Buying a Laptop for School This Semester? Get a 2-In-1 Model

Picking the right laptop for school is an important decision, but with so many models on the market, it can be overwhelming. If you ask me, the best place to start is by focusing your search exclusively on 2-in-1 models that also double as tablets. Here’s why.

One Device That Can Do It All

Before I go over all the reasons why you should get a 2-in-1 laptop, let’s first explain what the term actually stands for. A 2-in-1 PC is a laptop that’s equipped with a touchscreen and a detachable keyboard or a 360-degree hinge, which is also referred to as a “convertible.”

While 2-in-1s are often associated with artists who need stylus support for drawing and a photo and video editing machine all in one, they actually provide so much more versatility than you might think.

For starters, you can detach the keyboard or fold the laptop into tablet mode to allow for a more natural reading experience. That’s a huge advantage if your college is moving toward digital textbooks and other online reading materials. Holding the lightweight tablet in your hands while reclining is much more comfortable than balancing a bulky keyboard on your lap or being confined to a desk each time you have to read something digital.

If you’re browsing online for information, you don’t really have to use the laptop’s keyboard because a digital one will pop up, so you don’t even have to change positions or use your phone to look something up online.

Of course, tablet mode isn’t just for school. You can also use it to read books and How-To Geek articles outside of class. Although a 2-in-1 is heavier and uses more battery than a dedicated eReader like a Kindle, it still offers a much better experience than reading PDFs on a small phone screen at no additional cost.

Beyond tablet mode, remember that a 2-in-1 is like any regular Windows laptop. You can use it for research, writing papers, creating spreadsheets, attending online classes and meetings, doing online side hustles, and much more.

Another often-overlooked benefit is the touchscreen itself. I would never buy a laptop without one, as touch makes navigating programs and Windows much smoother and more intuitive. Since all 2-in-1s come with touchscreens by design, you don’t have to hunt for that feature or pay extra like you might with traditional laptops.

You Can Switch Smoothly Between Work and Play

While the primary use case for a 2-in-1 at college is undoubtedly for taking notes, watching lectures, and reading online materials, that doesn’t mean it can’t also double as your main entertainment machine when you’re at the dorm.

If you’re a gamer, I’ve got good news for you—you can get a surprisingly large amount of gaming done on a 2-in-1 laptop. While a dedicated gaming laptop is of course more powerful and better suited for playing the latest and greatest games, a 2-in-1 makes for a fantastic retro and indie gaming machine.

Thanks to powerful integrated Intel Iris Xe or AMD Radeon graphics, 2-in-1s can slice through titles like Hades, Stardew Valley, Burnout Paradise, Balatro, and many other games that can run on a potato PC. The best part is that 2-in-1s are designed to be used in tent mode, which improves cooling and provides the perfect viewing angle no matter where you set it up.

Just hook up an affordable gaming controller, or even a dedicated mouse and keyboard, and you’ll enjoy a much better gaming experience without the extra heat and bulk of a traditional laptop. It’s the perfect design for gaming in a crowded dorm or bunk bed.

If you’d prefer a more minimalist approach to gaming, you can play select games with the touchscreen instead. This curated list of touchscreen-friendly Steam games is a solid starting point, but you can also find some official mobile ports in the Microsoft Store.

Aside from gaming and, of course, reading, a 2-in-1 is the perfect machine for watching movies. Trust me, you don’t realize how much a keyboard gets in the way until you try a 2-in-1 laptop that lets you bring the screen physically closer and fits on even the tightest desks.

Before I recently moved, I had a tiny kitchen desk that could barely fit a single plate, and my old 2-in-1 was just the right size to fit comfortably. I used it all the time to watch TV shows and YouTube while eating or relaxing in bed.

Save Money and Space by Skipping Extra Devices

I’ve always found tablets to be a bit of a weird product category. They’re essentially oversized smartphones that struggle to fully utilize their extra screen space. Plus, they can’t run desktop programs.

Tablets really only shine when it comes to displaying documents and consuming content—two major advantages that you get with a 2-in-1 model, but without any of the drawbacks.

Tablets can easily serve as stand-ins for eReaders, which means that’s one less device you need to buy, saving you money.

But there’s yet another category of device that you perhaps haven’t thought about that can be replaced by a 2-in-1—your smartphone. Well, not entirely, but hear me out. Most of the things you do on your phone, such as web browsing, light gaming, messaging via apps, listening to music, and watching videos, can be done just as well on a 2-in-1 laptop.

Really, the main reasons to keep a smartphone around are its smaller size, ability to handle cellular calls and texts, and the camera.

All of these tasks can be handled by a budget phone, which means it’s easier to justify spending most of your back-to-school budget on a decent 2-in-1, and then using whatever’s left for a basic phone (assuming you even need one at all).

If You Don’t Have the Budget for a New 2-In-1, Go Used

If I’ve managed to convince you to get a 2-in-1, there’s one last word of caution you should keep in mind before you start shopping—2-in-1 Windows laptops tend to be on the expensive side. They cost more to design and manufacture due to the additional parts involved, which drives up the final price.

If you have the money to get a new one or pay in installments, some of the top 2-in-1 laptops to look at are the HP Envy x360 and Pavilion x360, Lenovo IdeaPad 2-in-1 and Yoga 2-in-1, Dell 14 Plus, 16 Plus, and Latitude 7450, and Microsoft Surface.

Since most of these 2-in-1s cost around or even over $1,000, it’s a good idea to look into older, second-hand versions of these laptops as well. That’s what I’d personally do. Chromebook 2-in-1s can be worth it, too, but they tend to be limited in their functionality and power compared to Windows laptops.

2-in-1 laptops are more than just computers; they’re some of the most versatile devices that you can have, which is exactly what makes them the best kind of laptop to get for college. In addition to being able to do your homework and play games like on a regular laptop, you can fold it to study digital materials, read books, watch movies, and play games. It doesn’t get better than that!