8 Best Laptops for Nursing Students in 2021 – Cheap Laptops

In this article, we have reviewed the best laptops for nursing students. A good PC is the most important thing to pick in your nursing educational journey. Because you need a computer to do a school project, read e-learning books, make classroom notes, and take online classes and exams (even it is more demanding after Covid-19). Furthermore, to browse academic-related queries, to save essential files in soft copy, and many other things demands to have a decent PC.

Also, a good personal computer is a must you have before enrolling in nursing school. Like most nursing education institutions in the USA recommend their students to buy high-performance Laptops, even if your computer is three years old, it will not be acceptable, so you need a good and latest PC. Although it is not necessary and required to buy a high-resources laptop, all you need is to buy a suitable system.

But as a medical student, you don’t have enough knowledge or expertise about IT to decide which laptop is best for students that are suitable for your requirements. Likewise, the non-technical user only takes price as a factor. Price is not a single factor to look at, and some other features and hardware specifications are necessary for the machine to run demanding tasks smoothly. Nevertheless, you don’t need to worry; we have covered everything in our review.

Nursing School Laptop Requirements

There are different specifications that the machine must have like the Laptop should have enough storage space, good RAM, a powerful processor to run word processor software at once for example capable to handle MS Office applications including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, or Ubuntu office app. It should have an excellent vertical display screen with an ideal aspect ratio that helps to make college assignments in a more comfortable environment. Also, it should work smoothly to stream online videos or watch lectures.

Furthermore, it should be lightweight, durable, affordable, beautiful, and stylish design. Additionally, it must have good battery timing that keeps you connected throughout the day. A high-quality web camera for an online video meeting, a quality internal speaker, and a mic are also vital requirements for a nursing laptop.

These are all features that you should look for while buying a laptop. Keeping all these factors, we have prepared a list of the best laptops for nursing students that you must look at before purchasing. And surprisingly, our list contained cheap laptops that are affordable for everyone, and some are under 500$. Even some laptops are capable of running Windows 11, which is the latest OS by Microsoft.

Prices pulled from the Amazon Product Advertising API on:

8 Best Laptops for Nursing Students

1 Lenovo Flex 5

Pros
  • Great value at a reasonable cost
  • It allows you to set up the Laptop in a different mode
  • 16GB RAM
Cons
  • Average battery timing
  • Some wi-fi connectivity issues

Do you need a Laptop and Tablet at one price? Then Lenovo Flex 5 makes this possible. It comes along with powerful properties like 4th gen 5 AMD Ryzen mobile processer plus 16GB RAM and 256GB hard drives. If we look at its design, style, and shape, it looks like a tablet device.

It is so lightweight you can easily carry it with you all day in school. 14-inch brighter and fully responsive FHD display makes it easy to use touch screen; more importantly, touch is so soft like you’re using a smartphone plus it also includes a Digital pen that makes typing more productive.

Furthermore, the 360⁰ axis gives you complete control to set it in different modes like a Laptop, Tablet, Tent, and stand mode. If you want to share assignment documents with your teacher, you can set it as Tend mode while stand mode gives a more pleasant experience to watch something from a more comfortable angle. 16GB RAM with a combination of AMD 5 plus 2.4GHrs processor speed is more than enough to run multiple applications simultaneously.

In other words, it will be capable of running Skype, MS office, browser software, zoom app, videos player, and other applications that are necessary for a nursing student. And 256GB SSD storage space will be enough to keep all of your school’s files. Like Lenovo IdeaPad 3, it also includes a physical shutter to preserve your privacy more securely. Average battery timing and some wi-fi connectivity issues are two opposing points of Lenovo Flex 5.

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2 ASUS VivoBook 15

Pros
  • Beautiful design.
  • Lightweight
  • Backlit keyboard
  • Powerful data connectivity port
Cons
  • Low storage.
  • No network port

VivoBook 15 is impressed with different powerful specifications that deserve a spot in the collection of Best laptops for college students. Its thin shape, design, weight (3.5 pounds), and dimensions make it a more Portable device that is easy to carry for a student when going to school. 4th gen Core I3 CPUs along 3.9 GHz speed are capable of handling everything you want to run. 15.6-inch large display screen with a four-sided aspect ratio provides an ease to work on documents.

It supports typing at 180° position on the keyboard in a completely comfortable environment. Furthermore, it has backlit keywords that are perfect to work in dim light. It comes with all necessary USB ports like USB 3.0 and 2.0, type C, and micro card reader. It means it will transfer data at high speed. However, VivoBook 15 only includes 4GB RAM, but there is another free slot; you can easily upgrade RAM (Maximum 12GB).

Additionally, fingerprint sensor technology helps unlock a device fast without typing a password manually like you’re opening a smartphone. However, Storage and RAM it has may not be enough for your needs.

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3 Dell Latitude E7250

Pros
  • The powerful machine at an affordable price
  • 16GB RAM
  • Valuable deal
Cons
  • Used device

E7250 is from powerful series of Latitude that is built with tremendous and sturdy hardware resources. Dell Latitude E7250 is an excellent choice for that student who needs Laptop for different purposes, for example, to do school work, play games, or needs for graphics designing. Its all-rounder’s specifications like the 5th gen core i7 along with 16GB DDR3 RAM, 256GB of SSD storage, and Intel 5500 HD graphics card, can button all types of stuff.

Furthermore, it includes three 3.0 USB ports plus a faster Ethernet Gigabit connection port with up to 1000 Mbps speed. Additionally, the 802.1 wireless version makes connectivity faster and more reliable. But it is a used Laptop that is the only downside of Latitude E7250. However, still, at a low price, it has valuable hardware resources.

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4 Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5

Pros
  • Great value
  • Multiple modes for different performance
  • Lightweight
  • HD webcam
Cons
  • Low ROM and RAM

If you’re a lover of Chromebooks, consider Chromebook Flex 5 on the list for nursing school. Alike Flex 5, it is also a 2 in 1 laptop and offers similar functionality and features. Though it has low-slung storage and RAM than other laptops mentioned in the article, it is still a powerful machine that consists of 10th gen Intel core i3 that guarantees high and reliable system performance. More importantly, it allows to set up a system in different performance modes like personalized and responsive.

It comes with preinstalled Chrome OS; you can easily store all your files on Google cloud storage using a Google account. More importantly, you can access all Google products more easily like dock, Gmail, hangout. Integrated HD web cameras offer high-quality videos calls and pictures. The latest generation wi-fi and Bluetooth connectivity make wireless connection supper fast. The best part of flex is; it is so lightweight; its weight is only 2.97 pounds that are so easy for a student between home and school.

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5 HP EliteBook 840 G3

Pros
  • A high-performance machine at a cheap price
Cons
  • Only a single USB port

EliteBook 840 G3 are similar to Latitude E7250, like 16GB of RAM and 256GB hard drive. However, it consists Intel core i5 + 6th gen processor which is a downside compared to the E7250 machine. However, 840 G3 is still a powerful machine, and a great combination of hardware attributes to handle multitasking.

Some other notable features that it brought are a 14inches display with ‎1366 x 768 resolution, high visual graphics card, HD webcam, latest connectivity wi-fi, average battery timing. However, there is a downside that needs to mention like it only consists of one USB port (2.0).

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6 HP ENVY 13

Pros
  • Good hardware specification
  • Longer battery life
  • Lightweight design
  • Fingerprint reader
Cons
  • Thunderbolt port

HP ENVY 13 Laptop is the best laptop for nursing and medical students; it has excellent hardware and software. It runs with windows ten and has the 11th generation Intel Core i7 processor with 4.7 GHz speed. 

As a nursing student, you need to carry a computer to school every day. It is a hassle because some laptops are big and heavy and take up so much space. But this HP ENVY 13 Laptop is very lightweight to carry in college easily.

 Furthermore, it has a fingerprint reader so you can log in without having to remember passwords. It also has a webcam that is above the screen to make video calls without having to use my phone. The battery life is fantastic, so you can take this laptop anywhere you want without having to worry about finding a power outlet. Sure, you will love this laptop!

7 MSI Modern 14

Pros
  • Great lightweight design
  • Excellent battery life
  • Backlit keyboard
  • Great ports selection
Cons
  • Limited storage capacity

MSI’s new ultra-thin notebook is ideal for students, travelers, and anyone on the go. They were designed to be ultra-portable with a sleek, metallic build and incorporate the powerful 10th gen Intel Core i3 processor. Another good hardware speciation is also good starting choices like 4 Gigabyte RAM and 128 Gigabyte SSD. 

Whether it’s graphic design or editing videos in VR, the Modern 14 will bring your imagination into life along with your study. 

MSI’s exclusive Cooler Boost Technology ensures optimal thermal dissipation. With two fans, you can double the airflow compared to a single fan!. So you can use the laptop for a long time without having any heated issues. 

This laptop has an all-metal design that makes it stand out from other budget laptops offered by competitors. The 14″ IPS-Level screen can support up to a 1920 x 1440 resolution with a refresh rate of 60 Hz, which means you can see every frame you are editing. This is especially helpful when cropping your images because there is no lag time between a job and the display.

8 Dell XPS

Pros
  • Powerful computing speciation
  • Fast performer CPU
  • Excellent GPU
  • Plenty of storage space
Cons
  • Very expensive

Dell XPS 13 is another best laptop for nursing students that contains some good hardware specifications. So if you’re a nursing student, you probably don’t want to spend a lot of money on a laptop because you’ll be using it mainly for school and all. 

However, it would be best if you had a laptop that could run your school’s programs and handle multiple windows simultaneously without having to lag or freeze. Then this one is perfect. Although it is costly compared to others on the list, its speciation deserves this price.  

The Dell XPS 13contains an Intel Core i7-1195G7 processor, 16GB of RAM (Random Access Memory), and a fast 512GB solid-state hard drive to provide a smooth computing experience.

Mainly this contains a powerful GPU. Intel knows that creative people need potent graphics, and those involved in live streams or gaming are looking for the smoothest operation across their workflow. Our new pictures take a giant leap forward in making projects run more smoothly by bringing them to life even more vivaciously, resulting in a seamless end-to-end client experience.

Essential Features to Look at in Laptop for Nursing School in Details

To make the selection process more efficient, we have mentioned all factors in detail that you need to look at before buying a laptop for school.

Storage

Good storage space is the most crucial requirement to look at before making a purchasing decision. Of course, you need a good storage memory to store files, documents, videos, lectures, books, notes, and entertainment content. Therefore it is essential to buy a computer with good internal storage memory. Laptops come with different storage capacities like 64GB, 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB. You can decide which one is more suitable to store all your data.

Also, there are two types of memory devices SSD and HHD. Both are good in storage, but SSD hard drives are ahead in performance, speed, reliability than HHD; however, it is more costly than a mechanical drive. Also, you can keep separate external hard drives to save private files securely or take backup. Alternately, cloud storage is another good option to save data more securely in a remote server. Some also offer 5GB to 200GB free space like OnDrive, Google Drive, Blomp, Degoo.

Good RAM

RAM that is also called Random access memory plays a vital role in computer performance and speed. Whenever a processor needs data to execute, it first looks in RAM. RAM should be adequate to provide data quickly to the processor. In other words, to run multiple applications simultaneously– machines need more RAM. Therefore Buy a laptop with at least 4GB RAM, but 16GB is recommended to perform your nursing-related tasks efficiently.

Processor Speed

What if Laptop has good storage and RAM, but the processor is out of the box? These computing resources are useless. A processor should be compatible with other system components and run complex and large applications quickly and efficiently. Over overtime, processors are becoming more and more powerful. The Laptop in the Intel Core i3 series is enough to run Microsoft Office, video players, browser software, and similar applications at once. While for high performance, a processor in i5 and i7 is highly recommended.

Display Screen

No doubt, a high display screen is more comfortable to use than a short screen. A laptop with a high screen will give you more room to read a book, makes notes, and watch lectures. PC comes in different sizes, including 13, 14, 15,16, and up to 20 inches. Also, choose a Laptop that supports full HD and allows you to set multitasking screen.

Choose Lightweight

It would be best if you had a low-weight laptop to keep with you easily during nursing school time. A heavy machine not only works slowly but also puts you down when you take it with you. A lightweight is easy to portable and also works faster than a heavy machine. Many laptops come with a faster processor in low weight. And we have listed lightweight laptops.

Battery Timing

One of the critical factors to keep in mind while purchasing Laptops for nursing students is its battery timing. PC should work longer hours without charging to keep you keep connected. You will not like to retain yourself around electric-socket in the classroom or working in nursing laboratories. The ideal machine should have at least 6hours of battery timing. And the good thing is that we only selected laptops that have longer battery life.

Good wi-fi Connectivity

Modern PC includes the latest wi-fi support that provides faster internet downloading and uploading speed. And it is also essential to have suitable wireless connectivity devices when your Laptop is using Public wi-fi and surrounded by many other connections. So it can transfer data more excellent to browse the internet faster.

FAQs on Best Laptops for Nursing Students

What type of Laptop does a nursing student need?

This will be a very personal question to answer because everyone’s needs are different.
Since you are a nursing student, you are already aware of the amount of time to study. From a purely medical standpoint, a student in a nursing program will need a fast laptop with a touch screen and capable of running many programs, including video and imaging software, Plus it should be lightweight with decent battery life. Furthermore, the Laptop must have required hardware specs like at least 128GB or 256GB storage, 8GB RAM, a processor in the i5 series and good inches display screen.

How many GB does a nursing student need?

To run nursing applications plus entertainment software smoothly and dozens of browsers tab simultaneously, 16GB of RAM is recommended. But a Laptop with 4GB or 8GB RAM is also ok.

Is a Chromebook good for nursing school?

Yes, it is suitable for nursing school. And you can look for a Chromebook that has the proper specifications to meet all of your needs. Lenovo-Chromebook-Flex is the best choice with the required configuration at an affordable price.

Is 8GB RAM enough for nursing school?

Yes, even significant to top-class computing performance.

Is the Surface Pro 7 suitable for nursing students?

Surface Pro 7 comes in different combinations for hardware specifications like 10th gen, Intel Core i5, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD storage, 12.3 Inches screen and only ‎1.7 pounds weight. Yea, Pro 7 is suitable for nursing students.

Is a laptop necessary for BSC nursing?

The first thing you need to know is that all nursing programs require computers. You need an operating system (Windows or Mac) that you are comfortable with and high-speed internet access. Most nursing programs will have computers available for students to use, but it’s always nice to have your Laptop. What you need to know about selecting a laptop is that it’s not just about getting the most processing speed, RAM, or the flashiest design. Yes, of course, you want your Laptop to be fast. But you also want it to have a long battery life, be lightweight, have good speakers, plenty of storage space and have a large, bright, high-resolution colour screen.

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