Laptops

Match the laptop to the work

Students and office work: documents, browsers with many tabs, video calls and spreadsheets. Prioritise a comfortable keyboard, a screen with good brightness, all-day battery life and a weight you will carry daily. A current mid-range processor is plenty.

Creators: photo and video editing, design and music production. Look for a colour-accurate screen (check sRGB or DCI-P3 coverage in the specs), more memory, a fast SSD with room for project files, and enough ports or a reliable dock for drives and card readers.

Gaming and 3D work: the dedicated graphics card matters most, followed by cooling. Two laptops with the same GPU can perform differently because of power limits, so check the GPU wattage (TGP) and independent reviews, not just the GPU name.

Windows, Mac or ChromeOS

Windows runs the widest range of software, including most games and industry tools used in engineering and accounting courses. macOS on Apple silicon MacBooks gives long battery life and runs creative apps well, but check that any course or office software you need has a Mac version. ChromeOS suits browser-based work and younger students; Google provides around ten years of automatic updates for recent Chromebooks, and each model's end date is listed on Google's support site.

How much RAM and storage in 2026

Treat 16 GB of RAM as the sensible baseline for a Windows or Mac laptop you plan to keep for several years; 8 GB fills up quickly with a browser, a video call and an office app open together, and Windows on-device AI features (Copilot+ PCs) require 16 GB. Creators and gamers should consider 32 GB. Many thin laptops have memory soldered to the board, so buy what you will need later.

For storage, choose an NVMe SSD of at least 512 GB. Go to 1 TB if you keep games, video projects or large offline files.

Exchanging your old laptop

A working laptop can go towards the new one. With a SwapMyTech exchange you pay the difference after the old laptop is checked, with doorstep verification in Bengaluru, or you can trade it in for Swap Credits to spend later. Back up your files and wipe the drive first; our laptop wipe guide covers Windows and Mac.