Your questions on student laptops answeredWhat is the best laptop for students?While the best student laptop will subjectively depend on what you plan to use it for, overall, the Apple MacBook Neo came out on top, thanks to its ability to cover most bases while being around half the price of more-premium machines. If your budget is tighter still, the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 will set you back less than £500 and will see you through semesters of note-taking and essay-writing. For students of graphic design and film and video production, or those who want to make music or create engineering marvels, the MacBook Pro 14 M5 is worth the splurge. Can students get discounts on laptops?Yes. Most of the big laptop brands offer discounts to current and newly accepted university students, as well as teachers and staff, so it’s always worth checking if the laptop you’re buying can be made cheaper with your student ID.Apple’s discount is the best known and can be accessed through the Apple Education Store, where you can save up to 10 per cent on most Apple products. Other companies have also followed suit: Asus offers student discounts on some laptops; Dell offers students 10 per cent off electronics; and HP offers up to 40 per cent off a selection of its products.You can also check out retailers like Currys and AO.com for student deals on some of our featured laptops and more top tech.How I testedIt may have been a long time since I was a student, so long in fact that the laptop I had at university had a black and white screen, Windows 3.1 and a 3.5in floppy drive, but I can still just about remember what it’s like. I used these laptops as my only computer, carried them around, set them up on tables in the local cafes and library, even the park, and generally treated them as if they were my sole screen. That meant watching movies on them as well as a lot of typing, chatting, using them for image editing, taking notes, creating reports and presentations in the likes of Google Docs, Affinity, Powerpoint, wasting time in Microsoft Solitaire and more.Performance: On more powerful machines, I watched movies and played games such as Cyberpunk 2077 to assess the laptops’ ability to handle intensive tasks. Productivity: I used each laptop in turn to tackle everything from photo- and video-editing to making notes. Whether the keyboard and trackpad remained comfortable even after long writing sessions was a consideration. Portability and battery life: I tested portability by carrying each machine around from cafes to parks, for a better sense of weight and bulk. I measured battery life before and after a typical day of mixed-use to see if it lasted a full workday without needing a top-up. Display: I assessed the sharpness, colour accuracy, brightness and overall quality of the display in different lighting conditions: outdoors and at home. Build quality: I considered each laptop’s overall build quality, the finish of the chassis, the quality of the materials used and whether they’re durable enough to withstand semesters of daily use. Why you can trust IndyBest reviewsIan Evenden is a writer and editor specialising in gaming, computing, science and technology publications. Ian has been contributing to IndyBest since 2021, applying his keen eye for detail and high standards to tech reviews such as the best bluetooth speakers, VPNs for speed and best digital photoframes.Want even more choice? Check out our round-up of the best laptops in 2026