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The new school year rolls around once more, and we’re sure people will be looking for Best Laptops for College Students. Here are our choices for the new year, attempting to cover the gamut of what the student might need.

Laptops for school need not be high end — as long as they’re reasonably light so they can fit in a backpack, pack in at least 4GB of RAM and have wireless networking capability, they should be perfectly fine for school use. As a result, ultrabooks are actually quite a good choice.

Apple MacBook Air 13

Apple’s upgraded MacBook Air is a seriously fast performer — even if you only use it as a Windows machine. The switch to Sandy Bridge puts Apple’s travel laptop on the top of the portable pile.  

The Good

• Fast performance, Quick boot, Excellent battery life, Thunderbolt capable, Backlit keyboard

The Bad

• Design hasn’t evolved much, Still low in the storage stakes, Parts of the base get warm, Lacks ports common in other laptops, Thunderbolt isn’t much use — yet

Apple MacBook Air 11

This year’s 11-inch MacBook Air improves on last year’s model in several significant ways and is by far the fastest ultraportable you’re likely to find, though some users will consider the limited flash storage space to be a hindrance.  

The Good

• Dramatically faster than last year’s version, Backlit keyboard, High-speed Thunderbolt I/O port

The Bad

• Entry-level Air still has the same limited fixed flash storage and RAM as last year’s version, Still no SD card slot, Ethernet port or 3G wireless option

HP Folio 13

Great build quality, phenomenal battery life and a lovely keyboard/touch pad combo make HP’s Folio 13 one of our favourite ultrabooks.  

The Good

• Excellent build quality, Backlit keyboard, lovely touch pad, Gigabit Ethernet port

The Bad

• Very slow video-encoding performance, Although loud, speakers are extremely treble biased and sharp, Port labels are under the laptop — how is this useful?

Toshiba Satellite Z835

Toshiba’s Satellite Z835 is without question the leading ultrabook in the market today. With extra ports, backlit keyboard and stellar battery life, it stands head and shoulders above competitors.

The Good

Apple MacBook Pro 13

Despite retaining the same price and look as last year’s model, the new 13-inch MacBook Pro’s significant CPU and fantastic battery life make it one of the top laptops we’ve reviewed, provided you can live with passable integrated graphics.  

Dell XPS 14z

The XPS 14z is a great all-rounder, and we can see it entering the arsenal of both consumers and businesses alike.  

The Good

Dell XPS 15z

For what you get for the price, the XPS 15z is a compelling mainstream laptop.  

The Good

Sony Vaio S Series

While there may be nothing about the Vaio S that immediately jumps out at you, it seems like it sits in that perfect sweet spot of price, performance and battery life. We could easily see ourselves tucking this under our arm as a trusted companion for tackling the computing day.  

The Good

Toshiba Satellite L730

Toshiba’s Satellite L730 isn’t an exceptional Sandy Bridge laptop, but it’s a perfectly acceptable all-rounder.  

The Good

Alienware M11x R3

We still love the M11x, but with the ever-marching pace of technology, we’d like to see it go on a diet, get a better screen and a much better touch pad and buttons for the R4. And maybe, just maybe, make use of the currently pointless 3G slot.  

The Good