If you are a teacher, you are probably preparing for the upcoming school year. While pencils and sanitizer are no doubt important, the right laptop is an essential tool in today’s classroom. Of course, you want your purchase to be profitable, with the focus on the right features. You’ll need something that provides powerful processing performance. Sufficient storage is also important, so you don’t have to worry about storing a lot of documents and media files. If you don’t know where to start looking, don’t worry. The PCWorld team has done most of the hard work for you. In this article, we will highlight the best laptops for teachers available right now.
[Are you looking for a laptop for your little one? If so, be sure to check out best laptops for kids roundup]Asus VivoBook Pro 16X OLED is the best overall
pros
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Beautiful 4K OLED display
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Long battery life
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Useful tool DialPad
Minuses
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Design lacks flair
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Weak webcam
Asus VivoBook Pro 16X OLED meets many requirements. First, a superb 4K OLED display that delivers vibrant colors and deep blacks. A clear image should help prevent eye strain and/or tension headache if that was the problem. But the VivoBook is more than just a pretty display. It also packs quite a bit of power under the hood. Let’s take a look, shall we?
The VivoBook is equipped with a Ryzen 9 5900HX processor, 32GB of RAM and 1TB of PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD. This is enough for multitasking or running multiple applications at the same time. Caveats: The webcam is nothing special, and the fingerprint scanner is cranky. However, these are not significant shortcomings. All in all, the Pro is a fantastic machine for most needs.
Read our full Asus VivoBook Pro 16X OLED review
Acer Aspire 5 – best budget
pros
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Affordable price
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Sturdy build
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Great keyboard
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Good selection of ports
Minuses
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Additional webcam
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Annoying malware pre-installed
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Touchpad is a bit difficult to use
The Acer Aspire 5 is a great option for budget-conscious teachers. It is available at a reasonable price and the performance is sufficient for everyday tasks such as email writing, online research and homework assessment. The keyboard has plenty of room, perfect for long typing sessions. While all of that is good, the internals are what make this laptop a bargain.
This laptop is equipped with an Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor, 8GB RAM and 256GB PCIe SSD. The 14-inch display has 1080p resolution and a matte finish. The keyboard is high, with a spacious layout. Our tester found it to be “fast, accurate and user friendly”. However, the design is a bit utilitarian and the touchpad takes some getting used to. All in all, the pros far outweigh the cons.
Read our full Acer Aspire 5 review
Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro 360 is the most portable
pros
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Large high contrast OLED screen
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Fantastic battery life
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Top-notch 12th generation core performance
Minuses
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Medium keyboard
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Webcam not working as expected
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Fingerprint reader requires re-authentication
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Tons of additional apps
If you are looking for a lightweight and powerful machine, the Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro 360 certainly fits the bill. Made from aluminum, the laptop weighs just over three pounds. It is thin and strong, a rare combination. The Pro 360 packs a solid punch in its slim design.
It runs on an Intel Core i7-1260P processor, Intel Iris Xe graphics, 16GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD. The 15.6-inch AMOLED display has a resolution of 1080p. According to our tester, the display “covered 100 percent of the sRGB color gamut, 94 percent of AdobeRGB, and 100 percent of the S3 color gamut at default settings.” The trade-offs are a mediocre keyboard and a finicky fingerprint scanner. If you can live with those niggles, the Pro 360 is a great choice for teachers who value mobility.
Read our full Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro 360 review
Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 (2022) is the best 2-in-1
pros
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Rugged and elegant all-metal body
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Long battery life
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Impressive audio output
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Comfortable keyboard
Minuses
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16:9 screen feels cramped
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The included stylus is too thin
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small touchpad
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Restricted ports are all on the left side
If you’re looking for versatility, the Lenovo Yoga 9i is for you. It’s 2-in-1, which means you can set it up as a table-sharing tent, or fold down the screen completely and use the device like a tablet. The all-metal chassis is chic and durable.
The Yoga 9i features an Intel Core i7-1260P processor, Intel Iris Xe graphics, 16GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage. The 14-inch display has a resolution of 3840×2160 and HDR support. The 74 watt-hour battery is also quite large for such a relatively thin 2-in-1 device. When we subjected the machine to an intensive battery test, it lasted about 12 hours on a single charge.
Yes, the 16:9 aspect ratio makes the screen cramped and the touchpad smaller than we’d like. However, the Yoga 9i is a good buy.
Read our full Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 (2022) review
Acer Chromebook Spin 713 – Best battery life ever
pros
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High performance
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Good build quality
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Good selection of ports
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beautiful display
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Solid battery life
Minuses
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No privacy shutter on webcam
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boring design
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Fan noise is a little loud
The Acer Chromebook Spin 713 has amazing battery life. When we ran our battery test, which cycles video and everyday tasks, the machine continued to run for 14 hours. Teachers don’t have to worry about being online during the school day, that’s for sure. The Spin is also 2-in-1, making it versatile in its ability to take a bedchair, tablet, or tent. In terms of build quality, for a Chromebook, it’s pleasantly solid. There is no noticeable flex in the keyboard tray.
The Spin 714 is equipped with an Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of PCIe SSD. The choice of ports is also quite diverse. You get USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, HDMI, a microSD card slot, and a headphone jack. While this Chromebook has a lot to offer, it does have a few minor issues. The fan noise can be loud under heavy loads, and there is no physical privacy shutter on the webcam. But overall, a good laptop with outstanding battery life.
How We Tested
The PCWorld team puts every Windows laptop through a series of tests that check GPU and CPU performance, battery life, and more. The idea is to push the laptop beyond its limits and then compare it to others we’ve tested. On the other hand, Chromebooks go through a series of web tests. It would be impossible to run the same tests on Chromebooks since they run Chrome OS. Below you will find a breakdown of each test.
Notebooks with Windows
- PCMark 10: The PCMark 10 test is how we measure how well a laptop performs on general use tasks such as web browsing, word processing, spreadsheets, streaming, and more.
- HandBrake: HandBrake is more intensive than PCMark 10. It measures how long it takes a laptop processor to encode a powerful 30GB file.
- Cinebench: Cinebench is a short stress test of processor cores. It renders a 2D scene in a short amount of time.
- 3DMark: 3DMark checks to see if 3D performance remains consistent over time by running graphics-intensive clips. Here’s how we test the GPU of a gaming laptop.
- Video testing: To measure battery life, we loop 4K video using the Windows 10 Movies & TV app until the laptop is turned off.
Chromebooks
- CrXPRT 2: The CrXPRT 2 test tests your Chromebook’s battery life.
- Speedometer 2.0: This test measures the performance of the Chromebook web browser. It mimics this by adding, completing, and deleting a to-do list.
- Basemark Web 3.0: This test measures how well a Chromebook can handle web applications.
- Kraken 1.1: Kraken 1.1 is a JavaScript benchmark.
- Jetstream 2: Jetstream 2 is a combination of WebAssembly and JavaScript tests. This is how we gauge how well a Chromebook handles extended workloads.
Frequently Asked Questions about Laptops for Teachers
Most educators don’t really need the latest high-end laptop with incredibly powerful components. You’ll need something that can handle daily coursework and multitasking with dexterity. The most important internal components are the processor, RAM, and storage. A fast processor will be critical when it comes to completing tasks, and RAM will improve the overall performance of the browser. You will also need a good amount of memory.
What processing power do I need?
You won’t need a ton of processing power when it comes to simple tasks like grading homework, researching topics, answering student emails, etc. That’s why we recommend aiming for something with an Intel Core i5 processor. It’s nimble enough for everyday use, but at a reasonable price. If you need more power, choose the Intel Core i7.
What about RAM?
To get the best performance out of your laptop, we recommend at least 8GB of DDR4 RAM. This will help your machine run more smoothly, especially if you are running multiple programs at the same time. 16GB RAM is definitely better, but it might be a little overkill depending on what you’re doing.
How important is storage?
If you save homework and other important files on your laptop, you will need at least 512 GB of SSD storage. Solid state drives are faster and quieter than hard drives. They are also more durable and energy efficient. If you’re using a Chromebook, you don’t have to worry too much about storage since you can save everything in the cloud.
How much should my laptop weigh?
A portable laptop should weigh about three pounds or less. In terms of portability and value, we suggest purchasing a laptop with a 13-inch or 14-inch display.
Does screen quality matter?
Teachers spend a lot of time in front of a screen. If you suffer from eye strain or tension headaches, don’t settle for anything less than 1080p. If you can up your budget a bit, 4K should deliver a very crisp picture, while OLED tends to deliver more accurate color reproduction.