Laptop recommendations, for student, advice needed (1 Viewer)

[MaidinDevon]

Hi all

My daughter is at University, studying animal biology.
Her current chromebook is very slow and can't really manage what she needs.

She needs to be able to access University materials, and research, and to attend virtual classes etc.

She is also on a tight budget and is working all the hours she can to fund it.

She is a keen digital photographer.

What would you suggest could meet her needs.

She needs a laptop that can handle all her needs including her dissertation, and is reasonably priced.
Maybe a refurbished one? Not Apple.

I want to help, but am not very knowledgeable.

Any suggestions? TIA

 

[Reallyretired]

I am a great fan of refurbished Dell laptops. They seem to be among the few that have easily replaceable parts if anything conks out. So many laptops these days are a single unrepairable unit

 

[Pjdow]

Apple,

look at their refurbished store on the website

 

[Hettie's Crew]

Swapping the hard drive to an SSD (solid state drive) will make a huge difference if it currently has a mechanical one.
I’ve just had an old (12 years) Dell XPS laptop changed to SSD (514GB) and it’s so much quicker. It cost £165 to have it done, including doubling the RAM to 8. It’s a simple thing to DIY, with the SSD costing around £75, you just need the appropriate cable to clone the information from the original drive. I had mine done at the local computer shop though.
Loads of YouTube videos on it.

 

[Charente16]

Another vote for Dell.

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[TOAD on Tour]

I also bought a Dell refurbished laptop last year, primarily to keep in the van to watch sky go etc. on the TV via hdmi/WiFi.
I bought mine from a long standing eBay seller who specialises in ex-company laptops etc. the one i purchased looking online was approx £1300 to buy new and I got it for £400 if I recall. We now use it instead of out apple MacBook Air in the house also.
I do agree it is a total minefield of choices out there……

 

[Jamesh]

Lenovo ldea pad i3-5 SSD drive.
Great machine light, fast and affordable.

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[The Wino]

Has your daughter got any ideas on what she would like?

 

[Justus3]

Why you ruling out Apple can I ask ?

 

[AndyPK]

Why you ruling out Apple can I ask ?

My question too…….!

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[CamperJack]

If your daughter is just doing word processing and using the internet almost any budget machine will do that well.

If she's editing photos and videos she may need something more powerful.

 

[CamperJack]

My question too…….!

Perhaps because they are different to use system if you're not used to it and you generally get less for your money. Or at least you did last time I was in the market for a laptop.

 

[sonar]

Hi all

My daughter is at University, studying animal biology.
Her current chromebook is very slow and can't really manage what she needs.

She needs to be able to access University materials, and research, and to attend virtual classes etc.

She is also on a tight budget and is working all the hours she can to fund it.

She is a keen digital photographer.

What would you suggest could meet her needs.

She needs a laptop that can handle all her needs including her dissertation, and is reasonably priced.
Maybe a refurbished one? Not Apple.

I want to help, but am not very knowledgeable.

Any suggestions? TIA

The very first place to start looking has to be. Freecycle. Then gumtree and the free ads paper.
it’s just a few options to think about.

 

[The Wino]

My question too…….!

Could be because he wants a budget machine with good performance and think apple are unlikely to do that or the university it team specify not apple ( I think ours had to take their laptop in to be scanned before connection to the university intranet).

 

[AndyPK]

Perhaps because they are different to use system if you're not used to it and you generally get less for your money. Or at least you did last time I was in the market for a laptop.

’get less for your money….?’
Also, Chrome is not the same OS as Windows, so does the Uni. specify Chrome, I wonder…….?

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[TDub49]

Assuming a budget under £500, Which? make this their "Best Buy"
Acer Swift 1 SF114-34 £399.00

They also offer the following advice:

Best cheap laptops - what you need to know before you buy
Laptops for less than £200: If you’re looking for a decent laptop that costs less than £200, you won't get many bells and whistles, but there are a few options available that have scored reasonably well in our tests. Ultra-cheap laptops are often best suited to more basic computing tasks such as writing documents and sending a few emails. They're also ideal for children who only have basic homework to do.
Laptops for less than £300: Up the budget to £300 and you’ll start to find higher-scoring models with faster processors and better screens.
Laptops for less than £500: If your budget can stretch to £500, you'll find a lot more to choose from. Models often have faster Intel Core i3 – and, at a stretch, i5 – processors, as well as speedy solid-state drives (SSDs) and vibrant Full HD screens.

 

[MaidinDevon]

Why you ruling out Apple can I ask ?

Hi,
She just finds Apple hard to use, and doesn't want one. I have a Macbook pro, which I offered to lend her but it means learning another operating system and she Uni stuff is set up for Windows, and she has an Android phone.

 

[MaidinDevon]

’get less for your money….?’
Also, Chrome is not the same OS as Windows, so does the Uni. specify Chrome, I wonder…….?

Hi Andy
I bought her the Chromebook about 4 years ago, but it has become very slow. With virtual learning, she needs to attend virtual lectures, and access the learning materials at the same time, and it just freezes.

I don't think it was the right machine for her at the time, and I don't want to make another expensive mistake.
That's why i am looking for recommendations.

I have sent her the link for the Lenovo, so she can check that one out.

 

[Emmit]

Recommended by son,

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Spoilt for choice including refurbs (which are probably new anyway.

 

[Linda and Steph]

The Uni's IT dept should have a list of options depending on requirements and budget, they will also have links to suppliers who will offer educational pricing (usually around 20% discount). Where is she studying?

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[MaidinDevon]

That's helpful. She is at Worcester.
I will ask if she has checked that out.

 

[Justus3]

Hi,
She just finds Apple hard to use, and doesn't want one. I have a Macbook pro, which I offered to lend her but it means learning another operating system and she Uni stuff is set up for Windows, and she has an Android phone.

Pitty as will be way better in the long run and creative content is bread and butter to them. we've been a Apple only house for years and never looked back. It is possible to run windows on Apple machines. You soon get use to Mac OS key is to not to over think it we've got so use things being complex on a PC. Most things I find are just so simple on a mac.

 

[meanders]

Why is it that so many threads end up as an Apple vs Windows (and sometimes Linux/Android/ any number of Unix derivatives) bun fight? Both will do the jobs stated admirably. People have personal preferences. I could add to the diatribe by listing all the pro's and con's of both, but why bother? I just get a little fed up with the Apple fans always challenging most recently here and in the thread asking for advice about two specific Android phones.

I prefer Windows for technical support reasons. My brother Ejaydee prefers Apple. Personal choice. Neither of us is right for each other or indeed everyone else. Just give it a rest folks please.

 

[RetiredPope]

Have a look at exdemohut.com My daughter got her laptop from them 4 years ago and I've just replaced my laptop with them. Good service and quick delivery. My laptop has a non-standard UK keyboard which wasn't mentioned in the advert. They e-mailed before shipping with a picture asking if I wanted to cancel the order for a full refund.

 

[dna]

Does she currently use specific applications on the chromebook? It would be worth checking out the costs of new licences for the laptop to give her the same (or equivalent) functions. Quite a few companies offer discounted licences for educational use. The university may well have links to obtain legitimate licences at a discount.

The availability of the applications may help resolve the microsoft vs apple choice

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[OldAgeTravellers]

I had an old Toshiba laptop with win10 which had become so slow it was unusable. So I took a full image with Macrium Reflect then downloaded Google Chrome Flex the result was a lightning fast laptop but I didn't like it being online only and it can't run android apps like the Chromebook at the moment. So I downloaded and installed Linux Mint Cinnamon and again it is lightning fast and looks and feels very much like windows and is fine just for internet use and word processing etc.
I don't know whether the Chromebook can have that installed but you can download the Chrome OS and reinstall it. This could bring it back to a usable machine. She has nothing to lose if it is unusable now but could save herself a lot of money. Out of interest if you have an old Macbook that can also be loaded with Chrome OS Flex.
Steve

 

[Justus3]

That's helpful. She is at Worcester.
I will ask if she has checked that out.

Most can be found on NUS extra card site or as it's now called Totum. If she's not got one it's well worth having one ok it's not free but soon make your money back. We both use ours stuff. Many educational deals are open to parents too if you want to help with the odd few bits.

 

[philann]

For a computing heavy course such as biology a good laptop is probably the most important purchase for the student. It has to work out of the box and be compatible with the Uni system, for example when preparing presentations etc.

For university use she will probably have to use Microsoft products (word, excel, PowerPoint, outlook) as that is what most will be using and to avoid stressful compatibility issues with the Uni system. Doing Biology she will probably need to use statistics packages such as R and Genstat and produce reports and a dissertation.

This suggests buying a new mid-range windows machine. I would recommend a Dell with the best spec you can afford.

Buying used or from freecycle etc. would be false economy as they will have been sold for a reason (outdated spec etc).

 

[kevenh]

which are probably new anyway.

Yes, probably new.
One example of how we get brand new for less ££, If a company buys a job lot of, say, Dell Laptops, and returns a few unused as they over ordered, Dell can’t sell them as new, so they go in their Outlet centre.

 

[TDub49]

Worth bearing in mind that OpenOffice and LibreOffice are both pretty much interchangeable with Microsoft Office software and both are free. No need for a Microsoft licence and/or subscription . . . .

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