Getting admission into a conventional/online college or school is a great idea to continue your studies. This is a rising idea among modern millennials: studying online.
However, before getting into an online school, make sure you have the right resources to take your classes online. A good laptop is a must-have to study online that can take the load.
If you are a college or university student, then a good laptop is very helpful in your studies during the COVID-19 pandemic closure of educational institutions. But here’s the point: how do you select the best laptop for online classes?
While keeping the price and the reasonable specs of the laptop in mind when buying a laptop.
Tick off the basics while purchasing a laptop such as a best quality webcam and mic, lightweight, attractive design, comfortable, and good battery timing.
Whether you are involved in remote learning or going to campus, a good laptop is mandatory to solve your study problems.
It is hard to find the best match for your needs at a low price. But here we made a list of the best laptops for online classes, so you can choose the right one for you according to your budget.
Recommendations for Best Laptop For Online Classes
Here we are sharing a list of the top 10 best laptops for online classes. To study online your laptops must have certain specific features that can support your online study to create projects, presentations, PDFs, doing internet research, and much more.
Check the list below to avoid all kinds of issues such as storage, webcam, sound, and processor, etc during your online study.
| IMAGE | PRODUCTS | FEATURES | PRICE |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Apple MacBook Pro | Display: 16 Inches RAM: 16GB Storage: 512GB SSD Battery: Up to 11 hours | |
 | Samsung Chromebook 4 | Display: 11.6 Inches RAM: 6GB Storage: 64GB SSD Battery: Up to 12.5 hours | |
 | Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5 | Display: 13.3 Inches RAM: 4GB Storage: 64GB SSD Battery: Up to 10 hours | |
 | Apple MacBook Air | Display: 13.3 Inches RAM: 8GB Storage: 256GB SSD Battery: Up to 12 hours | |
 | Acer Swift 3 | Display: 14 Inches RAM: 8GB Storage: 512GB SSD Battery: Up to 5 hours | |
 | Acer Aspire 1 A115 | Display: 15.6 Inches RAM: 4GB Storage: 64GB SSD Battery: Up to 10 hours | |
 | Acer Chromebook 314 | Display: 14 Inches RAM: 4GB Storage: 64GB SSD Battery: Up to 5 hours | |
 | ASUS TUF TUF506IU-ES74 | Display: 15.6 Inches RAM: 16GB Storage: 512GB SSD | |
 | Microsoft Surface Laptop Go | Display: 12.4 Inches RAM: 8GB Storage: 128GB SSD | |
 | Samsung Galaxy Book Ion | Display: 13.3 Inches RAM: 8GB Storage: 512GB SSD Battery: Up to 22 hours |
How to Select the Best Laptop for Online Classes? – Buyer Guide
While selecting the best cheap laptops for online classes spend money on the right device. How would you know which one is the right notebook for you?
Well, some important things should be kept in mind. Your laptop must have a certain inches screen size, Webcam, Mic, RAM, processor, storage etc, so you can enjoy the whole online session of video calling or in zoom classes.
Webcam and Mic
Nowadays most laptops come with a built-in webcam and digital microphones. Usually, these are sufficient for the majority of students, teachers. But if you want to experience HQ streaming then choose a laptop having 1080p resolution with 60 frames per second.
Processor
The processor should be a minimum Intel Core i5 or higher or AMD Ryzen 5 or higher with 8GB of RAM and SSD storage.
Battery timing must be good that keeps you unplugged for a minimum of 9 hours. Go for 2in1, so it will be comfortable for you whether you want to use it in a laptop or tablet mode.
Display
It is one of the most important features while purchasing a laptop for online study. You should go for right-for-you screen size that has good brightness level, clarity, aspect ratio, and crispness. It should not hurt the eyes during the long study hours.
The larger screen is considered best for this purpose. Screen size must be of 12.4 inches and the recommended size is 15 inches or higher.
RAM
High-end RAM is also necessary to be considered in a while. As the high RAM memory can boost the laptop performance and carry workload smoothly.
Choose a laptop with least 4-8 GB RAM and the more is recommended like 12 GB or 16 GB.
Storage
For the online study, your laptop must have huge space to store your study notes or has expandable storage options. Always go for the laptop that has huge storage space to run your tasks efficiently.
Minimum storage should be 256 GB and the recommended size is 512GB.
What Minimum and Recommended Specifications are Required?
While choosing the right laptop for you, consider certain specs to have a great experience. For the online study, your laptop should have some specific specs to support your online study.
Here we are sharing minimum and recommended specs that you need to know before going to make a purchase.
| Features | Minimum | Recommended |
| RAM | 4 GB | 8 GB – 16 GB |
| Processor | Core i3 | Intel 9th or 10th Gen or AMD’s Ryzen 4000 line. |
| Screen Size | 12.4″ | 15″ – 17” |
| Storage | 256 GB | 512GB – 1 TB SSD or Hybrid Storage |
| LCD/LED Monitor | 1080 x 724 | 1920×1080 |
| Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) | Buil-In Graphics Card | NVIDIA’s GTX or AMD’s RX Series with 1-2 GB V-RAM |
| WebCam and Mic | 720p, 30 FPSBuilt-In Mic | 1080p, 60 FPSExternal Mic for quality voice |
1. Google Pixelbook Go – Best Laptop For Online Classes Under $500
Pixelbook Go is 13 mm thin with a grip able design and barely over 2 pounds in weight.
It has a long battery life and keeps you unplugged for 12 hours. C security chip and built-in antivirus protect your personal information, data, and passwords, and Chrome OS update automatically to let you enjoy the latest features and security.
Pixelbook Go with 8th Gen Intel Core processor is responsive and quick with a backlit keyboard that keeps you comfortable and a spacious touchpad that only requires a light touch.
It has a brilliant touch screen display, enjoy your movies and edit photos. The LTE connection on your Google Pixel allows you to gather information quickly and easily with your Pixelbook Go.
You can enjoy the amazing sound and video chat on your pixel book with a 1080p webcam.
2. Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch – Laptop with Best Webcam For online Classes
Apple MacBook Pro with the the Apple M1 chip having astonishing 16 billion transistors and integrates into CPU, GPU, Neural engine and so much more on a single tiny chip.
This feature makes it powerful and speedy beyond belief. With 2.8x CPU performance, 5x graphics speed, and 11x faster machine learning make it an advanced and popular Apple notebook.
It has the longest battery life of any Mac to date, you can enjoy using an Apple MacBook for 20 hours without a plugin.
Well 16 GB of memory allows you to share data and any information between CPU, GPU, and Neural Engine fastly and efficiently.
The 13 in a ch HD display and 8-core CPU is efficient in video editing, photography, coding, and much more. It is the most advanced Apple Macbook having 3 pounds weight with 16- core Neural Engine for advanced machine learning.
3. Dell Inspiron 5000 15.6″ – Best Convertible 2-in-1 Laptop For Remote Learning
The Dell Inspiron laptop features a 15.6-inch backlight display with impressive color and clarity, powered by Intel HD Graphics.
The FHD screen has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 and is equipped with a touchscreen. This 2-in-1 convertible laptop can rotate 360 degrees, allowing you to use it in laptop or tablet mode.
Dell Inspiron 5000 is equipped with next-gen Intel Wireless AC, built stereo speakers with Max Audio Pro, Bluetooth 4.0, and a Built-In media card reader makes it the best laptop for remote learning.
You can also enjoy games, movies, and video calling on Dell Inspiron with 720p built-in resolution High Definition Webcam along with 2 microphones. It has 1 USB Type-C port, 1 USB 2.0 port, and 1 USB port 3.0 for further connectivity.
It provides incredible responsiveness with a 7th Gen Intel Core processor, high studio-quality sound, and long-range wifi of 802.11ac.
Dell Inspiron weighs about 4.83 pounds just 0.7 inches thin, the battery life is up to 06 hours, and available in a silvery Grey color.
4. ASUS Zenbook Pro 15.6″ – Best Laptop For Online Classes and Gaming
Zenbook Pro offers 9.5 hours of battery life without plugin with 15’s high-capacity 71Wh lithium-polymer battery and thermal engineering to keep your day going with a quick charge.
Zenbook pro with the USB-C ports on ZenBook Pro 15 incorporate Thunderbolt 3 technology allows fast and versatile connections.
It is the best laptop for online classes and gaming because of the 15.6” UHD 4K touch display with NanoEdge bezel for more display and less bezel.
With the latest Intel 8th Gen Core i7-8750HK Processor 8M Cache, up to 4.8 GHz, Zenbook Pro offers high and fast performance. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX1050Ti and 4K UHD touchscreen display along with 83% screen-to-body ratio makes it hot gaming laptop as well.
That’s why Asus ZenBook UX550GE-XB71T is best laptop for online classes and gaming.
It is also good for routine work as it provides a fast-charging with a 71Whr battery capacity. It can charge 60% battery in only 49 minutes.
Zenbook Pro weighs 4.2 pounds with 16GB RAM allows it execute instructions quickly with rapid response. It can store and share and store data efficiently and fast enough with 512 GB NVMe SSD.
5. ASUS ZenBook DH51 13.3″ – Best Laptop For Online Schooling
Zenbook DH51 is the best laptop for online schooling with 13.3″ screen size having 1920×1080 display resolution which is ideal for content fitting in such screen sizes.
You can take your classes comfortably with 8GB memory and can store class notes in 256 GB PCIe NVMe SSD easily. But it does not have any optical drive, that is not a issue now a days.
It comes with Windows 10 64bit edition that runs smoothly with the specs of this laptop.
You will have and undeniable performance experience with ASUS Zenbook, as it has Intel Core i5 processor that works with 1.5 GHz processor frequency and can shoot to 3.9GHz when needed.
With a long wifi range of 802.11g you can catch available WiFi connections easily and a low weight of 2.6 pounds makes it easy to carry ZenBook anywhere. The Zenbook DH51 is equipped with 3 Lithium-ion batteries which offer enough time for online classes.
Lastly, the Dark Royal Blue color enhances the beauty that makes it favorite for students and the best laptop for online schooling as well.
6. Lenovo IdeaPad 5 15.6″ – Best Laptop For Online College Courses
Lenovo IdeaPad 5 having Touchscreen Display of 15.6″ size with FHD quality and a 10th generation Intel Quad-Core i7 process, a 12GB DDR4 RAM, a 512GB PCIe SSD is undoubtedly the best laptop for online college courses. As it delivers high impact peroformance and fastest response time.
Lenove IdeaPad offers a 1-year warranty with upgraded RAM or SSD and further an original 1-year Manufacture warranty on the other components as well.
The Ideapad 5 has 12 GB RAM that has full power of multitasking with high wifi range of 802.11AX. It comes with an integrated 45Wh capacity battery along with backlit keyboard.
The in Abyss Blue color is ice on the cake for this puzzle out pad. Lenovo Ideapad has a flash memory size of 512GB and weighs 3.6 pounds that is easy to carry anywhere. It has the best webcam among other online classes laptops which is quite an attraction for students and teachers.
7. Dell Inspiron 15 – Best Laptop For Online Classes Under $1000
Dell Inspiron with the latest 7th Gen Intel Core i5 processors provides undeniable performance and smooth, seamless multitasking. Its 15.6-inch FHD 1920 x 1080 Anti-glare LED Backlight display makes it the best laptop for online classes under $1000.
You can enjoy video calling, group discussions or online classes on a broader screen.
With the fast rechargin feature, it can be recharge battery in a flash. The USB Type C Port that supports external display, power delivery, and provides compatibility for other tasks. Enjoy a long battery life of 7 hours without a plug it in for a whole day.
Dell Inspiron 15 is supplied with a backlit keyboard for comfort while typing in dim light. The wifi-6 is improved wifi range with the new Intel wifi protocol and makes it more reliabile.
Dell Inspiron with 8 GB RAM and a new-lid open sensor used to turn on your laptop. While the 2 in 1 convertible facility is fun and 360 degree rotation makes it the best cheap 2 in 1 laptop for online classes as well.
It has an advanced security system with a fingerprint reader to protect your data, so just logged in quickly and skip the password for ease.
8. Dell XPS 15 Thin and Lightweight – Best Laptop For Online College
The Dell has produced wonderful notebooks in XPS series and the XPS 15 is on top among them. The 15.6″ InfinityEdge is quite a rooming display that has minimum or without borders to maximize screen space.
This XPS is 59% thinner than a Macbook Pro MacBook lapopt. It comes with one of a beautiful design that is only 11-17mm thin and weighs about 4 pounds, with a 1 TB SSD solid-state drive SSD, it is the lightest 15 inch top-class performance laptop.
7th Gen Intel Quad Core processors and a 4GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 graphics card enables more power, super speed, and incredible performance.
You can set your screen on almost every angle because Dell XPS has a wide range of 170-degree viewing facility. Its touch display has 350 nit brightness that is quite bright and responsive.
The thunderbolt 3 multi-use port are the reasons for being counted in the best laptop for online classes under the $500 list. Further, 4K Ultra HD (3840 x 2160 has wonderful display quality.
It has 16GB of storage, plenty of storage room, and high responsiveness enables your applications to run smoothly and quickly. Dell XPS comes with a Killer 1535 Wireless-AC adapter that ensures a reliable and strong wifi connection.
Edit your images and videos with pinpoint accuracy without worrying about jagged lines or blurriness
With 4K Ultra HD (3840×2160) touch display and more 3 million pixels than Macbook Pro class laptop for a lower price and easy access. All these features make Dell XPS 15 the best laptop for online college.
9. HP 15 15.6″ Touchscreen – Best Cheap Laptop For Google Classroom
The HP 15 comes with a 10th gen Intel Core i7 Processor with 1.30GHz as base frequency and can lead up to 3.9 GHz.
Further, it performs best with its 4 Cores, 8M Cache memory that ensures its high performance. The 15.6-inch touchscreen makes 16GB RAM to makes it the best but cheap laptop for google classroom.
As the full powered 16 GB RAM allows peacefully enjoy your professional meetings, online learning, or remote jobs. The 15.6 inches HD screen provides a rooming display to facilitate your video chats, movies, and much more.
Carry it anywhere easily as it comes with 3.75 pounds that makes it lightweight. Its HP TrueVision HD camera of 720p quality makes it the best webcam laptop for online classes.
The integrated dual array digital microphones maximize their worth for every remote learner.
10. ASUS VivoBook 17.3″ Laptop – Best Laptop For Online Learning
The Asus has designed this laptop with 17” screen size to facilitate more content view on a single screen, which is idea for online classes, specially when taking notes.
It has IPS quality screen with 1920×1080 display resolution that facilitates video calling and online classes easily. ASUS VivoBook is powered by the latest Intel Quard-Core i7 processor and features high capacity SSD storage.
The fast storage accesss enables you to get things done rapidly with the least amount of dealy. It comes in Silver color with a built-in webcam and 3-cell lithium-ion battery.
It has an upgraded 12 GB RAM to smoothly run all your programs. Furthers it has many variants of RAM and SSD ranging from 12 – 64 GB RAM and 256 GB – 2 TB SSD, and weighs about 5.07 pounds only.
The SSD with no moving parts results in faster starts and stops with no noise, faster data access, reduced heat production and less power draw on the battery.
It has an average battery timing of 5 hours. Hence, it is the best laptop for online classes under $1000.
FAQs
What is the price range for cheap laptops for online study?
There are many laptops even cheap 2 in 1 book that falls in budget. Normally, a cheap laptop for online classes ranges between $300 to $600.
Which processor is good for online study?
The processor should be Intel 9th and 10th Gen or AMD’s Ryzen 4000 line.
What are the best laptops for online study?
Google Pixelbook, Apple Macbook, ASUS Zenbook Pro, are some of the good ones to stand on victory stands.
Are webcams needed for online classes?
Yes, webcams are required for online classes and these are a must if you are a teacher. In case you are a student then its must while marking attendance, tests, or online viva voice sessions.
What should be the minimum RAM for online classes laptops?
If you are on a tight budget then go for at least 4 GB RAM while if you have sufficient funds then go for 8-16GB.
Conclusion
As a rule of thumb, in order to choose the right laptop, like for online class study does some research before buying. At PieLaptop we have made it easy for you have and done the research for you.
A list of the top 10 best laptops for online classes recommendations has been prepared.
Overall, the Dell XPS 15 is the winner while Asus ZenBook Pro on 2nd and Apple MacBook Pro is on 3rd of this topic.
That’s all about today’s topic, If you know other good laptops, kindly let us know in the comments, or if you have any queries tell us in the feedback section. We will be pleased to answer all that queries.