Laptops for students: 5 devices between 389 and 650 euros in comparison

What used to be the book is now the laptop for schoolchildren. With one exception: There are free books for schoolchildren at the beginning of the school year, while technical equipment such as laptops or tablets are in short supply at German schools. What the state is unable to solve remains up to the parents. Of course, the learning computer shouldn’t cost too much. Parents can currently get hold of a future-proof device for between 500 and 650 euros. If the performance is compromised, it can also be cheaper.

Laptop for students

1. Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6

A formidable computer for school is that . With a weight of less than two kilograms, the laptop can be easily transported when it comes to a school trip. Six computing cores work in the built-in AMD Ryzen 5 5500 U. The more cores a computer has, the smoother it works when several programs are open at the same time. Current devices should at least work with quad-core processors.

The 15.6 inch display (39.6 centimeters) has a full HD resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels). The main memory is eight gigabytes in size. That is easily enough for school. On the other hand, the capacity of the internal memory, i.e. the memory on which pictures, videos and documents are stored, is nice. The built-in SSD holds 512 gigabytes of data and that is more than enough for the school. The laptop can be connected to a monitor via an HDMI socket.

2. Asus F515JA-EJ721T

At 15.6 inches (39.6 centimeters) the same size but cheaper . The biggest difference is the processor. Because it does not come from the chip manufacturer AMD, but from its competitor Intel. The Intel Core i53-1005G1 works in the laptop. Unfortunately, it only has two computing cores, but is still suitable for school or university.

There is, however, a notable difference in performance compared to the AMD Ryzen 5 5500U. The AMD processor is much more powerful. In terms of display resolution, storage space, and connection options, the first two laptops take almost nothing.

Asus Business P1

the brings everything that makes students happy. On a screen diagonal of 14 inches (35.6 centimeters), students can work with several programs at the same time. This is made possible by the Ryzen 5-3500-U processor from AMD in combination with the built-in eight gigabytes of RAM. Incidentally, four gigabytes of them are firmly soldered again. As long as you don’t want to unscrew the laptop to upgrade the RAM, you shouldn’t care.

The internal memory is 512 gigabytes and is sufficient for a school career. As with all other laptops, there is a webcam, loudspeaker and microphone. The display has a full HD resolution. However, there is a significant difference to the two previous models: The Asus laptop has a USB-C socket. Whether it justifies the extra charge of 100 euros depends on whether you actually use the interface. If not, choose the Acer Aspire 3 (A314-22-R330) or HP 250 G7 (15S43ES).

Two price tips under 500 euros

Large families in particular are familiar with the quarrel among siblings about who is allowed to use the laptop and when. It is hardly possible to do justice to all children – but the attempt is honorable and expensive. All featured laptops offer Quad-core processors, eight gigabytes of RAM and at least 512 Gigabyte internal storage. With small cutbacks, however, it can also be cheaper. And that’s what you want to put up with when it comes to internal storage. This is due to the inside of the laptop: the processor is always firmly soldered. It cannot be exchanged or upgraded later. The more powerful the processor, the longer you can enjoy your laptop.

A few years ago, consumers could still upgrade the main memory relatively easily and therefore opted for small memory variants, which they upgraded after a few years. There is still potential for savings here, but more and more manufacturers are now also soldering the RAM. That leaves the internal SSD storage. Upgrading it is also becoming more and more difficult. But you can manage your data relatively easily on external hard drives. And that’s why it makes sense to buy a laptop with perhaps only 128 or 64 gigabytes of storage space – you save several hundred euros with several devices at the same time.

1. Price tip: Dell Latitude 3190-K42MW

Small and light: the weighs only 1270 grams. Unfortunately, it only offers an 11.5 inch display (29.5 centimeters) and unfortunately its four gigabytes of RAM are permanently installed. Upgrading is not possible in this area. And the data memory is also extremely sparse at 64 gigabytes. A student really has to keep the computer clean if it is to stay functional for a few years. But the built-in Intel Celeron N4210 processor offers four cores. The battery life of up to 14 hours is really strong. And the price is also right at around 390 euros.

2. Price tip: Acer Campus Extensa 15 (EX215-31-P5EQ)

Acer Campus buy at Alternate

the is the more sophisticated device and offers eight gigabytes of RAM. Acer uses the Intel Pentium N 5030 with four cores as the processor. At 15.6 inches (39.6 centimeters), the display is large enough to survive a day at school or college. The internal memory is meager at 128 gigabytes. Nevertheless, the following applies: if the laptop is available for less than 500 euros, schoolchildren or students will do nothing wrong with it.

Laptops for students: that’s what counts

Fortunately, the student laptop doesn’t need the top-of-the-range model. Programs like Outlook, Zoom, Teams or Excel do not require as much performance as games, for example. However, it often happens that students use the programs at the same time and may still have the browser open. And with that, four gigabytes of RAM and a dual-core processor quickly reach their limits. Eight gigabytes of RAM and four cores are therefore welcome.

A high-performance dedicated graphics card, on the other hand, is not required in the laptop for students. The graphics units from AMD and Intel integrated in processors are sufficient. The rule of thumb here is that the integrated graphics cards of the current AMD processors are somewhat more powerful than those from Intel. Otherwise, the following applies to students: the lighter, the better. In addition, the display should not be too small and should have as sharp a resolution as the budget allows – the same applies, of course, to the front webcam. A large battery is just as bad for students as sensible speakers.

Better Windows than Chrome OS & Co.

When it comes to the operating system, buyers should opt for Windows 10. Sure, with Chrome OS, MacOS and Linux there are more than enough veritable alternatives. And yes, thanks to the low price, Chromebooks are theoretically a great alternative to Windows laptops. But the Microsoft operating system is the most widespread and those who want to avoid sources of error turn to Windows.

And yes, you want to use Windows even if the online lessons take place mainly via browser applications and can therefore be accessed across operating systems. Because if a Windows program is absolutely necessary for one or the other task, the child should not mess around with alternative programs, but rather follow the lessons.