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The Best Back-To-School Laptops for Students

By on July 29, 2014

As a learning tool, a personal laptop can be extremely useful for children of any age. In addition, buying a laptop for a teenager entering high school is useful for gaining an edge in preparation for college as well as fostering a sense of personal privacy by allowing them to get away from a family computer.

Each year, retailers attempt to get parents into stores to purchase new laptops for students with sales throughout August and early September. While you can find a constant feed of the best laptop deals on Ben’s Bargains, it’s also good to know what brands to keep an eye out for when shopping for a teenager or a student that’s off to start college.

We have put together a list of five laptops that will be ideal to own at the start of the school year:

Elementary / Middle School

Acer C720 Chromebook
  • Includes ‘Supervised User’ accounts to protect kids from adult Web content
  • At 2.7 lbs, light enough for kids to carry around
  • Offers a strong 10-hour battery life
  • Retail cost around $225, Refurbs as cheap as $130

High School

Dell Inspiron 15 3000 Series
  • Includes 4th Gen. Intel Core i3 Processor for solid performance
  • Ideal for more advanced homework requiring Microsoft Office
  • Can be purchased with a touch screen
  • Retail cost starts at $400, Upgrades available

College (Business / Law / Education Majors)

HP ENVY 15-inch Laptop
  • AMD or Intel Quad-core processor is ideal for work and multitasking
  • While heavy at 5.6 lbs, 1TB of storage will last for years
  • Beats Audio offers excellent sound system for downtime
  • Retail cost around $700, Refurbs as cheap as $400

College (Medical / Engineering / Science Majors)

Dell XPS 15 Laptop
  • Ideal for very detailed work, the 3200 x 1800 resolution is perfect
  • Combo of Intel Core i7, 16GB of RAM and SSD hard drive ideal for AutoCAD
  • GPU great for games as well when downtime is needed
  • Retail cost around $1950, Watch for 25% off Refurb coupons

College (Graphic Design / Film / Undecided Majors)

Apple MacBook Pro / Air
  • Pro model offers killer performance and graphics power for film editing
  • In addition, Retina display is ideal for visual work
  • Air excellent for undecided, light weight perfect to take to class
  • Pro costs around $1300, Air starts at $899

About Mike Flacy

Editor-in-Chief for The CheckOut. During my free time, I love to write about pop culture, home theater, digital photography, social media, mobile technology and cool gadgets!

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