Best laptops for teachers 2024: Portability, battery life, budget, and more

With its superb battery life, lightweight form factor, and powerful CPU performance, the Samsung Galaxy Book3 Ultra has a lot to offer. The 1080p webcam is a nice addition for remote learning, too. As for the battery life, our tests showed that it trounced the competition with 13.1 continuous hours of use, which means you can kiss those outlet-hunting days goodbye.

The Galaxy Book3 Ultra features a 13th-gen Intel Core i7 CPU, the new Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of SSD storage. With that kind of power this machine should have no problem handling productivity tasks as well as day-to-day use. It also comes with a 16-inch OLED display that boasts a resolution of 2880×1800 and a refresh rate of 120Hz. Visuals should be both vivid and detailed. If you’re looking for a laptop that ticks all of the productivity boxes and more, then the Galaxy Book3 Ultra is well worth consideration.

The Acer Aspire 3 is a great option for budget-conscious teachers out there. It’s reasonably priced and performance is fast enough for everyday tasks like writing e-mails, online research, and grading homework. The full-size keyboard provides loads of room, which is perfect for longer typing sessions. While that’s all well and good, the internal bits are really what makes this laptop a good value buy.

This laptop has an Ryzen 3 7320U CPU, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of PCIe SSD storage. The 15.8-inch display has a resolution of 1080p and decent color quality. Also, in our tests we found that the battery should hold a charge for up to eight hours of continuous use—enough for the average full workday. The design, while a little utilitarian, is one of the sturdiest builds we’ve seen on a budget laptop. All in all, the Acer Aspire 3 gives you plenty of bang for relatively few bucks.

That last thing you want to do everyday is lug a heavy, unwieldy laptop around with you between classes. Enter the Acer Swift Edge 16, which is a lightweight 16-inch laptop with an ultra-slim design. Measuring in at only 0.51-inches thick and weighing a featherlight 2.71 pounds, the Swift Edge 16 gives you all of the screen real-estate as competitors without adding additional size or weight. The larger screen might make for a larger footprint than some ultra-portables, but we fully welcome that extra OLED display size.

Acer also included solid processing performance with an AMD Ryzen 7 7840U processor, but the lack of discrete graphics means you aren’t likely to be playing any games on this rig. Still, it is more than suitable to handle productivity tasks or apps with ease. The Swift Edge 16 is reasonably priced as well and undercuts the cost of alternatives, adding to its appeal.

The latest Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED upgrades previous versions with a new 13th-gen Intel processor and a beautiful OLED screen. Thanks to the aforementioned Core i7 processor, Intel Iris Xe integrated graphics, 16GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB SSD, there is plenty of performance for everyday productivity tasks. It’s also a sleekly designed svelte laptop that’s just over half an inch thick and weighs a mere 3.31 pounds. There are some great extras for teachers with this laptop as well. These include the 1080p webcam, which helps you look nice for online lessons and meetings, an OLED touchscreen display, and an included stylus pen for when you want to flip the screen back and use the device in tablet mode.

Admittedly, for this price we’d like to see an option for more robust graphics such as a discrete graphics card, but the Intel Iris Xe is still more than manageable for most daily work tasks. 2-in-1s in general make great tools for teachers as they are flexible enough to fit into any setting and they can fulfill multiple roles. For anyone looking to purchase a 2-in-1, the Zenbook 14 Flip OLED should be at the top of your list.

Lenovo laptops are always great options for business professionals, and the latest ThinkPad X1 Nano is no exception. The aim with the X1 Nano is to cram an enjoyable laptop with great performance into the smallest footprint possible, and Lenovo did a great job meeting this goal. It comes with the latest 13th-gen Core i7-1360P processor, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of SSD storage. But the real kicker is the excellent keyboard. The layout is surprisingly spacious with easy-to-find keys that have good travel and a clicky, satisfying bottoming action.

All of this is somehow fit into a pint-sized footprint of 11.54×8.19 inches with a thickness of just 0.58 inches. Plus it weighs a mere 2.18 pounds. It is an easily portable laptop to haul between classes or fit into your bag for a trip to the coffee shop for some paper grading. The only issue we found was the battery life, which in real-world tests needed to be recharged in the middle of a workday with heavy use. Regardless, if you want a compact laptop that provides a satisfying typing experience for when you’re grading assignments and writing rubrics look no further than the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano.

When you’re running between the teacher’s office, classes, and meetings, you need a laptop that can hold a charge without needing to be plugged in all day. The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED provides marathon length battery life and more. Our tests showed that it can stand up to 15 hours and 20 minutes of continuous use before needing a charge—in a real-world setting this will likely be reduced to 10 to 12 hours. It easily outlasted most competitors and the battery will have no issues keeping you productive on the go throughout your work day and even through parent-teacher conferences and grading homework at the end of it all.

The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED also comes with a beautiful 14-inch 2880x1800p OLED touchscreen display and a sturdy metal chassis that can withstand the rigors of the teaching life. And while not the cheapest model on this list, it is still relatively budget friendly as a sub-$1,000 laptop.

For the eco-conscious teacher, the latest Acer Aspire Vero, made from 30 percent post-consumer recycled plastics, is a great option. Acer should be commended for its design of this unique laptop, which is not only eco-friendly, but also attractive and includes a few unique touches that help it stand out.

It’s no slouch in the performance department either, sporting a Core i7 processor, Iris Xe integrated graphics, 16GB of RAM, and a fast 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD. Overall, the Vero is an attractive ultraportable for the eco-conscious educator.

Apple’s line of MacBook Pro laptops are known for their attractive design, incredible efficiency, and great performance. But they are also extremely expensive. Now HP has created a worthy competitor with the Dragonfly Pro. They partnered with AMD to create a svelte laptop that packs the latest Ryzen 7 processor with 8 high-performance cores and a powerful Radeon 680M graphic card. The design of the laptop is spot on—it’s thin and attractive with a high quality feel made from aluminum and polycarbonate. The main drawback is that, just like the MacBook Pro models, this laptop takes a minimalist approach to ports, meaning that those who rely on plug-in accessories will need to find work arounds. Also, while the display is good enough, it just doesn’t quite live up to Apple’s best. Still, for a laptop that is significantly cheaper than any of the MacBook Pro models, this Dragonfly Pro laptop from HP is an excellent option.

If you’re looking for a great Chromebook, the Lenovo Flex 5i is one of the best you can get. This convertible can either be propped up like a tent or folded all the way back and used like a tablet. We were also impressed with its vibrant touchscreen display, zippy performance, and exquisite typing experience. The sleek, understated aluminum finished exterior helps to make the Flex 5i feel like something three or four times as expensive and the overall design, including the 360-degree hinge, is impressively sturdy — something essential when hauling it back and forth between your office and classes.

Plus, the Flex 5i has a fantastic keyboard that is a joy to type on and a 1200p touch display that is both crisp and vivid. Add to this the fact that it currently retails for under $500 and you’re getting an excellent all-around Chromebook for a really affordable price.