Reply to: laptop for student

[Platypus]

I think you'll be making a mistake with an underspecced laptop. Those Celerons, once they did a bit of SW loaded on to them plus some background programs (for digital camera, music downloading) plus a couple of inevitable bits of Malware are really really slow. I've known nearly-new ones take 5 mins to boot up and they can barely run IE. Very slow to wake from sleep too.

You'll need 4GB RAM minimum and an i5 minimum. My daughter started Uni with her trusty old HP and ended up with a Mac Air. I should have got her the Mac to start with, the HP was a pain and I was always removing crapware from it and ended up upgrading it to plenty of memory and an SSD. It was still poor and crashed/locked frequently.

Just my 2c but if you get her a Mac Air now you'll be saving a lot of time and trouble and an inevitable replacement later.

EDIT: plus she'll be chuffed as nuts to get a new Mac. Don't forget that you (she) can get a student discount too!

[gables]

She can connect it to a TV if she's on it longer. (That's if she buys one or takes one with her.)

All the youngsters I know are happy with small laptops they can carry around.

A few actually have macbooks though most are hand me downs.

Good point SueEllen, she does have a TV, and at 24 inch would probs make a great monitor

[SueEllen]

I'm not that convinced about the screens either TBH. Granted they are not amazing but I assume they are not using them 8 hours a day like us middle-aged losers

My bigger concern is the trend to smaller sizes - 11-13" is so common now and I find it's just so small. Give me a cheap, clunky 15" over a fancy 11".

She can connect it to a TV if she's on it longer. (That's if she buys one or takes one with her.)

All the youngsters I know are happy with small laptops they can carry around.

A few actually have macbooks though most are hand me downs.

[gables]

I'm not that convinced about the screens either TBH. Granted they are not amazing but I assume they are not using them 8 hours a day like us middle-aged losers

My bigger concern is the trend to smaller sizes - 11-13" is so common now and I find it's just so small. Give me a cheap, clunky 15" over a fancy 11".

Yup, she'll not be on it 8 hours a day, not on a document anyway. The screens are getting smaller and having looked at this 13-14 seems a decent compromise.

[d000hg]

I'm not that convinced about the screens either TBH. Granted they are not amazing but I assume they are not using them 8 hours a day like us middle-aged losers

My bigger concern is the trend to smaller sizes - 11-13" is so common now and I find it's just so small. Give me a cheap, clunky 15" over a fancy 11".

[gables]

Back to school: Six of the smartest cheap 'n' cheerful laptops (The Register)

Maybe a bit TOO cheap, but adequate for many I'm sure.

Hi d000hg,

That list looks a bit like the 'favourites' I ended up with when looking at this. I do take people's points e.g. DP, but the specs (not withstanding the screen which is a good point) of these machines will be enough for student use, maybe it's just me, but I'm not in the habit of blowing a load of money on an overspecced machine.

Scarlet, was also looking for something smallish 13-14inch screen, lightish at sub 2kg (the ones I'm looking at are 1.6kg) as she'll be taking it in and out of uni and reasonable battery life.

We looked at the HP x2 type things, I have one, but felt it was a bit small and she already has a tablet so that feature is not really required. The 15.6inch screen laptops, she felt were a bit big and heavier than she wanted, so a compromise on the 13-14 inch screens was made. CPU wise they'll be fine as with 4GB and disk space.

But you have got me thinking about the brand and build quality.

[d000hg]

Back to school: Six of the smartest cheap 'n' cheerful laptops (The Register)

Maybe a bit TOO cheap, but adequate for many I'm sure.

[sal]

Remember non-techies aren't the best at backing up data.

Having a smaller hard disk will force her to back up some of the crap she will put on the machine.

This might sound harsh but in 2015 everyone who doesn't know the importance of having crucial data backed up deserves losing theirs mid semester and not graduating. This should be taught in high school, or at least 1st lesson in Uni

You can't claim a higher education and remain clueless about stuff like data backup, digital or otherwise.

[SueEllen]

That's a lot of laptop for your money.

Although the "stress of losing coursework on a craptop" aspect I don't agree with. Setting up an automatically synced DropBox (or similar) account is free and takes hardly any time. Not having automatic backup of coursework and other documents is just plain daft these days.

Remember non-techies aren't the best at backing up data.

Having a smaller hard disk will force her to back up some of the crap she will put on the machine.

[DimPrawn]

Totally agree on the display. Those £200 laptop displays are almost unusable. You would be blind if you used it all day. Horrible and vile.

[sal]

Exactly my thinking on the spec, she's doing History so I reckon the spec will be fine.

I'm seeing not much love for Acer, although my experience has been ok with the brand.

Consider yourself lucky, as many others have pointed Acer is tulip. Unfortunately it's the same story with other brands like Dell when talking about low end cheap Laptops, basically you get what you pay for. I don't really get it why people choice to spend less on a laptop than on a phone, but hey, who am I do judge.

So to answer to your original question - The brand doesn't really matter at the lowest end of the market everything is the same tulip, you can have all of the top specs but you will ahve to pay top price, for the bottom of the barrel you have to make sacrifices, the trick is to decide what to sacrifice for your specific needs:

CPU - Cut here, every Intel CPU from the past 2 years including Celeron is fine for internet, video and documents is Core i3/5/7 better - yes, is it necessary - no. It's like an engine in the car, most male drivers will insist that a 1.6l 100bhp is a must even for a city car, a 1.2l on a small hatchback will do just fine.
RAM - Don't skim 4GB is the minimum I would consider, giving the fact that 2GB costs like £10 the amount of grief it will save you is priceless
Weight - If it's going to primarily sit at her flat go for the heavier model, if she is going to haul it day in and day out across the camups - avoid anything over 2.5kg
Battery life - The battery makes up a lot of the weight so if you pick a lighter model, don't expect decent battery life, at this price range anything at or above 4h is decent
Display - This is the most overlooked spec, while people are bamboozled by all the Gigahertz and Terabyte and Megabit nonsense, the manufacturers shove sub-par displays down their throats. At this price range expect abysmal viewing angles, "high" def 1366x768 resolution, unusable under a hint of direct sunlight. You can't rely on manufacturer claims here, I would advise you to go to a large store and look at different brands/models personally to assess the quality of the display. IMHO this is one of the most important aspects to a laptop.

[gables]

That's a lot of laptop for your money.

Although the "stress of losing coursework on a craptop" aspect I don't agree with. Setting up an automatically synced DropBox (or similar) account is free and takes hardly any time. Not having automatic backup of coursework and other documents is just plain daft these days.

Cheers d000hg, that's a good point I'll bear in mind.

[d000hg]

New Inspiron 15 5000 Series Details | Dell UK

£499

Full HD display (nice on the eyes)
8 GB RAM
i5 CPU
NVIDIA® GeForce® 920 for some gaming potential

Much better spec and 499 is a good price.

That's a lot of laptop for your money.

Although the "stress of losing coursework on a craptop" aspect I don't agree with. Setting up an automatically synced DropBox (or similar) account is free and takes hardly any time. Not having automatic backup of coursework and other documents is just plain daft these days.

[gables]

Does it have to be a laptop? She'll get more bang for her buck with a desktop setup.

I did ask her that, but a laptop is what she asked for, the main premise for this being taking it into lectures\tutorials, also space is at a premium in her flat (studio).

[LondonManc]

Does it have to be a laptop? She'll get more bang for her buck with a desktop setup.