The Best Back To School Laptops

Another summer is over. Whether you love it or hate it, summer 2019 is now officially in the history books, and we're waving the warmest days of the year goodbye. They'll be back again before you know it in 2020, but until then there's plenty to focus our attention on - especially if you're resuming your studies for a new term, or you're a parent to a child still making their way through the education system.

A new school or college term inevitably leads to new expenses. Clothes and textbooks account for many of the smaller purchases you might have to think about, but when it comes to the big bucks, a brand new laptop is the major purchase many of us have to consider. Gone are the days when you could get through your education with a pen and paper - if you don't have your own trusty laptop to sweat over when you're writing essays, you're in serious trouble.

'Trusty' is the operative word in the above paragraph. There are hundreds of different makes and models of laptops on the market, and some of them fare better than others. Nobody who's relying on a laptop for their studies can afford to take the risk of their critical hardware shutting down on them at a vital moment, so if you're buying new kit, you need to be confident that it will see you through the year. A very good laptop might survive for five years. A lesser-performing model might only make it through two. Price isn't always the decisive factor in these matters either - there are some very expensive laptops on the market which are notorious for fading away far too early.

If you - or someone you care for - is headed back to their studies this September, there's enough to worry about without crossing your fingers and hoping your hardware stays the course with you. That's why we've identified three models which we believe are worth your consideration.

Best Laptop On A Budget - The Acer Aspire 3

It's hardly a trade secret that Acer makes the best budget laptops - their machines dominate every respectable list on the subject. Of all the Acer laptops currently on the market, the Aspire 3 range is your best bet if you want something that won't cost the earth, but will put up with the rigors of student life. It won't be at the top of the charts in any individual field of performance, but it's a solid all-rounder that will achieve any task a student would normally be asked to engage with during an academic year. Unlike many laptops at the cheaper end of the market, the Aspire 3 has full, sharp HD resolution and a great color display. Streaming videos won't be a problem - although the sound isn't great unless you're using headphones. It has a decent hardware configuration, which allows you to install a student planner app, writing software, and other programs that you might need to use to submit your assignments on time.

What usually makes a cheap laptop look and feel cheap is the keyboard. Thin, plastic keys can be difficult to type on, and keyboard reliability often isn't great. Acer's keyboard is robust. You'll be able to hammer out that 15,000-word essay without feeling like you're tenderizing meat. The battery should last seven hours without a charge - which is mid-range performance - and 256GB SSD storage is enough so long as you don't work in a data-intensive field. Even if you do, cloud storage is where it's at in the here and now anyway. If you opt for an Intel Core, you'll get 2.2Ghz. Go with Acer's instead, and you'll get the 2.6Ghz AMD Ryzen 3, which is a fine equivalent. There isn't a quad-core option, but when you're paying less than $400 for a brand new laptop, you probably shouldn't expect one.

Best Mac Equivalent - The Dell XPS 13

We're not going to include any Apple products here. If you can afford to buy an Apple Macbook, you don't need our advice on laptops. Just go out, buy yourself an expensive piece of kit, and you'll be absolutely fine. If you'd love the performance of a Macbook at a slightly lower price, though, Dell has got your back. Dell might not be the most glamorous brand in the world, but they've been quietly turning out solid, dependable machines for decades. The XPS 13 is currently near the top of their line.

If it weren't for the lack of a logo, you could be fooled into thinking the XPS 13 was an Apple product from a distance. It's just as slim, and it's made of the same carbon fiber and aluminum mix. Even the entry-level models come with 4K panels and touchscreens, and you get a Core i5 processor as standard. Not only that; the Dell machine comes with a 256SSD and 8GB of memory. Storage-wise, you get up to one terabyte depending on how much you want to pay. If you completely fill that up, you're doing something very wrong. The battery will last you up to 21 hours - which easily covers a full working day without needing a charge - and the Core i7 processor is available if you're willing to pay for an upgrade. Doing so will nudge the price up above the $1000 mark, which is where this model starts.

For Having Fun Between Studies - HP Pavilion Gaming 15

Let's address the elephant in the room - all students enjoy a little gaming. If they did nothing but study all day, they'd slowly go insane. It's therefore helpful if your laptop can handle a little gaming action as well as the less-fun tasks it has to put up with. What you'll need in order to enable that will depend on what type of gaming you're into. If you're more into online or mobile slots games, for example, any of the laptops on this list will do. Online slots are built to be accessible and run inside web browsers, so they don't place much demand on hardware. So long as you can access online slots websites or their sister sites - which all three of these laptops can do as long as there's an internet connection - you have no concern. If your gaming tastes mean you need some graphical or processing firepower, though, you might be more interested in the HP Pavilion Gaming 15.

This laptop is cheaper than the Dell model we looked at, coming in at around $800. Because the price is lower, a few sacrifices have to be made. One is battery life - you'll only get about ten hours out of this HP laptop if it's unplugged. The 2.4Ghz Intel Core i5 processor is still snappy, though, and 256GB SSD makes it a competitive performer. The star of the show is the GTX 1650 graphics core, capable of high clock speeds. It's capable of playing any high-demand game both now and at least two years into the future unless there's a sudden and unforeseen jump forward in technology. Just don't let all of its gaming capabilities distract you from your studies for too long!