nice, but you may experience scaling issues (especially with VMs). Battery life is also worse -Software compatibility on a Mac is a nightmare unless you run Bootcamp It may be ugly, but the Thinkpad is still one of the best business laptops on the market.

[@LouisDuran]

I bought the Zenbook 14 for my son when he went off to college in Australia. He likes it. I got a very good deal from BestBuy @$749. The price fluctuates often so wait for a sale. It comes with the Core Ultra 7 155H, 16 GB RAM and 1 TB SSD. The laptop is quite fast and my son can play some of his favorite games on it. It also runs Jupyter Notebooks well. Battery life was pretty good. We left it on playing the KZbin favorite Costa Rica in 4K. After an hour, the battery was only down 9%. So I have confidence this could last all day long if starting a 100% battery. So far he's pretty happy with it.

[@premprakash2297]

Yes best collage laptop in indeed zenbook 14 series.

[@AlanHernandez-hy9sd]

Is it good for someone who studying architecture?

[@LouisDuran]

@@AlanHernandez-hy9sd I think if you heavily use 3d modeling software, you may want something with a discrete GPU.

[@decoyoctopus3252]

@@premprakash2297 i am studying comp sci. the zenbook 14 is on sale right now it has twice the ram and HDD for less than the zenbook X but less resolution (its 1920 x 1200 (WUXGA)). What do you think is better ??

[@hungry_khid1007]

For a programming student, get the amd version or the intel ultra 7?

[@saturnotaku]

My nephew is starting university this fall. He's not a PC gamer and isn't going to study anything that requires a lot of computing resources. However, based on what he tried, he wanted a 16-inch laptop. We chose a 2023 LG Gram 16 with an i7-1360p CPU, 16 GB of RAM, 1 TB of storage, and a 1600p touchscreen that was on clearance for $750 from Costco so it fit perfectly into his $800 maximum budget.

[@akin242002]

LG Gram 16-inch is criminally underrated for general use, finance, and programming.

[@stilldre7739]

I didn't realize grams were sold at that low of a price. That's fantastic for a high end consumer thin and light

[@anetizen6404]

Get a galaxy book or MacBook

[@akin242002]

@anetizen6404 Why? Galaxybooks aren't as good, and Macbooks are more expensive.

[@cameronbosch1213]

​@@akin242002 And they run macOS.

[@brandonchan5620]

9:07 correct me if I'm wrong but the 780m actually does out perform arc graphics in real world games, while losing in synthetics like time spy. my theory for this is that despite arc being out as long as it has been, the drivers are still nowhere as mature as the AMD drivers for the 780m and thus does not deliver as much gaming performance for the same wattage. (The MSI claw with arc graphics for example are considerably less efficient and less performant at games compared to the Z1 extreme handhelds.)

[@Jackofafewtrades]

Yeah arc's support is currently too spotty for it to make sense for non-techy users anyway.

[@elderman64]

They're mostly on par, with a lot of games having an advantage on the newer Intel ultra chips and some games being more optimised for AMD's since they've been here for longer than arc gpus. So just check that based on your specific apps/games

[@Jackofafewtrades]

@@elderman64 yes some games do run faster on intel arc, but there are still games that just don't run at all on arc. That's a bigger deal imo.

[@elderman64]

@@Jackofafewtrades Like i said, it's newer so it has issues, just check before you buy 🤷‍♂️ besides they're not unfixable issues, but it's upto you if you want fo deal with them

[@Jackofafewtrades]

@@elderman64 for a laptop that's supposed to last 4 years, not to mention 4 very formative years in your life (during which time your tastes may change drastically - I basically stopped playing MOBAs and MMOs during uni and switched to story and puzzle games, for example) why take that risk? Plus, they're not really issues that users can fix. You're basically waiting for Intel to patch in better support via a driver update. Again, why bother for an extra 5% in a few games?

[@arturweber7493]

I saw someone commenting on engineering softwares not running on mac. As a computer engineering student with an M1 Mac I can add my experience to that. First off, you can run Windows on ARM using a VM but the only way of the experience being minimally usable is for the engineering software to have a Windows ARM version, which almost all don't. Softwares I had troubles with: Softwares with limited functionality compared to Windows: LTSpice, Autocad, Visual Studio, Excel, Matlab Softwares unavailable on mac: SolidWorks, PTC Creo, Altium, PSPice, Intel Quartus Prime, Mikro C for Pic

[@BSingh-on4qr]

Facts. That's why I'm switching to the Framework Laptop

[@TransparentlyDuplicitous]

I picked up the HP Pavilion 14 from Microcenter for $440 after tax. I don't think there's a better deal. OLED and AMD 7840U alone are easily worth the price, and it still has 1TB of storage and 16GB of RAM. Before the fall semester starts, students really should look out for particularly good sales.

[@jeevejavari8461]

Yup! Got the pavilion 14 plus for 750 last year, and it's an insane deal. I recommend it to everyone I know going to school. The battery life is good (9 hours of actual usage), the screen is amazing, the weight is light at 3lbs, and the performance is stellar! 16GB of ram with 1tb of storage?? Thus laptop came out in 2023 and is still unbeaten in all these metrics. Best bang for your buck!

[@ibyou5062]

Hello what is the batterie life please ?

[@deletriz]

Im sure you don't need a whole fucking gaming laptop for studies, if its for studies just buy a 70$, old and good Sony Vaio for fucks sake

[@ibyou5062]

@@deletriz ooh , I didn’t notice it was a gaming laptop, i don’t know much about laptop

[@rhoodj]

@@deletriz Ahaahahhahahhahhh, It's like you think as a parent and try to protect your wallet.....

[@wereoctopus]

Last time I was a student, I didn't need cutting-edge performance, just something that wouldn't choke on large PDFs, had good battery life, a solid keyboard, was robust enough to handle some rough use, and was easy to repair in case something happened. I went with a used Thinkpad T480. If you get the variant with the large external battery, you get a total of 96 Wh, which gives outstanding battery life even with a less-efficient 8th-gen Intel CPU. It's also the last T-series Thinkpad with two SO-DIMM slots, though later models still have one slot. It runs Debian stable, and does so flawlessly. My only real complaints are the screen's aspect ratio (give me 16:10, or even better, 4:3) and brightness (250 nits), and the overall weight of the laptop (1.8 kg). That and I still can't find a Markdown editor that I like as much as the one I used on my decade-old Macbook. If you just need to open PDFs, web browse and write essays, secondhand is definitely the way to go.

[@KevinPan-tl6vn]

If you study architecture or anything engineering, forget about using a mac, unless the specific field you study won't require anything that doesn't run on it. I've researched into getting a cheaper gaming desktop with sufficient processing power, and then get a tablet like the S9 FE to mirror the screen, it's much lighter, the battery lasts longer, and it's great for taking notes, then rendering when needed, just connect to the pc. In the long run it's cheaper as you can upgrade the pc, the only downside is a bit of latency for the mirroring. This of course will be a bit more expensive at first, but you never risk damaging your main machine because of spills and drops on the go, had to learn that the hard way, and every project i was working on was also lost.

[@TheAaronJP]

I bought a refurbished thinkpad t480 and a well used ipad 9th gen with apple pencil for reading. Couldnt be happier for uni work. Cost less than £350

[@coldhand1156]

Just started uni about a week ago. I'm looking for a laptop ( budget friendly) for my assignments and all. How is yours working?

[@TheAaronJP]

@coldhand1156 absolutely solid. Not the prettiest but that doesn't bother me. The fan occasionally seems a bit loud and the battery life could be a lil better. It lasts around 4-5 hours of intense use with brightness on 80%. The screen has a decent brightness level too compared to budget laptops. The i7 is also more than powerful enough for various programmes including some old games and emulation. I did upgrade the ram to 16gb. Have you found a t480 that interests you?

[@coldhand1156]

@@TheAaronJP no I just started looking. I have no idea about laptops or pc's. Thank you so much for youe information!

[@HishamTheGreat]

sigma🗿🗿🗿🗿🗿🗿🗿🗿

[@lower.backpain]

Best combo 2nd hand thinkpad and 2nd hand ipad

[@AndroidDigest]

The reality is you should be recommending all of these windows laptops that are frequently on sale for like $500 with 16GB of RAM. Best Buy throws devices like the HP Envy and others on sale all the time. Only very very specific majors need to spend $1,000 or more

[@adequatequality]

Not at all. The reason you shouldn't cheap out on your laptop like the ones you're describing is becacuse it's an investment into your education and will be with you for 3-4 years. Those Windows laptops have dreadful battery life and performance and saving a bit more money to get something >$1,000 will be worth it. Believe me, as someone that used to buy inexpensive tech, I save more money buying quality stuff that will last a long time

[@DDG_IN47]

I bought the HP Envy 16 (it cost me 1300 dollars with i7 16gb RAM 1TB storage and Intel Arc with 120 hz 2.5K panel). I don't recommend the x360 versions at all, or else gl with the hinges lol

[@Watchandlearn91]

@@adequatequalityexactly. This is a 4 year investment and well worth it to buy a machine you won’t rip your hair out while using

[@andyH_England]

Short-termism is only suggested if your finances as such cannot stretch to a >$1000 laptop, then there is no other way. But if you have the budget, better to buy something with headroom and quality as your future is dependent on a reliable performant PC.

[@gamist8166]

As an HP Sales Rep, you'll rub into windows home S mode along with usually older gen parts by 1-3 generations depending on the sale. Generally me and the other trained sales associates find the very best bang for your buck to be the sales bringing a 1000-1500$ laptop down to $700-900

[@charisalfan5100]

Me from less developed country where student usually can only afford 300 to 400 USD for laptop with Core i3 or Ryzen 3 even Celeron watching recommended laptop for developed country student laptop that cost 3-4 times our laptop, interesting...

[@madkhatrii9762]

same bro, I'm from Nepal. Even the U type processors, 8gb ram ones cost more than these laptops mentioned here. 😅

[@mrbobgamingmemes9558]

Ryzen 3 should be fine as long the ram is more than 8gb and no cpu overheating

[@Elvxn13]

trust me, a large portion of students in the US can also only afford 300-400 for a laptop. we just have access to more refurbished options and discount stores. to a lot of us, these laptops aren’t realistic unless we find an amazing deal on a used one.

[@mrbobgamingmemes9558]

@@Elvxn13 are you talking about university student ? 600$ is a budget laptop category for American people on college. unlike on third world country where 600$ considered upper mid range

[@anetizen6404]

ipad + pc + spacedesk

[@galdi7947]

If you're going into molecular biology, pharmacology, biochemistry or bioinformatics, x86 Windows is the only option. There are so many programs (particularly lab equipment-specific software from like the early 2000s) that simply will not run on anything else. Also if you're doing any sort of genomic or data work, CUDA is extremely useful and only available on x86 devices with nvidia GPUs.

[@circlecircle3656]

Thank you 😭 I’ve been finding suggestions from biology perspective for quite a while

[@simonecavagna4375]

From my intership, all PhD and post doc have a mc.

[@simonecavagna4375]

Also we don’t use notebooks just to collected data that were analyse by powerful tools?

[@fjosesala]

Same here. Everybody in that area work with a Mac

[@writer202]

Thank you SO much for this. I’m going into Biology and I was looking to buy a computer and wasn’t sure if Apple worked. Now I’ll be going with a windows. Tysm.

[@PlatinAviation]

I’m still using my 2019 MB Air with 8GB of RAM, and its performance seems to be decreasing everyday lol. I’m researching laptops for almost 6 months now though I haven‘t found anything perfect yet - I feel it’s best for me to wait as there’s so much going on in the laptop world right now, and new processors around the corner! Also, I’ll go and take the new quiz on the website - really appreciate the effort you guys are putting in!

[@kanishkbanker]

If you can, then you should wait. I think new CPUs will be released around September. Of course, the laptops will take more time to release, and even more to go on sale. But as you said, I don't think you are in dire need of a replacement. So yeah, waiting will be a nice thing to do.

[@PlatinAviation]

@@kanishkbanker Thanks for the advice!

[@BSingh-on4qr]

Framework 13 AMD is peak

[@ItsOnPaper]

Stop the cap

[@RonxYagami]

These reviews are insanely valuable and I appreciate the side by side testing. Thank you 🙏🏾

[@Ninja_Samurai-dd3kq]

I usually go for 16" laptop with numpad keys, have all ports (HDMI, USB 4, Type C) and must support both touch and stylus.

[@rhoodj]

What brand and model can you recommend me with i7, 4.7GHZ, win11, touch screen?

[@BSingh-on4qr]

What laptops have that?

[@MaisistkeinGemuese]

Very little known Laptop but brings tons of bang for your buck: Lenovo Thinkbook 13x Gen4. This checks all the boxes for a student except gaming.

[@MN-hy4hf]

Is this laptop compatible with the desktop version of Microsoft 365?

[@thesnackbandit]

Do not buy a Mac if you are studying finance or something that will frequently use Excel/ MS Office. It has limited functionality and all of your courses will follow windows shortcuts and assume windows features.

[@calvinwalker4654]

This is one of the most underrated KZbin channels. For computer reviews it’s the best. Honest reviews with a engaging voice

[@devonward6784]

How are you getting this benchmark that Intel is beating amd when it comes to gaming every benchmark I see has 780m significantly out performing the Intel arc, does timespy hugely favor Intel? How about a different you benchmark?

[@BSingh-on4qr]

Framework AMD 13 or 16. Upgradable RAM up to 64gb currently that you can buy for yourself. I'm coming from 14" m1 MacBook Pro but need windows for engineering apps, but mostly also I'm excited by having upgradability

[@ozermert26]

I am using the HP Spectre X360, 2024 model, with Wi-Fi 7/Bluetooth 5.4, 32 GB RAM/1 TB SSD, and an i7-155H processor. I purchased it from their website for $1350, which is not too bad for such a laptop. It has good battery life, while doing basic tasks, and performs well. Also, I did not have any heat issues or fan noise when running a virtual macOS. As someone who is sensitive to fan noise, especially while recording vocals, I believe this laptop handles that well. So I do recommend this laptop. MacBooks are also great!

[@henrywamala]

I am currently using M1 Air base model and was thinking of getting a refurbished 14 inch M1 MacBook Pro. But I am worried of how long it will be supported as I might need one for next 5 years with the same performance. SO I thought of the 1 inch M2 pro but it more expensive by 400 USD. Which one should I get?

[@Lee.S321]

@@henrywamala What about an open box, or refurbished M2 Pro, so you can get a laptop in pretty much new condition, but save a decent bundle?

[@caitlyn1461]

Has the price increased or is it still $1350 on the hp website? What screen size is it? Does it come with a charger, case and pen?

[@caitlyn1461]

Has the price increased or is it still $1350 on the hp website? What screen size is it? Does it come with a charger, case and pen?

[@Taokoka]

I bought my Galaxy Book 2 Pro last year at a big 50% off and it is an awesome laptop. The only problem I found with it and that it has not been solved is that it randomly resets while on sleep mode. Apart from that, I love it. Awesome video as well

[@yeseldalopez3598]

fyi my lenovo yoga 9i stopped charging, was something about the multi layer board. I’ve had it only 2 years and cost a little over 2k. Repair was estimated to be more than 1k

[@championslayers]

Great video but after much research I bought for my daughter (who starts college in the fall) a Lenovo Ideapad Slim 7i with the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, 32 GB RAM, 1TB SSD and a 14” 1920 x 1200 OLED Touch display. Hopefully it lasts her all 4 years of her Supply Chain Management major. It is replacing her Lenovo Yoga C740 with an Intel 10th Gen i5, 8 GB of RAM, 256 GB SSD and a 14” 1920 x 1080 IPS Touch display that got her through all of High School and still works perfectly, so Lenovo gets my money again. Also, I rock a 14” MacBook M2 Pro and sometimes I need programs that only run on Windows. Even the Mac versions of MS Office (industry standard) sometimes are missing features that the Windows versions do have. I don’t want my daughter dealing with any of that.

[@JustJoshTech]

That makes sense

[@NinjaDogLCT]

After doing a lot of research, I recently purchased the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED in preparation for my studies in Computer Systems Technician. I'm glad to see this video reaffirm my decision in my purchase. Your reviews and videos played a big part in my research. Thank you for making such in-depth videos and giving real-world examples rather than just listing off a spec sheet.

[@Lee.S321]

I'm a little miffed Asus all too often uses glossy displays with no anti refletive coating (which really pi55es me off), but apart from that the range of Asus laptops between 800 to a grand are pretty much the best value for money laptops on the market, & have been for the last couple of years. The 2022 S13 (with the AMD 6800U) was an incredible laptop, & I got one new for 750.

[@NinjaDogLCT]

@Lee.S321 Yeah, I did see quite a few complaints about that in my research, but considering all factors, I was willing to deal with the reflection issues to get some of the other feature I needed/wanted. I have to say though that, as of right now, I haven't experienced really any issues with reflections in the screen, but this could change once school starts up and I am using the laptop more and in different environments.

[@Lee.S321]

@@NinjaDogLCT It comes down to your use case whether the reflections bother you or not, but apart from the reflections many ASUS laptops give you the best bang for your buck you could hope for. Similar thing is happening with the new Qualcomm Surface Pro/laptop. Pretty much the only major complaint I hear is the highly reflective display (but Microsoft products are unlikely to beat ASUS in value for money any time soon).

[@star-shine0]

If you play any games like Minecraft or Roblox, do they run well on it?

[@NinjaDogLCT]

212 @star-shine0 I don't play any games on it. I use it strictly for school work and browsing the web. For gaming, I have a dedicated gaming laptop. However, my gaming laptop is a few years old now, and if I remember correctly, I believe the on paper specs of my gaming laptop and the Zenbook are not far off from each other. Obviously, the gaming laptop is optimized for gaming, but I see no reason why games like Roblox and Minecraft wouldn't run fine on the Zenbook since they run fine on my gaming laptop. But I know there is a lot more to consider than on paper specs, and I don't want to promise you anything since I have not actually tested it myself. Sorry in advance if this wasn't really helpful.

[@brendanchoi7203]

Josh, as a current user of legion slim 14/uni student studying Compsci, I thought it was worth mentioning that the quite mode on this laptop is awesome! It does not lose that much performance compared to balanced or boost mode and the noise is very minimal. So I was never distracted by the fan noise for this laptop and I believe most legion 14 users will be on quite mode when they game. The biggest downside for me was the bad speakers. The speakers on this laptop is indeed terrible. I think your current opinion about this laptop is much better than what you initially reviewed this laptop, and this is me coming from watching basically all your laptop reviews. I think It would be awesome if you provide another in depth review for this laptop comparing it to other laptops from 2024!

[@adityajha9070]

Bro should I buy a lenovo legion slim 5i with i5 13450hx rtx 4050. The lenovo legion slim 5 14 one is not available in my country.

[@brendanchoi7203]

@@adityajha9070 haven’t used that one so can’t make the call

[@TheCloudX]

Great as always! Curious which hub you are using with the Zephyrus G14 at 16:49?

[@nabillanuril9030]

I will be studying both ecology and data science this year. Therefore I assume that I will need at least 16 GB RAM, an Intel Ultra 7 processor, 1 TB memory, and an RTX 4050 graphic card all in a laptop of less than 2 kg (since I might need to bring the laptop to the field). Hence, my eyes are set on the Lenovo Yoga Pro 7 with an ultra 7 processor, 1 TB memory, an RTX 4050 graphics card, and 32 GB RAM. It is by far the best value for price (instead of MacBook Pro with M3/M2 Pro chip). The only concern I have is the battery life. Is there any tips to get a longer battery life with a Windows laptop and keep the battery health in check?

[@wanttywontty]

Yes! I used the 2024 g14 with 4070 and to be honest when you tweak that thing you can get 8-9 hrs of battery life doing light tasks.

[@itsme091-z4g]

Got myself a lenovo years back, then Asus, then back to lenovo legion. I can say Legion line up is the best for performance and cooling. If you can tolerate the weight (+ power brick is huge) + low battery time, it's perfect for gamer student

[@bmc868]

As usual great vid. I like the studio with the white board.

[@JustJoshTech]

Thanks. We are constantly trying to improve here :)

[@tonytiennguyen9709]

I would recommend the Acer Swift Go 14 Ryzen 7. The price and build quality is insane for the price range, and it has a 1440 webcam with plenty of ports. It weighs 1.32 kg so it’s definitely on the lighter side too. Not recommended for students who has to program heavy stuff, but for casual use.

[@shilpamehta964]

What About The Acer Swift Go 14 Core Ultra 5 125H OLED?

[@tonytiennguyen9709]

@@shilpamehta964 it costs a bit more because of the multi-control touchpad. Kind of gimmicky if you ask me🤷‍♂️. 200$ more just to pause a video isn’t really worth it.

[@AdanM-z3s]

Definitely saving the list of your recommended laptops when shopping for a new laptop.

[@oHunterr]

I just bought a HP Victus, the 6550M model. Got it for $375. I call that a fucking W snag for Black Friday merry Christmas me

[@dylank268]

As always solid content. Fav review channel!

[@liorsavion9313]

anybody else has trouble with the sound of the video? specificly on 10:30 static noise nurder my ears

[@aymanhassan8178]

This is the first year after graduating and it feels SO wrong watching this video and thinking I could afford the highest laptop in this list with my own money haha

[@spraypaul]

Not sure about the wisdom of recommending macs considering how heavily windows and office is part of learning. And especially because of the time lost if you need servicing and total loss of machine from accidental damage or repair of internal components that are soldered on.

[@TWSmith42]

A MacBook Pro with an M2 Pro and 16 GB RAM and 1 TB storage is the best laptop choice for students. You probably have to install Parallels VM with Windows so you can run Windows-only software. Software such as Solidworks will run in the VM. Not sure about games; if gaming is important, then maybe not Apple. Otherwise, the weight, size, battery life, and ecosystem are worth the cost.

[@JustJoshTech]

That's why I said it is the GOAT

[@Brunaan429]

As a student should I wait for the new core ultra laptops. As it seems it’s gonna improve efficiency and enough gaming capability for some light gaming. Or is better not to wait and get it anyways?

[@rudrakshkumar9215]

I recently bought xps 14 with core ultra 7 at 1625 with rtx and oled at 1625. it is surely a smooth and good enough laptop for programming use. its battery life is good with old.

[@puschi1563]

You dont need an external gpu for engineering. CAD programs are pretty much only using the cpu anyways.

[@irfanmohd091]

True

[@shaivalnathwani3370]

Not necessarily in big assembly you need a strong GPU for example 1 part doesn't need much processing power but in a assembly there are more then 100 to 150 parts without GPU your cad software would not be able to process and it would lag like crazy 2 to 4 fps which is not suitable for performance and quality that is needed. And I am a cad designer So I am speaking with experience.

[@irfanmohd091]

@shaivalnathwani3370 its enough for learning and flr students.

[@akin242002]

@puschi1563 Are students in that major leveraging the cloud for the GPU intensive work?

[@shaivalnathwani3370]

@@irfanmohd091 yeah there no denying on that but if they are going to use for long then there should be a GPU doesn't matter which series.

[@Ali.ayman64]

Would you advise against getting a refurbished laptop from apple or bestbuy?

[@anventia]

Great video, you make very good points! Earlier this year I picked up the G16 2024 (Core Ultra 9, 32GB, 4070). I went with a 16-inch model instead of a 14-inch model because due to having to live at two separate places (parents), I don't want to have 2 monitor+keyboard setups. It has been working very well for me as an engineering student!

[@nyantaro1]

I'm so glad to have found you guys

[@thomasmiller5502]

Many times the college will specify Windows.

[@QWERTYQwertz852]

Gehen they should pay

[@adequatequality]

99% of college programs don't require Windows specifically. Most computer science students even roll with a MacBook whereas you might need a Windows machine for stuff like CAD or other engineering programs but it's really more program specific

[@Bravin_Joshua]

​@adequatequality buy a mac book run windows virtual machine

[@DJNuckChorris]

Thinkpad T14 AMD Gen 5 easy

[@akin242002]

@@DJNuckChorris T14s Gen 4 (AMD). No recall included.

[@sidneyboakye4662]

For my 4 year Engineering degree I bought the Lenovo Y520-15IKBN (about $1000 from Costco in 2018). This laptop is 5.56 POUNDS! I DID NOT NEED ALL THIS. This was great for snowdays when all classes were cancelled (Like maybe 5 freshman year) and I wanted to game in my dorm. Besides that though, all of the hard engineering programs - you should try to use a school computer. Please buy something low 4lb or lighter. Ya back will thank you (Didn't enjoy walking up hill 15 mins across campus to class). I'm still using it 6 years later. Battery is gone but figures. Additionally, one of the fans broke the 1st night (like within 3 hours) I got it but that was on me for not returning it. Still ran things well, and now that I think about it, would have done better with Solidworks and Autodesk NASTRAN if I had 2 working fans instead of one haha. I tried to replace the fans in 2021 but they didn't sell any more fans for my size Y520 anymore.

[@RajVashisht-y3m]

Zenbook 14 or vivobooks14 2024?????

[@Azure_GWR]

THANK YOU JOSHHHH!!!!! I like quizesssss hehe

[@dipenpatel5204]

I'm a software engineer working in big tech so I know a thing or two about laptops, all this crap is not necessary. You're most likely just using your web browser, writing emails, writing essays. You don't a $1000 dollar Mac to do that. All of that can be done off of a used laptop (e.g. a thinkpad t480) off Ebay for less than $250. Don't get hustled into this unnecessary consumerism crap

[@Sarmad_.121]

Thank you so much for sharing information 👏🏻

[@Alwin2003]

Well detailed video.Appreciate your hardwork🎉

[@avinashnegi4u]

Which one to buy if Zenbook 14 x and Spectre x360 available at same price?

[@abeldiaz111]

I bought the 360x specter a few months ago totally loved it

[@alexandermalinsky7426]

Hi, congrats! Is it 1 or 2 TB? Any issues with palm rejection while typing? Do you know of a solution for the haptic touchpad? Best regards, 😊

[@RonxYagami]

I literally was just rewatching last years video right before this was uploaded, super clutch

[@JustJoshTech]

Could you let us know which video you liked better and why? :) Feedback is helpful

[@RonxYagami]

@@JustJoshTech I liked this one because of the character comparisons, because of my major i fall into the business and comp sci category and I thought they were a cool addition that you should keep for the future

[@mohammedsaleemkhan4209]

The Zenbook 14 there is a ‘HS’ after the AMD Ryzen 78840 that indicates that it is a high performance slim, instead of using standard 45W it’ll use 35W so some performance will be compromised for the thermal efficiency and the slimness of the laptop

[@JustJoshTech]

Good comment

[@mohammedsaleemkhan4209]

@ could you make a video on the Vivobook S16 OLED featuring the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 Processor (10 cores, 20 threads), because I’m stuck between choosing the Ultra-7 and the processor mentioned.

[@adibhaumik]

I am working as a software engineer, for any one in software get any old i5 or i7 or similar ryzen put a ssd into it and upgrade the ram to a minimum of 16 gigs and install Linux you will face a lot of software related issues which will make you a better engineer.(note if you want to develop software for ios u need a mac also do not get 13th and 14th gen intel processors)

[@PsfhC]

Thank you for 04:09, couldn't find info on audio software

[@73zhong]

We have been waiting!

[@JesseProwisor]

Josh and team - first, awesome review and advice - thank you! I keep wondering why the G16 4080 isn't highlighted more - is it because it is out of the price range for an average student machine? The yoga is amazing, but is lacking the battery. The G16 lasts 9-10 hours, and offers better graphics. Any feedback on the G16 4080? -- I believe you recommended it over the G16 4070, but haven't heard more on it. Thanks again for any feedback - and love the content!

[@AuWeiHoe]

The Spectre 14 (2024) and the Asus Zenbook S 16 (Zen 5) are similarly priced where I live. I'm not too fussed about the size of the screen or 2-in-1 capability. In view of their relative efficiency, performance, battery life and heat and fan noise, which do you think is a better buy? Thanks!

[@williamkiarie9669]

I appreciate the time and dedication you put into testing all these options, you really helped me find a good choice for the best school laptop.

[@koreappinesmusic]

Thanks for mentioning about your website, I've looking for a best Laptop guide website but didn't even exist, until now. I'm a big fan JoshTech, keep up the good work.

[@zanger4002]

You mentioned the Yoga Pro 9i 16" as an option but what are your thoughts on the Yoga 9i 2-in-1 14". Was considering purchasing it with the Ultra 7, 32gb ram, and 1tb ssd config since I prefer 14" form factors and the specs did seem to beat the alternatives presented by Lenovo for my use case (programming / VMs / etc. planning on doing a 700gb/300gb partition dual boot between linux and windows).

[@BlueDunz]

Hey guys, i'm going into engineering my current notebook is not powerful enough for applications like cad and solidworks. Could i get recommendations?

[@sjewkes1]

The Yoga Pro 9i is a laptop with a lot of potential, but the battery life, according to real-life users, is pretty poor, especially considering it got a bigger battery and theoretically more efficient Intel Core Ultra chip this year. I was seriously considering it but now have to look at other options for my needs. Plenty of other good recommendations in this video though, as always from Josh and the team.

[@johnnyenglish1815]

What a coincidence! I just gained admission to a university in Germany today. It can't be better, i guess😅

[@hrtjkdtdt3382]

glückwunsch

[@einekleineente1]

Hope you got the Umlauts then 😂 ä,ö,ü

[@hrtjkdtdt3382]

@@johnnyenglish1815 😂😂

[@johnnyenglish1815]

@@einekleineente1 es wurde vor einem Jahr getan🤠

[@johnnyenglish1815]

@@hrtjkdtdt3382 Herzlichen Dank!

[@JosephBayote]

Love the video and your content. How would you compare the HP Pavilion Plus 14 to the Asus Zenbook 14?

[@JustJoshTech]

Ethan has tested both side by side Pav Plus gets alot warmer. Other than that somewhat similar.

[@JosephBayote]

@@JustJoshTech thanks so much

[@kristhianznr]

Nice vid!!! Can you try to get the Lenovo ThinkPad P14s Gen 5 (Intel and AMD) and review them?

[@aayush0613]

For a business or an econ student, the best blind pick would be a x series thinkpad. For about a 1000 dollars you would get a portable powerhouse which would fulfill all ur needs with the added reliability of a thinkpad. Sure you compromise a bit on screen size but it shouldn’t hurt that much as you are getting world class battery life. And let’s be honest it’s a thinkpad so it’s gonna easily last 5 6 yrs without any problem. It’s like the MacBook for business n eco students or anyone whose course load isn’t tht much

[@prag_un]

With this video, I feel like Josh and team read my mind. I'm in the market for a laptop and this is exactly what I needed. Thank you guys!♥️

[@veltrix8419]

Hi! The website states that there is a HP Pavillion 14 Plus available at 739$, but the link redirects me to a 999$ offer. Is the discounted price still available?

[@philippjacoby7292]

what do you say to the lenovo yoga pro 7 gen 9 with ryzen 7 8845HS? worth getting? With discount i d be paying 900...

[@cvmgaming568]

What's the best laptop with an i7 or ryzen 7 and min 16 gb for between 600 and 1200 bucks? Doing masters on Machine learning for specifics. Won't be gaming on it really

[@xomiachuna]

If you want to train small neural nets - pick something with Nvidia GPU for CUDA, 3060 will likely be enough for many usecases, but large scale models will likely require way more vram, so dont bother going too high-end (impractical on laptops). You can skip the Nvidia gpu and use the money you saved on stuff like google colab credits for much better performance. I'd recommend 32 gb of ram if possible (likely will be more impactful than the gpu) - I run out of my 16GB regularly doing mlops (not even training models). Source - been in ml and adjacent areas for 5+ years.

[@leonwilliamson5340]

Hi Josh, when can we expect the Zenbook S16 reviews to come out, quite excited for that model and curious where it would fit in this video!

[@Jcan.o]

What’s the best laptop for gaming that runs at least 6GB and for schooling ?

[@skullfreak5478]

I want to buy a Mac book but I’ve been watching a lot of videos on which computer to buy for a Computer Information Systems(CIS) major and a lot of people are saying different things and I don’t know what to get. Is a Mac book good for CIS?

[@true12242000]

I got the Samsung galaxy book 4 with core 7 and 16 gigs of ram for $550 fantastic for the average student.

[@JustJoshTech]

That is fantastic at the price

[@supercool198]

Hey josh, great well reasoned video. I was just wondering what your opinion on the 2024 g14 against the 2023 razer blade is? In the UK the g14 in the 4070 config goes for ~£2300 Vs the blade 2023 goes for £1700. Do you feel at these prices the g14 is significantly better?

[@wanttywontty]

Well it isnt $600 better. However buy the g14 if you want better screen, speakers, lighter laptop with more key travel and better touchpad. The G14 also runs longer and can be customised (i.e using G-helper and turning off dgpu if on battery). These things really help with the thermals. However the blade has the better build quality (G14 uses lighter aluminium)and upgradability. Meaning you can upgrade the ram(which will be slower than a soldered one). The question is do you want to pay $600 more for these perks?

[@atharvarusia6190]

TBH, I think the best laptops for coding are either the M1 MacBook Air with 16gb of ram if you are on a budget, or the M3 Pro MacBook Pro 16. I don't mind the 16" size as it allows me to view a lot more code, although it is a pain sometimes to carry it around, it is a trade off I will take any day the week

[@cameronbosch1213]

If you need an OS other than macOS, unfortunately, Macs are pretty useless.

[@johannesnguyen9391]

is there any way you could make a video more about mid range priced laptops?

[@JustJoshTech]

We are working on one at the moment actually

[@benedikt8450]

Thanks for the great video! I also saw your video about the 9i 2 in 1, sadly it is out of my budget. So what do you think about the yoga 7 2 in 1, especially the AMD version?

[@ye_mother]

Yes. Finally!!! I needed this Also what would be a your recommendation for: student, prefers windows, lasts 5 years in school which isn't anything to professional (all round high school subjects), can stretch to a bit above 1k, your quiz I wasn't entirely sure wether it was in order of most viable to least in your recommendation, I got the framework as first, then sl7, what's your thoughts

[@wanttywontty]

The SL7 will be perfect in your usecase honestly. Amazing build quality, longer battery life and most of the apps you need are supported. The only thing running for the framework is its upgradability

[@ye_mother]

@@wanttywontty yeah, I definitely was ignoring that, didn't really want it, do you think it would be better for my use case than hp spectre 14, I could possibly deal with MacBook though

[@ZupE891]

Now that all the 2024 models out, there should be some good deals on 2023 or 2022 laptops. "Best Budget Laptops" page on the website is very limited. Can you do a video that shows more options of marked down laptops from prior years? I a lot of people do not have $700+ to spend on a laptop for school. There must be more options in the $400-$500 range.

[@lonewolfgang_]

i love my macbook air m2 with 16gbs of ram and 512 gbs of storage i basically falls into the harvey's team and im trying to get into trinity team as well personally i was contemplating wether to buy a zenbook 14 or this and after using some of my fri's windows i cannot vibe with it so going with luxury feel it is! also my last laptop is also a mac and yeah if you're already in the apple ecosystem, just get the m2 it'll be worth it trust me.

[@catbear3258]

Have you guys checked out the new MSI Prestige models? (16inch model) Has a nice screen, superb battery and pretty decent performance. Price is ok as well.

[@JustJoshTech]

Fan noise is rough we have it. If you use it in a loud environment or with headphones then it's good

[@rgbii3224]

Enjoyed the honest reviews

[@reap4k]

i don't understand why you are making 1200p resolution look like a downside especially on a laptop. i have a 25 inch 1080p monitor and it is perfectly sharp

[@saipavanavisetty5584]

Josh i beg you kindly make a video on the best laptop for music composition , softwares used FL studio, abeleton live

[@mrbobgamingmemes9558]

I make tones of music cover on my other channel with fl studio and guitar amp sim vst, from my experience cpu is the the most important thing for that, so i recommend a windows laptop with h series cpu that able to sustain Its performance .so basically similar thing as hardcore user on this video but gpu does not matter at all

[@wanttywontty]

@@mrbobgamingmemes9558 Yea also a high end amd laptop will do. However you shall be sacrificing thunderbolt (USB 4 is ok )

[@saipavanavisetty5584]

@@mrbobgamingmemes9558 can you please mention the laptops

[@saipavanavisetty5584]

@@mrbobgamingmemes9558 please mention those laptops which are better value for buck

[@davitdavid7165]

I think the new generation might be amazing for students. camm ram giving both performance and battery life without sacrificing upgradability and both intel and amd being laser focussed on beating arm battery life. I think waiting will be incredibly smart.

[@DanielUrl-c4x]

I have the Lenovo Yoga pro 9i gen 9 and after 3 month the trackpad was making klicky noise. They repaired it and after a werk the noise came back. Can anyone help me what I can do?

[@owlmostdead9492]

Framework made a mistake going for the 13” form factor, I called it when they first released. The main issues are fan noise and battery life which would have been easy to solve in a 14” size. Personally I think 13” is not enough to be productive.

[@anetizen6404]

It’s tiny

[@cameronbosch1213]

It's 13.5 inches; that's closer to 14 inches than 13. And that's not the problem. Framework is pretty much your only option for a good Linux laptop; most of the Linux first competitors like Tuxedo, Slimbook, or System76 all have generally worse build quality, worse screens, and worse port selections (they're often older).

[@owlmostdead9492]

@@cameronbosch1213 Holy shit 14" with the same screen aspect ratio would equate to 14.5" and yes it's a problem because 13.5" 3:2 is not enough, just like 16:9 14" is not enough to be productive/low multitasking.

[@__lvke]

I will be studying computer science however I am really leaning towards the new surface laptops

[@jcraft2805]

3:39 Yeah, nah. Ik it's a laptop and all, but I'm not taking a charger around, hm. If battery depletes, I'll take notes on important things.

[@killuazivert]

This video came JUST in time🙏🏾

[@sodanethngov1683]

I’m torn between zenbook oled 15 AMD and intel. I’m just a doctor who wants to own a laptop for work use. That little different kinda bothers me. It’s 200$ different in my country.

[@SwapnilRupanwar]

Hi Josh please do another video: Best Laptop for Business guys. Top priority is battery life. Business app should run data should not get lost. don't care if they run in emulation.

[@anetizen6404]

MacBook + old hard disk for Time Machine backup? Or Framework + System Restore on hard disk?