The Best Back to School Laptops - 2024 Edition

Choosing a laptop for back to school isn't easy but in this back to school laptop buying guide we talk about your best choices for battery life, price, performance and build quality. All while trying to keep prices under $1000 (USD). We also talk about using Mac vs PC for school and student work.

Buy all these Laptops from various retailers:
Legion Slim 5i - Currently EOL in North America
Zenbook 14 OLED AMD - Good Luck

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - Laptop Buying Tips
2:40 - Sponsor Spot
3:15 - Our Picks (under $1000!)
7:30 - Jarrod’s Picks
9:04 - Alex’s Picks
10:57 - Josh’s Picks
12:25 - Matt’s Picks
13:26 - Good Luck!

Review unit provided free of charge by Lenovo, ASUS, Apple and Dell. This video is sponsored by DROP. As per Hardware Canucks guidelines, no review direction was received from manufacturer. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Follow us for more updates!
----------------------------------------­------------------------

#backtoschool #laptops #bestlaptops

[Nelo]

I got a second hand FrameWork 13 AMD 7640, and 32GB ram for 900$, and it has been wonderful to have an extremely powerful, forward thinking and modular laptop. For those on a tighter budget, FrameWork offers Factory Seconds of 11th gen Intel laptops, for nearly $600. This doesn't include an SSD or Ram though, but you can get whatever 2 sticks of ram and 1 ssd that suits you, and upgrade later.

The reason why the extra price makes sense, to me, is because they will continue selling upgraded motherboards every year for their 13" and 16" chassis. Currently the 7640 MoBo is $420, and a new Intel Core series is about to be released. Imagine trying to find a new laptop for that amount!! You can even turn the old motherboard into a desktop with their 3dprintable case, so there's no waste at all. I love how it all comes together, and if you're looking for a long term laptop that you can upgrade as you need, I don't see any other laptop manufacturer doing what Framework is doing.

[countrymanWayne]

Hey, I just got a new ASUS laptop. I’m trying to figure out how to use the Office programs, but I can’t find the product keys. Does anyone know what to do?

[eiceys]

We are not just a viewers from your channels, we are a community, i love all your reviews guys !

[NotebookcheckReviews]

This was an awesome collaboration; thanks for having us! So many great recommendations all around!

[kasiitaali]

Me who skipped the video wondering which channel am on 😂😂😂😂

[hh]

How cheap do people in the US get the Zenbook 14 OLED. I'm in Finland and it costs 1299 bucks💀💀 I thought it would be about 999 bucks.

[EK-rpns]

Wow, such a super cool collab with very different picks!

[CornFed_]

I recently got a really good deal via HP. I was able to snag an HP Pavilion Plus 14, OLED/120HZ screen, Ryzen 7 8845HS, and 32GB of RAM for $950. I think overall, I saved ~35% total.

[FoxxFire]

What outstanding choices of channels with whom to collab!! I watch all these channels - each video they put out, regardless of topic. I also love how you put Notebookcheck Reviews, whose channel is quite small but produces A+ content (same with Just Josh, though his is a little bigger). Of course, JT and Moooniizzz are heavy hitters, so everyone knows them, and obviously we all are watching them as well (if you're not, you really need to be; if you want to buy any laptop and JT made a video about that laptop, it is a cardinal sin not to watch his review before buying). Anyway, just thought it was cool of a channel this size to showcase some smaller or medium size channels. Thanks for another great video, HC.

[mintybit]

For a school device I picked up a cheap refurbished Thinkpad t480s on ebay with an i5-8265u, 16gb ram, and a 512gb SSD. I'd highly recommend looking for good refurbished devices on eBay and Amazon for around $100-$400 as they can often still have modern specifications or some even having a dedicated GPU if you work with blender, photoshop, or using Adobe software. Great video!

[mountainclimbr]

Still rocking my 13" MBP M1 and it's been awesome for all day battery at school, using intensive software and even at work during the summers! Perfect for all, if not most students who don't mind going into the Apple ecosystem.

[sydguitar]

I am happy you guys are responsible enough to not recommend the SD laptops, It is insane to me that many reviewers are recommending them so broadly without knowing what specialized applications students may need that are not ARM-compatible

[marthder]

Recently got the asus zenbook 14 oled. The portability is just insane. Before that, i always leave my laptop in the office since my old laptop was heavy and 15.6 in. But this zenbook is just so much lighter and smaller at 14in, but still has a respectable build and beautiful design.

But honestly, if i didnt need a new laptop urgently? I would be waiting for a zenbook laptop with the zen 5.

[chinesekangaroo]

1 year ago i watched one of your videos, it convinced me to go to the apple store and buy the device you recommended. In that store i met a wonderful person and in a few months we are going to get married, if it wasn't for your video, we wouldn't have met. Thank you.

[quomL]

got a g14 for 750. It's the perfect laptop for the price, it literally is a mini PC but inside a laptop and it's soo slim. The build also is impeccable.

[tuckerhiggins]

Idk where y'all go to school, but Macs always had issues with compatibility

[alebedev]

Wow, it’s a collaboration this time. Very impressive video. Thank you for your thoughts, hosts! I’ve bought Lenovo Legion Slim 14 couple of months ago on Jared’s recommendation and very happy with it. I just wish Lenovo updated BIOS to make fans quieter. They really are too aggressive in gaming

[pythonsfc]

I find this videos so funny right now.
Ive been looking for a laptop for over a year now and finally fot myself and m3 pro macbook pro 14.
Its just so releving not having to worry anymore about all the details, still love the vid❤

[JimKanaris]

Thanks for making these! As a prof, who likes his tech, it helps with recommendations. 👍

[LearningAndGrowingInLife]

Super cool collab, especially great seeing Just Josh here, big fan of his work and channel.