The Ultimate Back to School Laptop Buying Guide - 2022 Edition!

Looking for the best laptop for students and back to school? Well we've got our updated back to school laptop buying guide for 2022. It includes some of best affordable laptops along with options if you have more to spend on a laptop for back to school.

Find these laptops on Amazon & other retailers at the links below:

UNDER $1000:

UNDER $1500:

OVER $1500:

TIMESTAMPS -
0:00 - Some Laptop Buying Tips & Tricks
1:43 - Best Budget Laptops (under $1000)
5:28 - Best Mid-Range Laptops (under $1500)
11:08 - Best High End Laptops (over $1500)
14:39 - Wrap Up!

Review unit provided free of charge by companies listed in this video. This video is sponsored by Fractal Design. As per Hardware Canucks guidelines, no review direction was received from manufacturer. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Gear list (Available on Amazon):
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#laptopbuyingguide #backtoschoollaptop2022 #hardwarecanucks

[babblebam]

I’ve seen friends buying and using some “student laptops” and couldn’t be happier I saved up some extra money and bought an XPS 15 (in 2017). The amount of issues people encounter with budget laptops is ridiculous. From keyboard letters disappearing, hinge failure, screen border coming off, mobo failures, unusable trackpad, battery useless after 2 years (if the laptop even lasts 2 years)… If possible, use your old laptop longer, make some extra money and buy something with better quality. Dont buy a cheap laptop just because youre told to get a new one for school now

[bleras]

I would consider budget the 400-600 range. There are many good and light laptops with ryzen 5500u or better around that price, that's more than enough performance for most users imo.

[georgesheng]

How on earth have I not found you earlier. So calming and pretty dang informative for a newer consumer. Good stuff

[itsluckshot]

I am a senior majoring in accounting and my go to is my Macbook Pro 14inch. It runs the accounting software I need (for simulating a business) and of course all the programs a typical student needs. You can honestly just go baseline M1 if you are in accounting but since I also like to do music production and light video editing, the Pro model is what I needed. Pair this with an iPad Pro for notes and such and you'll be productive in no time.

As a bonus: I get to play FF14 on my Mac

[harikrishnankj]

I got the Ideapad 5 pro. it actually has a 6600HS and not a U series processor. it also comes with 1TB SSD and 16gb ram for 850$ USD. pretty solid so far. battery life is excellent

[Aaqib..]

Here IdeaPad 5 pro costs round about 900$ with Ryzen 7, 1Tb ssd and 16Gb Ram, all metal build, integrated Radeon graphics, definitely a perfect choice for a student.

[yashsinghvi]

I recently got a laptop..
Ryzen 7 5800H, rtx 3050, 16gb ram, 512gb storage, 14 inch 2.8k OLED with 90hz
It's asus vivobook pro 14 OLED and it was selling for ₹90k($1150) but I got it for ₹66k ($850-900)
Would recommend

[marcin_karwinski]

You forgot to mention that in Covid (and similar) lock-down cases you need a laptop with decent camera(s) for web confs, and some of these selected here come with fairly basic HD ones. There are still schools/unis with huge MS Windows-based software dependency, so going Mac might be as useless as choosing tablets... Then there's the noise aspect - some cases might require the option be noiseless so nigh on no whooshes or coil whines, akin to Mac Air. The screen might also be tested with hard lightning situations, so glossy ones might be less tempting. Still, given extra features, ROG X13 might be well adapted to student duties, with quite decent perf, unique dockability, battery life, and touchscreen with 2-in-1 form factor, but unfortunately the cost per perf factor is nearly as prohibiting as Macs or Razers or XPSes...

[anasabu-rasheed]

The Lenovo ideapad slim7 carbon (2021) is about 950 USD on ebay, has 14" OLED dispay, ryzen 5800u, and great build quality.

[pauljojo]

Do a laptop recommendation for mechanical engineering students 👩‍🎓

[sufykazi]

I got the Lenovo Ideapad 5 Pro for $650 (with international shipping), it has a good build. great screen and decent battery life.
My point: you can get great laptops on a realistic budget

[theofficialpollo]

It all depends on what you use your laptop for, you don't need to spend $1, 000+ USD. I use my R7 3700X - RX 6600 - 16GB desktop for gaming and video production, and my $500 Huawei 14 laptop (i3 10110U, 8GB, 256GB SSD, Intel UHD) for school. Word, excel, web browsing, media consumption, programming and lighter games like 2D indies and minecraft do well.

[RR-uskp]

I'm watching a back to school laptop video while going through college with just a cheap smartphone. And the only accessory I got for that is the charger. 🤣

[Syberstian]

The Asus flow x13 2021 model was really good for the price with a ryzen 9 5900hs and a 3050ti with 1tb of storage for about $1199

[Coldd]

2:05 my budget was around 400 initially but I spotted the £500 AMD version of the Acer swift 3 and managed to get that. I find myself using it more than I use my PC (1660, 2600x, 16gb ram) as it runs most games well enough. If your budget is in this range I'd strongly recommend at least giving it a look

[Chukijay]

If your “budget” picks start at $800, then most people are already out and this video is a circlejerk. If that’s a person’s budget, they don’t need to watch this video.

[SodersSTHLM]

I bought a Lenovo Legion 7 with Ryzen 7 5800H, RTX3080, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD for around 1850USD and I love it! :)

[ReversedxD]

the zephyrus g15 would make for a better option over the m16 considering the performance gap isn't significant and offers better battery life

[ironyconfident]

For back to school I would prioritise laptop battery, lightweight and smaller to fit in your backpack (and use a sleeve). 15 inch and above is way too big. If your course allows, I would go with base model M1 Macbook air. There seems to be a heavy gamer agenda. Conside a second gaming dedicated PC for home which also will be detracting from your study time.

[jonah]

Don’t forget the Asus flow x13. It is definitely up there in price but it does everything. High performance cpu check, dedicated gpu check, thin and light form factor check, 16:10 1200p display check, 120hz display check, amazing battery life check and proper 2 in 1 form factor with touch screen and included stylus support check and check