Computers are not restricted to adults or the working class. Its been proven during the lockdown that it’s essential for any human in terms of learning, communications, and even self-employment and this includes its significance for college students. Some laptops could be expensive for a college student, nevertheless, there are cheap laptops that will do almost everything a college student needs like research, engineering software usage, online lectures, etc.

When talking about college students’ needs, not only for school activities but also for extra-curriculum learning activities. It’s no news that the tech sector is one of the most futuristic sectors with skills that either require coding(Programming) or not. It’s not essential to use expensive laptops before you can get into these activities, what matters most are the technical specifications of the PC. This article will discuss our list of 10 Best college laptops with a cheap price and good specs.

We list below the 20 best-performing and durable Laptops college students can get for under 500 bucks.

1. Newest 2021 HP 14

Light-weight 8gbRAM; 128Gb SSD + 64GB eMMc Laptop(perfect for fast experience). Comes in 14-inches screen with 1920 X 1080p High resolution. 3.30Ghz CPU speed with OS of windows 10 pro(upgradable) and Intel Core Processor with battery life up to 8hrs. This is very good, not only because it satisfies every of your college needs but also for high-end programming and multitasking without slow experience. You can get it on Amazon at $440.

20 Best Laptops Under $500 for College Students in 2022
Source: Amazon

2. 2020 HP 14”

4GB RAM, 128GB SSD storage, with a high transfer rate. Comes in a 14-inches screen with 1080p resolution(good for an online class and video chats). 4.1Ghz CPU speed with window 10 Operating system and Intel core i3 processor. Battery life up to 9hrs standby. This is also an excellent choice for multi-tasking and fast experience useful for basic and complex school work activities. Buy on Amazon at $388

best college laptop under 500
source: Amazon

3. ASUS VivoBook 15’

Thin and Light Laptop; 8GB RAM, 128GB NVMe SSD with good graphics card for helpful design or gaming. 15-inches screen with Full HD 1080p resolution. 3.4GHz CPU and memory speed with upgradable windows 10pro. And an intel core i3 processor. Special features include a 4-way Nanoedge display(full screen) and keyboard light with a fingerprint sensor. A great buy on Amazon for $470

best college laptop  2022
source: Amazon

4. Lenovo Chromebook Flex

Trying to keep it low? No gaming or wide programming, then you might like the simple 13.3-inches with 1080p Touchscreen HD resolution; best for personal use and school activities as it has 4GB RAM and 64GB SSD drive quite small in number but fast in activities. Intel core processor with 2.3Ghz speed powered by Google’s Chrome OS.

You can order this on Amazon at $350

source: Amazon

5. Acer Aspire 5

The 11th Generation Intel Core i3-1115G4 CPU provides unrivaled speed and intelligence for amazing creative, productivity, programming, and gaming experiences, with speeds up to 4.1GHz for high-demand workloads. Comes in a 15.6″ Full HD display with a screen-to-body ratio of 82.58 percent, 4GB DDR4 onboard memory (1 slot accessible), and 128GB NVMe solid-state drive storage (SSD).

source: Amazon

You can get it at Amazon at $378

6. Lenovo Chromebook S330

Cheapest on the list and a good one to keep it low for studies and basic software running. However, you can use an external storage device to make up its number but it’s an eMMc so expect a good performance. This is a laptop with 4GB LPDDR3 RAM and 32GB eMMC storage 14″ HD LCD Display (1366×768) with TN 220nits Anti-glare; GX6250 Graphics Camera Resolution: 720p Ideal for Online Class, Google Classroom, Remote Learning, and Zoom Ready.

Built with an Intel Celeron MT8173C quad-core processor that runs at 2.1GHz. A crucial component of a high-performance laptop. Chrome OS is the fast, simple, and secure operating system that runs on every Chromebook. On standby, the battery lasts for half a day, making it a wonderful pick for any student, in my opinion.

source: Amazon

7. HP 14” Ryzen Touchscreen Model 3-3200U

An AMD Laptop(accelerated productivity). Run-on the newest Processor AMD Ryzen 3 3200U (2.60 GHz base clock, up to 3.50 GHz max boost clock speed, 4 MB Cache, 2 Cores). For HD-quality computing, a smart dual-core, four-way processing performance is available. 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD with good graphics card for helpful design or gaming. 14″ LED Touchscreen with standard HD resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels.

source: Amazon

You can check it out on Amazon at $388

8. Lenovo AMD- AC9660 Laptop

Onboard memory is 4GB DDR4 1666MHz, while storage is 64GB eMMC. Windows 10 Pro 64 OS 14-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) Anti-Glare Display with Integrated AMD Graphics runs on Intel AMD A6-9220C Dual-Core Processor (1.80GHz, up to 2.7GHz Max Boost, 1MB Cache). Up to 10 hours of battery life.

best college laptop 2022
source: Amazon

You can check it out on Amazon at $278

9. BMAX X15 Laptop

This is one of the cheapest, high-performing laptops. Newest Upgraded to 256GB SSD and 8GB high-bandwidth RAM, increase quicker and more stable running speed. Powered by 2021 Celeron N4120 CPU up to 2.6GHz (4 Cores, 4M Cache), enable expandable 1TB through SSD slot. Huge storage for better performance, promote all-day productivity. For crisp visuals, the large 15.6-inch screen uses wide-view Full HD IPS technology. The monitor has a 1920 x 1080 resolution and an excellent LCD back aluminum cover. It also boasts unique hardware features, such as a multi-touch pad, and is suitable for a variety of school activities.

Available on Amazon at $319

Bmax: Best college computer 2022
source: Amazon

10. Dell Inspirion 3583 15”

128GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive PLUS 500GB HDD; 8GB, DDR4, 2666MHz. 15.6-inch HD (1366 x 768) Anti -Glare LED-Backlit Non-touch Display. Intel UHD Graphics (for gaming, designs, and other college laptops activities)1.8Ghz Processor speed with Windows 10 OS.

source: Amazon

You can check it out at $396.

11. Macbook Air 2015

Actually an old model but still worth it in terms of quality lightweight, and its low-cost price. Also, it’s part of laptops enough to satisfy college students in terms of reading, projects, movies, or light gaming. However, unlike the latest Macs powered by M1, this is powered by Intel Core i5 CPU (1.6 GHz), though it’s still widely function as there are MacOS Catalina update that enables its maximum performance

Connectivity with two standard 3.0 USB connections, flash drives, and Bluetooth v4.0; 11.6-inch Widescreen display with 1366 x 768 native resolution (quite greater than 720p).  Memory storage of 128GB Solid-state and RAM of 4GB; Intel HD Graphics 6000 graphics processor for light gaming; up to 8-hour battery life on a 38Wh Li-Poly battery; Thunderbolt port fast charging.

You can check it out on Amazon

12. Microsoft Surface Go College Laptop

This is a high-end laptop for students’ productivity, research, entertainment, and binge-watch. A Quad-Core Intel Core i5-1035G1(3.6Ghz) Processor, On the 12.4″ PixelSense touchscreen display with 1536 x 1024 resolution, 128GB Solid State Drive, and 8GB RAM.

Windows Hello sign-in, which is a more personal way to sign in, using your face, fingerprint, or a PIN. The fingerprint, on the power button powered by windows hello and one-touch sign-in on certain models, provides convenient security.

Connectivity with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi: 802.11ac Wireless LAN. Not only for school works, but the Integrated Intel UHD Graphics With a 10th Gen Intel Core Processor also gives a perfect gaming experience. Also, you can run your favorite programs simultaneously, keep up with social apps and activities. With the built-in 720p HD camera, you can show off your best side on video conversations, and virtual meetings or get-togethers. S Mode Edition of Windows 10 Home

Check out on Amazon

13. Coolby windows 15.6’ College laptop

20 Best Laptops Under $500 for College Students in 2022

The ultra-thin laptop computer features a 15.6-inch full HD, 1920*1080(1080p) high-resolution realistic screen, a huge IPS process 16:9 display, and RGB color saturation, which recovers the essence of color while protecting vision.

Intel’s 10th Gemini Lake Refresh series J4125 processor features a turbo clock of up to 2.7GHz, 14nm quad-core, and four-thread rapid processing. You may update to Windows 11 using the Windows 11 installation aid, which comes pre-installed and licensed.

The Colby ZealBook also includes 8GB RAM, 256GB SATA SSD, and up to 256GB MicroTF interface, with a total storage capacity of 1TB, to meet your study, work, and entertainment needs.

Its keyboard is more comfortable to operate with your hands with a wide-area trackpad of  6.5-inch. A 34.2Wh built-in polymer lithium battery with up to 9-hour battery life.

Advantage of being very lightweight(weighing only 1.5kg)  and simple to carry.

Like most laptops, it features a wide range of wired connectivity; 2 USB 3.0 ports, mini HDMI and 3.5mm headphone port, wireless; 2.4GHz/5GHz WiFi, BT4.2

Check out on Amazon

14. Chuwi HeroBook Pro

20 Best Laptops Under $500 for College Students in 2022

A laptop powered with the intel four-core Gmini Lake N4020 processor, with a basic frequency of 1.1GHz and a burst frequency of 2.6GHz. The high-performance Intel UHD graphics 600 integrated into the motherboard enables quick picture processing and excellent image quality.

High-speed connectivity for file transfer with m.2, 1 x USB 3.0 + 1 x USB 2.0 ports. It features Bluetooth 4.2, 2.4GHz seamless and steady connection to 5G/WIFI, four speakers, and two microphones

Storage capacity of 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM which are both upgradeable. Typing projects or coding becomes more effective and convenient with a full-size keyboard and a large touchpad.

Physically, it weighs about 3.06 lbs (1.39 kg) and is only 0.84 inches thick (2.13cm). A screen size boasts 14.1-inch and resolution of 1920×1080 Full HD IPS wide display.

Power capacity of 38Wh polymer lithium-ion battery which could last up to 6-8hrs. The features are quite good for basic school activities, coding, and entertainment. However, it’s not the best option to serve well in terms of gaming or heavy-duty.

Check out on Amazon

15. iProda 2-in-1 Touchscreen Laptop

20 Best Laptops Under $500 for College Students in 2022

This 3600 convertible laptop is sleek, attractive, and safe, being only 0.5 inches thick and weighing 2.2 pounds. Very portable and ideal for classes and movement on campus without additional strength. This is variably one of the best, low-cost, multi-function laptops.

Powered by Intel Celeron N4100 Processor (4M Cache, up to 2.4 GHz), 4GB DDR4 Memory, and 64GB SSD Storage (expandable up to 512GB SSD M.2 2242mm) which will be suitable for multi-tasking without hanging.

Screen (with touchscreen ability) size of 11.6″ FHD and 1920×1080 resolution IPS display. With the Windows 10 Professional Operating System, which has been authorized and activated.

Comes with a huge 3500mAh battery that can easily sustain you for up to 8 hours of work, reading, surfing, watching movies, and playing games.

Type-C (for power adapter), Micro-HDMI (for projector), Micro-USB (for Micro USB Hub), and Micro-SD Card Slot are among the 5 ports that come with the laptop.

Check out on Amazon

16. 2020 Lenovo IdeaPad

20 Best Laptops Under $500 for College Students in 2022

Not an Intel core, Dual-core processing on the AMD A6-9220e accelerated processor. The AMD A6 APU balances the load by handling AMD Radeon visuals alongside the core CPU, resulting in excellent performance, quick multitasking, and immersive entertainment.

Wide 14″ screen with LED backlight that saves energy and a standard HD resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels.

Storage facility of 64GB eMMC flash memory; 4GB DDR4 RAM for full-power multitasking This ultracompact memory system is perfect for mobile devices and applications. Even though it has a low storage facility, it has expandable storage capacity, external storage facility compatibility, efficient data management, fast boot-up times, and high-definition video playback compatibility.

If you’re going for something basic for school activities and light entertainment at a low cost, then you have your second pick.

Check out on Amazon

17. 2021 Samsung Chromebook College Laptops

 A 15.6 inch FHD LED Display Laptop with (1920 x 1080) resolution and built-in 720p camera

The hard drive of 32GB capacity eMMC, and 4GBRAM which gives storage space enough for textbooks and school apps/digital classes. A processor of Intel UHD Graphics 600 Intel Celeron N4000 (1.1 GHz base frequency up to 2.6 GHz, 4 MB cache, 2 cores), 2-cell lithium-ion,

With the small internal storage, the device comes with an external 128GB MicroSD Card, this kit provides a cost-effective portable alternative for expanding your laptop’s storage capacity. If you’re going for something basic, at the bare minimum for school activities and light entertainment at low cost, then you have your third pick.

Check out on Amazon

18. 2015 Macbook pro

The MacBook Pro “Core i5” 2.7 13-Inch (Early 2015 Retina Display) comes with a 14 nm 2.7 GHz Intel “Core i5” processor (5257U). This has dual independent processor “cores” on a single silicon chip, which has a 3 MB shared level 3 cache. 128GB storage capacity (upgradable up to 512GB) and 8 GB RAM of onboard 1866 MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM (which could be upgraded to 16 GB).

The lightweight casing that weighs less than 3.5 pounds, also boasts an integrated 720p FaceTime HD camera. High-resolution LED-backlit 13.3″ widescreen 2560×1600 (227 PPI) “Retina” display (higher quality image with smooth lines, easier to read the text, and an overall higher resolution).

Connectivity of 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, two USB 3.0 ports, two “Thunderbolt 2” connectors, an HDMI port, an audio in/out port, and an SDXC card slot round out the options. This model also has a backlit keyboard, a haptic-capable “Force Touch” trackpad, and an internal, sealed battery that Apple estimates will last 10 to 12 hours depending on usage. One of the best low-cost Mac laptops for college students.

Check out on Amazon

19. 2017 MacBook Air (Best Mac Laptop for college students)

An affordable, most modern MacBook, which is still very much worth its price. When using an Apple MacBook Air Laptop, you get the right balance of elegance and power. Featuring an Intel Core i5 processor. With a clock speed of 1.80 GHz, this processor provides robust performance to fulfill all your school and entertainment needs without hanging or getting you frustrated.

When you have numerous apps open, the 8GB RAM allows for seamless multitasking. Its 128GB SSD hard drive effectively stores all of your vital data. It has a 13.3-inch retina display (with improved color features compared to 2015) with a resolution of 1440 x 900 pixels, which produces vibrant colors. The air version is 1hr 30min more in battery life, sleeker, slimmer/lightweight than the pro counterpart but the pro model is more expensive

Check out on Amazon

20. DaySky v14s Window 10 Laptop

Provides a powerful performance, as well as a smoother and more enjoyable user experience. Featuring an Intel Jasper Lake N5095 processor for smooth performance and multitasking stability.

On-processor graphics with shared video memory deliver outstanding visual quality for Internet usage, basic photo editing, and gaming domination, allowing gamers to enjoy a fully smooth gaming experience.

Provides a pleasant video-watching and web-surfing experience. Even under bright outside illumination, the 14-inch screen provides a larger field of view.

Large amounts of high-bandwidth LPDDR4 12GB RAM to keep your games, photographs, and video-editing programs running smoothly. 256GB SSD Storage Capacity Plenty of capacity for photos, movies, music, and other files. This laptop weighs only 2.86 pounds and is only 0.59 inches thick, making it great for usage at home or on the go. Check out on Amazon

Important Specifications in Laptops for college students

RAM : Random Access Memory

This is simply the main memory where OS, Data, Applications & Programs “in use” are being stored. It is like a short-time memory that only keeps data while the computer is on and clear when the computer is off(Temporary storage). RAM sends data and works in hand with the processor/CPU to enhance the speed and performance of your system. The more RAM your PC has, the more processes your CPU can run. that’s why your computer might get slow if you don’t off it for days, the RAM could be filled up and it’s best you restart to free the RAM. For normal college activities, a 4gb/6GB RAM system would be perfect but if your college work requires programming or large software usage, then you’ll need at least an 8GB RAM to have a smooth and fast response.

Hard Drive Specs for College Laptops:

Contrary to the RAM, this is a much longer storage facility. It is hardware installed directly to the disk controller of the motherboard. This permanently stores data, operating system, software, or any file installation to be used on the computer. However, an exhausted memory of your hard drive won’t affect your computer’s performance in terms of booting, processing, and speed.

There are 4 major types of these storage devices based on performance and cost; HDD(Hard Disk Drive) SSD( Solid State Drive), eMMc (Embedded Multimedia Card) storage, and Hybrid Drives.

HDD usually has the highest storage capacity, cheapest but could be sometimes 80-160Mbps in terms of performance and file transfer they come in 500GB- 1TB of space.

SSDs are quite smaller in capacity but faster(up to 550Mbps, have low power consumption(increase battery life), and are mostly found in notebooks and thin systems. They vary between 128GB – and 1TB but yeah, damn expensive.  

Hybrids are a combination of HDD & SDD, this is done to have a large space and good loading speed. They are in two size parts; HDD 500GB-1TB and SSD portion for speed usually, 16-32GB.

eMMc is usually between 32GB to 128GB and has a speed between HDD & SSD and is mostly found in notebooks and Tablet devices. An eMMc empowered computer does come with an external SD card slot.

Processors/CPU: 

They are small chips with crucial functions which oversee all instructions created by the hardware/OS such as input&output and other basic instructions. Its basic function in College laptops is to process(like its name) and input commands and produce an output result. Most CPUs are made by AMD, Apple, Intel cores(i3, i5, i7), and Qualcomm which vary by speed(GHz or MHz), cache size, process size, socket type,dual-core support, and bit support(32/64).

Display & Resolutions:

Resolutions are displayed qualities measured in pixels. A good recommendation for a screen is the High-definition (HD) standard with a resolution of at least 1920 X 1080 or better. This will make it very easy to read, design, or have a clearer/quality video experience when using your laptops for study or schoolwork.  

Battery Life:

This might not be essentially important if you don’t have blackouts in your location, but how about using it for urgent assignments in a position you won’t have access to a cable? Then maybe it’s essential you also be considered how long your battery lasts. Though how your battery lasts depends on workload and internet connection you should look forward to battery life between 6hrs and 8hrs at least.

However, how can you fit in all these factors at a low cost? Especially in the case of a college student, getting a good laptop is enough for learning activities, engineering software operations, and some programming work at a low cost.

In a situation when you already have a laptop but looking to either upgrade, change, or repair. TicktockTech is always ready to get them done ASAP. We have multiple locations across the United state and Canada and we offer great, trusted, and Onsite service. Give us a call and we direct you to our nearest technician.

You can also check out the best college tablet devices to satisfy your needs in place of laptops