5 Best laptops for a middle schooler in 2020 | Buyer’s Guide

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If you are a middle schooler or a parent of a middle schooler ,looking for the best laptop for middle school,then you are in the right location. Please continue reading.

Most of the elementary schools or middle schools require the parents to buy a laptop for their kid to make sure that they can follow through the school curriculum.

Getting a good quality laptop for your kid doesn't mean that you have to shell out a lot of money. Most of the laptops we consider here are in the range of $300 to $500. This low price in no way indicate that these laptops are lacking  quality or  performance.

So lets look at what things you should keep in mind while selecting the best laptop.

Things to Consider before selecting a laptop for middle schooler

The Operating system -Windows  or Mac book or Chromebook?

To be fair, a mac book  even a mac book air is pricey and overkill for any middle schooler needs. 

So the choice is between a Windows 10 laptop and a Chromebook. If your kid's school doesn't use specific software that only works in a Windows based system, you can consider a Chromebook ,else definitely go for a Windows based laptop.

A Chromebook a specialised operating system based on android (like in the phone) designed by google and you can install software from Google App store for your specific needs. Normal software that runs in windows do not run in a chromebook. But usually you will be able to find apps that can do similar functions in google play store.

If you are not sure then Windows 10 based laptop us the best choice as it is pretty powerful and versatile . There are thousands of software that is available on windows platform that can do any task your kid needs to be doing in the school.

To give you all options we have reviewed both Windows 10 and chrome OS based laptops in our selection.

Additional things to consider when buying a laptop for a kid in school

Battery

Your kid will be in school for up to 8 to 10 hours at a time . So a laptop that can manage work up to 8 hours without a power-supply will be a good idea.

​Portability

Kids are constantly moving around the school , travelling to and from the school and house . So if the laptop is heavy, it could be bad for their back. So ideally it should under 3 pounds. So basically the lighter the batter without heaving a trade off on performance

Ruggedness

kids being kids, they are not normally the careful lot . So a laptop that can withstand a bit of water on the keyboard is a good idea. Also you can get a cheap rugged laptop cover for the laptop to make sure the laptop wont get broken easily.

​What kind of technical Specifications to look for ?

So let's first get our expectations straight. What kind of a spec can you expect in a laptop at this price range? The main component that affects the Quality of your Gaming experience is the following components.

CPU

​AMD ryzen based laptops are much cheaper and gives a lot of value. Also intel core i3 based laptops are good as well , but can be a bit pricier than the AMD version.

​We would not recomment Intel Atom Based laptop ,​as they can be ​really sluggish.


​RAM

​Consder getting a laptop above 4 GB


Hard Drive

​Consider atlest 128GB of storage and defintely avoid laptops with less than 64GB (unless its chromebook) of storage as windows itself can take 20GB.

Top 6 Best Laptops for Middle Schooler

1. ASUS Chromebook -Ruggedized and Water Resistant

  • ​11.6 inches HD 1366x768 Anti-Glare Display,
  • ​Intel Celeron N3060
  • ​4 GB DDR3 RAM
  • ​32GB flash
  • ​Chrome OS

​This laptop comes at a really cheap price point and enough performance for daily school use. Also very rugged built and is based on Chrome OS

Pros

  • ​Ruggedized and Spill Resistant Design 
  • ​Excellent keyboard

Cons


​​A lot of windows based laptop we reviewed here comes with a limited version of Windows Called Windows 10S. You can change it to normal windows 10 once you are logged in to windows if you wish to do so and we recommend doing that as well

2. Acer Aspire 5 Slim Laptop- Best Performer

  • ​15.6 inches Full HD IPS Display
  • ​AMD Ryzen 3 3200U
  • ​4GB DDR4
  • ​128GB PCIe NVMe SSD
  • ​Windows

​​It is just a beautiful laptop with a very good specification in a really affordable price point . ​

Pros

  • ​​7.5 hours Battery life
  • ​Very nice IPS display
  • ​Excellent keyboard
  • ​Superfast NVme SSD

Cons

  • ​Its not as ruggedised,,

3. Lenovo 300e Flagship 2-in-1

  • ​11.6" HD IPS Touchscreen
  • ​Intel Celeron Quad-Core N3450 
  • ​4GB DDR4
  • ​64GB eMMC
  • ​Windows

​This laptop comes at a really cheap price point and enough perforamce for daily school use. Also very rugged built and got a well made feel to it.

Pros

  • ​​8 hour Battery life
  • ​Very Good Value for moeny
  • ​Excellent keyboard
  • ​SD card for storage upgrade

Cons

  • ​None at this price point

4. ASUS VivoBook 15

  • 15.6 inches FHD (1920 x 1080) Display
  • Intel Core i3-8145U Processor
  • 8GB RAM
  • 128GB SSD
  • Windows 

This is quite good performing laptop with a core i3 processor. Please remember that this is not that rugged in design, so consider buying additional protection covers.

Pros

  • ​very Good performance
  • ​lightweight and good looking
  • ​Super responsive SSD
  • ​Descent speakers
  • ​Very Good IPS display

Cons

  • ​only 5 hours battery-life

5. Asus TUF FX505DT Gaming Laptop

  • ​15.6” 120Hz Full HD Display
  • ​AMD Ryzen 5 R5-3550H Processor
  • ​8GB DDR4
  • ​GeForce GTX 1650 Graphics
  • ​256GB PCIe SSD
  • ​Windows

​This laptop ​is probably the most powerful one in our list. This is suitable for somone who plays a bit of games or using ​graphic intensive softwares.

Pros

  • ​Best Performer in the list
  • ​Excellent keyboard
  • ​GeForce GTX 1650 Graphics

Cons

  • ​A bot heavy at 4.8 pounds
(Last Updated On: February 11, 2020)
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