{"id":3384,"date":"2026-08-14T22:32:47","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T18:32:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/a-ramageddon-guide-to-back-to-school-laptop-shopping\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T22:32:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T18:32:47","slug":"a-ramageddon-guide-to-back-to-school-laptop-shopping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/a-ramageddon-guide-to-back-to-school-laptop-shopping\/","title":{"rendered":"A RAMageddon guide to back-to-school laptop shopping"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"A

\n\tThe MacBook Neo is an easy recommendation. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales \/ The Verge\t<\/figcaption><\/p><\/figure>\n

If you\u2019re a student looking for an affordable laptop, I have bad news and I have good news. The bad news is that computer prices are out of whack due to the ongoing RAM and storage crunch<\/a>, making some a little pricier than they used to be<\/a> and others wildly more expensive<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The good news? Despite that, there are still many great options, including the selection we\u2019ve tested and highlighted below.<\/p>\n

Before you go for the cheapest option you can still find, consider biting the bullet on a more powerful laptop, especially if you\u2019re buying for a college student. Prices are likely to continue rising well into next year<\/a> \u2014 especially since all the memory being made through 2027 is already allocated<\/a>. You can get a mostly tolerable laptop for under $500 and a good one for around $700, but spending more to get something like a MacBook Air gets you better build quality and enough performance headroom to last through four years of college and well beyond. (Many Verge<\/em> writers and editors are still using M1 MacBook Airs from 2020). But even the modest options below (new or refurbished) should easily be good for more than a few years. The key is to avoid something that feels slow or janky on day one, if you can. It\u2019ll only get worse from there.<\/p>\n

If your school or curriculum recommends certain laptops or minimum specs, then you already know what to aim for. If not, our rule of thumb is to go with a Mac running Apple silicon or a Windows laptop running Intel or AMD chips released in the last few years. (For Windows machines, don\u2019t go any older than 2022 or 2023 \u2014 Intel\u2019s 13th-gen \u201cRaptor Lake\u201d or AMD\u2019s Ryzen 7000 series.) Snapdragon X chips are also great options unless you\u2019re a college student who needs to run specialized software not compatible with Windows on Arm (or if you want to play games).\u00a0<\/p>\n

But try to get 16GB of memory and 512GB of storage or more if you can \u2014 especially for college students. Eight GB of RAM is workable on macOS with the MacBook Neo, but Windows laptops struggle a bit with it. And for the most budget-conscious or anyone shopping for younger kids, a quality Chromebook is still great.<\/p>\n

The best cheap laptop<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n

Apple MacBook Neo<\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\n

Score: 9<\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Pros<\/th>\nCons<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
\n
    \n
  • Impressive performance for the price<\/li>\n
  • Perfect for a middle school or high school student<\/li>\n
  • The best mechanical trackpad around<\/li>\n
  • Solid speakers and screen<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n
\n