How to choose the right laptop for your college major: A comprehensive guide

Laptops are used for all sorts of things in college. In addition to completing assignments and researching topics, they’re also used for general web browsing as well as streaming the hottest shows and playing games. That said, graphic design majors (depending on what their course requires) will need a more specialized configuration than journalism majors. For example, you’ll likely need a discrete GPU for 3D modeling work.

Why should you trust me in the first place? Valid question! I run the PCWorld’s laptop section, so I oversee every single review from draft to publication. I also carefully maintain the laptop roundups such as best laptops, best gaming laptops, and best Chromebooks. I’ve got a pretty good idea on what to look for in a college laptop.

So, if you’re looking to pick up a laptop for your specific major, you’ve come to the right place.

Further reading: Best laptops for college students 2024: Top picks and expert advice

What most people need in a college laptop

Before I dive too deeply into what you might need for your specific major, you should first check out the six must-have features in any college laptop. Most college majors like business or journalism can get by with the following minimum laptop specs:

Intel Core i5 or higher

8GB of RAM

512GB of SSD storage

1080p display

Some majors like engineering and computer science require specialized configurations. Although a lightweight form factor and a screen that won’t hurt your eyes are valid considerations here, the most important thing is battery life because there’s nothing worse (or more panic-inducing) than your laptop dying in the middle of an important lecture. Every student, regardless of what they’re studying, needs a laptop with good battery life.

I’d recommend a laptop that will last 10-15 hours on a single charge, but if you really want to go the extra mile, check out the Surface Laptop 7 or the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge, both of which feature the latest Qualcomm processors. In our testing, they lasted over 20 hours looping video on a single charge. Wow!

Qualcomm processors are great because they’re so power efficient, but they don’t always work with specialized PC software that some courses may require. If you’re looking for Intel or AMD offerings, the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus (17 hours!) and the Lenovo ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 (14 hours!) are great options.

Engineering

If you’re majoring in engineering, you’ll need a laptop that can handle resource-intensive software like Solidworks and Matlab. Newer generations of CPU chips with higher clock speeds are better equipped to handle such software, which is why I’d suggest springing for the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus.

Not only does it score 4.5 out of 5 stars in our comprehensive review, but it also boasts PCWorld’s prestigious Editor’s Choice award. It nabbed the top spot in our best laptops for engineering students roundup as well. The Intel Core 7 Ultra 155H CPU has a clock speed of 3.8 GHz that can jump up to 4.8 GHz depending on the workload.

Portability is another aspect to consider because you’re probably going to take this laptop to class with you. Fortunately, the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus weighs 3.49 pounds, which is light enough to toss in a bag and not give you a shoulder ache.

The Inspiron 14 Plus also ran over 17 hours on a single charge, so depending on use and set brightness level, it should last you a full school day and then some.

Whether you’re going to college for engineering, some computer science courses, and fields like video editing or 3D modeling, your major can require extreme computing power, depending on your focus. If you find yourself in such a niche, then I’d go for a gaming laptop with a high power Intel Core HX CPU and 32GB+ RAM.

The MSI Titan 18 HX is a good option, though it’s VERY expensive. That said, it does have an Intel Core i9-14900HX CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 GPU, and 128GB of RAM, so it’s an absolute beast of a machine and it will run anything you throw at it. A laptop this powerful means sacrificing portability and battery life, but that’s the price you pay for the best of the best.

If you’re looking for a more affordable option, check out the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16. It’s rocking an Intel Core i7-13700HX CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU, and 16GB of RAM. It’s not as powerful as the MSI Titan 18 HX, but at least you’re still getting a high powered HX CPU and discrete graphics, with the ability to add more RAM if needed.

Computer science

Computer science majors learn everything from analyzing algorithms and designing applications to improving cybersecurity and learning programming languages, so you’ll need a multi-core processor as well as a good amount of RAM to keep up with those resource-heavy programs and tasks.

A processor with six or more cores should be sufficient and 16GB of RAM should give the machine a nice speed boost when loading up applications.

For computer science majors, I’d recommend buying the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED. It earned 4.5 out of 5 stars as well as an Editor’s Choice award here at PCWorld and it’s the runner-up pick in our best laptops for college students roundup.

The Zenbook 14 OLED’s AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS processor has a total of eight cores and 16 threads, which means it can run multiple tasks with more efficiency. This laptop also comes loaded with 16GB of LPDDR5x RAM, so programs and applications should boot up fast and run quickly.

The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED also has a runtime of over 16 hours, which is a great result! Day-to-day use yielded a similar battery life result, according to the reviewer. It “drains roughly 12 percent of the battery every two hours” with writing, browsing the web, and some light photo editing.

Graphic design

If you’re a creative soul taking up graphic design as a major, you’ll need a laptop with a good display and a higher storage capacity.

OLED screens, for example, are a great choice for graphic design students because they produce deeper blacks and richer colors. As for the resolution, 1080p is fine for day-to-day tasks like general web browsing and watching Netflix but a higher resolution is better, especially for graphic design work in which you’ll need to see every detail.

Go for 1TB of SSD storage if you can. You’re going to be working with a lot of logos, illustrations, and other large files, so you’ll need the extra space.

Solid state drives (SSDs) are also faster and quieter than hard disk drives. Believe me, you don’t want to hear your laptop whirring away during a quiet moment in class.

The Asus ProArt PX13 is a well-rounded option for graphic design students. In addition to receiving 4.5 stars out of 5 plus an Editor’s Choice award, it’s also PCWorld’s Best Ultraportable for Video Editing pick.

This laptop features a 13.3-inch 2880×1880 OLED touch display and 1TB of PCIe 4.0 SSD storage. The display has a peak brightness level of 500 nits and stylus support with multiple pressure levels, which is perfect for sketching. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU is also a nice addition, especially if you’re taking a class on 3D modeling.

The ProArt PX13 also weighs just 3.05 pounds and has a runtime of just over 14 hours, so it’s light enough to take with you to class and it will last well into the night on a single charge.

Video editing

If you’re studying video editing, you’ll need a powerful laptop that’s up to the task. I’d recommend a laptop with an Intel Core processor (you’ll need it for the best performance in programs like Adobe Premiere Pro), a 4K screen (the bigger the better!), oodles of RAM (for snappy performance), and discrete graphics (for some extra firepower). Fortunately for you, we’ve tested such a laptop! In fact, it currently holds the top spot on our best laptops for video editing roundup.

The Dell XPS 17 9730 features an expansive 17.3-inch 4K display with a 16:10 aspect ratio, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU, and 32GB of RAM. The display is absolutely massive, which is perfect for media editing and multitasking. It also includes an SD card reader as well as multiple Thunderbolt 4 ports–ideal for quickly offloading videos or photos. It even lasted 11 hours on a single charge, an impressive number given the powerful internals inside.