While some may prefer taking physical notes, there’s no denying that the modern lecture theatre is much more likely to be filled with the sound of typing than scribbling, and there are many reasons for this.
Written notes are quite frankly, an archaic choice. Writing fast enough to take notes effectively can often make notes illegible, and what’s more physical notes can get ruined by rain, spilled coffee, or simply accidentally, thrown out (even if your tutor doesn’t buy any of these excuses!)
The solution is to start taking notes on a laptop, as it provides a safe, secure, and convenient way to manage your workload, take notes, and attend remote lectures and other modern e-learning opportunities.
It’s also much easier to backup your valuable notes and data to the cloud or an external hard drive should something happen, making the laptop the premium choice for students everywhere, be it law school or any other educational institution.
However, there are a lot of laptops out there, which makes finding the right one surprisingly difficult.
There are a range of different brands, components, features, and performance statistics that can make finding the right laptop more difficult than finding your lecture theatre on your first day!
In this article we’re going to look at 5 of the best laptops for law school, with a focus on the features students will benefit from along with some other key considerations to help you make an informed decision about your next laptop without having to spend time researching laptops instead of studying.
We’ve also included a buyer’s guide below the laptops we’ve selected, with some key highlights on what to look for in a good study laptop to help you make absolutely sure you’re getting everything you need for your investment.
We’re also including a small FAQ beneath the buyers guide with some answers to common questions about laptops and using them to study, helping you to get started on using it right away!
But now let’s take a look at the laptops themselves and what makes them a great choice for you.
Reviews Of Best Laptop For Law School
HP 14 Laptop
HP is one of the biggest brands in the laptop world, and this offering makes a perfect study laptop, with its powerful Ryzen 5 processor, ample amount of RAM, and additional features to make your study convenient and accessible.
The webcam is decent and works well but isn’t of the highest quality, however, the display is excellent and includes anti-glare technology to make those long hours of study less taxing on your eyes even in dark environments.
The laptop is very light and easy to carry and fits very easily into most bags so you’ll have no problem taking this to the lecture theatre with you.
Pros
- AMD Ryzen 5 CPU
- 8GB RAM
- Webcam
- Very portable and light
- Anti-glare screen
Cons
- Simple Keyboard
- POWER THROUGH FROM ANYWHERE – Designed to keep you productive and entertained from anywhere, the HP 14-inch Laptop combines long-lasting battery life with a thin and portable design
- FULL HD DISPLAY – Enjoy your favorite content in 1080p for crystal-clear visuals and vibrant image quality (1). Beyond pixel count, your display lets you see more from anywhere thanks to the micro-edge bezel and anti-glare screen
- INFINITE POSSIBILITIES – Whether you are creating, working, or being entertained, do it all with the supreme performance of the AMD Ryzen 5 5500U Mobile Processor and AMD Radeon Graphics (2) (3)
- MEMORY AND STORAGE – Boost your performance with higher bandwidth, courtesy of 8 GB of RAM. Plus, with 256 GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD storage, save all of your photos, videos, and documents while getting up to 15x faster performance than a traditional hard drive (4) (5)
- STAY CONNECTED – Have convenient power all day with up to 9 hours and 45 minutes of battery life (6); your HP laptop also recharges quickly as HP Fast Charge Technology takes your device from 0 to 50% charge in approximately 45 minutes (7)
Lenovo IdeaPad 3
Lenovo’s IdeaPad 3 is one of the most popular laptops in the world, and it’s easy to see why. The perfect blend of great price and solid components make it a capable performer and accessible.
The Intel i3 is a very capable CPU for word processing and browsing, while 8GB of RAM is more than ample for most tasks and applications.
The webcam does work well however again as with most integrated webcams the quality isn’t the most impressive, so be aware of this.
The laptop also comes with Bluetooth for easy connection to peripherals such as headphones, speakers, and even keyboard or computer mice, as well as your phone. This also makes file transfer easy and efficient.
Pros
- 10th Gen Intel i3
- 8GB RAM
- Webcam
- Bluetooth
- Wifi 5
Cons
- Windows 10 S as default OS
- [Performance] Lenovo 15.6" Laptop with 10th Gen Intel Core i3-10110U processor (has a base speed of 2.1 GHz and a boost speed of up to 4.1GHz). Uplift your performance and multitask seamlessly with accelerated power and efficiency, while enjoying stunning HD visuals.
- [Display] 15.6" touchscreen for hands-on control. Touch, tap, glide and make the most of Windows 10. HD TruBrite technology amps up color and clarity. Typical 1366 x 768 HD resolution. Supports 720p content. Energy-efficient LED backlight.
- [RAM and Capacity] 8GB system memory for advanced multitasking; 256GB Solid State Drive (PCI-e) provides massive storage space for huge files, so that you can store important digital data and work your way through it with ease. Enhance the overall performance of the laptop for business, student, daily usage
- [OPERATION SYSTEM] Windows 10 Home in S mode (You may switch to regular windows 10: Press "Start button" bottom left of the screen; Select "Settings" icon above "power" icon;Select Update & Security and Activation, then Go to Store; Select "Get" option under "Switch out of S mode"; Hit Install.)
- [Ports & Bundle] Built-in HD webcam with microphone; 1 HDMI 1.4b; 1 USB 2.0 Type A; 2 USB 3.0 Type A; 1 headphone/microphone combo; bundled with TiTac 32GB Card, Brand Register on amazon
ASUS VivoBook 15
ASUS is another huge brand in the laptop world and is also known for their quality components such as motherboard and graphics cards.
The VivoBook 15 provides an insanely good value with a very powerful Ryzen 7 CPU which provides class-leading processing performance, while the 8GB of RAM will help your apps run smoothly and consistently.
The keyboard is backlit which is a nice touch and the display is also lovely, with great contrast and very nice thin bezels for a sleek and professional look.
Pros
- AMD Ryzen 7 CPU
- 8GB RAM
- Backlit keyboard
- Vega Graphics
- Beautiful display with thin bezels
Cons
- Underwhelming speakers
- 15.6-inch Full HD 4 way NanoEdge bezel display with stunning 88% screen-to-body ratio
- Powerful AMD Quad Core Ryzen 7 3700U Processor (2M Cache, up to 4.0Ghz)
- AMD Radeon Vega 10 graphic with Windows 10 Home
- 8GB DDR4 RAM and 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD
- Ergonomic chiclet backlit keyboard with fingerprint sensor activated via Windows Hello
Microsoft Surface Laptop 2
Microsoft’s Surface series are some of the best laptops in the world and are some of the only options with a touch screen.
While this may not be a feature everyone needs, it does provide an additional feature for convenience, and once you’re used to using it you’ll be surprised how much easier this makes your browsing and speeds up your work.
The i5 processor is powerful and reliable, the 8GB of RAM is more than adequate and the webcam works very well.
The only drawback is the lack of keyboard backlighting.
Pros
- Intel Core i5 CPU
- 8GB RAM
- Very light and portable
- Touchscreen
- Webcam
Cons
- No backlighting on the keyboard
- Clean, elegant design — thin and light, starting at just 2.76 pounds, Surface Laptop 2 fits easily in your bag
- Choose from rich tone on tone color combinations: Platinum, Burgundy, and Cobalt Blue, plus an all new finish in classic matte Black
- Improved speed and performance to do what you want, with the latest 8th Generation Intel Core processor
- Casing: Aluminum
2020 Apple MacBook Air
No list of laptops for study can be complete without Apple’s MacBook Air. A favorite for its extremely lightweight and low profile, it benefits from some of the best features available however these of course come at a premium.
The processor is Apple’s proprietary M1 chip, the 8GB of RAM is fast and the storage is ample.
With a backlit keyboard, a good quality webcam, and TouchID this system has everything you need in a very attractive package.
Pros
- Apple M1 Chip
- 8GB RAM
- 512GB of SSD Storage
- Backlit keyboard
- Touch ID
- Good webcam
Cons
- High performance comes at a higher price
- Apple-designed M1 chip for a giant leap in CPU, GPU, and machine learning performance
- Go longer than ever with up to 18 hours of battery life
- 8-core CPU delivers up to 3.5x faster performance to tackle projects faster than ever
- Up to eight GPU cores with up to 5x faster graphics for graphics-intensive apps and games
- 16-core Neural Engine for advanced machine learning
Best Laptop For Law School: A Buyer’s Guide
Finding a laptop that perfectly suits your needs can be really difficult. There are a lot of different technical specs to keep track of, and it can be hard for even the most dedicated IT professionals to keep track of.
For the average person, knowing the difference between different components and what you need for your own PC can feel overwhelming and make buying a new PC much more of a chore than it should be.
In this buyer’s guide, we’ve broken down some of the key characteristics a study laptop should provide, ensuring that you’re able to get the best of both your laptop and your education.
If you have questions, don’t forget to check out the FAQ below for some additional information.
CPU
The CPU is the heart of your laptop and is what will make your PC fast enough to handle whatever you throw at it, whether it’s extensive word processing, spreadsheet management, or hours of browsing.
Intel is one of the leading brands, and for a laptop geared towards studying, anything with an i3 or i5 processor is suitable, and i7 processors are probably overkill unless you plan to also use your laptop for other projects such as video editing, or gaming.
AMD is also a leading CPU brand and their Ryzen 3, Ryzen 5, and Ryzen 7 CPUs all provide class-leading performance capable of easily handling anything you can throw at them.
One thing to make sure is that you aren’t getting an older generation CPU.
For Intel, you don’t want anything older than the 9th generation, while for AMD you want to stay with the releases from the last two Ryzen releases, with the 2nd generation being on the older side and only suitable for the tightest budgets.
RAM
8GB of RAM is pretty much essential for smooth performance these days. 4GB would’ve once been considered quite adequate for studying and browsing, however as apps become more advanced and demanding, the demands on RAM have also increased.
8GB is the right amount, with 16GB being overkill only suitable for heavier workloads such as gaming. It’s also important to make sure you’re getting DDR4 RAM, which is the latest format, and not the older and slower DDR3 RAM. Most popular laptops today should have DDR4 but it’s good to check this.
Keyboard
A comfortable keyboard is probably the most important feature that isn’t actually integral to the function of the laptop itself. As a law student, you will be spending a lot of time typing, from notes in lectures to essays and reports as a part of your course of study.
If your keyboard is uncomfortable you will have a miserable time studying, and an uncomfortable keyboard can even be the cause of serious health issues from repetitive strain injury to carpal tunnel syndrome.
Of course, these can be offset by good positioning and posture also, but a well-arranged keyboard with comfortable rests, quality keycaps, and well-calibrated keys will make your life much easier as you’ll type many thousands of words over the course of your education.
Another nice feature to look out for is backlighting, which means the individual keys are lit and will be much easier to use in low-light environments, perfect for late-night cramming!
Webcam
Any laptop intended for use while studying should have a webcam, as there’s always a chance you will be expected to attend an online lecture.
Most laptops have some sort of webcam and microphone setup included and this has become something of a standard feature, however, look for a quality webcam to make sure you’re actually visible when you want to use it.
Storage
The minimum amount of storage you want for a law school laptop is something in the region of 256GB, however, 512GB or more is better, with plenty of space for multiple projects without fear of running out of space.
Most laptops today use SSDs which are far faster than old spin drives or hard drives, however, SSD technology has progressed a lot in recent years and there are some acronyms to be aware of to make sure you’re getting the best performance possible.
An NVMe drive is a much faster type of SSD with extremely fast performance even among SSDs and provides a noticeable boost in performance when it comes to launching apps and booting up.
M.2 drives are newer again and the cutting edge of storage drive technology, with impressive speeds and reliability, as well as an incredibly small form factor that make them easily capable of being used in laptops.
Display
A nice clear display is another important feature if you’re planning on spending hours sitting in front of your laptop.
Something with a 15.6” screen with at least full HD graphics is the minimum you should expect and will provide adequate performance.
Some laptops incorporate additional features such as nano-bezels or anti-glare technology, and these can make using your laptop much easier over long periods of time, particularly if you’re reading a lot which can damage your eyes without adequate breaks from the harsh like of the display.
Frequently Asked Question
Do you need a webcam for school?
You may not necessarily need a webcam, but it’s worth having just in case you need to attend an online lecture or have to attend an interview.
A good webcam can open doors to new opportunities and most laptops do come with them included, however not all of them will be of the best quality or provide the best performance, so if this is important to you make sure to pay attention to how many megapixels the camera is.
How much RAM do I need?
You need 8GB if you’re intending to use your laptop for typing and browsing. It’s really that simple. If you want to be able to game then 16GB may be better but 8GB often works with most games, although your performance may be worse.
4GB simply isn’t enough and this amount of RAM will affect your performance and efficiency, slowing you down and making your laptop sluggish and frustrating.
Do laptops come with Microsoft Office or other word processors?
This depends. Some laptops may come with this software included however there is no guarantee so don’t expect it to be automatically included.
Thankfully most good colleges and universities will offer assistance with finding word processors, and if you’re in doubt Google Docs can make word processing very simple and powerful without needing to worry about fees or additional software.
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