Look for an Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5 at the very least . If you are in a demanding major like engineering or film, bump this up to an i7 or Ryzen 7 .
To avoid your laptop slowing down by sophomore year, aim for these benchmarks: things to consider when buying a laptop for college
While 8 GB is the bare minimum, 16 GB is highly recommended by experts from Reddit to prevent "choking" when running multiple browser tabs and research tools simultaneously . Look for an Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5 at the very least