For myself in high school at this time (Will be year 13 during 2021);

---General Programs---

Some schools will offer a copy of Microsoft Office (Word, Power point, etc) and some schools will use Google accounts with an office suite.

Both of these take little computing power to run.

--- Specific Programs---

There may be small programs like a coding editor if they take such a subject, this is easy for any device.

Big "IF";

Photography or media may use hardware intensive video editors or photo shop.

My example for "DVC" (architecture and graphics): there was no mention to using computers. However myself and others looked to using CAD software, now it has become a trend and the course will use such intensive software. Ask the school, they might have their own computers to run this or you could get a computer capable.

---Battery Life---

Obviously a laptop with good battery life is handy. My school doesn't mind if you need to charge the device.

There's mobile version of CPUs that are designed for low power consumption in laptops.

---Screen Size---

I wasn't expecting to read a requirement for size above. Nothing to my knowledge at my school. No comment from me in size, it's what ever is easy to carry. I'd be more concerned to weight.

---Build Quality---

Laptops get knocked around. My old Asus S200E was a beauty, it had a nice construction for the $800 price tag.

Laptops now days are going down hill..... my new Asus has plastic coating flaking off after 2 years. This is from a $2000 laptop... 😑

I would also be aware of touch screen. Laptops gets crushed in a school bag. My old device's touch membrane was rubbing against the glass, this meant Windows thought I was touching the screen constantly. Although a hard case laptop sleeve solves this.

---Folding Laptops---

Nothing from me about a laptop able to fold into a tablet. I've seen plenty around and they seem to last okay.

Tablets with no external keyboard are frowned upon, particularly given that some assessments are online with E-asTTle or a school application.

My main advice is to look at build quality, not just the specifications. Read reviews from owners of the device you're interested in.