Best Laptops for students under $800 2026: 5 Compared

What are the best laptops for students under $800 in 2026?

Summary

Two laptops redrew this card in 2026. Apple's MacBook Neo launched at $599, rose to $699 in June ($599 with education pricing), and is now the first pick of almost every student guide we read: Tom's Guide calls it the laptop for most students, TechRadar its best student laptop overall, and RTINGS, Tom's Hardware and PCWorld their best budget laptop or budget Mac. Dell answered with a redesigned XPS 13 at $699 with 8GB ($899 with 16GB in Tom's Hardware's review), which Tom's Guide and Tom's Hardware both make their budget Windows pick. [src1, src3, src4, src5, src6, src9]

The picks below are the laptops those outlets recommend to students that we could verify under $800, named in the configurations the outlets tested. The MacBook Neo is the top pick. The Dell XPS 13 (2026) is the Windows pick in its 8GB configuration, the only one under the ceiling ($799.99 at Dell when we checked on 2026-10-12). The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x is the value pick: 16GB of memory and the longest battery life here, on Arm-based Windows with a dim screen. The Acer Aspire Go 15 is the cheapest laptop the outlets still recommend to students, although the listing we link had no purchasable offer in our checks through 2026-10-11. For coursework that lives in a browser, the ASUS Chromebook Plus CX34 is PCWorld's best Chromebook. [src1, src6, src11, src12, src13, src14, src15, src18, src19]

Eight laptops have left this card. The ASUS Vivobook 14 we linked was a Core i5-1334U configuration that no outlet we read has tested; Tom's Guide's Vivobook 14 (2026) review is of a Ryzen AI 7 445 model, and no student guide we read recommends it. [src20] The MacBook Air M4 has been replaced by the M5, which starts at $1,299.99 in Tom's Hardware's college guide, above this card's ceiling; the M4 listing we linked had no offer in our check on 2026-10-11. [src3] The Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 is Tom's Guide's best Chromebook for students, but its Amazon listing was $1,149.99 in our check on 2026-10-11, over the ceiling. [src1] The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5 16, HP Pavilion Plus 14, Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1, Acer Swift Go 14 and Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i 15 appear in none of the student or budget guides we read, and we found no test of the IdeaPad Slim 3i 15 at all.

Top 5 Student Laptops Compared

The Price column is the price of the listing each Buy link goes to, from our daily check, except for the Dell XPS 13, whose link goes to Dell's US store and shows the price we saw there. The configuration a store sells can differ from the one the outlets tested (see each pick's section). Live price and stock are in the picks table above.

Best for Each Use Case

Top Pick: Apple MacBook Neo — Check price

Tom's Guide names the MacBook Neo the best laptop for students: at $699, or $599 through Apple's education pricing, it has "enough performance to juggle note-taking, video calls and watching shows". Its A18 Pro, an iPhone chip, handled multitasking, photo editing and some casual gaming in Tom's Guide's testing, and the Neo lasted 13 hours 28 minutes in its web-browsing battery test; the keyboard is not backlit, there is no Thunderbolt, and Touch ID costs extra. [src1] TechRadar makes it its best student laptop overall, with 13.5 hours in its battery test. [src5] For RTINGS it is the best budget laptop for college: the 8GB of memory is "much less restrictive in macOS than it is in Windows 11", so in everyday use the Neo keeps more apps and browser tabs open than the 8GB XPS 13 before slowing down, comparable to the 16GB XPS 13, and RTINGS rates its display accuracy, speakers, webcam and touchpad above the Dell's. [src4] Tom's Hardware calls it "still the best deal you can get on a Mac" at $699, and notes that its two USB-C ports have different speeds and capabilities and are not labelled. [src3] PCWorld names it its best budget laptop. [src6] The 8GB cannot be upgraded; 9to5Mac hit no performance ceiling in writing, editing and research, and expects one in work that loads every core, such as video exports, compiling code and local AI models. [src7] The Amazon listing we link is the 8GB / 256GB model in silver; it was in stock from Amazon.com at $699.00 in our check on 2026-10-11.

Best Windows Laptop: Dell XPS 13 (2026) — Check price

Tom's Guide gives the XPS 13 (2026) its Editor's Choice and calls it "easily the best budget Windows laptop right now": an aluminum chassis, a sharp 13.4-inch 2560x1600 touchscreen with a 30-120Hz refresh rate, Intel's Core 5 320 ("Wildcat Lake") and 14 hours 29 minutes in its battery test, with a blurry webcam its main complaint. [src8] Its 8GB / 512GB review unit got through 15 Chrome tabs with YouTube playing in the background, and Tom's Guide names it the best Windows laptop for students. [src1] Tom's Hardware, also with an Editor's Choice, tested both the 8GB and 16GB models: each topped 14 hours in its battery test, an hour to 90 minutes more than the MacBook Neo; the XPS is half a pound lighter than the Neo and has a keyboard backlight the Neo lacks, but the Neo was faster, its screen brighter (452.6 nits against just under 400), and the XPS has no headphone jack. It found that the 8GB model "gets laggy fast when multitasking". [src9] Its college guide names the XPS 13 the best budget Windows laptop for college. [src3] TechRadar, which names it the best lightweight student laptop, measured 16 hours 17 minutes of video playback and also saw the 8GB model slow down under heavier multitasking. [src5] RTINGS recommends the 16GB configuration, as its best mid-range laptop for college at its $799 education price, and finds the 8GB one "considerably more limiting in Windows 11" than the Neo's 8GB is in macOS. [src4, src10]

Price and configuration. Tom's Hardware reviewed it at $699 with 8GB and $899 with 16GB, both with a 512GB SSD. [src9] When we checked Dell's US store on 2026-10-12, the 8GB / 512GB model was $799.99, inside this card's ceiling by a cent, and the 16GB models were $999.99, over it; Dell showed student pricing from $699. [src19] Amazon had only reseller listings of other configurations, so the link goes to Dell's page for the XPS 13 (DX13260), where you choose the configuration.

Best Value: Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x — Check price

Tom's Guide names the IdeaPad Slim 3x its best value laptop for students and its best laptop under $500, at the $449 it has seen it sell for against a $749 list price. [src1, src13] Its review unit (Snapdragon X X1-26-100, 16GB, 256GB, a 15.3-inch 1920x1200 touchscreen, 3.42 lb) lasted 16 hours 29 minutes in Tom's Guide's battery test, longer than every other laptop in its student guide except the MacBook Pro M5; the keyboard is good, and the display, speakers and gaming performance are weak. [src1, src11] PCWorld gives the same configuration 3.5 out of 5: 982 minutes in its video battery test and capable everyday performance, but "the hardware makes a lot of compromises", among them a dull display, tinny speakers and a slow GPU, and a $749 price that looks high when better laptops go on sale. [src12] It runs Windows on Arm, so check that your course software has an Arm version or runs under emulation. [src1] The Amazon listing we link is the 16GB / 512GB model; it was $629.99 from a marketplace seller, low on stock, in our check on 2026-10-11.

Best Budget: Acer Aspire Go 15 (Core i3-N305) — Check price

Tom's Guide names the Aspire Go 15 its best laptop under $500 for students on a budget: "a do-it-all machine for basic tasks" with a comfortable keyboard and more than 10 hours of battery life for $299, though it is "a little sluggish" and its 720p webcam is poor. [src13] Tom's Guide's review unit (Core i3-N305, 8GB, 128GB, a 15.6-inch 1080p screen, 3.86 lb) lasted 10 hours 15 minutes in its battery test. [src14] PCWorld gives the same Intel model (AG15-31P, Core i3-N305, 8GB, 128GB of UFS flash storage rather than an SSD) 4 out of 5: it "plods along without much fuss" and "has clear value at just $300", but it is big, cheaply built and limited in performance. [src15]

Which Aspire Go 15. Acer also sells a 2025 Aspire Go 15 with a Core 3 N355, 16GB and 512GB, which PCWorld rates 4 out of 5 ("one of the best budget laptops you can buy for under $500", $499 as reviewed) and Tom's Guide calls "upgraded yet underwhelming" for its battery life. It is not the configuration our link sells. [src16, src17]

Availability: the Amazon listing we link (AG15-31P-3947, the Core i3-N305 / 8GB / 128GB model the two outlets above tested) had no purchasable offer in our daily checks through 2026-10-11; that is an availability note, not a change to the ranking. Best you can buy today instead: the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x above, $629.99 from a marketplace seller in the same check; if ChromeOS will do, the ASUS Chromebook Plus CX34 below was in stock at $529.99.

Best Chromebook: ASUS Chromebook Plus CX34 — Check price

PCWorld names the Chromebook Plus CX34 its best Chromebook: "simple, reliable, and ready to handle whatever your day throws at it", provided you are comfortable with ChromeOS. [src6] Its review unit (CX3402CVA, Core i5-1335U, 8GB, 128GB of UFS storage, a 14-inch 1920x1080 touchscreen, 3.17 lb, $499 as reviewed) scored 4.5 out of 5 and lasted a little over 13 hours in PCWorld's battery test at low brightness, closer to seven or eight hours with the brightness up; the 16:9 screen feels cramped and the keyboard has no backlight. [src18] It is an alternative rather than a ranked pick because, among the outlets we read, only PCWorld recommends it. The Amazon listing we link is the 256GB model; it was in stock at $529.99 from a marketplace seller in our check on 2026-10-11.

Key Market Trends (2026)

• Memory prices pushed laptop prices up: Tom's Guide says laptop prices "skyrocketed due to the RAM crisis" in 2026 and expects it to get worse; Tom's Hardware notes that the 13-inch MacBook Air M5 it tested now starts at $1,299.99, up from $1,099.99 when it reviewed it. [src2, src3]
• Apple raised the MacBook Neo by $100 in June 2026: it launched at $599 and now costs $699, or $599 with Apple's education pricing. [src1, src3, src9]
• Dell answered with a cheaper XPS: Tom's Hardware calls the redesigned XPS 13 "an excellent Windows-based answer to the MacBook Neo"; it launched at $699 with 8GB, and Dell's US store listed that model at $799.99 when we checked on 2026-10-12. [src9, src19]
• 8GB is back at the budget end: the MacBook Neo, the cheapest XPS 13 and the Acer Aspire Go 15 all ship with 8GB. RTINGS finds 8GB much less restrictive on macOS than on Windows 11, and Tom's Hardware and TechRadar saw the 8GB XPS 13 slow down under heavier multitasking. [src4, src5, src9, src14]
• Arm brings long battery life down in price: the Snapdragon X in the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x lasted more than 16 hours in both Tom's Guide's and PCWorld's tests, at the cost of some x86 app compatibility. [src11, src12]

Important Caveats

• Prices in the text are either an outlet's price when it reviewed the laptop or the price of the listing we link on the date given. The live price and stock of each linked listing are in the picks table at the top. Education prices (the MacBook Neo at $599, the XPS 13 from $699) need proof of student status. [src1, src19]
• Each model is sold in several configurations. We link the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x with 512GB (the outlets tested 256GB), the ASUS Chromebook Plus CX34 with 256GB (PCWorld tested 128GB), and the 2024 Acer Aspire Go 15 with a Core i3-N305 that the outlets tested, not the 2025 Core 3 N355 model. Dell's page lets you choose 8GB or 16GB for the XPS 13. [src11, src15, src16, src18, src19]
• The MacBook Neo's 8GB of memory cannot be upgraded. [src7] The 8GB XPS 13 slows down sooner than the 16GB model under heavier multitasking. [src9]
• The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x runs Windows on Arm: most apps work, but check that the software your course requires runs on it. [src1]
• Chromebooks run ChromeOS and cannot install most Windows or macOS programs; PCWorld advises Windows or macOS users to look elsewhere. [src6]
• Battery figures are each outlet's own test (Tom's Guide browses the web at 150 nits; TechRadar and PCWorld play video) and do not compare across outlets. [src1, src5, src12]