Technologies

Best Laptop for High School Students in 2023

Whether you’re looking for Windows, Chrome or MacOS, here are some great budget-friendly options for your high schooler.

Laptops are essential for students — a lot of schools even require them nowadays. From help with in-class lectures and projects, to studying and homework, a laptop is an essential tool for your high schooler. But the best ones come with a price tag. That’s why we’ve collected our picks for the best laptop for high school students.

We’ve covered options across all the major operating systems and brands, including MacOS, Windows and ChromeOS. Sure, many laptops will work just fine for your student, but these recommendations were chosen for dependability, user ease and performance. Every laptop we’ve suggested also has a long battery life, and each easily fits into a standard backpack. And the majority of them are under $1,000, which is increasingly rare due to continued chip shortages, supply chain issues and inflation.

Best laptop for high school students

The Apple MacBook Air M1 is our pick for the best laptop for getting schoolwork done in high school. It has excellent everyday performance, long battery life and it’s lightweight. The HP Pavilion Aero 13 is our best value pick with a starting price of $800, but is regularly on sale for far less. Like the M1 Air, the Aero has strong everyday performance and long battery life with a compact, backpack-friendly design.

Regardless of which student laptop you choose, I recommend buying directly from the manufacturer or a familiar, trusted retailer for the best prices and exchange or return policies. If you’re shopping on sites like Amazon or Walmart with third-party sellers, check to see if the laptop is being sold and shipped by the site. For more specific shopping help, check out our buying advice on getting the best cheap laptops.

It’s worth noting, too, that if your school uses Google Classroom, it doesn’t mean you need a Chromebook. (Here are the differences between a laptop and a Chromebook.) And to make long homework sessions more comfortable, you may want to add on some peripherals such as a keyboard or wireless mouse — most people get annoyed using only the trackpad pretty quickly — as well as an inexpensive external monitor so your student is more comfortable and has a bigger display to see their work. Check out our picks below to find the best laptop for high school students in 2023.

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Apple’s New Smart Home Display Delayed Until Fall Over Siri Issues

It has been nearly a year and a half since the company announced the AI-powered product.

Your home could get smarter with Apple’s Siri, but it will have to wait a few more months. Bloomberg reported the iPad-shaped AI home hub won’t be ready until September, several months after the company was hoping to launch it this spring. Apple engineers first need to complete work on a new and improved Siri assistant for the home device, code-named J490, according to Bloomberg.

Apple was hoping to release J490 this month, along with a slew of other new devices, including the iPhone 17e, MacBook Neo, MacBook Air M5, new Pro models, and iPad Air M4. Apple first teased the smart home display in November 2024.

A representative for Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Siri is Apple’s virtual assistant that uses voice recognition and AI to fulfill a variety of tasks and commands, along with intriguing uses. You might use Siri to find your iPhone — «Hey Siri, where are you?» — or to hear the weather forecast — «Siri, what will the weather be today?» Siri is available on iPhones, MacBooks and iPads. It was launched in 2011 as a feature of the iPhone 4S.

As CNET reported last month, Apple engineers have struggled to push the upgraded Siri assistant out the door. It isn’t fast enough, gets confused by complex commands and doesn’t interact well with other Apple AI models. The company is also wrestling with how much personal data to access to inform the AI, and the new Siri is not yet able to complete in-app tasks, such as finding a photo and posting it to socials, all with one command.

It has been nearly two years since Apple announced that it would give Siri a major upgrade. In the meantime, competitors like Alexa Plus and Gemini for Home have entered the marketplace.

Tech tester Jon Rettinger, whose YouTube channel has 1.66 million subscribers, says the repeated delays in upgrading Siri can «erode» confidence in Apple’s ability to keep up in the AI race.

«Apple as a whole is still one of the strongest companies on the planet. But their AI play is clearly the weakest link in an otherwise very strong chain,» Rettinger told CNET.

Rettinger said he has had issues getting Siri to complete basic commands, such as setting two alarms at the same time, and that it’s a bit of «a mess» right now.

«Having said that, the iPhone has such massive market penetration that I’m not sure it will actually matter in the end. Which is kind of wild when you think about it,» Rettinger said.

Facial recognition for residents

The hardware for the forthcoming smart home display has already been finished. It resembles an iPad and can be either attached to a wall or rest on a half-domed-shaped base, the Bloomberg report said.

The device will be equipped with facial recognition, so when residents walk up to it, they will be shown personalized data such as music preferences, news headlines, appointments, reminders, tasks and so on.

The screen interface will include a bunch of circular app icons, similar to the display on an Apple Watch. The Bloomberg report said the smart home display will be the first of several home devices by Apple. Future products include a tabletop robotic limb with a 9-inch screen, a smart security camera and a Face ID-enabled smart doorbell.