Shopping for a laptop for that college student in your life this holiday season? Some of the latest feature-packed models on the market offer on-the-go productivity at an affordable price. Choose from an array portable and lightweight notebooks and ultrabooks the deliver the performance and reliability of a desktop PC.

Perfect for college students and business professionals alike, every laptop on this list houses a powerful processing speed and is packed with memory for seamless multi-tasking. Finding the right laptop to gift that special someone doesn't have to be difficult--it's best to simply select a computer system that fits the individual's needs. These popular top-rated laptops from a variety of manufacturers are suitable for the classroom or the boardroom with a modern and convenient lightweight form for easy transportation.

Asus Chromebook Flip (C100PA-DB02) - $210 Amazon

With a refreshing all-metal design not seen on most laptops in its class, the Asus Chromebook Flip blends a sleek, stylish and versatile build with fast computing power. Super lightweight, this laptop weighs just two pounds and offers all day long computing performance. Priced affordably, this Chromebook doubles as a tablet and gives your more value for your dollar.

Specs:

Display: 10.1-inch IPS Multi-touch

Operating System: Google Chrome OS

Processor: 1.8 GHz Rockchip RK3288-C

RAM: 4GB

Internal Storage: 16GB

Graphics Card: Rockchip Mail T764 G

Weight: 2 lbs

Battery Life: 11 Hours

Lenovo G50 - $330 at Best Buy

Perfect for home, office and the classroom, the Lenovo G50 is another good bang for your buck, a lightweight Windows 10 laptop. It features a 15.6-inch screen, an Intel i3 processor and 4GB to offer multi-tasking and performance speed to get things done. The massive 1TB hard drive provides ample room to store digital files in all types of formats and not have to worry about running out of storage.

Specs:

Display: 15.6-inch Display

Operating System: Windows 10

Processor: 1.9 GHz Intel Core i3-4030u

RAM: 4GB

Internal Storage: 1TB

Graphics Card: Intel HD Graphics 4400

Weight: 5lbs

Battery Life: 4 Hours

Acer Aspire E5-573G-57HR - $528 at Amazon

Easily, the Acer Aspire E5-573G-57HR laptop can replace any desktop PC with processing power that seamlessly speeds through daily computing tasks. Loaded with a 2.2GHz Intel Core i5 chip, 8GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, this lightweight laptop can handle the most demanding software applications. The large 15.6-inch screen makes it perfect for everything from drafting up reports and charts for work or school to leisurely watching movies and playing video games.

Specs:

Display:15.6-inch Display

Operating System: Windows 8

Processor: 2.2 GHz Intel Core i5-5200U

RAM: 8GB

Internal Storage: 1TB

Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 130M

Weight: 5 lbs

Battery Life: 8 Hours

Apple MacBook Air 13-Inch (2015) $965 at Amazon

Apple's 13-inch Apple MacBook Air is 3 pounds feather light, slim and ultraportable. It features Intel Core i5 processing power inside and outlasts rival laptops with a promise of up to 17.5 hours of battery life. While it doesn't feature the Retina display like its sibling Apple laptops, the MacBook Air makes up for it with exciting new upgrades like the ForcePad and its redesigned body.

Specs:

Display:13.3 -inch Display

Operating System: Mac OS X

Processor: 1.6 GHz Intel Core i5-5250U

RAM: 4GB

Internal Storage: 128GB

Graphics Card: Intel HD Graphics 6000

Weight: 3 lbs

Battery Life: 14 Hours

Apple MacBook Pro 13-Inch, Retina Display (2015) $1,175 at Amazon

Considered the upper echelon of laptops, the Apple MacBook Air will run you about a smooth $1200. Powered by Mac OS X Yosemite, it's ultra slim and portable, weighing a mere 4 pounds. Computing tasks are a 1.5GHz alongside 8GB of RAM, making this system ultrafast and convenient. Graphics look stunning on its 13-inch Retina Display and an average battery life of 8 hours is just what a busy lifestyle needs to stay connected and productive.

Specs:

Display:13.3-inch Display

Operating System: Mac OS X

Processor: 1.5 GHz Intel Core i5-5570U

RAM: 8GB

Internal Storage: 128GB

Graphics Card: Intel HD Graphics 6100

Weight: 4 lbs

Battery Life: 8 Hours

Dell XPS 13 Touch $1264 at Best Buy

The Dell XPS Touch is a high-end Windows 10 touch-enabled laptop with an ultra stunning 13.3-inch Quad HD display. It surpasses the battery life of many notebooks in its class with a run time of 11 hours. Weighing in at just 3 lbs, this light and portable laptop is a multi-tasking workhorse--credit that to a 2.2 GHz Intel Core i5 chip and 8GB of RAM. Performance muscle makes this laptop effortlessly speed through just about any application you throw at it.

Specs:

Display:13.3 -inch QHD+ touch display

Operating System: Windows 10

Processor: 2.2 GHz Intel Core i5-5200

RAM: 8GB

Internal Storage: 256GB

Graphics Card: Intel HD Graphics 5500

Weight: 3lbs

Battery Life: 11 hours

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