Best Laptops for Nursing Students: When going to nursing school, you definitely need a High-quality laptop. Realistically, a student of nursing school needs a lot of clinical education and fieldwork. The trainee needs to compile assignments, read a lot of research papers, and solve complex issues. Therefore, for the completion of these types of tasks and routine note-making, a competent laptop is a must-have accessory for a nursing student.
See Our other reviews of laptops for engineering students, teachers, autocad, cyber security, quickbooks, programming students, web design, fl studio, mechanical engineering students, accounting majors, interior design, graphic design students, writers and bloggers and more.
Now, if you have finally got the admission to the nursing school after taking the innumerable examination, the time has come to search for the best laptops that best suit the nursing practitioners. However, as a nursing student, you do not need an expensive laptop, a mid-range laptop can pretty much do the job. Nevertheless, the laptop must be lightweight so that you can carry it easily with yourself during your hectic schedule from room to the class and vice-versa. And it should also have a powerful battery.
In this article, we will show you a list of the top 10 laptops that are best for a nursing student. These laptops will at least cover your few years in nursing school as they are durable and long lasting. These laptops will surely fulfill all your hardware and software requirements and plus, they will keep you entertained at the same time. So, without further ado, here we go:
Contents
Our Picks of Top 10 Best Laptops for Nursing Students Product Reviews in 2021
1.Best Laptops Under 1500 for Nursing Students: Acer Aspire E 15 Laptop
Review
Every now and then, you will find something that defies its low price and Acer Aspire E15 also belong to this category. It is a budget laptop that offers top-notch features and exceptional attributes. With its marvelous display screen of 15 inches and a resolution of 1920×1080 px, it is an amazing laptop that would do a great job for a nursing student.
This muscular laptop comes in with a variety of ports, a high-quality processor, and an easy-going keyboard. The battery life is nice and performs quite well under a heavy workload. Plus, it plays games, multitasks, and connects with everything you want and the great thing is that it comes in with an optical drive.
Acer Aspire E15 has a simple design. When you think of 15-inch laptops, you probably start to wonder that the best laptops for nursing students might be bulky and chunky but it isn’t the case with this laptop. The weight is well distributed across the unit. Also, the laptop’s smooth and stylish black deck with brushed metal texture makes its appearance deceivingly expensive.
As mentioned above, the laptop comes in with an amazing assortment of ports. The right side of the laptop features an all-time classic USB 2.0 port 8X double-layer DVD RW drive. Moreover, it features a headphone jack too. On another side, there is a USB 3.1 Type-c port, an HDMI port, an ethernet port, a VGA input, and two USB 3.0 ports. There is also an SD card reader at the front.
Performance-wise, it scores high. Acer Aspire E15 is equipped with a powerful core i5-8250U processor,8GB RAM, and a 256GB SSD, and an Nvidia GeForce MX150 graphics card. This powerful processor with 8GB RAM has enough oomph to open 10 firefox tabs at once without worrying about any slowness even when you play a YouTube video a 1080p.
Moreover, the Nvidia GeForce MX150 graphics card offers you great gaming experience. You won’t notice any blur in images during fast games. Now, if you are the type of student who likes to play games, watch movies and browse 10 tabs all at once then probably this laptop is the right one for you.
However, there are few things which you need to keep in mind while buying this laptop is that it is a little bit heavy and the webcam is also not that good. However, the Acer Aspire E15 is an excellent device that is worth every penny. This budget laptop will help you go through all of your daily assignments without any fuss. In short, it would do the job for a nursing student.
2.Best Laptops Under 1000 for Nursing Students: Microsoft Surface Pro 7
Review
Microsoft Surface Pro 7 may well be the best thing for a nursing student. This 2-in-1 device comes in with high power 10th Gen Performance and a much-needed USB-C port. It has more resolution than Microsoft’s previous models at the same price tag. Plus, it is a lightning-fast laptop and ultra-thin as well.
The Surface Pro 7’s explicit display, additional power, and amazing Keyboard make it one of the best laptops around. You can actually write on it as if it is paper using its touch screen option.
The latest model of this laptop comes in with a fast Intel Core i5 10th Gen processor (CPU), 8GB of memory (RAM), and a 256GB solid-state drive (SSD), with the latter points upgradeable to as much as 16GB and 1TB capacity. But, let us inform you that for a nursing student the lowest configuration is enough. If you have core i5 with low-size SSD storage and 4 GB of RAM, it would be enough for you.
There is nothing new about the design as Microsoft decided not to reinvent the wheel for the time being. The best laptops for nursing students are the kind of chunky shape laptop that could turn into a tablet thanks to its rear-facing standard optional type cover keyboard.
The Surface Pro allows you to transform this laptop into an ultimate digital notebook that could easily replace your pen, paper, and prints. This is much-needed for the students who do not like to write a lot on paper.
What’s really fascinating about this device is that it offers twice the number of pixels and high resolution on full HD mode than any other high-quality laptop. This feature is not a make or break point but it surely will provide you with better options when you open many tabs during your histology class.
When talking about ports, Microsoft has finally come up with a USB-C port. However, the overall connections ports are limited. There is a USB-A port, a headphone jack, a MicroSD card slot, and a surface connection port.
The speaker works fine for a YouTube video or a Netflix binge, but not good enough to completely immerse you in music and movies. However, if you have online lectures to attend, you better use headphones.
Performance-wise, it can handle your usual tasks without even breaking a sweat. You will not encounter any slowdown or hanging during your everyday use. Even if you open dozens of tabs and stream many YouTube videos at 1080 px and open Google docs at one time, the performance will remain the same
3.Best Apple Laptops Under 1000 for Nursing School Students: MacBook Air 2017
Review
If you want a laptop that runs well throughout your nursing school journey then this is the one for you. Even though it is not the latest version of MacBook Air but Amazon is selling it in a brand new condition. This version remains the least expensive of all the versions.
The laptop packs an Intel Core i5-5350U processor, 8GB of RAM, a 128GB PCIe SSD, and a 1440 x 900-pixel panel. You can beef up the processor to a 2.2GHz intel core i7 and 512 GB SSD by paying almost 550$ more. However, with a Core i5-5350U processor, 8GB of RAM, a 128GB PCIe SSD, you can complete all your assignments without any trouble but if you are the type of guy who does a little bit of graphic designing and opens many tabs on a single go, these specs won’t be enough.
From the game’s point of view, you cannot play high-power games unless you set them at low quality. The reason behind it is that MacBook Air does not include any dedicated graphic cards.
Since 2011 the MacBook Air had been in a standstill position in terms of design — it had the same old shape and features up till 2016. In 2017, Apple decided to change everything. The design was reshaped and features were upgraded. The 2017 version features a retina display, touch Id, and USB-C ports. Moreover, the hardware components are better than previous models and even after three years, it is one of the fastest models of the MacBook Air series.
The design looks pretty much the same as it was in 2010. Apple is reluctant to make too many changes to shape. However, the design is perfect for nursing. The best laptops for nursing students might not be a freakily cool looking laptop but it is ultra-portable and consumes less energy. It weighs only around 3 lb and it is as thin as paper and it can easily fit into the back pocket or can be sandwiched between the books or it can be carried around in the hand like a writing book.
What we like most about this machine is that the keyboard is very comfortable and responsive. It is easily the coolest thing on this laptop. You can write all day without feeling any strain on your fingers. Moreover, The display doesn’t look pretty expensive but its average resolution power sure gives it potent battery life.
Our verdict is that it might not be the latest version but it is still one of the best models of Macbook Air and it would easily help you consume your nursing years without buying a new one.
4.Best Chromebook Laptops Under 600 for Nursing School Students: Asus Chromebook Flip C434TA
Review
The Chromebook flip c434 is a budget laptop for a nursing student. ASUS is known for manufacturing some high-performance Chromebooks at an affordable price and this Chromebook flip c434 is also of that type. It is a high-quality laptop that is available at a decent price tag.
The base model we reviewed costs $559 and is equipped with an Intel Core m3-8100Y CPU, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of eMMC storage. There is also Integrated Intel UHD Graphics 615 installed In it. This means that the processor would work just fine from the studies’ point of view. But from the gaming point of view, the best laptops for nursing students won’t support fast-moving games.
Chromebook flip c434 is a marked improvement over its previous models. This time the model has a sleek aluminum chassis and a 14-inch screen that provides a clear and bright image. It has a larger display, better battery life, and strong performance than its predecessors.
When you look at its design, it could easily be mistaken with ZenBook UltraBooks. Its matte-silver aluminum finish, chrome trim, and a screen-to-body ratio of 87% make it pretty much similar to the ZenBook Ultrabooks. On the inside, there is a silver keyboard that is extremely soft and comfortable. Also, there is a touchpad, volume, and power buttons on the deck.
There is one thing which you need to be careful about and that is you cannot allow it to drop it down on the floor. As per our experience, when it is dropped from the 2.5 feet the aluminum chassis are damaged, the touchpad buttons brake, and the screen cracks. Its other features include a decent battery life of over 8 hours, powerful speakers, and a satisfactory Webcam.
5.Best ASUS Laptops Under 1000 With GPU for Nursing School Students: ASUS ZenBook 13
Review
ASUS ZenBook 13 is an excellent piece of hardware that comes in at an affordable price. It consistently delivers good performance for many years and also offers practical portability options. It is slimmer, compact, and powerful. Also, it contains a lot of power in its sleek tiny chassis. In short, it is a great laptop that should always be on your shortlist whenever you plan to buy a laptop.
It’s a $999 laptop with stable performance from an 8th Gen Intel Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM and an Nvidia GeForce MX150 GPU. However, the Nvidia GeForce MX150 Graphic card chip here is entry-level. It contains 2GB memory, and according to Nvidia, the card can deliver up to 4x faster performance than any other integrated graphics.
ASUS has been trying to cause a challenge to the Macbook Air for many years and now, they kind of succeeded in it. This ZenBook 13 is similar to the Macbook Air but with windows installed in it and of course, it is way cheaper than the former.
From the performance point of view, it scores more than Macbook Air due to its 8th Gen processor. Both have the same amount of RAM and an excellent state drive. In short, you can run multiple applications on these laptops without any issues.
But, when the best laptops for nursing students come to the storage device, SSD, it is not the same as MacBook Air’s SSD. Air’s SSD is almost 5 times quicker than the Zen book’s SSD. However, there is nothing to worry about as you can easily launch software and boot up the system in no time.
The weight is less than the Air’s but it is not as thin as the MacBook Air. Also, the chassis is not fully made of aluminum as it has got plastic over it in patches. Moreover, the screen display has full HD resolution but the battery life is also isn’t as good as the Airs.
Overall, the new ASUS ZenBook 13 is portable, fast, and inexpensive with decent battery life. You should consider if you are not looking to spend 1000$ on any premium laptop.
6. Best Laptops Under 1200 for Nursing Students: Dell XPS 13
Review
If you aren’t really a fan of Apple products and you have some cash left, then you should probably go for this Dell XPS 13 laptop. It has more or less similar features to Macbook Air in terms of quality, performance, and shape but with windows installed in it. Dell XPS can be called a powerhouse because of Dell’s unceasing commitment to innovate wherever necessary.
The laptop is powered by an 8th-generation core i5 CPU coupled with 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD. Performance-wise, it is highly configurable just like other high-quality laptops. We recommend that even if you have the budget do not waste money in going beyond core i5 with 8GB of RAM. As a nursing student, it will be more than enough. Plus, it will save your ample battery life. Moreover, The 256 GB SSD storage will make your computer faster and quicker.
The design is impressive and it is just like MacBook Air. The best laptops for nursing students are thin and bulletproof. But when it comes to battery life it isn’t as good as Macbook Air but still has a decent battery life of 12 hours. However, the battery life has been compensated with great screen display: The resolution is more than 900p– higher than MacBook Air– to offer you quality time while using this machine.
What’s most interesting is that it comes with a thunderbolt 13 port which means that you can connect two external ports with the device. Moreover, the design has no bezels which make it look bigger than 13 inches. However, it is shaped in such a way that it has no space for placing the webcam at the top. However, the webcam has been set at the bottom of the keyboard.
7.Best Laptops Under 600 for Nursing Students: HP 15.6″ HD Touchscreen Laptop
Review
This is one of the best laptops for nursing students. The great thing about this laptop is that it offers you the option of working with different types of RAM. You can choose anything from 4GB RAM, 6GB, 8GB, 16GB, or even 32GB.
It is powered by 7th Gen Intel Core i3-7100U Processor (2 Cores, 3M Cache, 2.40 GHz) that offers you enough power to browse, stream and do so much more. However, Editing photos and videos could be difficult.
The best laptops for nursing students come with 1TB mechanical Hard Drive, which makes it very powerful. With this1TB mechanical Hard Drive, the nursing student can easily browse multiple tabs at once without worrying about the issues of hanging and slowdown.
Its 15.6-inch widescreen display gives you a wide-angle viewing option. Moreover, the image quality is clearer than any other ordinary laptop in the market. Plus, the image is sharp, vivid, and bright due to its 1920*1080 pixels resolution. Also, there is an HD graphics 620 installed in it.
From the portability point of view, it is no very portable as it is too big to carry. However, its other features compensate for this attribute as it has got great speakers, you can easily hear any online lecture without using your headphone. The laptop also comes with 1 USB type C port, 2 USB 3.1, 7 HDMI, and 1 headphone or microphone jack.
8.Best Laptops Under 500 for Nursing Students: The ASUS VivoBook 15 F512FA
Review
Considering this device’s low price, the overall shape, and the weight, a laptop with a 15-inch widescreen display is a pleasant surprise for many of us The ASUS VivoBook 15, like some other laptops from the well known ASUS, manages to provide high-grade feature laptop at a low price.
The ASUS Vivobook Flip 15 F512FA-AB34 is housed by an entry-level Intel Core i3 8145U processor. It is a dual-core processor that comes with a base clocking frequency of 2.10GHz that can be clocked up to a maximum of 3.90GHz. It also contains 4MB cache memory that could come in handy for multitasking.
Remember that it is an entry-level processor; therefore, it excels in everyday activities like browsing the web, social media, streaming videos online, playing light games, and other stuff without any issues. But for running mid-range applications, this processor is not suitable.
The ASUS VivoBook 15 F512FA has got a new refreshed look that is pleasing to the eye. Instead of a dim boxy design that many of the 15-inch laptops have, this device has a gray, brushed aluminum lid with a shiny deck.
The best laptops for nursing students have got multiple ports like two USB 2.0 ports, a microSD card slot, and LED indicators for charging on the left side. On the other side, there is a charging port, a USB 3.1 port, a USB Type-C port alongside a headphone/mic combo jack. The laptop has come up with some added features like Ergo Lift Hinge that angles the keyboard for easy note-making.
The battery life is decent with over 8 hours of power in one go. The performance is amazing as you can easily do multitasking with it and the display is excellent. Our suggestion to you is that if you are a nursing student then does not let this laptop slip under your radar because these kinds of pieces are really hard to find on this price tag.
9.Best Laptops Under 800 for Nursing Students: The Surface Pro 5
Review
The Surface Pro 5 maybe 3 years old but it still is one of the best laptops around. Even after the release of surface pro 6, which failed to prove its worth, this remains to be an impressive device for most of the Surface Pro users? It is an excellent hybrid laptop that all the great features which you look for on a laptop.
The best laptops for nursing students have powered the Intel Core i5 processor with 256GB SSD and 8GB of RAM. This configuration should be enough to get you through most of your productivity chores without too much hassle.
The design is pretty much similar to the Surface Pro 4. It has the same old 12.3-inch display of PixelSense touch with a 2,736 x 1,824-pixel resolution. But, when we looked at this laptop more closely, we found that the magnesium-aluminum alloy frame is more roundish and there is also a hinge. There are also some subtle changes in it that that make this model quite different from the previous models but they are quite hard to locate.
What is most fascinating about this laptop is that the pen’s pressure sensitivity was changed to 4096 levels by Microsoft, giving the users more control over the width and dimensions of lines during the design work. This is a really good feature for those who attend a class where they have to draw multiple complex diagrams.
The battery life is better than its predecessors. There are more ports than previous for connection than previously and performance-wise, the laptop scores very high.
10.Best Dell Laptops Under 1500 for Nursing School Students: The Dell XPS 15
Review
The Dell XPS 15 will surely live up to your expectations. The 2-in-1 device is all about high performance with intel’s 6 core i7 processor installed inside.
This XPS 15 comes with an 8th Generation Core i7 processor coupled with two CPU cores, and a much faster Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti as well as a high-resolution 4K UHD touchscreen. The amount of memory was also doubled than the previous models and you now get 8 GB RAM and 256 GB SSD storage, respectively.
Want to know more about it? the laptop has 6 hyperthreaded cores working at the base clock 2.2GHZ. Moreover, Dell XPS 15 has a 15-inch widescreen display with windows 10 installed in it.
This 2018 version is no different from its previous versions. The best laptops for nursing students are equipped with CNC machine aluminum li and black carbon fiber. There are also narrow bezels around the screen. Moreover, it is supremely thick and weighs just around 2 kg. Thus, it is surprisingly easy to move around.
Performance-wise, Dell XPS 15 (9570) is housed with the unbelievable 6-core 2.2GHz Intel Core i7-8750H processor. The processor works at 2.2GHz and when it is pressurized it could boost up to 4.1GHz. The device also is powered by 16GB of DDR4-2666MHz RAM and 512GB of M.2 PCIe SSD storage space.
Buying Guide Of Best Laptops For Nursing Students
Laptops for a nursing student have become a real-time need. In fact, a few schools have made it mandatory for the students to have a laptop with them. It might seem that there is no need for a nursing student to have a laptop because they have nothing to do with it but in actuality, the student of nursing school really needs them because it makes their whole school journey a whole lot easier. The student can jot down notes, read research papers, and even use software to understand complex diagrams. Therefore, as nursing practitioners, you should know how to buy the best laptops that would relevant to your studies. So, here is the buying guide for you.
Performance
When going to buy a laptop, you must know how the laptop will perform in the coming years. There are certain aspects through which you can gauge the quality of the laptop. First is the RAM (Random access memory). Your laptop should at least have 4 GB of RAM. 4 GB of RAM is decent and it will do the job but if you are the type of guy who’s crazy with web browsing tabs, you probably would need 8GB RAM.
The second thing is the Storage capacity. Your laptop should have enough capacity to store notes, movies, videos, and other things. Therefore, you should get an SSD (solid-state drive) for better storage. It will help you save any data and plus, it will make your laptop more responsive and ultra-fast.
Type Of Processor
Since you will be using your laptop for your studies, you do not need a top-notch processor. Even an average type of processor would do the job for you. However, make sure that the processor must not be old than the Core i5. Nursing software can work on the weakest of processors like the ones on smartphones.
Display
Ideally, you need a laptop with a 13-inch widescreen display and that too with a full HD resolution. However, anything more the 720 pixels can also do the job. But, full HD resolution would help you do multitasking seamlessly.
Operating System
It is more of a personal preference that whether you want to choose Mac, Windows, or a Chrome OS as your companion. They all are pretty much excellent in their own ways. However, you should always check out which operating system is mostly used in your school. We recommend that since MS word documents are widely used in the schools; therefore, put Windows OS as your first choice because it is easy to operate MS word in windows. On the other hand, If you choose Mac OS, you will have to learn using MS word from the beginning.
Portability
This is a very important factor as going to class from the room and vice-versa, you definitely need a laptop that is easy to move. The laptops in the above list, which we have presented for you, are all portable. You will not have any issues regarding this portability factor.
Battery Life
Imagine you are in the middle of a lecture and you are jotting down your notes on the laptop and suddenly the battery dies. How would you feel? Therefore, always purchase a laptop that at least should have an 8-hour battery life. Anything above the 8-hour mark would be a bar of absolute gold.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) OF Best Laptops For Nursing School Students
Final Thoughts
Finding the best laptops for nursing students is a herculean task. There are a bunch of factors that you need to consider before buying these laptops. We just hope that our list of best laptops for nursing students and buying guide would have helped you and made you choose at least one of the laptops from the above list.
Key Reference
- Nursing Students | American Nurses Association | ANA Link
- Laptop & Connectivity Requirement | School of Nursing Link
- Minimum Requirements for Bringing Your Own Laptop Link