Top Great Reviews youtute channel Top 3 Best College Student Laptops In 2025 Today we are going to show you the best I still remember how tricky it became to pick the right laptop for my college studies. You’re expected to make a smart, long-term decision, whether you need something super lightweight for note-taking and essays or a powerhouse that can handle demanding creative or technical work. But when you walk into a store, all you get is a vague “what do you want it to do?” from a sales assistant.
Not exactly helpful! The choice is tough to make, which is why I’ve made it my mission to simplify things for you. My team and I test the latest laptops every year, pushing them to their limits in our performance lab. Every recommendation you see here has been hands-on tested and carefully considered no guesswork, no fluff.
Table of Contents
- No 1 Lenovo ThinkPad X9
- No 2 ASUS VivoBook 16
- No 3 Acer Chromebook Spin 714
Top 3 Best College Student Laptops In 2025
No 1 Lenovo ThinkPad X9
The Lenovo ThinkPad X9 15 Aura Edition (2025) is a premium Windows laptop. This 15-inch ultraportable features Intel’s Lunar Lake SoCs, with options ranging from a Core Ultra 5 226V to a Core Ultra 7 268V. You can get up to 32GB of soldered RAM and 2TB of storage. It has a 2.8k 120Hz OLED display (with or without touch input), a haptic touchpad, a 1440p webcam, and Wi-Fi 7 wireless connectivity. Ports include a USB-A, two USB-C/Thunderbolt 4s, an HDMI 2.0, and a headphone jack.
The Lenovo ThinkPad X9 is excellent for business use. It has a sturdy all-aluminum build, a thin and light design, and a battery that lasts easily through a typical workday, making it a near-perfect device for those who travel a lot for work. It’s also a joy to work on, thanks to its sharp OLED display, comfortable keyboard, easy-to-use haptic touchpad, and excellent webcam.
Biometrics include a fingerprint sensor and a facial recognition IR camera, which is great if you want to avoid typing in your password in public spaces. Performance is great; its Intel Lunar lake SoC can easily handle productivity tasks like text processing, web browsing, spreadsheets, and presentations. Its OLED display flickers, though, which might bother people sensitive to flickering, causing eye strain. Additionally, it’s susceptible to permanent burn-in, so you’ll want to take active measures to prevent it if you plan to keep the laptop for a while, like hiding Windows’ taskbar.
Pros
- Thin and light design.
- All-day battery life.
- Bright, colorful OLED display.
- Comfortable keyboard, responsive haptic touchpad.
- Doesn’t get overly hot or loud under load.
Cons
- CPU and integrated GPU can’t handle highly demanding workloads.
- OLED is susceptible to permanent burn-in.
- OLED display’s 480Hz flicker may bother some people.
No 2 Acer Swift Go 14
The Acer Swift Go 14 is the kind of mid-tier laptop that can keep up with most people’s needs for at least the next few years. It also comes with some great conferencing tools by way of a quality webcam and mic. Of course, the battery life is just okay and the build quality doesn’t quite scream premium, but at least the price is right.
Just be aware that the models with the Intel Core i5 or i7 CPUs are technically of the previous generation, even if they’re very close in terms of performance – they’re just not quite as robust in terms of their AI capabilities as the ones with the Intel Core Ultra SoCs with Intel Arc graphics and dedicated NPU.
If you need to differentiate, Though the Acer Swift Go 14 came in a number of configurations in previous generations, the current one (which is not that big of a leap from the previous i5 or i7-powered generation) has a very small number of models. In the US, the only difference is either getting one with an Intel Core Ultra 5 or Core Ultra 7 SoC for the non-Costco models, or getting the Costco model, which is both cheaper and comes with a bigger hard drive.
The Acer Swift Go 14 is slightly different in the UK and Australia as it comes with a 2.8k resolution OLED screen. Of course, it’s more expensive as well.
Pros
- More than enough power for the average user
- Webcam, mic, and touchpad are very good
- Copilot AI is just a button press away
Cons
- Not the most premium feeling laptop
- Review model only available through Costco
- Battery life is just okay
No 3 Acer Chromebook Spin 714
The Acer Chromebook Spin 714 feels almost premium. It has a good-looking and feeling touchscreen coupled with a powerful performance for a Chromebook. It’s also very durable and easy to use in its various form factors.
The audio is weak and this newest configuration is only available in the US, but any other issue amounts to nitpicking.While the Acer Chromebook Spin 714 is not quite at the level of a MacBook Air or Pro aesthetically, it’s not far off thanks in part to its dark gray colorway and aluminum chassis covers (lid and keyboard side of the bottom).
Though this laptop doesn’t do much outside of its gold hinges to set itself apart, it’s still a relatively smart-looking notebook. Just as importantly, especially for any students or parents of students considering this Chromebook, it’s durable.
It seems to be made of premium materials from the mostly aluminum chassis and Corning Gorilla glass used for the display to the smooth touchpad and solid-feeling keyboard. While I didn’t drop it from any rooftops, Acer has verified that the Acer Chromebook Spin 714 has military-grade durability.
Speaking of the touchpad and keyboard, they could have gone either way at this price point. Luckily, they’re both well executed. The keyboard is not necessarily the most comfortable since it has pretty short travel and feels a little stiff, but it’s accurate and easy to type on. The touchpad, on the other hand, has a nice, smooth feel to it, though it can be a little oversensitive at times.
Pros
- Speedy performance for day-to-day productivity
- Good looking and feeling touchscreen
- Sturdy hinge
- Strong battery life
Cons
- Speakers are quiet with hollow-sounding audio
- Limited availability
- Keyboard feels a little stiff
How We Tested These Laptops.
To find the best laptops we run every machine through a rigorous suite of benchmarks and real-world tests to gauge how it will perform during everyday use.
We measure the average brightness and color quality of each laptop’s display using our in-house light meter and colorimeter. For general performance, we run our machines through tests that include Geekbench 6 (CPU performance), as well as various 3DMark tests to measure graphics capabilities. We also run a file transfer test to measure how fast a machine’s hard drive is, and a custom battery test that has the machine browse the internet over Wi-Fi until it runs out of juice.
Plus, we run the graphics benchmark test in Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm to get a sense of how well a laptop can handle basic games. When testing dedicated gaming laptops, we run benchmarks for a number of games such as Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Far Cry: New Dawn.
Please be aware that we may receive a commission if you buy something after clicking on the links in our stories. This helps to fund our work. Thank you for your support and attention. Feel free to look around further to find out more about how these commissions support our work. Top Great Reviews