Kitting out a student in September means arbitrating between four purchases competing for the same budget: the computer, the screen, the audio and, possibly, the tablet. The temptation is to buy everything at entry level to stay within budget, or the opposite — to spend everything on the machine and skimp on the rest. Both mistakes are expensive, but they bite at different moments. This guide reviews the four items, and for each one gives the threshold below which you will regret the purchase, and the one above which you are paying for comfort you will never use.

The prices quoted were recorded on 4 September 2026 in Picksly's verified catalogue. They move — often by several tens of euros within days — so always check before buying; they are here to give an order of magnitude, not to promise a price.

How we chose

We do not test products ourselves and we do not pretend otherwise. What we do is match a need against a catalogue of verified retailer listings, and reason by buying profile rather than by absolute ranking:

  • 🟢 Budget — only what is needed, refurbished if that helps.
  • 🟣 Smart — the best value for money, the one that lasts three to four years without frustration.
  • 🔵 Premium — the best quality, when the use case genuinely justifies it.

For a student, the Smart profile is almost always the right benchmark, with one exception detailed below: the screen, where the Budget profile is plenty.

The laptop: the purchase that decides everything else

This is where most of the budget goes, and where mistakes are paid for over four years. Three simple benchmarks before looking at a price.

Eight gigabytes of memory is a floor, not a target. Below that, a browser with twenty tabs plus a word processor is enough to bog the machine down by the second year. Storage must be an SSD, never a mechanical drive: that is the difference between a machine that boots in ten seconds and one that takes forty. Finally, a dedicated graphics card is useless for lectures, documents and video calls — it adds weight, drains the battery and several hundred euros.

Three options illustrating the three profiles:

  • 🟢 Budget — a Lenovo Chromebook S330 14" around €269. ChromeOS is enough if the work happens in a browser and an online office suite; it is not enough if the course requires a specific Windows application. Check that before ordering — it is the only real trap in this category.
  • 🟣 Smart — a Lenovo IdeaPad 1 around €497, or an ASUS VivoBook 15 around €665 for a more comfortable Full HD 15.6" screen on long days.
  • 🔵 Premium — beyond €1,000 you are mostly paying for battery life, a chassis that does not flex and a markedly better screen. That is defensible for a creative or technical course; far less so for law, economics or medicine.

➜ See the full laptop comparison — and our detailed guide to the best laptop in 2026 if you want to dig into configurations.

The second screen: the best euro on this list

This is the most underrated purchase and, euro for euro, the one that changes daily life the most. Working on a 13 or 14 inch screen with a document on one side and lecture notes on the other is an achievement in itself; a second screen removes the problem outright.

Good news: this is where the Budget profile really is enough. A 27 inch Full HD under €120 does the job for office work and reading. The specifications pushed on product pages — 144 Hz, curved panel, one millisecond response time — are about gaming, not about writing a dissertation.

  • 🟢 A 27" curved KOORUI around €109 covers the need with no argument.
  • 🟣 A 15.6" portable screen around €63 is the alternative for anyone who moves around: it connects over USB-C and slips into the bag with the laptop.
  • 🔵 An iiyama 31.5" at 2560 × 1440 around €354 only makes sense if the screen serves a purpose beyond coursework.

The real point of vigilance is not the panel but the connectors: check that your laptop and the screen share a common port (HDMI, DisplayPort or USB-C), or you are adding an adapter and its share of trouble. Our guide to the best PC monitor in 2026 covers the edge cases.

Headphones or earbuds: for revising, not for showing off

A noisy lecture hall, a shared flat, a packed library: isolation matters more than raw sound quality. And on this item specifically, the gap between €30 and €250 is about wearing comfort and active noise cancelling far more than about sound reproduction.

  • 🟢 Soundcore P31i around €31 for a first purchase with no regrets.
  • 🟣 CMF Buds Pro 2 around €51, or Soundcore Liberty 4 NC around €55 — this is where active noise cancelling becomes genuinely effective.
  • 🔵 Over-ear headphones such as the Sony WH-CH720N around €77 stay more comfortable than in-ears over sessions of several hours, and the battery lasts a full day.

The form factor matters as much as the price: in-ears get lost and tire the ear after two hours, while over-ear headphones handle the distance better but travel less easily. Our comparison of the best wireless earbuds sets out the trade-offs.

The tablet: useful, but rarely first

This is the purchase people regret most often, because it is decided on a whim rather than on a use case. A tablet genuinely earns its place for annotating PDFs and taking handwritten notes — in medicine, law or architecture it replaces kilos of printouts. For everything else it duplicates the laptop without adding anything.

If money is tight, this is the item to drop first. It can be caught up at Christmas or in January, when prices come back down.

The total budget, by profile

  • 🟢 Budget, roughly €400 to €450: Chromebook, second-hand or entry-level screen, €30 earbuds, no tablet.
  • 🟣 Smart, roughly €650 to €750: a laptop around €500, a 27 inch screen at €110, noise-cancelling earbuds at €55. This is the combination that lasts longest without an awkward compromise.
  • 🔵 Premium, beyond €1,200: reserved for courses that genuinely require it — video editing, 3D, heavy development.

One last lever, often the most profitable of all: refurbished. On a two-year-old laptop the saving frequently reaches 30 to 40% for identical use, with a warranty. Our guide on refurbished or new explains how to read a listing and spot the grades that cause trouble.

How to pay less without spending your weekends on it

Back-to-school prices move every day, and September “promotions” are often a return to the normal price after a discreet rise in August. Comparing seriously means following a product over time, not glancing at a struck-through price.

Install the Picksly extension: it recognises the product on screen, looks for verified alternatives matching your profile — Budget, Smart or Premium — and tells you when the listing you are looking at is not your best option.

FAQ

What budget should I plan to equip a student in 2026?

Around €400 for a functional set-up (entry-level laptop, screen, earbuds), and €650 to €750 for a configuration that will last without frustration to the end of the course. Beyond €1,200 the spend is only justified by genuinely demanding technical courses.

Is a Chromebook enough for studying?

Yes if all the work happens in a browser and an online office suite, no if the course requires a specific Windows or macOS application. Ask that question before buying, because it cannot be fixed afterwards.

Second screen or tablet first?

The second screen, without hesitation. At comparable cost it improves daily working comfort, whereas the tablet only adds something on courses where handwritten annotation is central.

Is refurbished equipment a good deal for a student?

Often yes, especially for laptops: 30 to 40% saved for identical use, with a legal conformity warranty. Check the cosmetic grade, the stated battery health and the warranty period offered by the seller.