jim_l Posted August 7, 2020 Share Posted August 7, 2020 I always go for HP, used to use them in work and they are well made. Starting at around £500 for one with an i5 processor, never needed any more but I don't game. Some quite tidy and light 14" ones. I think RAM is a little less important these days as SSD storage is so fast, I tend to use a separate SSD drive for bulk storage as I move it from machine to machine. I paid for touch screen and a fancy x360 'convertible' tent style and flip, but never use them. My daughter has one without and loves it, less than £500. Good Luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff oakley Posted August 8, 2020 Share Posted August 8, 2020 One thing to make sure is whatever she gets insure it properly and make 100% sure she backs up to cloud daily. When my Daughter was at med school her friend had her Mac stolen, all her work was on it and she had not backed it up anywhere. She thought it was automatically set up to back up. That was a nightmare for her to get work back from tutors to build her portfolio back up to a level they accepted for passing. Again making sure things are micro marked and any other security you can add in. I do not know enough to recommend what is best but Charlotte had two Mac's both bought with student offers and she swears by them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blatman Posted August 8, 2020 Share Posted August 8, 2020 If it doesn't have to be new... I have had direct experience of Lenovo L450 with 8Gb ram and Windows 10 pro. With an SSD it boots fast and battery life, with a new long-life (ie bigger) battery was easily 6 to seven hours, and I am a heavy user. Prior to that I had a Toshiba Satellite Pro with Windows 7 and 4Gb of RAM. It was a solid performer and I still have one as my personal laptop. My current work laptop is a Dell Lattitude 5480. The only difference between the two is the Dell does not have an external battery so there is no option to add a better performance item. My current one (not factory fresh but not "old) shows battery life of around 3 hours with an SSD. I much prefer the keyboards on the Lenovo but that is a bit picky. There's nothing wrong with the Dell or Toshiba keyboards at all... Again from personal experience if the laptop has to be carted around then 14 inch screen is preferable from both a weight and a fitting-in-a-bag perspective. And for bags I *love* the Wenger rucksacks. I've had mine for nearly 9 years. It has done many thousands of miles on my back when I'm on the bike or on a plane or whatever, and it is as functional today as it was when new. No broken zips, frayed seams or anything, and it gets a LOT of abuse. My over-riding tip for laptop performance is get as much RAM in it as possible, with a MINIMUM of 8Gb, and get one with an SSD. A non-mechanical disc is a huge benefit with regards to battery life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve (sdh2903) Posted August 8, 2020 Author Share Posted August 8, 2020 Anything glaringly wrong with this one? Smallish, light, plenty of connection points and SSD. https://store.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Product.aspx?id=8KU32EA&opt=ABU&sel=NTB&lang=en-GB&pup_e=1&pup_cid=55877&pup_id=8KU32EA%23ABU&gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=CjwKCAjwmrn5BRB2EiwAZgL9ohyQIBdl9XM6xNHCG2pvS6B-HDwyheU-ihrfgqFWwnuvQ3KSXx9KiBoCX8kQAvD_BwE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonPeffers Posted August 8, 2020 Share Posted August 8, 2020 There might be a laptop going cheap from a party known as 'tech boar'. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/naked-man-wild-boar-chase-nudist-naturist-laptop-berlin-a9659881.html "The boar was seen running through the park carrying a bag in its mouth which contained a laptop. The owner of the laptop followed close behind, having been disturbed from a naked sunbathing session." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve (sdh2903) Posted August 8, 2020 Author Share Posted August 8, 2020 Or a few quid more for a more 'business' orientated version. Couple more ports and a 3 year warranty? https://store.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Product.aspx?id=7DC40EA&opt=ABU&sel=NTB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrops-paul Posted August 8, 2020 Share Posted August 8, 2020 On 07/08/2020 at 17:43, maurici said: that won´t last the whole degree... just not true. I had an acrer laptop which served perfectly for 6 years. It was only age that meant it was replaced. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maurici Posted August 8, 2020 Share Posted August 8, 2020 12 minutes ago, shrops-paul said: just not true. I had an acrer laptop which served perfectly for 6 years. It was only age that meant it was replaced. Some do, some dont, but generally yes, is true. A uni laptop used by a youngster will be abused and misstreated almost more than a professional laptop, and you need the same reliability basically as you will have all your stuff, papers, contacts and resurces there. While the average mid range quality computer will last forever in a home environment not being moved more further away from the sofa or the desk/kitchen table i would not bet my money on it lasting 6 years of instensive use. If you see my whole coment recommending a laptop you will see that I'm only saying it needs to be top quality regardless of the ultimate performance. A midrange brand top performance model wont have the quality and the reliability. is just a fact. it may last, as my fiat punto lasted for 190k miles in Spain against most of the odds, but is not the common trend. That is why midrange brands are not in the shopping list of working computers, as fiat puntos were not a choice in fleet cars. The point of a top quality laptop with the adecuate performance (not more and not less that the one you need) is to work in the same way till you replace it because something breaks fruit of abuse, rather than getting old, sluggish and underperforming... that is how most of midrange laptops die. Took me a few iterations to realise this but im spending much less money in computers since that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrops-paul Posted August 8, 2020 Share Posted August 8, 2020 You get what you pay for. That’s always been the case particularly with build quality. You are presuming what my acer was used for, with no underlying facts. It traveled the world with me and had the benefit of spare or replacement batteries being cheap and easy to get hold of. At the time it was great value with a large hard disk, i7 processor and 8gb memory which was perfect for me. Admittedly this was about 10 years ago 😂 I have an hp now based in cost value at the time but mostly use an iPad Pro. It’s great. I also work for a global IT company who make their own laptop. Interestingly one of our large government customers chose the surface pro a few years ago and has had nothing but complaints and tech problems. They will soon be replacing them all with something else. As usual it’s the same as asking for recommendations for anything. Lots of people have different experiences. Just gotta get what is good value at the time 😄 I had to manage through uni without a laptop, going to the library to use a 486 😢 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maurici Posted August 8, 2020 Share Posted August 8, 2020 @Steve (sdh2903) Im not sure I like the lifted hinge stuff. While it may be Ace when lying flat in the table for precisely improved airflow, may not be that practical in the classroom (good knows how a classroom is nowadays, as I have not stepped a foot on it for 15 years). The more "pro" version seems somehow more robust and th Rizen5 3500 used to be a benchmark of efficiency early last year and uses a notch less power than the significantly more performing I5-1035 of the first link you posted. Again if performance is not the ultimate goal, Maybe the more bussines oriented one will be more robust and longer lasting than the first precisely due being less powerfull and likely demanding less cooling, being less noisy and more efficient. However I don´t see anything wrong in either of them, however I would still go for the Probook rather than the Pavillon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maurici Posted August 8, 2020 Share Posted August 8, 2020 6 minutes ago, shrops-paul said: Interestingly one of our large government customers chose the surface pro a few years ago and has had nothing but complaints and tech problems I can beleave that, after a few succesfull years It allways come an screw up. 7 minutes ago, shrops-paul said: You are presuming what my acer was used for, with no underlying facts I wasn´t really presuming what your precise laptop was being used for... I was generalising. There is allways an step up from a home computer to a Profesional oriented one... and this is not normally performance, or storage capacity... is simply quality... that was my point. Admitedly, I have not personally been in the market for a laptop for the last 6 years, I have however keept myself up to date having to choose several family/friends ones. Some based on budget (nothing wrong with them if the user knows what to expect) some based on pure performance... I tend to recommend based on the end goal rather on pure specification... However, I´m just a freak, you are a professional so I will take my coat, walk away and learn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Gibney - Lancashire AO Posted August 8, 2020 Share Posted August 8, 2020 Steve honestly just buy a mac book air will last longer than most WSCC memberships. might be more than than you need to spend but worth it. I bought my daughter one ages ago and 5 years later she still uses it all the time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrops-paul Posted August 8, 2020 Share Posted August 8, 2020 No it’s all good. Interesting to hear people’s experiences. It’s like reading amazon reviews. I think it’s safe to say, it’s a tricky choice to make. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve (sdh2903) Posted August 8, 2020 Author Share Posted August 8, 2020 Thanks all. I know everyone has their own preferences and brands etc great to hear some views. We did have a chat on the old mac vs Windows and shes now swaying back towards a Windows pc as she knows her way around, although I doubt the mac would take long for her to master. I'm still to be convinced they are worth the premium tbh. She did also say im overthinking it when she manages just fine on our 2 year old cheapie house laptop which has a crap processor, 4gb ram and a 64gb storage eprom. I should have just told her to go pick one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blatman Posted August 9, 2020 Share Posted August 9, 2020 17 hours ago, maurici said: A uni laptop used by a youngster will be abused and misstreated almost more than a professional laptop, and you need the same reliability basically as you will have all your stuff, papers, contacts and resurces there. No and no! I won't go into how I mis-treat my laptop because I don't, but it is exposed to harsh-ish environments because I spend a lot of my time on the water, in shipyards and on building sites. With regards to having all the important stuff like docs and contacts on a laptop, not in this day and age. Both Android (through Google) and Apple offer plenty of free cloud storage and back-up options so really there's no excuse for losing critical documents and contacts these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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