Back-to-School 2018: 12 Best Laptops for Students

It still feels like summer, but make no mistake: Fall is coming.

(Image credit: Courtesy Dell)

It still feels like summer, but make no mistake: Fall is coming. And that means the 2018 back-to-school shopping season is ramping up. That typically means a trip to pick up pencils, pens, notebooks, a ruler and a calculator … but increasingly, it also means scouring stores for the best laptops to get the kids through the school year.

Laptop access used to be a “nice-to-have” – now it’s a necessity for college and high school, and it’s increasingly important for primary-school students, too. The days of hand-written assignments are dwindling; we’ve switched to neatly formatted and printed … or even submitted online.

The stakes for back-to-school shopping are higher as a result. You’ve gone from $50 worth of office supplies to potentially spending more than $1,000. Striking gold isn’t easy, either; finding the best laptops means sorting through literally hundreds of models – a more complicated process than deciding between blue and black ink.

Here are 12 of the best laptops for back-to-school 2018. Some of these picks focus on overall general quality, while a few are focused on specific areas such as high-end power, gaming and value.

Brad Moon
Contributing Writer, Kiplinger.com

Brad Moon is a tech industry veteran who contributes to a range of publications including Forbes, InvestorPlace and MSN Money and is an original member of the award-winning GeekDad blog. Over the past decade, he has also written about technology for Wired, Gizmodo, Shaw Media, About.com, The Winnipeg Free Press and others.