Having a reliable laptop is a must in college — it can be difficult getting along without one. Many university classes now allow or even require students to use their laptops in class for a variety of purposes. Having a laptop with a long battery life is essential for note-taking during long lectures. You also want one that’s light enough and small enough to fit in a backpack or tote, for easy travel. Performance and longevity are important to consider as well. A basic, entry-level laptop will cover you for general classwork, but the more you’re able to spend, the longer it will likely last you — important if it needs to last you four years or more.

With the supply chain issues and chip shortages we’ve seen over the last few years, you might think it’s hard to get your hands on a decent budget-friendly laptop for school. However, it’s still possible to find laptops and two-in-ones with the latest processors from AMD and Intel, which help performance and battery life over previous generations.

The majority of our picks for the best college laptops run between $500 and $1,000. If you’re looking for a more affordable laptop — or if you’re open to an alternative to Apple’s MacOS and Microsoft Windows
— we recommend checking out the best Chromebooks for students
(just make sure any software you need for classes is supported). On the flip side, if you’re searching for a more powerful laptop, or a gaming laptop
that

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Why I Switched to iPhone

9:03

After 10 years of being on Team Android, I’ve finally caved.

A few weeks ago — and after months of going back and forth — I went to my local Verizon store and ordered an iPhone 14 Pro. It may sound like I’m being overly dramatic, but the move signaled a big shift for me.

I’ve always prided myself on not buying into the Apple hype. Despite years of pestering from friends to switch to an iPhone, I pushed back, maintaining that I liked being different from the masses. Everyone around me has an iPhone. It felt good to defy the norm. And so for years, I stuck with my Samsung Galaxy devices, which I still believe are incredible phones.

But after conversations with friends and family about what I could get from the iPhone that I could never get with my Android, I started to reconsider my stance. Yes, I loved my Galaxy S10 Plus and everything it offered: a top-notch camera, a customizable interface and the greatest tool of all: Object Eraserwhich removes any unwanted people or objects from your pictures (Pixel has a similar feature). But at the end of the day, there was one big thing my Android could never offer: a seamless way to communicate with all my friends on the iPhone.

I’ve been told countless times that I ruin group chats by turning all the texts “green.” This, of course,