Best Laptop For PA School – Reviews

So you’re going to PA school and searching for the right laptop for you?

Glad you found us. Finding the best laptop for PA school can be more challenging than you think.

With the number of laptops hitting the market increasing daily, you are only given more options, which makes your decision tougher.

That’s why we’re here. We’ve researched & tested almost all the laptops out there so that you can save your precious time.

Without further ado, let’s see the best notebooks for PA school.

Best Laptops For PA School

The best laptops for physician’s assistant school are:

• MacBook Pro – Mac Pick
• Surface Pro 7 – Window’s Pick
• Acer Aspire 5 – Budget Pick

1. Apple MacBook Pro – Editor’s Choice

The 13″ MacBook Pro is our Editor’s best laptop for PA students.

This Apple laptop is a product of finesse and comes with all the important stuff you need for a complete computing experience.

But I don’t like the macOS; what should I do? Well, for that, we have the best laptop for Windows coming next. But do note that installing Windows on a Mac is much easier than installing macOS on a Windows machine.

From the design, you know this is not a simple laptop, and the price confirms it. It might be a tad expensive for students, but if you want a hassle-free computing experience, the MacBook Pro is a good choice.

One neat feature on the MacBook Pro is the inclusion of Touch ID. It allows you to register your fingerprint, and you can easily and safely log in to your user profile. No need to remember your password, though you need to know your passcode.

Touch ID also comes in handy when shopping online. You can use to pay via Apple Pay on sites that support it.

Taking notes is one of the major workloads for a PA student. The keyboard on this laptop is a very good one. It makes little noise, making it a good choice for lecture halls and libraries.

Though we’ve heard horror stories about this keyboard, those are isolated incidents, and we can’t say everyone will experience it. The trackpad on this laptop is also the best. The gestures are easy to do, and the laptop is much better when you get the hang of the gestures and the trackpad.

Another compelling feature of the MacBook Pro is its display. The 13.3″ display comes with a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels. This is one of the best displays you will see on a laptop.

The True Tone technology comes in handy and makes the display excellent visually. You can turn the True Tone functionality on or off to suit your needs. The display’s contrast ratio is also brilliant, giving us deep blacks and bright whites.

You will love watching content on this screen. This display does a fantastic job, be it Netflix or some movie you shot on your smartphone. The speakers are the best you can get on a laptop, and we can give them to you in writing. Overall, the MacBook Pro makes a wholesome multimedia device.

Let’s talk about the processing power of the MacBook Pro. With a quad-core Intel Core i5 processor in charge, the laptop does well when it comes to handling everyday activities. The processor can clock to a maximum of 3.9GHz, so there will be no lack of power when you need it.

With 8 gigs of RAM, the MacBook Pro handles multitasking efficiently. You can open and run multiple applications without facing any performance issues. If you are a productive person, you will find this memory in favour of your workflow.

The storage on the MacBook Pro is a 256GB solid-state drive. This capacity should be okay for most PA students. The SSD also brings you the advantage of excellent reading and writing speeds. You will enjoy the rate at which apps open and close, and this speed is very important for students.

The battery life on this laptop is killer. You will get around 10 to 12 hours of battery life with light usage. If you use the laptop to take notes, browse the web, and do other simple everyday activities, you can achieve that number.

Overall, the Apple MacBook Pro is an excellent laptop that doesn’t compromise on anything making it the best laptop for PA school.

2. Surface Pro 7 – Window’s Pick

This is primarily a tablet that becomes a laptop with a keyboard attachment. However, the device gives you a wholesome Windows experience.

The Surface Pro 7 has a 12.3″ screen with a 3200 x 1800 pixels resolution. This is one of the most pixel-dense displays we’ve seen on a hybrid laptop.

The display is great for taking notes. All you have to do is remove the keyboard and have a tablet in your hands. Whip out your supported pen and start taking notes as you would with a pen and paper. The tablet is also great for illustrations.

The display has excellent vibrant colours, and it comes with an excellent contrast ratio as well. This makes this screen a good choice for watching movies and tv shows.

Another advantage of the Surface Pro 7 is its portability. With a weight of just 1.7 pounds, this is the most portable laptop you will see. You can easily carry it around without having to worry about weight.

The battery life of the laptop is also very good. With light usage, you can squeeze out at least 15 hours of battery life which is excellent. Even with a decent amount of workload, this laptop will not die on you, which is nice.

An Intel Core i5 chip powers the Surface Pro 7. This quad-core processor comes with all the power you need for your physician assistant school. You will be able to handle all your apps without any issues.

This processor gets good support from the memory department’s 8 gigs of DDR4 RAM. This memory gives you the liberty to deal with multiple applications simultaneously. You will not encounter any performance issues when multitasking which is great for students.

The storage on this laptop comes with a 256GB solid-state drive. This fast storage drive gives both the speed and space you need for your files and other data.

There is no discrete graphics card in the Surface Pro 7. We only get an Intel UHD GPU that will take care of all your graphics needs without any issues. You will also be able to play some mid-range games, which is nice.

Overall, the Surface Pro 7 is a solid tablet that functions well as a laptop. We are sure a student would benefit from this combination which is why Surface Pro 7 is our best Windows laptop for PA school.

3. Acer Aspire 5 – Budget Pick

If you don’t want to spend a lot of money and want a budget laptop for PA school, then the Acer Aspire 5 Slim laptop is worth looking at.

This Acer laptop is a good choice for students as it brings many features that will benefit students without costing much money.

The Acer Aspire 5 Slim laptop has a 15.6″ display with full HD resolution. This display is pretty good for a budget laptop and displays a good range of colours.

The screen is well-suited for watching movies, browsing the web, working on docs, etc. Being a widescreen, the screen allows you to open two windows side by side, taking your productivity to soar heights.

The Acer Aspire 5 Slim is equipped with an Intel Core i5 chip. This dual-core processor comes with 4 logical cores and a cache memory of 6MB. The processor is an able one and will handle all your everyday tasks without any issues.

Even if you need to run some complex apps, this laptop will handle it without any problems. The memory department comes with 4 gigs of DDR4 type RAM. This RAM allows you to work with several applications side by side without slowing down the laptop.

The laptop comes with a 128GB solid-state drive. The SSD is a good option; we’re surprised to see this on a budget laptop. It boots up the Windows operating system in a few seconds. Thanks to this speedy SSD, the laptop is also fast for opening and closing applications.

The Acer Aspire 5 Slim is a budget laptop with an integrated graphics card. This Intel UHD GPU should be more than enough for most PA students as you won’t have any graphically intensive needs. You will also be able to do some mild gaming as well.

The battery life on the Acer Aspire 5 Slim laptop is good for the price. With regular usage, the laptop will last about 5 to 7 hours which is not bad for a budget laptop.

The Acer Aspire 5 Slim comes with a horde of connectivity options. You get a couple of USB 3.0 ports, a USB 2.0 port, an HDMI port, an sd card slot, and a headphone jack. There is also support for both WiFi and Bluetooth, which is essential.

Overall, the Acer Aspire 5 Slim is an excellent budget laptop, giving you the same performance as a mid-range laptop without costing much money. If you’re a PA student trying to save money, this laptop is a good fit.

What To Look for In The Best Laptop For PA Students?

If you’re not satisfied with our suggestions, that’s perfectly cool.

We still want to help you find the most suitable laptop for you.

Below are some factors you should consider before you get your laptop for PA school.

Power

As a physician assistant student, you are not going to need a lot of power.

For most students, you will be fine with an i5 processor from Intel. You can also go with an i3 chip, but there’s a risk of getting outdated in the coming years. So it is better to stick with an Intel Core i5 processor.

When dealing with Intel chips, you can use dual-core or quad-core processors. For most PA students, dual-core processors supply enough power and, therefore, enough.

If you plan to go with AMD processors to cut some costs, then be sure to go with quad-core chips so that you know you’ll get the processing power you need.

How much memory do you need?

If you’re strapped for money, then 4GB DDR4 RAM should be enough. You can do a little bit of multitasking, and apps will run smoothly without any concern.

We recommend going for 8 gigs of DDR4-type RAM if you can afford it. This memory is perfect for PA school and will allow you to do efficient multitasking without affecting your productivity.

You will need more than 8GB RAM only if you’re a gamer or if you plan to use some heavy applications in the future. Otherwise, you are good with 8GB.

The Speed Factor

The speed of your laptop is very important, and it is not only dependent on the processor and the memory. The storage on your laptop affects it.

For storage, we highly recommend going with a solid-state drive. These SSDs are flash drives, and they do not have any moving parts in them.

As a result, you get excellent reading and writing speeds which leads to great performance daily. The SSD will boot your OS in a few seconds and impact your application loading time.

Avoid going for hard drives to save some money. They are extremely slow by modern standards and will bog you down when you’re trying to catch up during lectures.

Battery Life

For any student, battery life is one of the most important aspects of your laptop.

Ideally, you want a laptop that will last you an entire day without charging it in the middle. The MacBook Pro and the Surface Pro are great examples of such laptops.

If you’re going with other models, make sure you have similar battery life and trust us, it will make your life in PA school much better.

Even if you can’t get a laptop with all-day battery life, be sure to get one that lasts at least 6 to 8 hours, giving you enough time to find a free charging port and charge your laptop.

Portability

You can’t ignore this factor when you’re a physician assistant student.

You don’t want to deal with a heavy laptop as you will need your laptop most of the time. Pick a light laptop, so it is not a big deal to move around with it.

If you need a portable laptop, consider getting a smaller one with a 13.3″ screen. These laptops usually weigh around 3 pounds or less and are easy to carry around.

If you go for 15.6″ laptops, you’ll have a laptop that is 4 to 5 pounds in weight. If you prefer that size for some reason, that’s okay, but know that it will not be easy carrying that one around.

Display

The display is one of the crucial elements of a laptop.

With a bad display, you will not have a great experience with your laptop.

All our recommendations come with excellent displays that are perfect for students.

At a minimum, go for displays that have a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. This is called full HD resolution, and it should give you excellent pixel density resulting in a pleasant viewing experience.

If possible, get a laptop with QHD resolution, and you’ll never return to other displays. Ensure the display comes with an IPS display to get sharp viewing angles.

With a good display, you will browse the web with sharp text and glorious images; you can handle your social media easily; you can enjoy watching your favourite tv shows and movies and do much more.

Connectivity

Connectivity options are important if you’re going to be needing a lot of data transfer. Ensure your laptop has versatile ports, so you don’t have to get adapters. The MacBook Pro is our Editor’s choice, and it only comes with only one port.

The performance of the MacBook Pro makes up for the lack of ports in this case.Also, ensure the laptop has inbuilt Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity.

Conclusion

That is a wrap-up for this post.

We gave you the three best laptops for attending PA school with style and performance. We hope you found them useful.

Don’t shy from giving us your valuable feedback. Only that will help us grow. Do let us know that in the comment section below.