If you are looking for the best Microsoft laptop for students in 2024; look no further.
Students’ laptops have different needs than any gaming or workstation notebooks. While any general-purpose notebook can do the job just fine, relying on a notebook that has student-orientated features is a top-notch choice.
Many brands manufacture good laptops for students, but Microsoft laptops are king of the hill. Their intuitive touchscreen, beautiful webcam, and convertible design make it ideal to easily scroll documents, attend online classes, and take notes. Further, they have good build quality and portability, making it a reliable choice to carry on a backpack and take around campus.
Microsoft Surface lineup features Go and Pro models; Go models are designed for light tasks, while Pro models deal with more creative and professional tasks. Both have their own unique sets of features, power, design, and price, it depends on your needs and which one you have to choose.
We’ve listed the best Microsoft laptops for Students for light tasks and professional tasks, pick the one that suits your needs.
Best Microsoft Laptop For Students
1) Microsoft Surface Go 2 – Best Value For Money
2) Microsoft Surface Pro 9 – Best For Professional Use
3) Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 – Best For Multitasking
1) Microsoft Surface Go 2 – Best Value For Money
- Display – 12.4 Inch Touchscreen display with 1536 X 1024 resolutions
- Processor – 11th generation i5-1135G7
- RAM – 8 GB
- Storage – 256 GB SSD
- Battery – Up to 13 hours
Pros
- Strong build quality
- Easy to carry around
- Smooth touch
- Long-lasting battery life
Cons
- Webcam could be better
Microsoft Surface Go 2 brings excellent performance under premium design. It’s one of the lightest notebooks with weighs just under two and a half pounds. It has good build quality, excellent looks, and a long-lasting battery.
Microsoft uses Aluminum on the lid and the rest of the parts are a mix of aluminum and polycarbonate. With a strong hinge, it doesn’t have any cheap feel or wobble issues. The 12.4-inch display is stunning and delivers beautiful pictures.
Even though a 12-inch display isn’t laptop standard, it has great depth and color accuracy. It has a 1536 X 1024 resolution which is slightly lower than FHD resolution, but you won’t find any noticeable difference due to the small screen.
The display is touch-enables and supports all gestures. Reading an article or E-book would be easier with smooth swiping and scrolling from the display. It is a bright panel and makes it easy to read or watch videos in a bright room.
The keyboard feels snappy and enjoyable. While keycaps are a bit small (may not ideal for people with large fingertips), they provide satisfied travel and responses instantly. The keyboard isn’t backlit, so when you type on a dark room, you’ve to rely on the display’s reflection.
For security purposes, Microsoft has embedded a fingerprint into the power button to Log in. I hoped for a face recognition login, but the webcam doesn’t support Windows Hello. Speaking of the webcam, it supports 720p resolution that captures great pictures and videos. However, it isn’t as good or powerful as other Microsoft laptops on our list.
The Surface Go 2 boasts an 11th generation i5 processor along with 8 GB memory to run most tasks with ease. There are also 128 gigs of SSD, which is okay for students. You can configure for more storage if you require more space on your notebook.
The i5 processor is well capable of handling students’ task demands including browsing, word processing, and Zoom Meetings.
The best Microsoft laptop for students should also have a long battery life and the Surface Go 2 ticks that mark too. By offering up to 12 hours of juice, the Go 2 avoids the pitfall of being short on battery.
To sum up, the Microsoft Surface Go 2 is the right pick when you need a powerful Microsoft laptop with a long battery life, portable design, and decent connectivity.
2) Microsoft Surface Pro 9 – Best For Professional Use
- Display – 12.4 Inch Touchscreen display with 1536 X 1024 resolutions
- Processor – 12th generation i7
- RAM – 16 GB
- Storage – 1 TB SSD
- Battery – Up to 15.5 hours
Pros
- Amazing performance
- Great look and design
- Incredibly light
Cons
- Expensive
- No keyboard
If you do content creation or your tasks require heavy power, the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 is a top-notch choice for you. This convertible notebook is suitable for note-taking, editing, and work on the go. Students who need a sheer amount of power in a convertible design should definitely consider this notebook.
The Surface Pro 9 is a well-built notebook made from solid aluminum. Microsoft offers four color options to choose from; Platinum, Forest, Graphite, and Sapphire. This convertible notebook is incredibly thin and weighs only 1.6 pounds. With the design being wonderfully light, it goes easily on your backpack with your school or college books, making it one of best Microsoft laptop for students.
With Surface Pro 9 Microsoft offers a 13-inch display that is sharp and bright to combat glare. It delivers beautiful colors and contrast for crystal-clear picture quality and it is also a good choice to watch movies when you don’t have homework.
The 13-inch display is bright and colorful to watch movies, read E-books, and scroll through Social media apps. It has 2880 X 1920 pixel resolutions and a 3:2 aspect ratio. Default it comes at a 60Hz refresh rate, but there is an option to toggle to 120hz. While the screen is bright and smooth, it has a fair amount of glare which sometimes results in smudge.
As far as innards go, the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 sports a 12th-generation i7 processor, 16 GB of memory, and 256 GB of storage. All of these specs go well above your daily student’s tasks and when you do intense works like 3D modeling and 1080p editing it won’t slow down either.
When you are a student a good webcam matters. The Surface Pro 9’s Front 1080p webcam produces bright pictures even when the background is exposed. There is also a 10-megapixel rear camera with support for 1080p and 4K video.
The Surface Pro 9 battery lasts about 15 hours on media consumption and normal tasks and when you do heavy computing, you can expect at least 8 hours of power backup.
The only caveat of the Pro 9 is that it doesn’t include a keyboard or pen on the box. You have to spend extra money to get full advantages of Surface Pro’s features is a big bummer.
Overall, the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 is a great 2-in-1 hybrid notebook for all power users who require strong performance backed by full-day battery life.
3) Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 – Best For Multitasking
- Display – 13.5 Inch Touchscreen display with 2256 X 1504 resolutions
- Processor – 11th generation i5
- RAM – 8 GB
- Storage – 256 GB SSD
- Battery – Up to 18 hours
Pros
- Great for productivity
- Plenty of ports
- 3:2 Aspect ratio
Cons
- Runs hot under stress
Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 offers a great deal of features and excellent choice for multitaskers. It is a premium notebook for business and daily computing tasks. It is easy to carry around, has a strong build, and performs exceptionally well in most tasks that matter.
The Surface 5 lineup comes with two screen sizes: 13.5-inch and 15-inch size. Both can be configured with Intel CPU, for students we recommend 13 inches for it’s portability and convenience for daily travel and it’s a great choice when it comes to the best Microsoft laptop for students.
With the Surface 5, Microsoft has maintained high build standards. Made from aluminum, it has a strong chassis and almost no flex. It doesn’t pick up any fingerprint marks and is easy to clean. The powerful 12th-generation i5 processor offers outstanding performance and lets you breeze through all tasks. Whether you are watching Netflix or writing assignments, it won’t deliver sluggish performance. The integrated Iris Xe graphics allow you to play entry-level games or basic editing. However, performance drops instantly on 3D graphics and heavy video editing.
The display is punchy, and with 2256 X 1504 pixels, text looks sharper and images appear more crispy. The 3:2 aspect ratio is an excellent choice for productivity and gives you plenty of information at once. The only drawback when you watch standard 16:9 content, black bards appear at the top and bottom. H
The touch-enabled panel allows you to navigate and interact display with ease and there is also support for a pen to take handwritten notes. The keyboard is comfortable to type with and won’t cause any fatigue when you aggressively type for long hours. Listening to music or lectures is audible with integrated speakers supporting Dolby Atmos to produce clearer and fuller vocals.
With up to 15.5 hours of battery, the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 gets you through all day without requiring a power outlet. The webcam is mediocre though, it’s only 720p and captures pictures with some noise in the background. However, it is still a good webcam over any other 720p webcam in the same price segment.
When it comes to the ports, Microsoft offers one USB A port, one USB C port (Thunderbolt 4), and a headphone jack. Out of the box, the Surface 5 comes with 8 GB of RAM and 512 GB of SSD.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 is a great multitasking companion for students and professionals who like decent power and efficiency in a notebook.