The Best Laptops For Students and Teachers

If you’re a student or a teacher looking to upgrade to a new laptop, it’s important to make sure you choose a model that will be able to handle your needs. You don’t want to get stuck with a machine that won’t run efficiently or that is too heavy to carry around. Here are some of the best laptops for students and teachers to consider.

Acer Swift 3 14 (2020)

The Acer Swift 3 is a solid, mid-range laptop that delivers great performance at a reasonable price. Designed for light gaming, productivity, and content creation, it’s a great choice for a mainstream laptop that doesn’t skimp on style. While it has plenty of ports and a decent battery life, it’s not quite as powerful as some rivals. It’s also not as portable as other laptops, but it’s still a good option for those looking for a notebook that’s easy to carry.

If you’re in the market for a new laptop, the Acer Swift 3 14 (2020) may be worth checking out. This 14-inch ultrabook is an excellent choice for users who want to do their business, watch movies, or play games on the go. Despite the device’s slender design, it’s packed with features, including a touchscreen, a fingerprint reader, and even a headphone jack. In addition, the device has an HDMI port and Thunderbolt 3 port, so you can easily connect your devices to a monitor or projector.

The Acer Swift 3 comes in three colors. You can get the base model for $699, which is a pretty good deal, but the $799 version adds a 10-inch 1080p display, an 8GB DDR4 RAM, and a 512GB M.2 PCIe SSD. Although the storage drive doesn’t have as fast write speeds as some rivals, it does make the system feel responsive.

The Acer Swift 3 comes with Windows 10 Home. It also includes the latest Wi-Fi 6 standard. There are two USB-A ports, a USB Type-C port, and a Kensington lock slot. Additionally, you’ll get an HDMI out port, a headphone jack, a DC jack, and a headphone/mic jack.

Acer’s Swift 3 14 (2020) is available with up to 16GB of memory. But while the laptop has a relatively thin chassis, the display isn’t as bright as it should be. That makes it difficult to read in a bright room or during a sunny day. Even with its low maximum brightness, the screen is designed for indoor use. Still, the resolution is very good, and the color gamut covers the entire sRGB spectrum.

The Swift 3 also has a relatively small touchpad. But it has a smooth feel to it, and the palm rejection works well. Unfortunately, it’s still not very responsive, so you’ll have to apply pressure to hit the center of the pad.

Another thing to note about the Swift 3 is its surprisingly good battery life. Despite its low TDP, the laptop has an excellent battery life, especially for such a lightweight machine. At the end of the day, you can expect to get more than eight hours out of it, which is more than enough time for the average user.

Dell XPS 13

Dell has a range of laptops for students that are powerful and versatile. The XPS 13 is one of them, and it is ideal for back to school and everyday use. It has a full HD display with a touch screen. In addition, it can handle business tasks and special projects. This model is available with either Windows 10 or Windows 11.

One of the key features of the Dell XPS 13 is its incredibly thin bezels. You will see only a small amount of bezel on the left and right sides, and none on the bottom. Most of the bezel is narrower than a half-inch, which gives the laptop a slender, sleek design. Another feature of the XPS 13 is its Thunderbolt 3 port, which is on the right side. This port is also used for connecting a USB-C to 3.5mm audio adapter for wired headphones.

In terms of performance, the Dell XPS 13 has a powerful CPU. Users can choose from a number of different processors. Some options include an Intel Core i3 or an Intel Core i7. There are a number of hard drive and RAM options as well. While the base model comes with a 256GB SSD, higher-end models have the option of upgrading to a 512GB or a 1 TB drive.

In terms of sound, the Dell XPS 13 has incredibly good audio quality. Despite its size, the laptop’s speakers have a four-watt peak, which is adequate for voice and VoIP calls. And the included Waves MaxxAudio Pro provides a high-quality experience.

The Dell XPS 13’s battery life is excellent. The machine lasts for 12 hours and 39 minutes on Laptop Mag’s Battery Test, which involves continuous web surfing at 150 nits. That means it will last you for a full workday, if not more.

The Dell XPS 13 is very powerful, though it does not have the processing power to do 4K video editing. Nevertheless, it is powerful enough to do everyday tasks and is very sturdy. A large trackpad is available for typing, and it has the same keyboard as previous XPS models. Unfortunately, this means it doesn’t have a full keyboard with travel.

Another feature of the Dell XPS 13 is its anti-reflection technology. It also has an optional OLED display, which makes the picture brighter. However, it will reduce the battery life. Other features include a headset jack, a 256GB SSD, and a Killer Control Center, which lets users set network bandwidth priorities.

Dell has a variety of processor options for the XPS 13. The i3 and i5 CPUs will be plenty for users looking to run a variety of programs. The Core i7s, however, are a bit faster. The base model has 8GB of RAM, while the i7 has 16GB. If you opt for a higher-end Core i7, you can upgrade to 32GB of RAM.

Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2

The Surface Laptop Go 2 is a good option for students on a budget. It has a decent processor, 8GB of RAM, and a bright display. However, the device is not the most advanced laptop around. Unless you are really into visual arts or gaming, the Surface Laptop Go is not a worthwhile buy.

Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Go was a big hit in the first year of its release. It was affordable and incredibly portable. Unfortunately, it started to depreciate in price in just two years. But now that it’s been refreshed, it’s still a great little machine.

While the Surface Laptop Go does not have a lot of bells and whistles, it does have one impressive feat: the fingerprint reader. Although it does require a bit of fiddling to get it to work, the fingerprint reader is fast, accurate, and works for both Windows 10 and Mac OS.

Aside from the fingerprint reader, the Surface Laptop Go also has a physical TPM 2.0 chip that is used for encryption and security. For added security, it’s also got Secured-Core PC features, which protect you from malicious software. As for the actual hardware, the laptop is powered by an 11th Gen Intel Core i5 CPU and a 256GB SSD. Also included is a USB-C port and a Type-A port, both of which are capable of handling 60-watts of power.

If you want to be a bit more advanced, you could opt for the Intel 12th Gen mobile, which is also available, but is more expensive. Similarly, you could also opt for a docking station with USB-C, Ethernet, and other ports, which would give you the ability to do a bit more than the Microsoft Surface Laptop Go.

Other nifty features include a fingerprint reader, a full-sized keyboard, and a nice-sized touchscreen. Additionally, there are four ports on the edges of the laptop. Luckily, it weighs just 2.45 pounds, so it’s easy to tote around. On top of that, it comes with a battery that lasts about 8 hours, as long as the display is not too bright.

Lastly, the Surface Laptop Go has a decent trackpad and a satisfying keyboard. And, although the speaker quality is on the low end, the speakers do the job and are worth the price.

The only drawback to the Surface Laptop Go 2 is the lack of discrete graphics. This may be an issue for students who like to do light video editing or write a few books. Thankfully, the laptop does offer a 720p webcam that’s integrated into the top of the screen bezel.

With its stylish design, good performance, and solid build, the Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2 is a solid choice for students on a budget. The newest model has all the features of the original, plus a few more, and will be available for sale October 1, 2020.