I need a laptop for college but I'm not sure what to get. I have a low budget and would prefer not to get a Chromebook.

What's your budget? Can you provide the maximum estimation?

The max would probably be 400

You could probably try get one of the lower end Surface from Microsoft. Surface Go could work as well, but depending on where you buy you might get a better deal for older Surface 4 models with a better price. By the way wow I didn't know this website was still active.

I don't know what major you are, but if you are an engineer related major, then I recommend you to save up more money so you can purchase a high-end laptop. For notes taking, I suggest that the new iPad with Apple pen is the best choice. I'm currently using one, and I love it. The overall price should be around $500 if you use the student discount.

Obviously go with whatever is going to be most useful for your everyday life and your major, but if it's worth anything, I have had the same chromebook for four years (Biochem major) and it has been more reliable for me than my friends' newer macs and pcs have been. Only drawback is the you can't use any Office programs or Steam. For the former you can just use the college's computers, and google's programs are perfectly compatible (and you have to do so much group work you'll likely just use google docs anyway). For the later, that's only an issue if you're a gamer. Haha.