Top 10 Most Affordable Laptops for College Students
The amount of choice in laptops today can make actually choosing one that suits your needs tougher than it needs to be. If you are a college student on a budget you will be pleased to know that there is no shortage of options available to you. This list of the top 10 most affordable laptops for college students will help you in finding the perfect laptop, at an ideal price.
See Also: Best Laptops 2012
10) Lenovo IdeaPad Z570
The IdeaPad represents Lenovo’s foray in to the budget consumer market having once only manufactured laptops for the business sector. The Z570 comes with a dedicated graphics card and is powered by Intel’s latest Core i5 CPU which is part of the third generation ‘Ivy Bridge’ family. The build, design and performance of the 15.6 inch screen machine make it a great buy at less than £550.
9) Dell Inspiron 14z
The Inspiron range from Dell has always been a big favourite with budget laptop buyers and this new 14z model effortlessly combines style and substance. The curves and the lovely keyboard make a great laptop to physically use and the power from the Intel Core i5 2430M chip does a great job on multitasking and is backed up by 4GB RAM.
8) Asus X53E
Taiwanese manufacturer Asus is famed for putting out consistently good laptops for the budget market and the X53E is no exception. Day-to-day tasks and watching HD content is made very easy on this machine thanks to its impressive Intel Core i7-2670QM processor; 4GB RAM and integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000 GPU. The chassis is as attractive as the 15.6 inch screen and the whole laptop just gives off a sense of real class.
7) HP Pavilion G6-1331EA
The HP Pavilion G6 is available for little over £400 and packs the power of something much more expensive. The build is more solid than spectacular but the AMD Vision A8 1.6GHz processor and dedicated AMD graphics card allow this laptop to perform way better that the bare figures suggest. If you are looking for a good media experience on a budget laptop, the G6-1331EA is a great choice and runs HD video and many advanced games without so much as a glitch.
6) HP Pavilion DV6
Next in the list is another entry from the HP Pavilion, this time the DV6. Like the G6-1331EA, the DV6 is a great budget laptop for multimedia lovers and despite weighing in at a slightly heavy 2.9kg is a very well-built machine. The 15.6 inch display is decent enough and provides good sharp detail, although not quite matching the envy range. Under the hood there is an Intel Core i3 2330M CPU which provides good performance and is help greatly by the inclusion of a massive 6GB RAM. The outstanding feature of this laptop though is the Beats by Dr. Dre Audio Technology. This gives brilliant audio performance that is only improved with external speakers.
5) Toshiba Satellite C660 2F7
While it may not be the best looking laptop in the world and is let down slightly by the inclusion of only two USB ports, the 320GB of HDD space, and excellent touchpad, a second generation Sandy Bridge Intel Core i3 dual-core processor and a price of little over 300 quid make this laptop a great purchase for any student on a budget. The C660 2F7 has a high resolution display, a DVD drive (although no HDMI) and an SD card slot for further expansion, all these add up to this being a very decent machine.
4) Fujitsu Lifebook AH531
For users looking for an affordable laptop that can take care of basic tasks such as web browsing, word processing, listening to music and watching videos, the Fujitsu Lifebook is a great machine. The design is nice and the keyboard is well spread out with the addition of a numerical keypad, 500GB gives plenty of on-board storage space for music and movies and the battery life is excellent. A Sandy Bridge processor and 4GB RAM ensures good performance.
3) Lenovo B570
This is the second entry on the list for Chinese manufacturer Lenovo and another excellent budget laptop; this time for under £350. The B570 has a very solid build and a great quality keyboard. The 15.6 inch display rewards you with sharp and vibrant colours, helped by the inclusion of super-TFT coating. The Intel Pentium Processor performs better than it has any right to and is boosted by 4GB RAM and an Intel HD Graphics card. A good battery is included, providing around 157 minutes of life – plenty of time to work on the move.
2) Asus X54H
With its solid build, functional design and excellent price tag, the X54H shows that the Asus are in the top-tier for producing budget laptops. With a 1.5GHz Celeron processor and 4GB RAM, this laptop is able to perform most tasks admirably and Windows 7 Home Premium runs as smoothly as can be. The matte screen display is good for watching movies and a 500GB HDD gives you plenty of room to store them. USB 3.0 support and an integrated graphics card only serve to add to the appeal of this machine.
1) Acer Aspire 5750
No list of affordable laptops is complete without an offering from Acer, and the Aspire 5750 just so happens to be the best budget laptop out there. If you are a college student, this machine should be at the top of your list and comes with an excellent Intel Core i3 2350M 2GHz dual-core processor and 4GB RAM. The 15.6 inch screen is good and the machine has a great graphics performance. For all round performance, great looks and less that £320, this is the perfect laptop.
Don’t forget that if you’re a student and don’t have the healthiest bank account you don’t have to buy a new laptop every time something goes wrong, you can always use a computer repair specialist to save your computer (and your pennies).
