What is The Best Laptop For College Students?

Hi guys! As you know I am a freshman in college and had to buy a new laptop for school last summer. I bought a Dell Inspiron, and want to share my review on it. In addition to a review I will compare the Dell to the Mac Book Air which I used in high school. By the end of this review, you should know what I think is the best laptop for college students!

https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/new-inspiron-13-7000-2-in-1-laptop/spd/inspiron-13-7390-se-2-in-1-laptop/n27391dsvgh

Dell Inspiron Pros:

  • Touch screen
  • Folds into a tablet
  • Works very well with Microsoft Office
  • Cheaper
  • Tons of outlets inluding HDMI, micro SD card reader, USB and thunderbolt
  • Good trackpad
  • Ability to edit PDF in browser window

Dell Inspiron Cons:

  • Speakers are on the bottom of the laptop and make it hard to hear
  • Battery dies very quickly
  • System does not automatically update and you need to constantly check and maintain the system.
  • Random crashing
  • Not super sturdy material (One of the hinges got bent slightly out of place, granted I did accidentally push it off of my bed)

As you can see, the cons are quite irritating. I am fine with the fact that it got a little bit busted up because that is my fault, but the consistant crashing (even with IT help) and low battery were significant issues. As a student, my laptop needs to last all day long with no charger. I even had all of my files accidentally deleted right before exams and had to pay for a program to get them back.

**It should be noted that my family owns Apple products and my high school taught us how to use that software so I had very little experience with Dell. Obviously Dell will be more appealing to you if you have a phone that is compatable and you have previous knowledge about the software.**

https://www.apple.com/macbook-air/

Apple MacBook Air Pros:

  • Automatic updates
  • Compatiable with my phone
  • Good battery
  • Good speakers
  • Does not damage easily
  • There are more applications on the app store than Dell’s application store.

Apple MacBook Air Cons:

  • Terrible webcam
  • Super sensitive trackpad- many times when I am typing, my wrist will rest on the trackpad and it will move the curser and type elsewhere. It has lead to lots of errors that I don’t notice and really slowed me down.
  • Expensive
  • No touch screen
  • Does not convert to tablet

So overall I would say that the MacBook Air is the best laptop college students. However, I am glad I tried the Dell because I had felt like Apple was constantly taking my money for products that didn’t have all of the cool features like touch screens. Now I realize that while Apple doesn’t have the novelty features, it is a better and more durable computer.

Sincerely,

Meghan Ann

Ps. You will have to buy Microsoft Office for both because neither come with good document editors.