Let me address this before it falls through the cracks - You can play games on a gaming laptop on battery but the performance won’t be as good because the computer will slow down the CPU and GPU to save battery power.

From my college experience, I’ll say mobility and battery life are more paramount. Last minute changes happen all the time regarding studying, exams, library research, term papers, etc., so you really don’t want to be worrying if you have enough juice to make it through class or the rest of the school day.