If you’re shopping for a laptop for a grade-school or middle-school student, you should get a Chromebook, a cheap Windows laptop, or even an iPad with a keyboard. We explain the upsides and downsides of all those options (and have recommendations for each category) in our guide to the best budget laptops.
High-school and college students likely need a more powerful, more portable laptop to complete their coursework, but budget remains a concern for students and parents alike. We round up the best Windows options and MacBooks and explain how they stack up against cheaper alternatives in our guide to the best laptops for college students.
If your kid needs something more specific that we haven’t covered here — maybe you need a laptop that can play more demanding games, for instance, or one for a photography or film student — head over to our guide to the best laptops.
