By Robin Owens 17 days ago, Hardware
The best cheap laptops for online classes.
Due to fast technology development, distant learning has become easier and more convenient. Now you can get an education from anywhere in the world. The most important thing that you need to have for distant learning or teaching is a good laptop for online classes. In this article, you will find out about 7 best models for this purpose.
You don’t need to have a fancy laptop for online learning. The main requirements for this process are a stable Internet connection and software for video and audio calls, sharing photos, texts, etc. While almost all laptops can offer it, you need to get a laptop with good performance to avoid any issues.
CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 3200U | GPU: Vega 3 | RAM: 4 GB | Storage: 128 GB | Display: 15.6-inch | Weight: 3.97 pound
⊕ Slim and lightweight
⊕ Long-lasting battery
⊕ Many connectivity options
⊕ Affordable
⊖ No touchscreen option
This laptop for online classes comes with a dual-core mobile processor, AMZ Ryzen 3 3200U, which has a clock speed of about 2.6 GHz that can reach up to 3.5 GHz. The CPU doesn’t have an in-built graphics chip, but there is a separate mobile graphics card with the AMZ Radeon Vega 3 Mobile. This laptop boasts a Full HD IPS 15-inch display.
This model features BlueLightShield, which protects your eyes from strain after long hours of use. It comes with two built-in speakers and a microphone. Besides, it supports the Acer TrueHarmony technology for better sound quality.
CPU: Intel Core i5 | GPU: Intel Iris Plus Graphics 645 | RAM: 8 GB | Storage: 256 GB | Display: 13.3-inch | Weight: 3.1 pound
⊕ Amazing Retina display
⊕ Backlit Magic keyboard
⊕ Very fast SSD
⊕ Boasts Force Touch trackpad
⊖ The battery doesn’t last long
This laptop for online college boasts an 8th generation quad-core Core i5 CPU with 1.4GHz base clock speed and power consumption of 15 watts. With this device, you can perform your tasks quickly and effectively. Its keyboard has sophisticated scissor switches with 1mm key travel for an excellent typing experience.
The Touch Bar shortcuts are easy to access, and Touch ID guarantees fast authentication. The Retina display has colorful LED backlighting with rich blacks and vivid whites. This model has a dynamic soundstage, which feels and sounds better than you could expect from its physical dimensions.
CPU: AMD A6-9220C | GPU: AMD Radeon R5 | RAM: 4 GB | Storage: 32 GB | Display: 14-inch | Weight: 3.28 pound
⊕ Small size
⊕ Optimized UI
⊕ Long battery life
⊕ In-built antivirus protection
⊖ Not the best webcam
This is one of the best laptops for online students as it’s simple to use, has in-built antivirus protection and a powerful battery. It has the 7th Generation AMD A6-9220 APU with Radeon R5 Graphics for convenient photo and video editing.
Thanks to the IPS touchscreen display, you can enjoy watching videos without distraction from any angle. You can easily connect your devices to this laptop through very fast USB-C 3.1 and USB-A 3.1 ports. It is also fitted with an audio jack. Thanks to in-built Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, you can enjoy a stable connection and high-speed data transfer.
CPU: Intel Core i3 | GPU: Intel Iris Plus Graphics | RAM: 8 GB | Storage: 256 GB | Display: 13.3-inch | Weight: 2.8 pound
⊕ Thin
⊕ Touch ID
⊕ The battery lasts for one day
⊕ Comes with stereo speakers
⊖ Not the best option for heavy workloads
This laptop features an aluminum body, a 13-inch Retina display, thin black frames and a Force Touch trackpad. Due to more than 4 million pixels and a resolution of 2560x1600, its display produces bright and sharp colors and text. Also, it supports True Tone, which adjusts the white balance of the screen depending on the lighting level in your room and provides a natural viewing experience.
This device comes with a chip and a Touch ID fingerprint sensor that you can use instead of a password. The main advantage of this model is its new Magic Keyboard that has scissor switches, which are more durable than the butterfly switches that can be found in the previous Mac laptops.
CPU: Intel Celeron N4000 | GPU: Intel UHD Graphics 600 | RAM: 4 GB | Storage: 64 GB | Display: 11.6-inch | Weight: 2.2 pound
⊕ Lightweight
⊕ Has an ergonomic keyboard
⊕ Bright screen colors
⊕ Robust 180° hinge
⊖ Narrow viewing angles
This is the best laptop for online classes as it has an 11.6-inch non-touchscreen HD display with an aspect ratio of 16:9 and 1366×768 screen resolution. It features the 1.1GHz Intel Celeron N4000 processor that was launched at the beginning of 2018. The CPU can speed up to 2.6GHz thanks to the Turbo Boost technology, which is perfect for running resource-consuming programs.
Also, this model has 4 GB of RAM and a 64 GB eMMC SSD. There is also a Micro-SD card slot for transferring pictures from your camera. This device is perfect for those who often use laptops on the go. Its battery lasts up to 10 hours on a single charge.
CPU: AMD Dual-Core A4-9120e | GPU: AMD Radeon R3 | RAM: 4 GB | Storage: 64 GB | Display: 14-inch | Weight: 3.2 pound
⊕ Comes with a digital media card reader
⊕ WLED backlighting
⊕ 1 TB of cloud storage
⊕ Affordable
⊖ Lacks touchscreen
This laptop for online college features a 14-inch WLED-backlit display, a resolution of 1366 x 768, 64 GB of eMMC storage (flash memory similar to an SD card that is used instead of a solid-state drive). This slim model is ideal for working, studying and gaming. It has 1 TB of cloud storage for your images, videos, documents and other files.
Besides, it has Bios recovery and protection options, which automatically monitor the state of your laptop, protect it from unauthorized access, guarantee the security of local storage and recover your data after boot-up issues. The laptop can last up to 7 hours when you are using a wireless connection to watch videos from streaming platforms.
CPU: Intel Celeron N4020 Dual-Core | GPU: Intel UHD Graphics 600 | RAM: 4 GB | Storage: 32 GB | Display: 11.6-inch | Weight: 2.62 pound
⊕ Compact
⊕ Excellent build quality
⊕ Features IPS touchscreen
⊕ Universal 360° hinge
⊖ Dull screen
This laptop features an 11.6-inch scratch-resistant Antimicrobial Corning Gorilla Glass IPS touchscreen. It has in-built storage for you to access necessary files as well as 100 GB of Google Drive space for automatic backups. Due to its 360-degree hinge, you can rotate it at different angles.
Also, this model comes with USB-C and USB-A ports, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, which allows you to connect several devices to it simultaneously. Also, it has a webcam for video calls in Google Hangouts, a MicroSD slot and an audio jack.
| Image | Name | Features | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Acer Aspire 5 Slim
Our Choice |
CHECK PRICE→ | |
 |
MacBook Pro 13
Compact |
CHECK PRICE → | |
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Lenovo Chromebook S330
Inexpensive |
CHECK PRICE → |
Laptops are perfect for online learning as all modern models have in-built high-quality webcams by default. There are plenty of options suitable for studying, but you have to take into account some particular aspects when looking for the best laptop for online classes.
There are plenty of processors for different budgets and purposes. When selecting a laptop, people often need to choose between a better performance and good battery capacity. However, you can choose the Intel’s latest 10th Generation Core CPU that delivers good performance and has great battery life.
If you are looking for a laptop with a long-lasting battery and spend a lot of time using a web browser, it’s a good idea to get a Chromebook. They usually have low-powered processors, such as Intel Celeron and Pentium chips, and provide enough power to solve regular tasks. On the other hand, a device with Windows 10 or macOS and an Intel Core i5 or Core i7 processor is the best laptop for graphic design.
Size depends on how you are planning to use your laptop and whether you need a portable version. If a screen is small, a laptop will be slim and lightweight. A large screen laptop has a bigger size and weight. Check out the 3 most popular sizes and aspects you need to take into consideration for each of them.
13-inch screen. This size is perfect for those who are going to use a device for online teaching only. You can find different options of this size at various prices. There are extra slim models and the ones with more advanced specs. This screen size is the most convenient of the three, especially if you often carry a laptop with you.
15-inch screen. The golden mean as it’s not big and not small either. This size is suitable for video editing. Besides, you can use such laptops for Photoshop. Such laptops are sufficiently large for high-quality hardware, which makes them more performance-oriented. At the same time, they are very portable and lightweight, so you can easily carry your laptop with you. This size is perfect for working and studying online.
17-inch screen. A large and heavy laptop. Such size is suitable for gamers or those who want to use a laptop as a replacement for a desktop computer. It’s not the best size for online classes.
With the increasing prevalence of cloud storage, having a lot of local storage is not so significant as before. However, make sure that your laptop still satisfies your needs. If you plan to install a lot of programs or want to store lots of large media files, you’ll need a 500 GB or larger hard drive. If you perform most of your tasks online, consider getting a more laptop with less storage space.
In my opinion, the best models are: The Acer Aspire 5 Slim is the best inexpensive Ryzen laptop. The MacBook Pro 13 is the best compact model. The Lenovo Chromebook S345 is the best cheap laptop.
Dell laptops have faster and more powerful processors than HP devices. However, HP laptops are also robust and provide better battery life, which is very helpful if you have a heavy workload.
The Core i5 CPU is the perfect processor for this purpose.
Most users will be satisfied with almost any modern processor. Choose the one that has a minimum of 2.2 GHz clock speed. Quad-core processors are usually too powerful for laptops, and they wear out the battery faster, while dual-core processors are ideal for laptops for web design.
