With over 1800 laptops, MacBooks, and Chromebooks reviewed, I've hand-picked the best laptops for MBA students, focusing on performance and portability, with future-proofed specs to see you through your whole course and beyond.
My top pick is the Lenovo ThinkPad T14, a business-focused laptop that under tests proved to offer a near-perfect balance of performance and price. Meanwhile, the Dell XPS 14 is a serious powerhouse for those that want a MacBook rival, while the Acer Aspire 5 gets my vote for those on a budget as it punches well above its weight given its low cost.
In this round-up, I've largely selected 14in laptops for extra portability, although most models here also include alternatives with bigger screens if you really need to key into the details. As with my round-up of the best business laptops, my other key requirements here are fast processors and a good amount of RAM to ensure your experience stays smooth and responsive even when you're working on complex spreadsheets and more. Every model here has been comprehensively tested and reviewed by the team.
June 2025: I've overhauled the list here to reflect the needs of modern MBA students, with a focus on models with great CPU and RAM specs. I've also added a comparison table at the foot of the round-up so you can see how each laptop stacks up, and whether it's right for your course.
The quick list
A top business laptop designed for professionals, it delivers exceptional performance and boasts one of the best typing experiences you can find.
An impressive performer that won’t break the bank, the Acer Aspire 5 delivers surprising efficiency you might not expect at this price and it’s great for everyday tasks.
Slim, portable, impressively powerful, the Dell XPS 14 ticks all the boxes and is a real stunner that gives the MacBook a run for its money.
The ProArt PX13 is a versatile two-in-one laptop with a dedicated GPU and high-end AMD chip that delivers great performance.
For pure performance and power, there’s a lot to like about the Dell Precision 5690, which is robustly designed and ideal for light and heavy workloads.
Beautifully designed with impressive performance, the MacBook Pro with the M4 chip will breathlessly slice through all manner of coursework without breaking a sweat.
Best laptop for MBA students overall
✅ You want a laptop built for business: Designed for business professionals, the T14 is equipped to fly through tasks on your MBA course.
✅ You want an extremely comfortable typing experience: In my experience, modern ThinkPads have the best keyboards you can get on a laptop. I swear by mine.
❌ You want a brighter, higher resolution display: We found the screen lacked the vibrancy you’ll find on other models. Not a deal-breaker, but worth noting.
❌ You want the highest specced machine: While it’s not the most powerful laptop, I’ve selected this model as it’s well-balanced, performs well, and comes in at a great price for students.
The Lenovo ThinkPad T14 is my top pick for MBA students thanks to the laptop’s natural blend of performance, design, and price.
In general, you can’t really go wrong with a ThinkPad - especially if you’re in business (or studying business, for that matter). These sleek laptops are robustly built, offer great performance, and in my experience offer the best typing experience you can get on any modern laptop, thanks to an ergonomic design and a key depth travel of 1.5mm.
In our own testing, we were seriously impressed with the capabilities of the T14, which proved as adept at running admin tasks and the office software required for an MBA course (so many spreadsheets) as it was rendering models set for 3D printing. Battery life was also very good, lasting all day while working away from home.
Being a business-focused laptop, the screen lacks the vibrancy of an OLED display and it’s not the most powerful laptop out there. However, we still found it very powerful for what it’s built to do, and a huge boon when it came to efficient processing of tasks.
I’m recommending the 14in model for the best portability, but if you prefer a bigger screen, check out our ThinkPad T16 review, while the ThinkPad T14s (read my review here) is a slimmer model with moderately lower specs.
Read our full Lenovo ThinkPad T14 review
Best laptop for MBA students on a budget
✅ You want a cheap laptop for your MBA course: I often recommend this laptop for anyone looking for a budget machine that punches above its price.
✅ You’re not worried about the latest top-end specs: As a budget build, this isn’t the most powerful laptop out there, but it does everything most people need without fuss.
❌ You want high-end performance: You won’t find it here, and not at this price, making it better-suited to productivity tasks and running office software.
❌ You prefer a higher resolution webcam: This laptop’s built-in webcam is just 720p, which may be a deal-breaker for those taking online MBA classes.
The Acer Aspire 5 comes in a range of configurations and even sizes (there are 14in, 25in, and 17in models), so you have plenty of choice when selecting the right one for your class. The design might be a little standard, but it’s relatively slim and relatively light, and despite its budget pricing, performance is actually very good for what you pay.
It may not have the heavyweight chops to play games or edit 4K videos. However, if you’re looking for a laptop that can easily handle the basics, like web browsing, checking emails, and running office software like Excel, we can say we experienced no issues in that department during our tests. The 1080p display is ideal for business-centric admin, while we found the keyboard offers a good typing experience, and although at 1.3mm, key travel is shallower than a ThinkPad, it still felt firm and comfortable in use.
As a budget laptop, we did note a few areas where corners have been cut to keep costs low. Notably, battery life only lasted 6.5 hours during our testing (Acer claims 10 hours), while the webcam is capped at 720p. But on the whole, this laptop gets a lot right for a fair price.
Read our full Acer Aspire 5 review
Best Dell laptop for MBA students
✅ You want high performance: For a small laptop, this little machine packs in plenty of power that impressed us with its all-round performance levels.
✅ You want a slim and portable laptop: Slim, lightweight, and with a 14in screen, this machine is well-suited to taking with you around campus.
❌ You’re on a budget: Coming in at around the $1500 mark for the base configuration, it’s about twice to thrice the price of my budget pick.
❌ You like a larger screen: Alongside the 14in model, you can get the XPS 15 or XPS 17 if you’d like a bigger screen for drilling down on the details.
While Dell has gone about rebranding its laptop line-up, I’m still a fan of the XPS 14 (which will be known as the Dell Premium when it gets a new release). This little machine is, as you’d expect from the XPS range, a sleek device that’s solidly built and has high performance levels. All in all, it’s a bit of a stunner.
The overall design is lovely, feeling nice in the hand with its CNC machined aluminum finish and glass palm rest. Port selection is fine, but not extensive (three Thunderbolt 4 with power delivery, DisplayPort output, microSD slot, and a 3.5mm audio jack). I would’ve liked to see a more ergonomic keyboard - it’s flat, and may be tricky for touch typists - and the down-firing speakers are as bad as most laptops are. The invisible trackpad, while futuristic, isn’t the most accessible, either. On the plus side, even with its slim bezels, this machine boasts a 1080p webcam, which is perfect for anyone taking online MBA classes.
But it’s performance where the XPS 14 really shines. In our experience, thanks to the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H and Nvidia RTX 4050 GPU, this one holds its own against the likes of the MacBook Pro 14-inch when it comes to heavier duty creative workloads. So, anyone working on complex spreadsheets and the like shouldn’t see any slow down here. Battery life is also good, and our testing squeezed over nine-and-a-half hours from it (expect around seven under heavier workloads). Overall, this is an excellent all-round performer for serious productivity.
Read our full Dell XPS 14 review
Best 2-in-1 laptop for MBA students
✅ You want flexibility: This laptop seamlessly switches between laptop and tablet mode for versatility while on the go.
✅ You want 2-in-1 with a discrete GPU: While not essential for MBA courses, the dedicated graphics card alongside the excellent AMD chip in this versatile machine makes it a winner in my book.
❌ You don’t need a 2-in-1: For the price, you can get a decent standard laptop with excellent specs, while losing the option of using it as a tablet.
❌ You want a detachable laptop: Unlike the Surface Pro, this 2-in-1 flips the keyboard back rather than detaching to be used as a true tablet.
There aren’t many two-in-one laptops that boast a high-end processor and a dedicated graphics card, but the Asus ProArt PX13, which is really designed for creative professionals, is one of them.
Now, I know a lot of MBA students like the Surface Pro for its laptop and tablet modes, and while the Surface Pro 11 is a great machine, the 12th gen version just doesn’t compete. And, given the price is roughly the same, I’ve selected the ProArt PX13 for those who want a two-in-one experience. For a start, it has far better specs, and overall performance is excellent. It even comes with a stylus that we found offered precise control throughout our tests.
Under the hood, this laptop is rocking an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 chip, with the option to choose either an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 or 4070 graphics card. With those specs, we found performance to be perfect across the board. We tried web browsing, running productivity software, video editing, and even gaming - everything felt smooth and responsive throughout. It also seamlessly switches between laptop and tablet modes, and unlike models with a detachable keyboard, here the keyboard and trackpad are full-sized, which will be a real bonus to students.
My only concern is the size of the screen. Don’t get me wrong, it’s as bright as you’d expect from an OLED, and even includes a stylus for precise control, but it’s only 13.3in. That’s understandable for a portable 2-in-1, but it may be too small for some. I wouldn’t call it a deal-breaker, but it’s worth keeping in mind. In all other areas, this 2-in-1 with its dedicated GPU is ideal for a whole range of tasks.
Read our full Asus ProArt PX13 review
Best workstation laptop for MBA students
✅ You want a high-performance laptop: What shines here is how powerful this mobile workstation is, breezing through all manner of tasks.
✅ You want a workstation that’s actually portable: Once we got our hands on the Precision 5690, we were impressed with how small its footprint is considering the specs.
❌ You don’t need that extra power: Not all MBA students are going to want the pure focus on performance you’ll find here.
❌ You need an ultra-portable laptop: While smaller than many mobile workstations, it still has a fair amount of heft to accommodate the higher-end components.
The Dell Precision 5690 is certainly an impressive machine - a mobile workstation with one of the smallest footprints we’ve ever seen from a laptop of this class. Despite that, it’s an immensely powerful laptop packed with top-end components that blasted through every task we tested.
Don’t mistake this machine as a workstation built for content creation, though. Yes, the graphics card can capably handle the likes of CAD and video editing, but it’s a decidedly business-focused laptop meant for use in professional settings. With that in mind, it’s perfect for MBA students who need a laptop with plenty of horsepower and a good slice of future-proofing for the duration of the course and well beyond.
Given the fact that its max configuration comes equipped with an Intel Core i9 CPU and Nvidia RTX 5000 Ada graphics card, we experienced no issues with performance throughout our testing. The 16in display, too, feels broad and looks bright, allowing us to key into the details without straining our eyes. If you’re spending a lot of time in front of the screen, it’s ideal.
As you might expect from a high-end workstation laptop, the price-tag is higher than general laptops well-suited for students, making it more of an investment than a quick-buy just to get you through the school year. If that’s not a deal-breaker, there’s a lot to recommend this Dell laptop, even in the base configuration.
Read our full Dell Precision 5690 review
Best MacBook for MBA students
✅ You want a powerful 14in laptop: Armed with the M4 chip, the MacBook Pro 14-inch is impressively powerful, no matter what task you’re performing.
✅ You want sleek, robust portability: I love the design of the MacBook Pro, with its robust, metallic chassis, and the 14in model is ideal for carrying around campus without giving you a workout.
❌ Your course doesn’t support Apple: Most MBA courses will have no issue with you using macOS-compatible software, but I’d always recommend checking first just in case.
❌ You want a larger MacBook: There’s a 16in model available, too, which will be more suitable if you’re looking for a bigger screen.
There’s no doubt about it: the Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch is a stunning machine, from its gorgeous design to its performance levels. Equipped with the M4 processor, it’s blazingly fast, well-suited to heavy administrative workloads and running complicated spreadsheet software without any lag. If it’s productivity you want, this is near-perfect on every score.
I’ve selected the 14in model here, as I like the portability and it’s slightly cheaper than the 16in version - but if you prefer the larger screen, opt for the latter, which also boasts the more powerful M4 Pro and M4 Max chips.
Either way, performance is incredibly good. During our own tests, this laptop suffered no struggles or slowdowns, even while editing videos, so it’ll have no problems with the Microsoft Office suite or similar.
What I especially like about MacBooks is the Liquid Retina Display, which is crisp, vibrant, and very easy on the eyes. Arguably, it’s the best screen on any laptop around, and a great pick for those spending long hours in front of it. Overall design is of the top quality you’d expect from Apple, feeling sleek and slim, but also robust and capable of taking a knock or two during day-to-day use.
However, it’s not a budget choice by any means - if you want some savings, look for an older M2 or M3 version, which are just as performance-focused. You shouldn’t have an issue using a macOS laptop on your MBA course, but I’d still recommend checking with your school or university, just in case. If you’re good to go,
Read our full Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch (M4) review
Best laptops for MBA students compared
Model | Screen size | CPU | GPU | RAM | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
14in FHD, 2.8K | Up to Intel Core Ultra 7 165U | Integrated | Up to 64GB | Up to 2TB | |
14in / 15.6in / 17.3in | Up to Intel Core i7 13th Gen | Integrated | Up to 32GB | Up to 1TB | |
14in 3.2K | Intel Core Ultra 7 155H | Up to Nvidia RTX 4050 | Up to 64GB | Up to 4TB | |
13.3-in, 3K | AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 | Up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 | Up to 32GB | Up to 1TB | |
16-inch, 4K | Intel Core Ultra 9 185H | Nvidia RTX 5000 Ada | Up to 64GB | Up to 8TB | |
14in | Apple M4 | Integrated 10-Core GPU | Up to 24GB | Up to 1TB |
Best laptop for MBA students: FAQs
What are the minimum requirements for a laptop for MBA students?
The most important specs to check on any laptop used on your MBA class are CPU and RAM. That's because you need a good processor to keep up with all the complex spreadsheets and office software you'll be running throughout your course. Selecting on that basis will make sure your whole experience is a lot smoother. Graphics cards may be important, depending on tasks (or if you're using your laptop for activities beyond the MBA), but it's not as important.
For a good laptop for MBA students, these are the minimum specs I'd be looking out for - and each model in this round-up fits the bill. As usual, if your budget allows you to get a better processor or more RAM, it's recommended.
CPU: Intel Core i5 / AMD Ryzen 5, but an i7 / Ryzen 7 or above will be better.
GPU: Integrated graphics should be fine for most tasks, but a dedicated GPU is ideal for graphically heavy workloads, or if you want to create content or play games on your downtime.
RAM: 16GB, but if you can get 32GB or above, the experience will be smoother.
Storage: 512GB as a minimum, 1TB + preferred.
Are Apple laptops good for MBA students?
The best Apple MacBooks (and certainly the best MacBook Pro laptops) are great options for students of all stripes, including MBA students. Apple’s latest M4 processors deliver huge power with the versatility to jump between different tasks and apps, the keyboard and build quality are brilliant. The battery lasts so long that you might get through two working days without a charge.
As ever, though, MacOS won’t support every app you might need, so check before you buy – and make sure your software will run on an Apple device.
What components are most important for MBA student laptops?
An MBA laptop will be used for loads of different tasks and quite often for many different things at once, so versatility and adaptability are key.
That starts with the processor – get as many cores and as much speed as possible. But, at the same time, getting a laptop with a discrete graphics card is ideal to ensure that you’re ready for creative work when the need arises.
You should get at least 16GB of memory if possible. While 8GB is the bare minimum, you’ll run up against its limits pretty quickly if you try to multitask. An NVMe SSD is essential for fast booting and you should get 512GB of capacity at least. And ensure that your next MBA student laptop has Wi-Fi 6 or 6E so you can connect reliably to wireless access points anywhere.
How should MBA students evaluate keyboard quality and design?
You’ll be doing lots of typing if you’re an MBA student, so keyboard quality is essential. If you want to evaluate quality, the best way is to go hands-on – so it’s worth seeking out a student, tutor or even a store with the laptop you like so you can try it.
Think about layout, though – you might get annoyed at certain features, like power buttons in odd places or single-height Return buttons. If you do lots of number-crunching, then make sure there’s a numberpad, and check for backlight customization and levels if you’re likely to do lots of work in dark environments.
How to choose the best MBA student laptop for you
With devices like the best laptops for computer science students or the best video editing laptops, you can usually pick out the CPU or GPU are more important. But that’s not really the case with the best laptops for MBA students. Because they must be adaptable and versatile, the key to choosing the right machine is flexibility and balance.
If you can, pair a high-quality Core i7 or AMD Ryzen 7 processor with a discrete Nvidia or AMD graphics chip, especially if you’re likely to need to do creative work. Dual-channel memory is key to ensuring good performance, and an NVMe SSD will keep apps and the machine itself loading quickly. Pair these kinds of chips with a high-resolution screen so you have plenty of space for multitasking.
The keyboard is crucial on any business-oriented laptop. Just as important is battery life that will last through-out the day. Both help maintain productivity wherever you are. If you're concerned about your device being out and about, opt for the best rugged laptops - built and tested to survive the hardest knocks.
If it’s an option, make sure you have loads of ports and great wired and wireless connectivity. It’s increasingly rare to find all of these options on notebooks, especially smaller models, but the more wired and wireless connectivity you have then the easier time you’ll have getting down to work in different settings.
Finally, pay close attention to the security features on any prospective laptop. You could well be dealing with sensitive data, so you’ll want TPM, biometric logins, webcam shutters, Kensington Lock slots and other security features to keep everything locked down.
How we test the best laptops for MBA students
We’ve tested hundreds of the best laptops - so when we started exploring the best laptops for MBA students, we knew exactly what business-minded users need to look out for.
Our testing process is rigorous, whether we’re benchmarking the best laptops for engineering students or evaluating the dimensions of the best laptops for architecture students,
When testing the best MBA student laptops, we’re looking for high-performance - it doesn’t need to match gaming laptop speeds or power, but needs to handle multi-tasking, with plenty of open tabs and windows, and no slowdowns. Across all laptops we test, we compare internal specs, benchmark performance and speeds.
We also assess overall portability. While the best UltraBooks aren’t always essential, a laptop for an MBA student needs to be thin and light enough to slip into a bag, carry across campus and to the office, durable enough for a busy commute. As part of this, we conduct a thorough battery life test, to see how long the laptop lasts under real-world conditions.
Alongside , we also check port and connectivity options, storage capacity, screen size, and how comfortable the keyboard and palm rests are when typing for extended periods of time. Finally, we look at which of the best MBA student laptops offers genuine value for money compared to other models.
Find out about our process in the guide How we test laptops and desktops: our reviewing process explained.
