While looking for a laptop that would be useful for teaching, there are a few things you need to add to your checklist. In this article, we present our picks for the 7 best laptops for online teaching. Teachers have one of the most critical tasks of shaping young minds and a good quality, responsive, and reliable laptop is crucial.
Teachers make the heroes of our human race. They should have the best devices for doing such a grave job. The best part is that many options are excellent and affordable enough for a teacher’s budget.
The two most important factors to consider are a powerful CPU and enough memory (RAM). This will help the teachers to run the educational apps without facing system lags. Storage is another essential factor. It should have enough storage space for the teachers to store all their files and documents.
A good display is required to avoid eye fatigue. A great keyboard, a good range of ports, a decent trackpad, and a lightweight, thin design are the other things to add up to the checklist.
7 Best Laptops for Online Teaching – Our Picks
#1 HP Spectre X360: Best Value Laptops For Teachers
Want a laptop that looks excellent? This HP Spectre x360 (2020) is one of the best-looking laptops available on the market for teachers. It is lightweight and compact, but at the same time, it does not compromise performance and power.
It is also an absolute pleasure to use this laptop. For its comforting experience and seamless display, along with a great keyboard and trackpad, this laptop is the best for teachers who value experience over everything else.
It offers a lot of flexibility with its storage options, selecting the range of ports and the two-in-one design. The best factor about this laptop is its price. It is very affordable and is hence our best value laptop on the list.
Pros:
- High-quality finish and stylish look
- Excellent all-around performance
- The inbuilt security features are effective and useful
Cons:
- Battery life might be an issue
- It can get hot at times
Unfortunately, our most loved Dell XPS laptops have gotten costlier over the years and are now almost at the price range of the Apple MacBook Pro. not to argue if they deserve the price rise or not. This range of laptops is among the best-performing ones.
Not only that, but it is also the most beautifully designed laptop today. For example, the Dell XPS 13 is the one that is a power-packed laptop and is a load of premium features that gives you the best experience.
It features the best display and the best keyboard and trackpad use. The two-in-one design of this laptop is a steal. It gives you the option to switch between work and entertainment without switching between devices.
Pros:
- Beautiful and gorgeous design
- Best battery life
- High-definition screen quality
- Great storage
Cons:
- Very expensive
- Lackluster audio
#3 Acer Swift 3: Best Budget Laptops For Teachers
If you are concerned about budget overlooks, then go blindly for the Acer Swift 3 laptop. This is the best laptop for teachers with a fixed budget as it does not compromise on its performance and quality.
It features a comfortable keyboard and an accurate trackpad. With a quite decent battery life and lightweight build, this laptop has got everything you need.
The display is a promising one indeed. You might not be a lot satisfied with the speaker, but considering the price, it can be adjusted.
Pros:
- Great keyboard
- Excellent trackpad
- Affordable price.
- Amazing performance
- Good display
Cons:
- Look plain.
- Audio quality is not so good
# 4 Google Pixelbook Go: Best Mid-Ranged Chromebook For Teachers
We all know that Chromebooks are the best for educational purposes. These laptops are not only easy to use but also secure and straightforward. What else would be a better option for teachers than this Chromebook? Google Pixelbook Go is the best Chromebook on offer for the mid-range criteria.
Just like other Chromebooks, this too has a great battery life that will allow you to work through the whole day at school, do your after-class work and Netflix, and chill all in one single charge.
With the rare 1080p webcam, a quiet keyboard, and a gorgeous design, this is the best Chromebook one can have. The range of ports might be an issue, but that was compulsory to make the laptop so lightweight.
Pros:
- Awesome battery life
- Great Hush keyboard
- A very rare 1080p webcam
- Very lightweight
Cons:
- The price range might not be affordable to all.
- No biometric login was provided
#5 Acer Chromebook CB-314: Best Budget Chromebook For Teachers
So, you want a Chromebook that is budget-friendly too? We got you covered. Here is the Acer Chromebook CB-314 which is a great budget-friendly Chromebook with the ultimate features. It can unbelievably last up to 13 hours on a single charge. The performance this Chromebook offers is so impressive and great for multitasking.
It is effortless to use as well. This Acer Chromebook has not been left out in terms of providing the best trackpad, a terrific crisp and bright screen, a satisfying keyboard, a great selection of ports, and a laptop design.
Storage might be an issue if you are not saving all your files on the cloud. Otherwise, it has zero cons.
Pros:
- Long-lasting battery life
- Excellent performance
- Crisp and bright screen
- Satisfying keyboard
- A great trackpad
Cons:
- Does not support a touchscreen
- Do not have a fingerprint reader.
#6 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14: Best Laptop For Engineering Professors
For engineering professors, an excellent and powerful performance laptop is required. The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 laptop is originally a gaming laptop, and it still has the features that make it the best laptop for both learning engineering and teaching the subject.
This is mainly because of its great graphics card that delivers incredible graphics performance and the AMD processor. Another useful feature of this laptop is that it is absolutely thin and lightweight, making it super easy to carry around on campus.
It goes for up to 9 hours straight on a single charge and has a comfortable keyboard to be boasted on. It has a super-fast 120 Hz refresh rate and a 1080p great display.
Pros:
- It has the best battery life even after being a gaming laptop
- Wonderful performance
- High refresh rate
- Thin and lightweight
Cons:
- Does not have a webcam
- The fans are noisy
#7 Macbook Pro: Best Laptops For Teachers Of Design And Video Editing
Yes, you are thinking right. The MacBook Pro (16 inches, 2019) is the best MacBook Apple has ever made. It looks the best and has a powerful performance. This feature-rich laptop is the ultimate portable laptop for photo editing, design as well as video editing.
No, it is not just for creators. It is excellent for people who teach craft as well. The gorgeous display, the large trackpad, an excellent keyboard, and the lightweight and thin design that Apple has used to revolutionize the laptop world.
Just when you these were many features already; you get some more added features like the famous Touch Bar that offers a shortcut to applications like Photoshop or Lightroom for a smooth and efficient workflow.
Pros:
- A beautiful and stunning 16-inch screen.
- A better keyboard
- A touch bar for a seamless workflow.
- Lightweight and thin design.
Cons:
- Quite expensive.
- It is limited to four Thunderbolt three ports
Things To Consider Before Buying a Laptop For Online Teaching
Portability
This is something that is a must when you are supposed to travel. If you have to move around for your teaching job, you need to go for a thinner and very lightweight Ultrabook laptop.
These are the best companion for your traveling. It might be a little pricier than the normal ones, but it is surely worth the price. If you are a home-based based teacher, you do not have to consider buying one such laptop. A regular one will serve your purpose.
Online Teaching Requirements
Now with this online teaching trend, laptops are required to have some very minimal technical requirements, including:
- High-definition camera resolution for high-quality video conferences and online classes.
- CPU should be at least Intel Core i5.
- RAM should be a minimum of 8 GB.
- The HDD or SDD storage has to be at least 128 GB
- Wi-Fi should be 802. 11ac
- The operating system must be either Windows 10+ or Mac OS X.
- A screen size of 13 inches or more is necessary to avoid eye fatigue.
- The microphone should be of good quality, even though that can be resolved using a good headset
Price Range And Budget
A laptop ranging anything between $500 to $1,000 is a good choice for teachers. Laptops under that price range may not even serve your purpose.
Ethernet Cable
There are a few brands that prefer keeping the ethernet cable even when the WiFi is fast. But nowadays, the Ethernet connector is removed from the laptops to make them look thinner. However, it is not something to worry about. An external ethernet adaptor would work just fine and perform the same job.
7 Best Laptops for Online Teaching Wrapping Up
If you are a teacher or an educator and are looking for a laptop for online teaching, you have come across the right page. I hope we could provide you with the necessary information and links you required. Be sure to follow the buying guide before choosing a laptop for your job. You do not want to invest your money in something useless.
All these laptops we listed above are the best ones on the market. If you want an all-in-one laptop and that too in your budget, the HP Spectre x360 is your fit. If budget is not at all your concern, then surely go with our all-time favorite, the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 laptop.
Prefer a Chromebook and have a tight budget? The Acer Chromebook 314 is the answer. And again, if budget is not a concern and all you want is a good Chromebook, go for the Google Pixelbook Go.
We would recommend the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 for our engineering professors last but not least, we have the Macbook Pro for our designing and video editing teachers.