Back to school must-have laptops: 2014

The best laptop for: Multimedia

Dell's Inspiron 15 7537 laptop is an attractive creature thanks to its aluminium chassis, and its 15.6-inch screen, 1920x1080 display, 4th generation Intel i7 processor, 16GB memory and 1TB storage make it shine for multimedia purposes. Film students, those addicted to TV shows or who want to stream video will enjoy the capabilities of this laptop. The laptop's touchscreen capabilities work well with the Windows 8.1 operating system. 

Price: $649.99+

Via: Dell

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The best laptop for: Gaming

It's far from unusual to spot gaming consoles and headsets in the average dorm room, but as games hog more memory and become more sophisticated, a breed of laptops dedicated to the pursuit has emerged. One such laptop is by Asus. Dubbed the ROG G750 gaming laptop, a Windows-based, 17-inch machine complete with an Intel Core i7 3.4GHz processor, NVIDIA graphics card, 24GB RAM and 1TB storage. 

Price: $1278+

Via: Asus

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The best laptop for: Battery life

There's a reason you see many students floating around campus with an Apple Macbook Air in their possession — they are lightweight, powerful machines which the firm offers at an educational discount if someone is accepted into university. The laptop is available in 11-inch and 13-inch versions with 128GB or 256GB storage, a 1.4GHz processor and an Intel HD Graphics 5000 card. The hours of battery life you can squeeze out of the laptop have kept me entertained for many an hour on the road. 

Price: Starting $849

Via: Apple

Related links:

-  Back to school must-have tablets: 2014

-  Back to school must-have tech and gadgets: 2014

-  Google opens up Classroom tool for teachers worldwide

-  20 essential iPhone, iPad apps for college students

-  The top tablets for kids: 2014 edition

- 50 resources for iPad use in the classroom

The best laptop for: Design

For university students who need a powerful machine for design, illustration and modelling work, Dell's Precision laptops are quirky but still a joy to use. The M3800 sports a 4th gen Intel Core i7 3.2GHz processor, up to 16GB memory, a 15.6-inch 1920x1080 display and Nvidia Quad graphics card. What makes this laptop different is that most machines with such specs are heavy beasts to throw around, whereas this laptop is sleek and portable, and weighs only 4.15lbs. 

Price: $1,799

Via: Dell

Related links:

-  Back to school must-have tablets: 2014

-  Back to school must-have tech and gadgets: 2014

-  Google opens up Classroom tool for teachers worldwide

-  20 essential iPhone, iPad apps for college students

-  The top tablets for kids: 2014 edition

- 50 resources for iPad use in the classroom

The best laptop for: Weight, battery, price point

Hewlett Packard's TouchSmart laptop is a lightweight machine with good battery life to match, making it a suitable option to be thrown into a backpack when your student is off to school. The 14-inch laptop runs Windows 8.1, is powered by an Intel Core i5 1.6GHz processor, has 4GB RAM, 500GB storage and touchscreen capabilities. The island keyboard setup is useful and the trackpad responsive, and the battery life is good enough to last through the school day. 

Price: $350 approx

Via: HP

Related links:

-  Back to school must-have tablets: 2014

-  Back to school must-have tech and gadgets: 2014

-  Google opens up Classroom tool for teachers worldwide

-  20 essential iPhone, iPad apps for college students

-  The top tablets for kids: 2014 edition

- 50 resources for iPad use in the classroom