As the pandemic consumed the world back in late 2019 - early 2020, people across the globe had to instantaneously shift towards a digital, online platform. This affected almost everyone throughout the world from mega corporations, SMEs, Mom and Pop shops, universities, the film industry, teachers and students. Basically, the entire human race, for the first time, en masse turned to an all-online platform overnight through all industries. In particular, one of the most pressing issues at the very beginning was teaching online, finding the best laptops for online teaching and how would students adapt to the system.
At first, both students and teachers faced difficulties in trying to move to an online teaching platform and e-learning while adapting efficiently. The systems were new, and there was a learning curve to the whole experience.
Eventually, humans as always, adapted quickly to digital classrooms like on Zoom, Google Meet, Skype and a myriad of options. Online teaching also evolved to other aspects of education with things like Quizziz, Kahoot! and Quizlet Live. That being said, for teachers and educators globally, having a fast laptop will help ease the transition and ensure sufficient power to educate more efficiently.
Today we're going to be taking a look through some great laptop brands, optimized and sufficiently powered for educators worldwide. We'll be listing out five great laptops to find the undeniable best laptop for online teaching. But before that, let's take a look at some of the more important aspects for teachers to consider when they're on the search to replace that old, decrepit laptop from 2012. Let's get straight into it!
Important Features To Look For
There are a wide variety of features that teachers and lecturers should look out for in a laptop. The best laptop for online classes will hit most if not all of these features to fully optimize the teaching experience. Some of the important features to look out for include the screen, processor, RAM/storage and webcam/keyboard. Mainly because all these components are directly impacting many factors that teachers and lecturers face on a day-to-day basis.
1. Screen & Display
One of the most sought out features on any laptop is the screen and display panel. Mainly for the screen we look at two important aspects that makes a laptop much more appealing: screen size and display resolution.
Screen Size
For the screen size, you're not going to have to consider too much besides the typical screen sizes available in the market. Your best bet would be to go for a laptop with either a 14-inch or 15.6-inch screen. If you were looking for something a little more portable you could opt for a 13.3-inch screen but typically, in my opinion, a 13.3-inch screen size compromises just a smidge too much.
For online teaching, I'll add that if you don't have great eyesight or suffer from eye fatigue relatively easily, a bigger screen would be a preferable option. Having a bigger screen with a high resolution enhances clarity and lessens the burden on your eyes from trying to focus on smaller elements on screen.
Display/Screen Resolution
Speaking of a high resolution, our base resolution for the best laptop for online teaching should be a Full HD (1920 x 1080) display. Having at the very least a Full HD display is the most optimal option as most of these laptops are affordable following the recent industry norm.
You can compromise with a HD screen for a better deal, but as teaching online you're staring at a screen all day formulating syllabuses and other teacher stuff. Having a great looking, crisp, and clear screen will make your life just that much easier.
2. Processor
Having a capable processor is always a great investment for a laptop. Having a flagship level processor like one of the latest 10th Gen Intel Core i5 or Intel Core i7 processor is the most ideal situation for adequate firepower for all sorts of functionality. For online teaching though, considering you don't need the best, even older 8th Gen or 9th Gen Intel Core i5 / Intel Core i7 processors should do the trick. You can also opt for the minimal power of a dual core processor if you were looking for a lower budget laptop. I wouldn't recommend that whole heartedly, but a dual core processor will still be fully capable of getting on a Zoom call and preparing assignments. But while your class is running, you might face issues when you're multitasking on a video client, running slides on screen, and managing other tasks on your laptop.
For teachers though, I'd say that most laptops will help you get the job done. But a capable processor is quintessential for steady performance, so don't dip too far in this aspect. One thing I will add though for the most part you're going to be running CPU intensive tasks, a lower-end GPU is a great option to get costs down. Having a moderately powered Intel HD Graphics card will be more than sufficient to handle your most day-to-day tasks without many issues. Nowadays however, Intel has moved on from the Intel HD graphics card to their new UHD graphics, so we'll keep an eye out for that.
However, if you will be creating extra graphics, image editing or maybe have to run graphically intensive processes for class, you should opt for a little more power than an Intel HD Graphics GPU.
3. RAM and Storage
Storage
How much RAM and storage you have on your laptop equates to how fast you can do something on a laptop, and storage relates to how many files, images, videos and documents you can store on-board. For the most part, having at the very least 4GB RAM and a 256GB solid state drive (SSD) should be just enough for most teachers and educators. We're opting for a Solid State Drive (SSD) rather than the standard Hard Drive (HDD) as these are mostly antiquated now with slower processing speeds. Having a Solid State Drive will help things like a faster start up time, faster copy/write speeds, and overall faster program and file load times.
The perks of a hard drive however, you can get around with a higher storage size for a lower price. This is a great option for the criminally underpaid teachers on a budget out there. You can also opt for an external hard drive just to get that extra reassurance on storage. But since many educators are online teaching right now, using cloud storage should be the best option for your files, class reports and other documents.
RAM
Now that we've covered the best storage options for the best laptop for teaching online, let's talk about the RAM specifications. As I mentioned earlier, you could get away with 4GB RAM fairly easily. However, for the optimal online teaching experience the more RAM you have, the easier it is to multitask and load up programs and applications. Going for a higher capacity 8GB or 16GB RAM will be the best option for the best laptop for online teachers.
This will ensure you don't face the dreaded load times while trying to show your students something on-screen. It's great when your class goes smooth like that and will also help you manage that little stress that comes with operating online by yourself. Technical difficulties are almost a guarantee for online teaching, so having a large RAM and hard drive capacity will make things much easier to manage.
4. Webcam and Keyboard
And finally, now we'll talk about possibly the most important, integral, quintessential feature for online teaching: your webcam.
Webcam
Now, for the most part you're able to get on Zoom and Skype with almost any laptop on the market right now. But some of the best laptop brands out there will equip their laptops with capable, high resolution webcams. Especially now, it's almost vital for online teaching because you have to communicate with your students effectively. Without showing your face on camera, your students might feel a bit disconnected from the lessons.
In this digital age, especially with online teaching being the new normal having a reliable, and clear webcam is detrimental. One of the best webcams you'll see most often is at least a 720p resolution webcam. This should be more than enough to handle day-to-day classes and lectures relatively smoothly.
Keyboard
Another factor I bunched with the webcam is the keyboard as it's very, very important to the whole experience. Your keyboard is something you will interact with on a daily basis on the laptop with a whole variety of different utility. Writing reports, grading papers and tests to checking your emails, browsing the internet and all sorts of writing. Long form writing with an incompatible keyboard can be a pain. For the most part, your best bet will have to be an island style keyboard with a backlit keyboard. I mention a backlit keyboard as it'll help tremendously through those late nights typing out remarks for your students.
Now that we've gone through some of the more important features the best laptop for online teaching requires, let's get straight into the list!
Best Laptop For Online Teaching
1. Acer Aspire 5
The Acer Aspire 5 is a great budget friendly option for teachers adapting to the learning curve of an online learning platform. Teaching isn't easy, but at the very least, the Acer Aspire makes things easier to manage with some great specs for a fantastic price point. On the display the Acer Aspire 5 holds a 15.6-inch Full HD display which is pretty good considering the price point. The display also hold some relatively smaller bezels around the frame, further enhancing the screen size. While it doesn't have the fancy bells and whistles of a 4K flagship display, it's more than enough for handling everyday teaching tasks.
The great thing about the Acer Aspire 5 laptop is the accompanying power. It comes with one of the latest 10th Gen Intel Core i5-1035G1 processor, 8GB RAM and a standard 256GB SSD for the hard drive storage. In particular the most impressive is the 10th Gen Intel Core i5 processor that really does add in great performance, as well as futureproofing your laptop for a few extra years. For the GPU, the laptop comes with an Intel UHD Graphics card. It's the upgraded, rebranded version of the lower powered Intel HD Graphics card which should be more than capable for teaching. One thing to consider about the laptop is that it comes with just a HD webcam with a 720p resolution. It's not the best, but will get you through a full day of Zoom classes easily.
The laptop is running on the latest Windows 10 operating system, comes with up to 8 hours battery life and has a white backlit keyboard for a better typing experience. Another great feature set that you don't usually see as often on a budget laptop is the full array of ports available. On the sides of the laptop, it comes with a USB-C port, two USB-3.1 ports, one USB-2.0 port and a HDMI port. The added benefit of a USB-C port is great since many devices like smartphones, other laptops, external hard drives, etc. have dedicated USB-C ports and cables. All these added benefits are a great addition as one of the best laptops for teaching online and comes at a very attractive price point.
2. MacBook Air
The latest MacBook Air 2020 is a great option for teachers looking for one of Apple's best laptops and a lightweight companion. The biggest sell on the MacBook Air has, and will almost always be the fact that it's so light and portable. This year's MacBook Air no exception with some great power on board. Before that, the laptop comes with a 13.3-inch Retina (2566 x 1600) display with Apple's patented True Tone tech for automatic light adjustments. There's a bunch more features on the display that helps text and other content look even sharper, and even a P3 wide color gamut which makes a wider range of colors more vibrant.
Besides the great display and design language, the laptop houses some sizable power. The MacBook Air comes with Apple's latest M1 Chip which they claim is the 'fastest CPU Apple has ever made.' Which when you look at the context of them only using Intel processors since 2006, is pretty damn obvious. But adding to this speedy performing SoC is 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD storage. All these specs combined together to make a fairly competent, powerful, and lightweight laptop for teachers. Though I will add, this laptop is using Apple's latest macOS Big Sur so I wouldn't recommend this to teachers who aren't used to Apple's ecosystem and operating system.
Some other great features the laptop comes with is up to 18 hours of battery life, a HD webcam with image signal processor for better clarity video calls, and a pretty great backlit keyboard. The laptop also comes with some Apple exclusive features like Touch ID as a fingerprint reader and a scissor mechanism on their keyboard to heighten the typing experience. Overall, a powerful and well designed, super lightweight premium laptop. The price tag is higher than most, but that's to be expected from Apple's infamous pricing strategies.
3. HP Pavilion 15
The latest HP Pavilion 15 is a solid choice for teachers everywhere. The laptop does everything right with some great power to get you through almost any program/application you need. To start with, the laptop comes with a 15.6-inch Full HD display with an admirable screen-to-body ratio. The screen size is almost popping out with the smaller bezels around the frame, which I personally am a big fan of. Besides the display, I do enjoy the boxy, minimalist look with just enough detail to project a premium image. However, the design and dazzling display isn't the only thing this laptop has got going for it.
Internally the HP Pavilion 15 comes with the latest 11th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB RAM and 512 GB SSD. All the specs on-board this laptop are just so attractive, especially when you consider the reasonable price tag. The 11th Gen Intel Core i7 processor is a very powerful and capable SoC which will handle all your teaching tasks while providing an outlet to relieve some stress with the entertainment capabilities. Speaking of entertainment, accompanying the great screen is speakers tuned by Bang&Olufsen which should provide crystal clear, punchy audio.
The laptop also comes with some added extras including up to 8 hours of battery life with HP Fast Charge which gets you from 0-50% in 45 minutes. That added to the HP Wide Vision webcam which allows for 88-degree wide angle shots in a 720p resolution. Overall, a fantastic laptop with everything going for it from the price, the aesthetics, and serious firepower built-in.
4. Lenovo IdeaPad 3
One great thing about this laptop, the Lenovo IdeaPad 3 is the upgraded internals while keeping a relatively simple, attractive design. On the display you get a 15.6-inch HD touchscreen which makes for a great screen size, but lacking in resolution. But what you lose with the resolution you gain in touchscreen functionality and based on what teaching online requires, this should be more than sufficient. The design language around the laptop is fairly simple with textured lined back panel and a gray tone throughout the laptop. Simple, but very effective I'd say.
Powering the laptop is a 10th Gen Intel Core i5-1035G1 processor with accompanying 20GB RAM and a 512GB SSD for some moderately powered performance. The 10th Gen Intel Core i5 processor is powered up just enough to handle some CPU intensive tasks, making the Lenovo IdeaPad 3 a solid performer for the money. On the GPU however, the laptop houses a Intel UHD Graphics card AKA Intel HD graphics with some better memory and speed. Not the best around, but certainly more than capable for most teachers for online lessons.
Some other great extras the laptop comes with includes Windows 10 Home, a webcam shutter for the 720p webcam for added security, and a 2-Cell 35WH battery which should get you at least 4-5 hours of battery life. Overall a great package, with a simplistic design and great internal specs.
5. ASUS VivoBook 15
Out of all the laptops we've seen thus far, the ASUS VivoBook 15 is one of the most attractive. Mostly because of the amalgamation of a stellar selling price, sleek aesthetics, and packed feature set. You'll get what I mean as we get through the spec sheet. Firstly, on the display we've got fantastic 15.6-inch FHD display with NanoEdge bezels all around the four corners of the laptop. This results in a really generous 88% screen-to-body ratio which translates to a super attractive laptop screen. One of the best features on the laptop is the enticing aesthetic value for an affordable price. Many budget laptops out there won't match up to these aesthetics with a great looking screen and minimalist single tone design throughout the laptop.
But that's not all, the laptop also comes with an AMD Ryzen 5 3500U processor, 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD. If you can't tell, these are some of the best specs we've seen when you compare the prices of some of the laptop brands we've seen so far. AMD's processors are capable and very much comparable to Intel's processor lineups. You won't face too many issues especially with the supporting 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD for fast program load times and no lag in the performance.
Some other great extras the laptop comes with includes an ergonomic backlit keyboard with a ErgoLift design for an optimal typing position. That plus the built-in fingerprint reader on the trackpad makes for quick access to your desktop among other possible uses. The laptop also comes with a HD webcam and up to 7 hours battery life with a fast charge which gets you 0-60% in 49 minutes. Overall a very well rounded laptop covering all the right aspects for a stunning price point.
Conclusion
Out of all the laptops we've seen thus far, only one has earned the title of the best of the best laptops for online teaching.
And today, our winner is none other than the ASUS VivoBook 15!
This laptop just provides best in-class performance with a substantial discount from some of the other laptops we've seen already. The deadly combo of the powerful internals, attractive design and affordable price tag nets the laptop a win as the best laptop for online teaching! Some of the best features on it is the laser focus on productivity, portrayed by the attention to the typing experience and powerful processor to get the best out of all your programs. Plus, you're gonna look good doing it too. That's always a plus point in my book.
