You need the very best college school supplies for your return to campus, and a laptop is no exception. High-functioning, fast, powerful, sleek, all within your budget and perfect for your decided major? Not an easy choice!

To help you decide, today we’ve rounded up six of the best laptops for college (in no particular order), listed with a full description of their features, prices, and available retailers, as well as access to trusted laptop review sites.

Before you start, make sure to check if your university provides any specific discounts! Certain companies might partner with colleges for cheaper prices on their models, or your college could have a general discount — score!

Table of Contents

1. Dell XPS 13

Dell (9360) | Dell (9370) | Amazon (9360) | Amazon (9370) | BestBuy

The Dell XPS is one of the best laptops out there on the market, period! It boasts a beautiful 1080p InfinityEdge screen, breaking the limits of screen bezels for richer images and wide-angle viewing. 

The screen is also incredibly bright (the 9360 model is 368 nits), and the battery lasts an astounding 16 hours, 5 minutes (according to Laptop Mag’s Battery Test), perfect for packed schedules. Performance overall is stunningly fast, weight is low — the 13? model clocks in at 2.78 pounds (9360) / 2.67 pounds (9370) — and the structure is super thin, claimed by Dell to be “the world’s smallest 13-inch laptop.” 

The only con? A webcam placed at the bottom of the screen, instead of at the top (there’s no space!), offering a rather unflattering view of the face — if you don’t video chat that often, or simply don’t mind, this shouldn’t be a problem!

With Intel rolling out its new 8th-Gen Core this year, Dell was quick to follow up, though the similar, slightly slower 7th-Gen is still going strong. Take your pick from any configuration of Core i5 or Core i7 processors (we recommend i5 for mainstream users), 4 to 16GB of RAM, and 128GB to 1TB of SSD.