Laptop for Uni student.

[Steve (sdh2903)]

My eldest is off to Uni in September and I need to get her a laptop. Just for general ms office, Interneting and Netflix. I dont have a clue on computers so any recommendations welcomed.

 

She did hint at a macbook but I'm not sure there worth the premium? 

 

Any of these any good?

 

'Only' 4gb ram, that enough?

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-pavilion-15-cw1500sa-15-6-laptop-amd-ryzen-3-256-gb-ssd-silver-10193336-pdt.html

 

Or 8gb but smaller screen

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-pavilion-14-ce3600sa-14-laptop-intel-core-i3-256-gb-silver-10203567-pdt.html

 

Dell but less battery life

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/dell-inspiron-15-3000-15-6-laptop-amd-ryzen-5-256-gb-ssd-silver-10190038-pdt.html

 

ACER any good?

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/acer-aspire-3-15-6-laptop-intel-core-i5-256-gb-ssd-red-10208111-pdt.html

 

[ACW]

If your daughter is able to verify her edu status then there are discounts available form apple and they will give you airpods which Student will appreciate. My nephew did this.

 

They are expensive, but if your daughter will look after it and consider applecare+ it will outlast x2 the lower end laptop market. Id suggest an macbook air as the battery life is ages. Go on spoil her

[shrops-paul]

Hi.

 

Have a look on Laptops Direct - they often have some good deals and perhapse a refurbished or ex display unit might be more cost effective in the bang for buck stakes.

 

https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/

 

Having been a student, I would steer away from an apple macbook - highly desirable by theives compared to a 'normal' laptop IMO and experience. You can buy refurb apple products direct form apple or on Amazon too if you do cave in

 

Cheers,

 

Paul.

[Steve (sdh2903)]

Saw the offer with the airpods, she's an android phone convert and already has the galaxy buds so not too much of a draw. She is fairly clumsy aswell which makes me a little nervous of the macbook. Well of any laptop infact 

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

As Ade said, Macbooks, as long as physically looked after, will outlast anything else out that in the normal laptop market by two or even three times. The edu discounts make quite a difference too. However, if you're the sort that treats them as a disposable commodity, then it gets expensive fast!

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

1 minute ago, Steve (sdh2903) said:

She is fairly clumsy aswell which makes me a little nervous of the macbook.

 

Ah, that's where the argument starts to break down, they are pretty tough, but won't take loads of abuse, and when "that" sort of repair is needed gets expensive fast. (Don't know where Apple care stands on those sort of issues, never used it).

 

I suspect you'd definitely be receiving the stinkeye if you got her a Toughbook though!

[Steve (sdh2903)]

21 minutes ago, Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Secretary said:

suspect you'd definitely be receiving the stinkeye if you got her a Toughbook though

 

Haha funny you say that, we have an old toughbook gathering dust in the office at work that I said she could use 🤣 it only takes about 10 mins to boot up.

 

I think im definitely swaying away from apple. Its just a case of which Windows laptop. Which brands are better than others or are they much of a much these days? 

 

Any input on which processor or amount of ram I should be going for?

[shrops-paul]

If she likes android and isn’t going to needing too much welly, an chrome book or similar android thing might be an idea. 

[Rhett Turner - Black Country AO]

It's a tough question, with Macs, to a degree you get what you pay for, it you look at comparable Windows Laptops you'll be paying similar money (eg MS, Sony, business DELL etc) so to compare a budget latop to a premium device is not quite correct. I could make a car commpassion but won't.

As a macbook user from a personal perspective and (good quality) windows based latoptop user for as long as I can remember I'd allways have gone for the Mac especially when you've also got iPhones, iPads etc.

When my son started UNI a couple of years ago we did look into a macbook but as he is doing an engineering course and needs to use cad sortware needed something able to run it. for that he needs a a high end laptop that new makes Macs look competative. He ended up with a nearly new Alienware gaming laptop running windows 10 that we managed to find at a reasonable price.

I now use a MS Surface Pro laptop and that's the first Windows laptop I've used that I'd consider as a replacement for my macbook pro.

I suspect she'll end up using a fair few  microsoft products so these days if not allready in the apple eco system sticking with windows is probably sensible, I suspect she won't end up needing loads of local storage so for speed try and go for an SSD hard drive (250GB min), get as much Ram as possible, and if possible get something that can be upgraded. Try to get something windows hello compatible, it's great to be able to sit infromt of your laptop and it recognise you and connect. Saying this I aware that there was a movement to disbale cameras in laptops but with the current trent for video conferencing they will need to be enabled anyway.

 

Good luck with your search

[maurici]

 @Steve (sdh2903) 

I probably was one of the first generations that went to uni with laptop. I was one of the only ones by then at least... and then I keept myself engaged with education for over 10 years... and learned A LOT of what you actually need for education after using from 20 inches laptops to small tablet alike ones...

 

My advise for a decent uni laptop:

 

The smallest and lightest Laptop you can find. And extreme quality. Has to be reliable.

 

Windows desired for compatibility. Most of the stuff distributed and generated at uni will be either open source, or windows based. I would not rely my education in to a MAC unles I was doing video or photo edition.

 

Easy conectivity. For studing and writting papers, you should not be using any laptop. A cheap screen and external keyboard in the uni room to actually work confortable, connect the laptop to them and not destroy wirsts, backs and Eyesight.

 

Tablet Alike high end computers are really practical to have them available easily and confortably at the classroom... (but again, be sure conectivity has to be sufficient. some tablet alike laptops wont connect easily to an external screen).

 

Specificaitions... Really limited to be fair. I would priotitze overal quality and praticality over Specs. Any current decent computer will have at least 4gb and SSD.

Don´t buy the latest available processor... try to find an efficient one regardless of the processing power it may have. You want it to LAST alive and not to waste batery, rather than to being able to solve finite elements.

 

Nowadays, I´ve had great Experience with Microsoft surface PRO Range. They are extremely expensive but I would not change mines for anything. 6 years old, with a lot of abuse, including workshop and trackday work... and is still performing like the first day. I don´t know how the current range is.

 

HP Envis Lenovos yogas  And Dell XPS are good alternatives to surface if you are not on to microsoft either. I´m not deep in to the ins and outs, so check how they will connect to an external screen. Again, THIS IS A MUST.

 

 

[Steve (sdh2903)]

I've always been a bit anti apple after a very early iPhone did my head in. However I've gone back to the dark side recently with an ipad. I dont mind paying a premium if I'm getting premium. I do get the point on build quality. 

 

However a 500 quid acer gets an Intel i5 quad core processor, 8gb ram and a 256gb ssd.

 

The entry level 950 quid macbook gets an i3 dual core processor, same 8gb ram and 256gb ssd.

 

She's studying primary teaching so I can't see it being too demanding on the  computer other than the usual office/teams stuff.

 

Thanks all for the input chaps. 

 

 

[maurici]

4 minutes ago, Steve (sdh2903) said:

500 quid acer

that won´t last the whole degree...

 

[Steve (sdh2903)]

20 minutes ago, maurici said:

that won´t last the whole degree...

 

 

OK understood. I'm back looking. Who knew choosing a laptop was so tricky 

[Stuart]

You can get superb quality used Dell business machines second hand if she'd go for that.  I got a Dell E7270 (originally about £1500) for £199 off eBay last June.  It was like new.  Windows 10 Pro, 256Gb SSD and 8Gb ram (which I subsequently upgraded to 16Gb for 20-odd quid).  I had Dell business machines for work and the E4200 from 2008 still lives but won't take more than 3Gb ram.  Edited to add that it did many tens of thousands of miles crammed into hand luggage too.......

[Onliest Smeg David]

I'm recommending Dell, my xps has lasted many many years and is only now failing (battery related) and slowing down. Look at the Dell UK site for direct sales and offers, cheaper than from other outlets.

I would definitely buy Dell again, their support is excellent.

Recently for a replacement I was recommended to look at Dell,  Lenovo and Microsoft laptops (but I am looking at a higher spec than uni use would require) by an IT expert