Are you pursuing MBA or any other finance or business-related majors? You exactly know the worth of a good laptop for taking notes, attending online classes (especially in a pandemic situation), and making lengthy documentations.
Plus, a financially weak student already wrecked under college/university expenses CAN’T AFFORD to finance an inappropriate machine.
As a laptop enthusiast, I have researched through clusters of computing machines and also interviewed the business students about their “Laptop Experience.”
Consequently, what I have found is a collection of the 5 best laptops for MBA students for good academic companionship.
Nonetheless, if you want to investigate at what criteria these machines stood at my standards, I have inked out some essential factors to choose MBA LAPTOP below.
Image | Product | Features | Price |
---|---|---|---|
![]() | Apple MacBook Air 13″
| 9.4 | Check Latest Price On Amazon |
![]() | ASUS ZenBook 13 Ultra-Slim Laptop 13.3”
| 9 | Check Latest Price On Amazon |
![]() | Acer Aspire 5 Slim Laptop, 15.6″
| 9.2 | Check Latest Price On Amazon |
![]() | Microsoft Surface Pro (5th Gen)
| 8.8 | Check Latest Price On Amazon |
![]() | Dell XPS7390 13″
| 9 | Check Latest Price On Amazon |
Specifications: Drive: 256GB-1TB SSD | RAM 8-16GB LPDDR4 | Processor: Quad-core – i5-1035G1, i7-1065G7, i7-1165G7 | Ports: Thunder Bolt 3-4 via Type-C, HDMI 2.0b, SD card reader
Why should one buy this? Zenbook 13 is a gorgeous “Stylo” boy, brings a lot of innovation in the display, controls, and battery section. Finally, the addition of thunderbolt3 ports makes it a “Best” package for users who always want a speedy sharing of huge data sizes.
Who’s it for? Professionals and Students who admire large, quality, and bright display in a small-sized fancy machine. The performance-oriented machine is a great multi-tasker with tons of battery juice.
Why we picked ASUS Zenbook 13? Zenbook always remained a powerful laptop for students, professionals, and content creators. Coming with a 10th Gen strong processor, fabulous design, most glowing display, and miles of battery-run enables this laptop to tick all boxes to be the best laptop for MBA students.
Asus has given a 13.3 inches IPS FHD display that is packed around with the thinnest bezels. With 167PPI of the resolution, the display isn’t brilliantly saturated; however, it provides magnificent brightness due to an average of 399 nits across the screen.
So, you’ll experience some great results even on the lighter brightness settings.
There are also some innovative spices for your taste buds. The keyboard keys are spacious and well exposed; nonetheless, the MousePad will surely get your attention. ASUS hasn’t placed a physical NUMPAD in the keyboard, but by going through some unusual way, there is a virtual NUMPAD placed on the MousePad.
You can activate the NUMPAD by holding your finger at the extreme top right corner, and it’ll allow utilizing the MousePad for dual purposes.
Zenbook has secured this time a 10th gen Intel i5 and i7 processors from the 1035G1 and 1035G7 series. Both are upper mid-range processors, majorly responsible for much heat reduction, better graphics rendering, and faster RAM performance due to the 10NM platform.
With such chip implantation, you’ll be seeing Zenbook not making any performance compromise for your assignments, documentation, and entertainment purposes.
On the port collection, be very cheerful about the 2x thunderbolt3 ports. USB C and A have also been added to the package; though you are searching for faster data transfer speeds, the thunderbolt will massively grab your focus.
The manufacturer has made some very tall claims regarding battery backup. With a claim of 22hours in a single charge, the 67WHr battery squeezes around 15-16 hours max. Precisely, such backup is still a blazing feature for MBA students to spend a whole day at their institution without a worry.
Specifications: Drive: 256GB SSD | RAM: 8GB LPDDR4 | Processor: Quad-core – i5-10210u | Ports: 3x USB 3.1
Why should one buy this? For users who look for an absolute great performer in the midrange category, it took so long for ACER to produce such an all-around performer. The latest Gen processor and stunning battery life is a value pack for students to enjoy seamless day-day computing.
Who’s it for? Professionals, intermediate content creators, and students working on their final year projection will surely embrace this decent looking machine.
Why we picked Acer Aspire 5: The Acer E15 is a legendary machine in the Acer lineup; however, this laptop got our attention due to the latest 4 cores processor, much decent design, lightweight, and a great reasonable price.
Let’s talk about the design first – Acer has rendered a good chunk of effort to finish it with decent aesthetics. The upper silver aluminum design with the support of balanced bezel thickness and spacious keyboard gives it an overall appealing look.
The key travel distance doesn’t feel congested and blossoms an ample area for fingers to play for longer durations. Moreover, the white backlit brightens the keys for late-night workings.
On the display part, things don’t look vibrant. The 15” 1080P IPS display isn’t much sharp but remarkably a step-up from old school HD display possessing sluggish refresh rates. So, apart from academics, if you have plans for Netflix, gaming, or Vlog editing sessions at weekends, this machine will pleasantly provide you a great platform.
Nonetheless, brightness is still an issue here as you only have to compromise with a below-average 201Nits display. You will observe the laptop’s struggle to maintain a brightness level in outdoor scenarios.
Well, the processing is a strong point here. The 10th Gen Intel Core i5-10210U processor clocks a minimum of 1.6-4.2 GHz, retaining the same 6MB cache. This processor carries the same 8th generation 14NM platform, so as far as smooth user experience is your primary goal, leave it to this chip for incredible handling.
From mid-heavy content creation and editing, mid-range gaming, graphical representation in presentations, and such caliber tasks are not a matter for this laptop.
On the port and connectivity side, Thunderbolt and a card reader port didn’t make their space in the port’s lineup. Yet, 3 of USB Gen 3.1, including 1x Type 3.1 port are sufficient to connect your multiple peripherals.
With all these performance metrics, Battery backup will also bloom your expectation with this machine. Acer claims it’s a 9.5-hour battery backup provider; nonetheless, it furnishes around 8 hours with medium brightness and network settings.
Specifications: Drive: 128-1TB SSD | RAM: 4-16GB | Processor: 7th Gen i5, i7 and M | Display: 12.3” IRIS Display | Ports: USB 3.1 | Battery: 13.5 Hours
Why should one buy this? With meaningful improvements in battery life, display quality, and robust performance, it may be an expensive gadget for some folks, but outstanding durability and buttery user experience worth the price.
Who’s it for? Best laptop for business students, professionals, and teenagers looking for something that feels minimalist (0.33” sleek) in their hands and lightest on their shoulder (only weigh 780g).
Why we picked Microsoft Surface Pro 5? Microsoft aired much aggression and maturity regarding upbeats in surface series, and this 5th generation notebook is a massive gainer of Microsoft’s gadgetry touch. A most extensive battery life, sharpest display quality with an edge-edge glossy glass finish, and healthy processing make it a “Proper” package for home and corporate usage.
The Microsoft design sense has always strongly triggered a competition in the computing sphere. With all-new aluminum chassis and round-shaped thinner edges aligned with Burgundy, cobalt blue, or platinum body materials, ensure you hold a gorgeous gadget in your hands.
A little investigation about the display will locate an unconventional 12.3” IPS display (2736 x 1824, 267PPI), enjoying a Microsoft flagship PixelSense technology support. The two sRGB and Enhanced color profiles award you the flexibility to relish varied display quality for different purposes.
The Bezels aren’t the thinnest here, but also don’t exaggerate a weird old-school look. Anyways, the display quality is sharp, and the color tone is almost 100% accurate to cheer about.
On the performance side, the best 2-in-1 laptop makes an entry with both fanless and fan mechanism. The fanless design has been embedded with low-end M series processors and definitely won’t cost you extra.
On the other hand, 7th generation i5 and i7 processors make this best tablet-laptop a smooth and robust performer for resource-intensive work. Tasks like documentation, online research, graphics, and video editing turn this little gadget into the best laptop for business school.
The port and connectivity part is a bit controversial here. Not only thunderbolt, but USB Type-C doesn’t come with the package. This apparently is a little disappointment you have to live with.
Just like the design part, battery life represents itself a strong point of Microsoft 5th iteration. The Windows manufacturer claims it’s a 13-hour bombastic delivery; however, it’s just a tall claim for marketing gains. With a balance of brightness and network settings, it actually services 10+ hours that is still a great room to cover day-long tasks in one charge.
Specification: Drive: 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM | Processor: i5-10210U Quad-Core | Ports: 2x ThunderBolt 3, USB-C, Card Reader, InfinityEdge FHD 1920 X 1080
Why should one buy this? The XPS 7390 is the most fantastic machine from Dell’s portfolio that can even give you a crystalline 4K display surrounded by almost “Non-existent” bezels. Along with this, a much powerful 6-core processor (highest configuration) also comes with the strong support of an all-day-long battery.
Who’s it for? A flawed 720p webcam in the previous model has been rightly fixed here for business students and professionals who are much into long virtual meetings.
Why we picked Dell XPS 13 7390? Although the design doesn’t get a significant overhaul; however, the processor upgrades, a big boost in battery life, and minor tweaks in design lead you to welcome the most powerful and best laptop for students and professionals, and home users.
Dell XPS 13 carries the same body with exactly hair-thin bezels sidelined with a crystal clear display. This machine comes with 4K and FHD variants showing its more entertainment side to experience sharp video content.
Bezels and FHD aren’t the only things to focus on. It actually beats the industry-leading MacBook with its 400+ NITs brightest display. Besides, the viewing angle is exceptionally impressive, allowing you to bring this machine in a circle of group-study like situations.
Additionally, for student or business professionals consuming most of their time on video meetings, XPS 13 has polished a minor but most expected Webcam fix. The webcam has again been dragged in the exact above/center of the screen, empowering you to capture 0.9MP stills and 720P video.
On the processor side, XPS 7390 also receives a most powerful Hexa-core 10th Gen i7 processor that is lightning fast even with an intensive processing load. But then, for mid-high range activities, the U series 10th Gen processor comes under your budget without compromising on performance.
The only difference with this U series processor is it’s still a 14NM platform using the same Intel UHD graphic module. Nonetheless, it clocks faster speeds and is still more rapid on the benchmarks than i5-8250U, 8350U, 8265U, i7-8550U, 8565U, and Ryzen 7 2750H variants.
A versatile port variety, including 3x thunderbolt3 ports, will lend you a helping hand to share huge chunks of data much faster and charge your mobile devices in minutes.
And don’t forget, Dell has claimed that you’ll experience a massive boost in the battery. The 51WHr battery is supposed to give 20Hrs backup as per advertised claims; notwithstanding, the real world results fall slightly short.
At 4K display and video playback, you’ll handsomely be getting 12hrs, and FHD shows the strength of 16hrs backup on average 100+ nits brightness. Still, it’s a tremendous deal.
Specification: Drive: 128-256GB SSD, 8GB RAM | Processor: i5-8210Y Dual-Core | Ports: 2x ThunderBolt 3, Retina Display FHD 2500 X 1600
Why should one buy this? Apple definitely is a trademark of luxury and class, and MacBook Air 13 holds an excellent reputation as it has been engineered with significant improvements in display, weight, and processing. For those looking for an Apple budget model without making a massive cut in performance, this 13th Air model rightly meets your search.
Who’s it for? Light users, travelers, under- or postgraduate students who want an ultralight machine other than windows, this machine is an approachable variant by the Exotic manufacturer.
Why we picked MacBook 13 Air? In a race of thinnest and ultrabooks, MacBook Air is a value-pack non-windows machine flaunting exceptional display quality, beast battery life, and a budget-friendly price considering its class.
The good news is, when the bubble of improvements and upgrades finally burst out, we got to know it’s the first machine blessed with a Retina Display. That means you’ll have enough reason to cherish the stunning display quality.
Due to retina display, your eyes will experience an improved 2500×1600 resolution featuring 227 PPI saturation that is more than MacBook X Pro.
The overall size has been shrunk notably, but the screen size retains the same 13.3” size due to thin bezels’ goodness.
Well, if you are looking for a performance-oriented machine, this might not suit you well as it carries an 8th Gen Y series processor – a lighter version. However, it smoothly deals the notes/document creation, web surfing, playing/creating FHD media, and claiming a spot among the best MacBooks for college students.
Technically, the dual-core Intel Core i5-8210Y with L3 4MB cache can clock a 1.6Hz processor and efficiently turbo boost up to 3.6 GHz. With such specs, it’s not the fastest among the industry players, like Dell XPS 13, Zenbook 13, and 15 but an optimal contender for day-day computing.
The ports and connectivity game is somewhat compromising, giving only 2x thunderbolt3 ports (USB-C) only with a headphone jack. No HDMI and SD-card reader has been added to the port lineup, so you might have little disappointment here.
But the battery performance will surely not head twinges. As battery always remains a top-selling point of Apple, this model sweetly inherits the long boosted battery performance covering 10+ hours in a single charge. Accordingly, if you are one that places the battery life above all of your computing needs, it still boasts a 10+ hour’s 1080P playback time that is a respectable backup delivery.
There is no hard and fast rule for a laptop to rightly come under your requirements. However, you should observe some factors more importantly. So, let jump onto these;
Portability Should be your Priority: You will have to carry your laptop all day from home to university and then classroom-classroom. And that being said, a heavy machine like a workstation or bigger 17” display laptop will be burdensome. Purposely, the lightweight machine will be a green flag for easy portability and won’t strain your shoulders.
Fortunately, Manufacturers are developing fancy, lightweight, and slimmest machines nowadays. There are plenty of models for your treat. However, if you want a laptop that doesn’t throw excessive heat, noise and also won’t make a massive cut on your pocket, watch out for some best fanless laptops here.
But other than fanless, Zenbooks, Pavilion Series, XPS series, and others would be your target.
Great Battery Life Add Great Goodness: As your scenario is a little different from home use, long battery backup is an ultimate need of the hour. You can’t bear your laptop shutdowns in the middle of a long presentation.
Again, fanless laptops are an immense source of battery juice; however, you can still find a machine that would happily stream bundles of hours. Averagely, you should look for 6-7 hours battery backup. Above this mark is literally a bonus for you.
Don’t Run After High Specifications: MBA students or finance graduates mostly need Microsoft office as their primary tool to run on their system. So, you should only focus on intermediate level specifications that could be your best laptop with Microsoft office.
It will be largely propitious to look for strong processors for home and office use rather than specialized gaming and workstation like setup. The Intel U and Y series better suit daily routine usage, including i7-8565U, i7-8550U, i7-6500U, i7-7500U, i5-8200Y, i5-8265U models as the most famous chips.
Yet, if you pose great gaming or content creation hobbies, a high-end laptop only comes in that condition with the Intel H and G series. These are heavier, expensive, and battery-sucking machines mostly known for intense processing work.
Affordability is the last thing you’ll want: Knowingly, a best laptop for taking notes starts from 400$ and goes beyond 2000$ as per further requirements. However, being an undergraduate or university student, keeping a budget limit is very important.
Laptops come with the latest generation processor every year. I believe you don’t have to lust for the newest generation laptop. As the 11th generation is in demand, you can rely on the 7th, 8th, or 9th generation laptop to better serve your purpose by not breaking your bank. These slightly old generations will positively cost you less portion of capital. Besides, these generation machines can seamlessly fulfill your requirements.
Apart from these, you can consider RAM size, build quality, and brand according to your choice.
Picking a right and best laptop for college and university academics can be a matter of life/death for financially unstable students. You can’t keep changing your machines as it may disturb your yearly budget. As far as the business majors are concerned, a best laptop for MBA students can fix many of your computing problems.
But which comes right for your purpose?
I am giving two easy recommendations to choose from. So, My clear winner is the Asus ZenBook 13 that is absolutely a value pack under your budget.
A genuine performance-oriented machine with plenty of innovative touch-ups and also carries a crunchy and most luminous display. The battery performance got a 22-hours manufacturer claim; however, it is much appreciable, giving max 15-16 hours. Overall, it’s a value pack edition in the ZenBook Series.
Other than this, you can watch out for Dell XPS 13, which is also a strong performer. The only lagging part here is the old 14NM platform 10th generation processor that carries a standard GPU unit. The graphical performance isn’t bad that way; notwithstanding, it should have come up with an IRIS GPU considering its class.
Apart from these devices, you can also watch other products according to your needs and requirements.
Do MBA students need laptop?
A laptop or computer has become an ultimate necessity not only for MBA but for whole academia. MBA students mostly go through heavy presentations, documentations, online classes, and virtual meetings. You can’t surpass these with your desktop, and this is where the Laptop becomes a dire need.
Is MacBook good for MBA students?
The MacBook always becomes a foremost choice when you want to go fancy. Additionally, to achieve better display and sound quality, battery life, and overall speed, MacBook is the best laptop for MBA students irrespective of budget.
How do I choose a student laptop?
You should focus on your requirements vs. budget. As students mostly need a system for documentation, FYP project working, and online classes, the budget, battery, and processing should be the primary concerns. Nonetheless, if you are a computer field student who needs heavier specs for data and media rendering, big processors, graphics, and heat/noise management should be the top most priority.