The year 2020 showed us one thing, that we should not take being able to go outside for granted. Many schools and colleges started providing online education to their students by making teachers take online classes.
Since the pandemic isn’t technically over, we will see this continue in 2021 as well. Schools and colleges probably won’t open any time soon and the need to attend and/or take online classes will also persist throughout the year.
If you are a teacher who wants to take online classes of your students, we have some suggestions for you for buying a laptop. If you want to know what we will be discussing in this article, continue with your reading.
Many people have different views on online teaching and learning. In our opinion, online classes can be highly beneficial as the students are getting at least some kind of education instead of just sitting at home doing nothing.
Online classes can be very helpful and even interactive, as there are various ways of learning online. And the teachers taking these classes are definitely putting a lot of effort into preparing the lessons and coping with technology that most teachers might not even be too familiar with.
A good laptop certainly helps in that though. Owning a good laptop that lets you take online classes can even help you learn the gimmicks easily. This is why it is so important for a teacher in 2021 to own a high quality laptop to take online classes on.
What features should you look out for?
There are some features that you should look out for while buying a good laptop for online teaching. These features include but are not limited to,
- Intel Core i5 processor
- 4-8 GB RAM
- 1 TB HDD or 256 GB SSD (or both)
- Any decent display size
- Graphics card (optional) or Intel UHD graphics
- Battery life of at least 4-5 hours (the more the merrier)
Best Laptop for Online Teaching
We have chosen laptops from different brands that fit different criteria in order to provide you the best online teaching experience based on your needs. Now let’s take a look at these amazing laptops!
Apple MacBook Air- Best Lightweight Laptop
Key Specifications
- 10th Gen Intel Core i5 Processor
- 16 GB 3733MHz LPDDR4X memory
- 256 GB SSD (Up to 2 TB)
- 13.3 inch Retina Display with True Tone
- Battery Life Up to 15 hours
- Mac OS
Why is this laptop good for Online Teaching?
Apple is known for manufacturing lightweight laptops with amazing displays, impressive features and amazing overall experience. The MacBook Air 2020 offers every feature you need for teaching online.
The MacBook Air comes with 10th Gen Intel Core i5 processor that provides enough power and performance you need in such a portable laptop.
It offers a 16 GB RAM which provides enough speed and software memory, and the storage you get is a 256 GB SSD. We would’ve liked a bit more storage but, it’s still good enough.
This laptop is great for taking online classes as it can be used for screen sharing and showing presentations and all. And as it is portable, you can even use it on the go while travelling (although we do not recommend during the pandemic).
Pros
- Lightweight
- Portable
- Sleek design
- Impressive RAM
- Good specifications
- Apple Warranty.
Cons
- Low storage capacity
- Slightly expensive.
Dell XPS 15- Best Performance Laptop
Key Specifications
- 9th Gen Intel Core i9 processor
- 32 GB DDR4 RAM
- 1 TB SSD Storage
- 15.6 4K UHD Touch-screen IPS Display
- NVIDIA GTX 1650 Graphics Chipset
- 17.5 hours Battery life
- Fingerprint Scanner
- Windows 10 OS
Why is this laptop good for Online Teaching?
If you are a college professor who teaches subjects that require usage of high graphic software, this laptop is the one for you. The Dell XPS 15 comes with a 9th Gen Intel Core i9 processor that provides top class performance and maximum speed that will never slow down your work.
In terms of RAM, you get a whopping 32 GB for installing big applications and tools on your laptop for taking classes. To view those applications and use them at their highest potential, you get a 15.6 inch 4K ultra HD display. The laptop offers a 1 TB SSD storage, which we would say is definitely a steal!
The battery life on this laptop is also pretty insane! It offers 17.5 hours of battery life, which is more than enough to last you an entire day of taking classes and teaching online!
Pros
- Amazing processor
- Massive RAM
- Impressive GPU
- Incredible display
- Impressive battery life
- Perfect for high performance activities.
Cons
- Slightly expensive
- Not the best choice for teachers with simpler needs.
HP Pavilion 15
Key Specifications
- 6th Gen Intel Core i7-6700HQ 2.6 GHz processor
- 16 GB DDR4 RAM
- 1 TB HDD
- 15.6 inch HD display
- Intel HD graphics 530 integrated graphics
- 10 hour battery life
- Windows 10 OS
Why is this laptop good for Online Teaching?
We all know how amazing HP laptops are, and the HP Pavilion 15 is an example of the amazing craftsmanship that is HP. This laptop offers pretty much everything you need in a laptop for online teaching.
The laptop features an Intel Core i7 processor and a whopping 16 GBs of RAM. While the laptop does not feature an SSD, the 1 TB HDD can be helpful in storing all your lesson plans, educational videos, documentaries to show your students and more!
The screen size is decent and the battery life is pretty impressive too! We really like this laptop for being the perfect in-between laptop. It is a great option for teachers without a doubt.
Pros
- Great performance
- Great speed
- Decent display
- Good battery life
Cons
- No SSD storage.
ASUS ZenBook 13
Key Specifications
- 8th Gen Intel core i5 processor
- 8 GB LPDDR3 RAM
- 512 GB PCle SSD Storage
- 13.3 inch full HD display
- Intel integrated UHD graphics chipset
- 15 hour battery life
- Fingerprint Scanner
- Windows 10 OS.
Why is this laptop good for Online Teaching?
ASUS produces some very high-quality laptops, and the ASUS ZenBook 13 is definitely one of them. It is a pretty small and portable laptop which makes it more convenient to use.
You can prepare physical study materials to give your lectures and not worry about losing desk space because of your laptop. This is why we love the size of this laptop.
Performance wise this laptop does not disappoint either. While the specs aren’t anything too heavy, they are great for teachers who want to take online classes without facing any sort of lagging and freezing.
The battery life on this device is amazing. You get 15 hours of battery life, which is more than enough to last a whole work day!
Pros
- Decent processor
- Good RAM
- Impressive battery life
- Portable size
Cons
- Some people might not like the small display size.
Acer Aspire E15- Best Budget Laptop
Key Specifications
- Intel Core i3 Processor
- 6 GB RAM
- 1 TB HDD Storage
- 15.6 inch Full HD Backlit Display
- Intel UHD Graphics (Integrated)
- 12 hour Battery Life
- Windows 10 OS
Why is this laptop good for Online Teaching?
When on a budget you can’t be spending thousands of dollars on a laptop for taking online classes. The Acer Aspire E15 is a high quality laptop that is also pretty affordable.
The laptop features an Intel Core i3 processor. While the processor is not that impressive, the RAM doesn’t disappoint us. You get a 6 GB RAM at this price range, which is pretty impressive, we must admit.
You get a 1 TB HDD on this laptop so you can keep all your important files including lessons, video lessons, educational application files, and more, without fretting over running out of storage space. The laptop also offers a battery life of 10 hours.
We highly recommend this laptop to any teacher looking for a good budget friendly option for a laptop for teaching in online classes.
Pros
- Good RAM
- Satisfactory storage
- Great battery life
- Affordable.
Cons
- Not the highest performing laptop.
Lenovo Yoga C940- Best Convertible Laptop
Key Specifications
- 10th Gen Intel Core i7
- 16 GB DDR4 RAM
- 512 GB SSD + 32 GB Optane Storage
- Thunderbolt 3 Ports
- 14 inch 4K Ultra HD IPS Touch Screen Display
- 65 WH Battery (8 hours)
- Stylus Pen
- Fingerprint reader
- Windows 10 OS
Why is this laptop good for Online Teaching?
And for the last laptop on this list we have the Lenovo Yoga C940. It is a convertible laptop by Lenovo that can switch between a laptop and a tablet depending on what you need.
The Lenovo Yoga features a 14 inch 4K UHD display with touch screen. It also comes with a stylus pen to operate the laptop with. This is a great feature for teachers who want to share their screens and show different drawings or pretty much use their laptops as white boards for their students.
This laptop features some very amazing features and specifications that can be helpful in providing interactive and engaging lessons to your students. Higher specs mean that you can install various educational software and tools, so the more the merrier!
The laptop offers a 10th Gen Intel Core i7 processor and a 16 GB DDR4 RAM. In terms of storage, you get a 512 GB SSD with a 32 GB Optane. The laptop offers impressive battery life with a 65 Whr battery. This battery can last for up to 8 hours, which is enough to let you take your daily classes properly.
Pros
- Convertible
- High performance
- Good battery
- Stylish design.
Cons
- Slightly expensive.
Testing Criteria
There are certain things that we paid more attention to than others when choosing these laptops. Most of the laptops offer great features, but some of which do not provide all kinds of support to the teachers.
A simple school teacher does not need a high performance high graphic gaming level laptop, which probably would cost them a fortune. We have included simpler budget friendly models. Those are great for teachers will much simpler needs.
On the other hand, there are teachers who need exactly those features, and can probably afford that kind of e device as well, assuming that they are college or university professors. For those professors, we have researched and included such devices as well.
But overall, we made sure that all the laptops included in the above list offer decent processors, RAM, storage, display and battery. All the laptops meet the minimum requirements and certainly exceed them.
When buying a laptop, think 5 years ahead and consider the fact that you probably won’t be changing this laptop for the next 5 years. So, check the specs, think if these specs would become outdated in the next 5 years and make the purchase.
And for the ease of your guesswork, we have included the laptops that offer technology that won’t go extinct in the next 5 years for sure. At least not the high end ones on this list.
Conclusion
So that was all for the 6 best laptops for online teaching. We hope we were able to help you find the perfect laptop that you will be using to teach students and prepare them for the future. All the teachers, around the world, are working day and night to provide the much needed education to each of their students.
We hope this article about the best laptops for online teaching would make that process slightly easy and help out a teacher in need of some tech advice. We hope you had a fun time while reading this article and found it informative enough to be able to make the purchase. Good luck teaching your students!