There was a time when laptop usage was only for basic purposes means writing, chatting, and to edit something. In modern times, all professionals from various fields such as engineering, accounting, finance and other professions using highly advanced professional software on laptops. These softwares are equipped with artificial intelligence which helps these professionals to achieve highest work efficiency in career.
Medical professionals are also leading their way and engaged in conducting advanced-level researches by using extremely complex software on laptops. This is not limited to the engineers and rather medical field has also been very much dependent upon the applications designed for medical professionals.
Similarly, we see the trend among medical students intensively using laptops for preparing assignments, presentations, and researching the topic. Usually, the medical students reads a lot and get updated with new researches.
A laptop is a must thing in the life of medical students which phenomenally helps them in understanding complex topics; even they did not attend the lecture or skip it. A single laptop may be more effective than a university professor and also helpful in achieving high grades.
Are Laptops Essential For Medical Students and Should They Have One?
Every medical student in the USA, UK, and Canada is required to have their own laptop during their college studies. These days medical students do not just use a laptop for writing assignments on Word or creating slides on PowerPoint, development of advanced medical software have revolutionized the medical world and its student got a better approach to understand the topics ever. Such advanced software requires higher system requirements to run on the laptop and not all medical students are good at tech.
Universities like Stanford have begun using VR technology for delivering lectures to medical students and get them trained. This is a new modern way to prepare the upcoming doctors know about the human body.
We conducted detailed research and put best efforts to only list down laptops meeting the requirements of most medical schools. A $400 laptop can easily meet the basic requirements and helpful, but if the medical student has taken the advanced course which requires human body study and usage of VR technology, they definitely require moderate to high-end models.
Best Laptops for Medical Students in 2021
We are going to recommend you best laptops for medical students, also discussing its features in the following.
Lenovo Yoga C940
Lenovo Yoga C940 is a popular choice among medical students as best meets their diversified requirements from quick data transferring to run all high-end VR based medical software. This laptop is powered by Intel Core i7-1065G7 which remains no chance of over-heating, even intensive multi-tasking would keep the laptop cool and functional, credit also goes to its design as lower TDP levels avoid get heat.
This machine has not any dedicated graphic processor but having a graphic co-processor that integrates graphic processing through its main processor and provides full support in smoothly running the graphics-intensive medical software and even high-end games.
Last but not least on the powerful performance side, its 12 GB DDR4 RAM holds much more system memory in advance and responds the all inputs on an immediate basis, allows serious multi-tasking without system lapse. A workload can be easily managed on Lenovo Yoga C940 and there would be no such complaint.
There is again a strong feature in the area of storage capacity; its 512GB SSD seems enough to store ample data in the form of e-books, video lectures, PDFs, and articles, plus everyone knows SSD is faster technology than HDD in seeking the data for processing.
Lenovo Yoga C940 offers 2-in-1 features, user can convert it into laptop or tablet mode both for own convenience. Its 14-inches screen is highly vibrant and produces sharp images. You can also watch the videos at 1920 x 1080 resolutions which offers more pixels in one frame and images are more defined. Streaming YouTube or Netflix is definitely more enjoyable at a 1080p display.
Medical students always looking for productivity and meeting deadlines, Yoga C940 is designed accordingly. It features a backlit Keyboard that allows a faster typing experience even somewhere a little dark around, its fingerprint scanner lock maintains your security for personal data.
In the time of COVID-19, where everyone using the “Zoom” app to get connected, the significance of web-cam has already been immensely recognized and it comes up with a class-leading webcam to get connected online with teachers and class fellows.
In the Cons analysis, this machine is a little expensive laptop considering its specifications and features. The second drawback is, it shorts on ports and connectors as an essential source of getting connected with a laptop for data sharing, only offers 1 USB 3.0 port and 2 Thunderbolt 3.
Dell Inspiron i5378
This 2-in-1 Inspiron series launched by Dell gives the experience of the laptop as well as tablet. It allows the medical student to make maximum productive usage as easily portable during traveling and in academic tours. Its 360-degree hinge allows the student to work on it while sitting or positioning at any angle and without going out of comfort level. They can do this at home or sitting alone in the library.
Medical students spend the most time reading the journals and researches to be updated and also obtaining data for assignments, it is convenient to flip its screen and use it as a tablet for reading lengthy articles.
Dell Inspiron i5378 can be shaped into three modes and using it accordingly. The first mode in which the keyboard is placed at 180 degrees from its original position. The second mode is when the keyboard part gets attached from the backside of the screen and it looks like a big-sized tablet.
The third mode is when the keyboard body becomes stand you can only see the screen in front. You can choose any mode as per the comfort level.
The keyboard is designed to be productive; the backlit feature allows typing even in dark. Its Full HD display screen creates convenience to write lengthy assignments without having stress in eyes. This machine improves the working experience on Excel, PowerPoint and also Word. Its clear display does not cause the stress on eyes and users can be working on laptops for long hours.
Medical students often have to be sharing data between group members and even in the general coordination, multiple ports available allows fast data sharing speed through USB 3.0 port, USB 2.0 port, USB Type-C ports and also availability of SD card along with HDMI.
Its major drawback is its poor battery backup, medical students have to remain cautious about having the recharger all the time in the college. They may have to recharge the laptop if any unplanned task needs to be performed on a laptop, PowerBank is the only solution.
Lenovo IdeaPad 710S
One of the most easily portable laptops which lets the medical student take it anywhere easily. Its sleek and thin design makes it adjustable in the backpack without any trouble and its weight is just 2.6 lbs. It gives premium look as the body is made of refined aluminum and build quality is high.
Mostly, thin laptops come with not many ports as their design does not allow this. This is not the case with Lenovo IdeaPad 710S and it unusually offers many ports which is rare with a machine this thin. You will get a USB 3.0 port and a headphone jack on the left side of the laptop, Its right side enables the user to get connected through an SD card reader, a mini HDMI port, and another USB 3.0 port.
Its backlit keyboard supports typing experience in the dark surroundings. Its touchpad is sensitive and starts functioning soon user registers its fingerprint.
Medical students often are concerned about audio quality as they attend online lectures, seminars and even taking notes from YouTube videos. Its speakers deliver good voice quality and no need of wearing earphones for clarity. Audio quality can be enhanced by applying the preloaded Dolby feature if the user needs it.
Its user definitely enjoys long battery timings which may last up to 7 hours, more than enough for any medical student. Its web camera is satisfactory for online meetings and video conferencing, but not impressive at all.
It is a powerful laptop and power coming from Intel Core i7 processor and its 8GB RAM which easily handles extreme multiple tasking. You can play YouTube videos at 1080 while working on several tabs at the same time and it would not be near to any lapse.
There are two major drawbacks that may ruin the user experience to some extent, though it also varies user-to-user. It does not have a USB Type-C port which allows faster transferring speed up to 10 Gbps. This drawback would make the medical student waiting longer for data transferring with fellows; this is a routine job for a college student which intensifies the need for Type-C port.
The second drawback is unsupportive keyboard layout, the keys are not well spaced and positioned with each other, this layout does not support typing hundreds and thounsands of words assignment.
Dell Inspiron 17 i3793
Its big 17.3-inch screen and Full HD display is an immensely useful feature for any medical student who reads a lot of medical-related studies and researches, watching videos on YouTube, and also taking notes from the screen. It’s bigger and clear display ease up things without any strain on the eyes.
The credit also go to 1920 x 1080 resolution, which offers more pixels and image details which helps in understanding the things compared to seeing them at a lower resolution. This higher resolution features benefits more from using software specially designed for medical professionals to deliver the lecture on a virtual tour of the human body.
This laptop belongs to 10th generation technology which requires processor less power consumption while processing the data and to become more efficient. It also increases the battery life and improves the user experience.
This machine offers connectivity options including an SD card reader, USB 3.1, and USB 2.0. The connectivity options are not quite impressive but enable the user to share and transfer the data.
As far as its Cons side is concerned, it is made of medicore build quality which should have been better considering the laptop’s price. The second drawback, it lacks thunderbolt connectivity which offers 40Gbps connectivity speed, it can also be connected with two 4K display devices.
Acer Swift 3
This laptop looks amazing in its hands and holding it would be impressive for others. This thin & light-weight laptop is easy to carry and takes less space in the backpack. Convenience and easy portability should be preferring feature in any laptop being a medical student.
They have hectic routines and over-workload to finish which makes the handling of things critical, a laptop like Acer Swift 3 will ease-up the things for medical students.
This laptop features AMD Ryzen 7 Octa-Core processor and 16GB DDR4 RAM, these hardware are extremely good at handling multi-tasking while maintaining the user experience. You can run Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and extremely heavy graphic medical software at the same time and you can perform the functions on all of them without facing any lapse on the laptop.
It offers 512GB SSD storage which seeks the data in less time for processing, a plus point. Its fingerprint feature enhances data security and also protects your privacy.
Cons are also there to mention for Acer Swift 3, the first one is when users find it difficult to have access on micro SD slot and he needs a paper clip or Pin to insert the SD card. The second drawback is, Its keyboard layout is not impressive and rather clumsy, looks graceless. The third limitation is, it has a sluggish SSD which is comparatively less efficient comparing to SSD’s installed in competitor’s laptops.
Acer Aspire 5
Here comes Acer again, very well known as a rapidly growing brand that has research-oriented operations to meet the diversified needs of its customers. This is again 10th generation technology, designed as making processors more efficient to work and using the least power from the battery.
The combination of Intel Core 5 and 8GB DDR4 RAM makes powerful enough machine to handle high graphic software and process the data in extreme multi-tasking, Intel processors are known for the same.
Its Backlit keyboard never disappears in darkroom and its lights turn on in keyboard buttons. This feature helps the user in typing and no need to turn on the room lights.
You can be connected to the Acer Aspire 5 through 1 USB 3.1 (Type-C) port which transferring speed up to 5Gbps, 2 USB 3.1 Gen port, 1 USB 2.0 Port & 1 HDMI port. The big good news is its long battery timings may last up to 8 hours.
Its cons also need to be discussed, user complains a lot about the pattern of buttons are positioned on the keyboard and the numeric keyboard is very frustrating to experience especially for one who uses numeric keys a lot, keys are extremely narrowly placed which may occur typo error.
ASUS VivoBook 15
ASUS VivoBook 15 looks like way expensive laptop from its premium looks and thin size, whereas it is only available at $599.99 on Amazon. Its body color is Slay Gray which is an extraordinarily attractive color and holding it would be feeling like Supreme.
You can get connected to its 512GB SSD through USB 3.2 Type-C, USB 3.2 Type-A, USB 2.0 and HDMI. Medical students can share and transfer the project data with each other easily using ASUS VivoBook 15. It can handle running several software at the same time in background without single lapse as it is powered by Intel Core i5 and 8GB DDR4 RAM.
This laptop does not only meet the requirements of medical students, Its Full HD 15.6-inch screen and 1920 x 1080 resolution offers an amazing watching experience and it feels you like watching something real. Medical students can run high graphic virtual tours of human body on its screen for better learning.
Let’s discuss its only one limitation as we could not find others. It does not offer impressive battery timings and it can last as long as five hours, which means have to take the recharger with whenever going outside with laptop.
Microsoft Surface Pro 6
Its battery life is twice stronger than its predecessor and keeps it alive as long as eight hours. Usually, the laptop got two sources of inputs for data processing and gets the output, its keyboard and trackpad. It has a third source of input which is its surface pen as an input tool, It also supports the pen from the last generation’s surface. Its trackpad is highly sensitive and registers the impression even on lighter touch, contributes to easy handling.
The major improvements and its speed efficiency can be experienced with its usage and comparing to models launched earlier. A medical student may find it annoying to have such a small screen of 12.3-inch which puts stress on the eyes while using, though the sharp and bright colors fill the gap.
It offers 8GB RAM and a 1.3GHz Intel Core i5 processor which process multiple inputs on an immediate basis. Its display resolution is beyond 1920 x 1080 and actually, it’s 2736 x 1824 which produces ultra image quality supported by a higher pixel count. One last strong feature is its battery which may go long lasting up to 13.5hours. It is only available at $729 on Amazon.
Its major drawback is its limited port availability, there are only three, and out of three one is for headphones. This may cause you a setback in the time when you need them critically. The common reviews from the buyers about Microsoft Surface Pro 6 are, this device serves better as a tablet and it functions less like a laptop due to its smaller size.
Lenovo IdeaPad 3
Lenovo is the top-selling brand in laptops and enjoying the global highest market share. They launched Lenovo IdeaPad 3 which soon got popularity as the best features at its price. This machine takes its power from Intel i5 Quad-Core processor and 12GB DDR4 RAM which can run high graphic-heavy software for medical students and enables them to get modern education on a laptop such as virtual tours of the human body or application of medical methods on specialized software.
Its 15.6-inch screen is a plus point which offers a big display at HD resolution. This machine supports attending online classes through an HD webcam integrated with a microphone, no need to go technical and integrate both manually.
It also features a graphic processor which also integrates with core processor and RAM for running high-graphic software, its GPU is AMD Radeon Vega 3 Graphics. The best thing about this laptop is its price, available at $579.99 on Amazon.
Lenovo IdeaPad 3 have its two major drawbacks, the first is, it is made of poor build quality which does not give premium feel. The second drawback as it does not offer USB Type-C port which mostly people finds it convenient in data sharing because its transferring speed is higher and takes less time in complete transfer.
This may be an issue for those students get used to sharing large amount of data on daily basis.
Acer Nitro 5
This laptop comes with multitude of features and offering amazing specifications. User can enjoy Full HD display on its 15.6” screen and its viewing angles are perfect. Medical students will find this laptop comfortable enough to read from the screen for long hours without any strain on eyes.
User can set 1080p resolution screen on Acer Nitro 5 which puts more content in single frame and do not have to keep scrolling down screen all the time.
This laptop is powered by Intel Core i5-10300H processor which is designed to perform heavy duty tasks and processing complex data. One big benefit of powerful processor as it protects the machine from overheating issues. Medical students can run all high-end and CPU intensive applications on Acer Nitro 5.
This laptop has 8GB DDR4 RAM and can handle the multitasking without single lag. Students can be engaged in extreme level multitasking by running multiple applications and working simultaneously on all of them to meet deadline. This much RAM will deliver fastest performance to increase the work productivity.
Acer Nitro 5 has high-end graphic card NVIDIA RTX 3050 which can even run all latest games at ultra settings. Therefore, medical students can run all high quality simulated videos and apps which requires processing of graphical data.
Verdict
Modern studies require having a laptop for students. Every profession uses dedicated software specially designed for specific processors and the same case in the medical field. We recommended all such laptops which can best meet the general and specialized requirements of all medical students considering price, performance, speed, and connectivity features.
Every student performs multi-tasking for managing over-workload; we accordingly recommended only those laptops good at handling multi-tasking. We knew the criticality of long battery hours helps in preparing long assignments and creating slides without worrying about laptop re-charge especially where you cannot find the plug-in switch, accordingly only considered and suggested laptops with good battery.