Lightweight laptops with strong battery life and good thermals are ideal for campus life. MSI and Lenovo both have reliable options under $1200.

I was in the same boat before school and ended up going with one from MSI’s Modern series pretty lightweight, solid battery, and the specs (16GB RAM/512GB SSD) were more than enough for classwork and multitasking. It’s been holding up great so far.

Omg thank you so much

Check out the HP Ominbook 14 with either the Intel Lunar Lake or AMD Ryzen 9 300. Both are on sale at bestbuy for $1200 and both have a surprisingly powerful iGPU, strong CPU, and would be great for note-taking and portability.

I wanted a laptop for similar reasons + light gaming. I asked around and did my own research and ended up going with a Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i. Its 16", lighter than a Chromebook, and it's ran smoothly for me with 50+ tabs open. If you charge it fully, it runs for like 6-10 hours, depending on what you're doing. The price was around 1200$, but I got it on sale for 900$ at best buy.

Are you going to do any video editing, gaming or CAD?

M4 MacBook Air simple fast light not too expensive

Recommend laptop used Intel Lunar Lake processor. The battery lfe is comparable to Snapdragon laptop and MacBook M chip series.

https://www.newegg.com/p/1TS-000X-060M8

https://www.newegg.com/p/1TS-000X-060N1

https://lenovo.vzew.net/09mXgE

https://youtu.be/SlXYkamYdxY?si=kjSjFPZQxt88cCsf

https://youtu.be/6HucWc7ThRY?si=0UiY52g-ffxcaD_x

Since a reliable build and portability is a big factor, I would suggest a Lenovo T14. It is very portable at 2.9 pounds and has a battery life of around 10 hours doing general tasks like schoolwork. These T series laptops are especially durable and has great reliability. If you have any questions lmk :)

Eligible for commissions

ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED Slim Laptop, AMD Ryzen AI 9 365(10 Cores), 24GB, 1TB SSD, Customizable RGB Keyboard, Cool Silver, M5406WA-AH94 on the high side of your budget.

ASUS Vivobook 14 Flip Laptop Copilot+ PC, 14" OLED WUXGA 60Hz Touch Display, Intel® Core™ Ultra 5 226V, Intel® Arc™M Graphics, 16GB Memory, 512GB Storage, Windows 11, Matte Gray, TP3407SA-ES54T on the low side of your budget.

I think you should start by deciding whether you want a mac or a PC, based on the software you use and which OS you're more familiar with, etc.

just get an m4 macbook or something lunar lake

Take a look at Asus Vivobooks. Article may be from the Philippines, but its applicable also in the States. Someone else also recommended this in another comment

XPS 13 all day

Anything in the ultrabook category with 8 GB of RAM should be good. You can find a good one for as little as $600. Don't buy anything with only 4 GB of RAM because even light multitasking will freeze up your computer. An SSD will speed up your system considerably but isn't as critical as RAM in my opinion.

There are many options available, so you should read some best laptop reviews and come to a decision on what suits you best. After all, you're going to be using it every day for the next couple years, so take some time to make a good choice. A laptop that's good for someone else might not be right for you.

What major are you? If you aren't doing any coding or CAD then you can buy a used Dell from like 2014 tbh, all you're going to be doing is watching lectures, typing essays, and some other light work. No need to spend 1.2k for low intensive activities.

XPS 15 - at least 8GB Ram, i7 if you can afford it, and I would recommend extended warranty since if anything happens a tech comes to your house to repair it on site

Surface book [:

Your needs are pretty straight forward ngl, the Macbook M4 will be a great choice since it has good portability, battery life and very good performance from what I have seen.

Since you prioritize battery life, and build quality, and you are going to need good CPU and GPU for video editing , and gaming, I would recommend Acer Swift X 4060 because of the following :

Specs:

• Screen: 14.5" OLED 2880 x 1800 120Hz Calman Verified
• CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 Processor 155H which is very powerful and you care about performance.
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060
• Ram: 16GB LPDDR5X
• Storage: 1TB SSD

Why I am recommending it:

• Powerful GPU in small form factor, 14 inch laptops with powerful GPU are rare breed, and this config/model hits a great balance between the two.

• High-Quality Display*: This features a OLED 2880 x 1800 120Hz which is better resolution display, providing vibrant colors and sharp visuals.

• Long battery life as it lasts for around 12hours *Very good GPU and CPU for Adobe Photoshop and Premiere.

• Lightweight as it weighs 3lbs , so it matches your request of portability.

• Premium build quality and material which ensures longevity and you care about build quality.

If you want to explore other options check out my list of Best laptops for each budget and usage

Please note I'm using affiliate links which means I'll receive a small percent of the purchase if you use this link at no extra cost to you

MacBook air M4, hands down. Other good options are lenovo yoga slim 7, Microsoft Surface laptop, and ASUS Zenbook S14.

Surface

For college and gaming in this price range I would advise you to check this laptop

laptop name | acer swift X --- |---- CPU | Intel Core Ultra 7 Processor 155H GPU | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Screen | 14" OLED 2880 x 1800 120Hz Ram | 16 GB SSD | 1 TB HDD | 0 Weight | 2.7 Lbs. Battery life | 12 Hrs. Pros | Powerful CPU and GPU performance. Pros | Long battery life. Pros | Thin and light.

Please note I'm using affiliate links which means I'll receive a small percent of the purchase if you use this link at no extra cost to you

What major are you going into? And what model Mac?

Dell XPS 13 or 15– Lightweight, extremely fast, perfect for college use

I'm bringing my Lenovo X1 Carbon. Great durability, battery, and good enough specs.

Depends on the different model’s specs. The XPS 15 has a couple different packages that include a better processor and such. However at the most basic level package, most likely not on the Skyrim and civ 6.

Same. Unless someone else can recommend a laptop for the same price with touchscreen and a nice graphics card

surface book!

Depends on their major.

MacBook. It’s sturdy, well built, top of the line components, and portable

Just for clarity, I’ve had my MacBook Air for almost 9 years. And it’s still running, although it’s starting to show some wear

A second hand one

What did you end up purchasing? I am following this thread as I am looking for a similar buy.

Get a ThinkPad T490s. It's lightweight, and you can find them on sale for around $400~. Really great specs for the price and Lenovo laptops are built to last.

You should check this thread:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Reviews/comments/1cmzrmb/affordable_gaming_laptops_review/

As someone else mentioned, the Acer Aspire 3 is probably the best option. You just can't beat that value. The others in this range like the HP Stream are going to likely be a little laggy. Of course, if you are willing to go closer to the $500 price point or higher there are more options, but for your requirement that would be overkill imo.