5 Best Laptops for Teaching and Online Classes

With the onset of distance learning, teachers looking to procure the best laptops for online classes and teaching are spoilt for choices. Seeing how you may already have oodles of homework and research papers to go through, the last thing you’d want to do is scour dozens of listings to find the best laptop for educators.

Well, fret not, as we’ve done the legwork for you. Below, you’ll find five enticing options that offer a good balance of performance and portability. We’ve also taken special note to include laptops with good webcams and sharp displays. But first, you might also want to read about the following topics –

• Are you on the hunt for a no-compromise gaming laptop? You should opt for one with an RTX 4080 GPU.
• Do you edit for a living? You may want to consider upgrading your rig by opting for the top laptops for video editing.
• Do you run a small business and want a dependable laptop for work? We’ve got just what you’re looking for.

Now, let’s take a closer look at the alternatives.

1. LG Gram 15

• Processor: Core i7-1360P | Webcam: Yes, 1080p
• Weight: 2.51lbs | On-board Storage: 512GB SSD
• Screen Size: 15.6-inch | Screen Resolution: Full HD (1,920 x 1,080)

To that end, the LG Gram 15 offers a healthy assortment of connectors, including two USB 3.2 Type-A ports and two Thunderbolt 4 connectors. You’ll also get a full-sized HDMI slot, a 3.5mm headphone and mic combo jack, and a microSD card slot. Needless to say, you will be able to connect the laptop to a projector seamlessly. You’ll also be able to connect a host of accessories, including PDF-laden USB drives, to the laptop without requiring a dongle, which is great.

Moving on, the laptop comes with Intel’s 13th Gen Core i7-1360P processor, comprising four performance and eight efficiency cores. Put together, the laptop can use 12 cores and up to 16 threads for strenuous workloads. In short, the laptop is more than adept at handling over a dozen tabs in Chrome and applications from Microsoft’s Office and Teams suite. The model we’ve shortlisted also has a 15.6-inch Full HD touchscreen display. The panel covers 100 percent of the sRGB color space, so you should be exposed to a wider gamut of colors, too.

More to the point, the laptop comes with Intel’s Evo certification and, as such, complies with a set of protocols that ensure its 80Whr battery runs for at least 9.5 hours at a stretch. What’s more, the unit comes with a MIL-STD-810H durability rating, so you don’t have to worry about babying it, either. Add to that a backlit keyboard and a Full HD webcam, and the LG Gram 15 is a terrific laptop for teachers.

2. ASUS Zenbook S 13 OLED

• Processor: Core i7-1355U | Webcam: Yes, 1080p
• Weight: 2.2lbs | On-board Storage: 1TB SSD
• Screen Size: 13.3-inch | Screen Resolution: 2.8K (2,880 x 1,800)

The laptop’s OLED display makes a world of a difference when watching movies or consuming media on the go, too. Additionally, the screen can get quite bright at 550 nits. So, you should be able to view documents and browse the interwebs when you’re sitting in a well-lit classroom, too. We should also add that the laptop tips the scales at just 2.2 lbs, so you won’t strain your wrist or shoulders carrying it from one room to the other.

The device’s port selection is adequate, although you may have to use a dongle if you rely on a bunch of accessories like a mouse and USB drives to get work done. To that end, the device comes with one USB 3.2 Type-A port, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, and an HDMI 2.1 slot. Since we’re on the subject, the laptop does, in fact, come with a backlit keyboard. It also gets a Full HD webcam, so you can take online classes without a hitch.

Under the hood, the laptop features Intel’s Core i7-1355U processor, which comes with 10 cores, including two performance and eight efficiency cores. While not as snappy as the 1360P processor, the 1355U should handle your schoolwork without any hassles. As for the battery backup, you’d be glad to know that the Zenbook S 13 OLED is also compliant with Intel’s Evo platform, so it should last you a full day easily.

3. ASUS Vivobook 16X OLED

• Processor: Core i9-13900H | Webcam: Yes, 720p
• Weight: 4.25lbs | On-board Storage: 1TB SSD
• Screen Size: 16-inch | Screen Resolution: 3.2K (3,200 x 2,000)

The Vivobook 16X OLED is powered by Intel’s top-of-the-line Core i9-13900H processor. The CPU gets six performance and eight efficiency cores and can deploy up to 20 threads for taxing workloads. Additionally, the P-cores can turbo up to 5.40GHz, so you’ll find the laptop quite snappy and responsive for day-to-day tasks. Moreover, the laptop has a 16-inch, 3.2K OLED display. The screen is quite accommodating, so you can open a handful of programs side by side.

At the same time, the OLED panel will exhibit vivid colors with excellent contrast. Additionally, the screen refreshes at 120Hz, offers a peak brightness of 550 nits, and covers 100 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut, too. All things considered, we wouldn’t blame you if you used the laptop to watch movies just as much as you use it for school work. Interestingly, the machine also comes with Nvidia’s RTX 4050 GPU, so you should be able to play casual eSports games like Counter-Strike 2 on the laptop as well.

The unit is a tad heavier at 4.25 lbs, but that’s to be expected from a machine with a 16-inch display. On the upside, the laptop comes with a rugged chassis that is compliant with the MIL-STD-810H rating, and it also offers a truckload of connectors, including a handful of USB Type-A ports, an SD card reader, and more.

4. Apple MacBook Air M2

• Processor: M2 Chip | Webcam: Yes, 1080p
• Weight: 3.3lbs | On-board Storage: 256GB SSD
• Screen Size: 15.3-inch | Screen Resolution: 2,880 x 1,864 pixels

The M2 SoC gets an 8-core CPU and a 10-core GPU. Additionally, you can spec the machine with up to 24GB of unified memory. Note that the model we’ve shortlisted gets 16GB of unified memory, which should suffice for the majority of users. Pool everything together, and the MacBook Air M2 is among the fastest laptops in its price range.

Additionally, the laptop’s 15.3-inch Liquid Retina display is a feast for the eyes. Not only can it exhibit over one billion colors, but it can get audaciously bright at 500 nits, too. The laptop’s unibody metal build will not leave buyers wanting for more style, either. Add to that, the laptop comes with a 1080p FaceTime HD camera which complements its six-speaker array superbly. As such, you will be able to hear your students clearly during online classes.

If anything, the laptop’s port selection is not the best, and the new MacBook Air only comes with two Thunderbolt ports. On the upside, the laptop’s battery backup will easily see you through the end of a heavy workday. Unsurprisingly, the MacBook Air with the M2 chip has amassed a slew of positive reviews, with the majority of buyers raving about its performance, build quality, and battery backup.

5. Dell XPS 15

• Processor: Core i7-13700H | Webcam: Yes, 720p
• Weight: 4.21lbs | On-board Storage: 1TB SSD
• Screen Size: 15.6-inch | Screen Resolution: Full HD+ (1,920 x 1,200)

That said, the SKU we’ve come up with guarantees excellent performance without burning a hole in your wallet. To wit, the laptop features Intel’s Core i7-13700H processor, which draws a lot of parallels to the 13900H processor powering the Vivobook 16X OLED. In fact, it offers the same core cluster as seen on the i9 chip. However, the 13700H’s P-cores can only turbo up to 5.00GHz, which is still plenty fast for the vast majority of users.

The laptop doesn’t get too many connectors and ships with two Thunderbolt 4 ports and a USB 3.2 Type-C connector. On the bright side, the company bundles a dongle in the box, adding a USB Type-A port and an HDMI 2.0 slot to the mix. You’ll also get a 720p webcam with the device, which should work well. Although, for its asking price, we would’ve liked to see a 1080p webcam with the laptop.

Moving on, the unit comes with a 15.6-inch FHD+ IPS screen, which gets sufficiently bright at 500 nits. The device also sports an elegant design that has been constructed in its entirety using aluminum. Suffice it to say, the Dell XPS 15 checks a lot of the right boxes and is a great laptop for teachers and online educators.

Teach Away!

And, that wraps up our list of the best laptops for online classes and teachers. Off the lot, you can opt for the MacBook Air M2 and the Vivobook 16X OLED if you want a high-performance laptop. That said, buyers looking for something more portable will find the LG Gram and the Zenbook S 13 OLED right up their alley, too. Do let us know which laptop you opted for in the comments below.