Buying a Laptop for Law School

During  my second semester of 2L year, literally during the submission of one of my final exams - my laptop decided to stop working. Don't worry - it wasn't tragic or anything, it worked enough to get through finals. But some hardware broke that made it so I couldn't connect to my school's internet network. Thus, I had no choice but to get myself a new laptop. After a few weeks of shopping around and saving up my money from my summer internship, I finally made a choice. However, I found a lot of contenders and wanted to share those possible choices with you. And even though that decision for me was back in 2018, I make sure to go thorugh and update this regularly for future students, so the recommendations are as good as ever. As a note, these are affiliate links and I may make commission if you click or buy. 

First, I set some criteria and requirements for what I wanted in a law school laptop generally. My main requirement is that I wanted something thin and lightweight. After all, I have to lug around casebooks in my backpack all day - I don't need to carry a super heavy laptop too. Another requirement is that I needed it to have a decent battery life. One thing that annoys me a lot is having to charge my technology in the middle of the day. There's nothing I hate more than a person who interrupts a class by loudly fumbling in his bag for a laptop charger. Plus, a charger is just one more thing to carry. Thus,  I wanted something with a long battery life. Lastly, I needed to make sure the laptop could do a couple basic things - let me access the internet, run enough basic word processing functions to do my homeowork (i.e. Microsoft Office or Google Docs), and install final exam and bar exam software. Pretty simple, right?

One thing I wanted to stray away from  was super complicated computers. I don't need somthing I can game on, or is going to be the best machine around. I just need something I can use for class that isn't going to die on me. So, I had a couple top choices, which you can see below. To be fair, I think any of these would be a good choice for law school. Anyone looking for a laptop for law school should definitely consider the following:

MacBook Pro

The first laptop I originally considered buying was a MacBook Pro. I would say that this is the most common laptop I see law students using. Which, of course, makes sense. Macs are notoriously reliable and last forever. I'm a Windows person at the end of the day, so I went another way, but a MacBook Pro is always a solid choice. 

Lenovo Yoga

Another laptop I considered was a Lenovo Yoga. To be honest, the look and feel of this laptop is what really drew me in at first. It's a sleek looking computer. It's also very lightweight and flexible. I also know from using Lenovos before that they are very durable laptops. I really like the 360 degree capabilities as well. I ended up not choosing this one because I simply liked another one better, but this would also be a great choice.

HP Spectre x360

So I actually had an earlier version of this laptop before and LOVED it. It met all of my requirements, worked flawlessly, and the battery life was incredible! It also was durable and withstood my abuse for about four years. The only reason I didn't purchase a new one was the price. This isn't a cheap laptop, but I'd dare say it's worth it to get a new one. Also, it's literally beautiful, so highly recommend.

Microsoft Surface Laptop

Last, but not least, is the laptop I ACTUALLY BOUGHT - the Microsoft Surface Laptop. It meets all my requirements - it is super lightweight, the battery life is about fourteen hours, and it does all the things necessary for law school. On top of that, it's SO pretty, and comes in lots of fun colors. I would highly recommend this laptop - it has been perfect for me so far. And six years later, I am still using it for my home computer - which I honestly mostly use to play The Sims and design my kids' birthday party invites. But hey, the longevity is impressive.