No matter where you go to school, you can find student discounts from computer manufacturers and stores. All you have to do is prove that you are a student and you can get discounts on computers, laptops, tablets, software, and accessories. Some online schools offer free laptops to their students.
Listed below are the manufacturers that offer student discounts on laptops.
Lenovo Academic Purchase Program
Lenovo’s student deals offer students and faculty members discounts on laptops, tablets, and desktop computers. Through this site, you can search a database of colleges that participate in the Lenovo Academic Purchase Program. Lenovo recommends that student laptops have more than 2Ghz of processing power. Strong processors help computers run multiple programs at once and still operate at a reasonable speed. They also recommend that students use Windows 10, and the most recent iOS on Apple products–most students choose to run Windows on their MacBooks because of its compatibility around campus.
Lenovo itself recommends that students on a budget purchase the Lenovo Thinkpad which can be purchased online for just over $700 brand new.
Link: http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/portals/students/
Apple Education Pricing
Laptops for College Students _ MacBook Apple products are very reliable and a cost comes with that reliability. Most students eventually add Windows to their Macs because most higher education institutes still use Windows for most classes. Macs can also run Microsoft Office, which is necessary for every college student. Macs are powerful and durable which makes them great for college students who have the budget. If you eventually plan on purchasing a Mac for the future, it’s wise to do so during your college years in order to get the student discount price.
Students, faculty, and staff can save up to $100 on a new Mac. iPads can be used as a hybrid laptop-tablet alternative to laptops.
Any Mac products will work well for college. The MacBook Air runs $899 before the student discount and the MacBook Pro starts at $1,199. The MacBook Air is light but also not very durable. For most majors, an Air will work just fine, but for majors that require heavy usage of CPU, we recommend the Pro.
Link: http://store.apple.com/us/browse/campaigns/education_pricing
Dell University
student_laptop_inspiron_15 Dell touts the best prices guaranteed at a discount of 30% on PCs. They also provide 20% discounts on Dell-brand electronics and accessories. In our research, we found that Dell does in fact offer the lowest prices with deals starting as low as $401.79. Of course, you get what you pay for, and we recommend not buying the cheapest one if at all possible. You still can, but you will want to do as little multi-media and software installations as possible. The next step up runs for about $70 more and looks perfect for a college student’s needs.
If you’re into serious gaming and multi-media, Dell offers huge discounts on its Alienware products.
If you’re looking for portability and don’t need much space for huge files, a keyboard can be added to the Dell Venue 8 ($239.99) to turn it into a tablet-laptop hybrid.
For a budget laptop, we recommend the Inspiron 15″ Non-Touch laptop ($401.79)
Microsoft Store for Education
Microsoft Surface Student Discount. Microsoft offers deep discounts on the Surface and at least 10% off all Windows PCs. They also offer discounts for software and accessories. Just select your state, school name, city or zip code and the Microsoft tool will do the rest for finding deals for you. Make sure to check out the deeply discounted software and video games.
Microsoft recommends the Surface tablet for college students. The surface is a tablet-laptop hybrid. One feature that can be helpful to college students is the ability to run two apps side-by-side. This allows you to multitask with ease. The lightweight and portability make this an ideal choice for those who write a lot but don’t need to store loads of multi-media. Depending on the make, the surface runs anywhere from $400-$850 after the 10% student discount is applied.
Some of the brands that are offered are HP, Samsung, ASUS, and Surface.
Link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/b/education
Toshiba Education
Now that Toshiba has changed its name to dynabook and has been acquired by Sharp, they no longer offer student discounts on their site. Dynabook does have a page dedicated to low cost/entry-level options for students. The least expensive laptop offered is the Tecra C40-C1400ED starting at $399.99.
Even though Toshiba doesn’t offer student discounts, you may be able to find discounts on Toshiba products using this site, https://toshiba.knoji.com/promo-codes/.
Link: https://us.dynabook.com/shape-the-future/
BestBuy.com Student Deals
Best Buy also offers student-only deals on computers and other “gear” that you might need to get you through your school year. You will need to sign up for a My Best Buy® account and register to receive the deals by providing your student information. Once that’s all done you can start getting the student deals immediately.
