A big battery adds some heft, but the weight gain is worthwhile if it means
leaving the system unplugged from dawn until dusk. We test battery runtime
with nonstop video playback on every laptop we review, so you can get a good
idea of relative endurance between models.
WHAT ABOUT CHROMEBOOKS?
In the past several years, we have seen a strong push by Chromebook
manufacturers into the education market. Chromebooks have evolved from
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full feature sets. If your school puts its coursework in the cloud, a Chromebook
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longer battery life.
It’ll likely cost you a lot less than other types of notebooks. Chromebooks
typically cost between $200 and $300 (although higher-end models can go for
as much as $1,000). Just be sure you have ready access to stable Wi-Fi, as there
is scant local storage on these systems, and you have to plan ahead to use them
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only Chrome OS apps and (in the case of more recent Chromebooks) Android
apps from the Google Play store. But a Chromebook could also be a good,
inexpensive second laptop you carry around campus to take notes, while your
beastly gaming rig (or desktop gaming PC) hangs back at the dorm or at home.