Whether you're looking for Windows, ChromeOS or MacOS, here are great budget-friendly options for your high schooler. Updated on Oct. 23, 2023 CNET’s expert staff reviews and rates dozens of new products and services each month, building on more than a quarter century of expertise. Read how we test products and services. 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 it's 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 weight and design. At CNET, we test all kinds of laptops -- from budget models for everyday tasks to high-performance laptops for gaming and content creation and everything in between. Each member of our team has decades of experience testing and reviewing laptops. We conduct performance testing under controlled conditions in the CNET Labs and extensive hands-on use. This helps us find not only the best laptop overall but also the best laptop for your needs and in your price range.Despite the availability of a bigger and better M2 MacBook Air, the M1 MacBook Air (one of the first to switch from Intel to Apple silicon) remains in the lineup and that's a good thing. Apple's entry-level laptop is still our go-to recommendation for a MacOS laptop for basic everyday use. It has great performance and long battery life -- up to 18 hours -- and is a solid choice for school and entertainment anywhere. Read our MacBook Air M1 review.HP packed a lot of value into the Aero 13: Eye-pleasing magnesium-aluminum chassis, strong processing performance, long battery life, a bright, colorful display and a weight of just 2 pounds (0.94 kilograms). Amazingly, considering all that it offers, it has a regular starting price of less than $800, but it's regularly on sale for less than $600.This premium two-in-one doesn't stray far from its predecessor in terms of its sturdy design, nice-looking display, strong performance and long battery life. The main changes are an updated 13th-gen Intel Core i5 processor, but Acer removed the garaged pen for use on the touchscreen display. It still works with USI pens, though. There are less expensive options, but if you want a Chromebook that'll last for years, this is it. Keep an eye out for a sale on this one, too: It normally lists for around $700, but can often be found on sale for less than $600. For STEM classes, you'll need some extra graphics power. The Acer Swift X 14 is our top pick among Windows laptops for its strong overall performance, beautiful OLED display and sensible price. The $1,500 model we tested features a 13th-gen Core i7 H-series processor and Nvidia Geforce RTX 4050 graphics. The combo is plenty for those starting in STEM as well as content creators. The display is large enough to work on for long stretches without feeling cramped while also being lightweight enough to be easily portable. If you don't need that graphics jolt, you can get the same awesome OLED display with integrated graphics for less in the Swift Go 14. And if you like the idea of the Swift X 14 but want a larger display, there's the Swift X 16.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. You can also add 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.  The review process for laptops, desktops, tablets and other computer-like devices consists of two parts: performance testing under controlled conditions in the CNET Labs and extensive hands-on use by our expert reviewers. This includes evaluating a device's aesthetics, ergonomics and features. A final review verdict is a combination of both objective and subjective judgments. The list of benchmarking software we use changes over time as the devices we test evolve. The most important core tests we're currently running on every compatible computer include: Primate Labs Geekbench 5, Cinebench R23, PCMark 10 and 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra. A more detailed description of each benchmark and how we use it can be found on our How We Test Computers page.