Laptop recommendation for student
Discussion
morning chaps, I am so out of touch with laptop cpu's nowadays I am roaming through sites without the ability to compare decent laptops, particularly all the new CPUs compared to the older ones.
I need an adequate laptop for an A level student, MS Office etc.
Any recommendations, max £500.
Happy to do refurbished and dont mind AMD or Intel. 15.6 inch would suffice.
Ta v much
I need an adequate laptop for an A level student, MS Office etc.
Any recommendations, max £500.
Happy to do refurbished and dont mind AMD or Intel. 15.6 inch would suffice.
Ta v much
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/
Any use?
You'll probably struggle to find a £4-500 laptop that wouldn't be sufficient.
Any use?
You'll probably struggle to find a £4-500 laptop that wouldn't be sufficient.
https://www.johnlewis.com/honor-magicbook-laptop-a...
Or take your pick from those within budget in the below link-
https://www.hotukdeals.com/search?q=LAPTOP
500 quid buys you a decent laptop today, a very decent one.
Or take your pick from those within budget in the below link-
https://www.hotukdeals.com/search?q=LAPTOP
500 quid buys you a decent laptop today, a very decent one.
Is it going to be carried around much?
Used for long spells typing?
If it's going to be carried a lot, I would tend to stick with a business type laptop rather than a netflix/gaming box, might be out of date but typically the Asus of the world while lovely spec where more fragile than say a HP/Lenovo/Dell business spec.
If it's going to be used at a desk a lot, I would look at also getting a pair of screens. £130 will by you a pair of ex-industry 23" screens on a stand, add keyboard and mouse. So much more comfortable and productive.
Daniel
Used for long spells typing?
If it's going to be carried a lot, I would tend to stick with a business type laptop rather than a netflix/gaming box, might be out of date but typically the Asus of the world while lovely spec where more fragile than say a HP/Lenovo/Dell business spec.
If it's going to be used at a desk a lot, I would look at also getting a pair of screens. £130 will by you a pair of ex-industry 23" screens on a stand, add keyboard and mouse. So much more comfortable and productive.
Daniel
Bacon Is Proof said:
Road2Ruin said:
So many different options in terms of CPU. Usually I would say an i5 is a good choice, but so many older versions around and difficult to sort between them.
If only there was a website that compared and rated them, that'd be really useful.
AMD is killing intel this year in terms of performance... If you want to future proof, invest in Ryzen 4000 series processors and increase budget to new red £600.. Ryzen 5 4500 should be perfect mix of performance vs cost... Head over to Hotukdeals and search there for many deals that get posted every day.. Good luck
xyz123 said:
AMD is killing intel this year in terms of performance... If you want to future proof, invest in Ryzen 4000 series processors and increase budget to new red £600.. Ryzen 5 4500 should be perfect mix of performance vs cost... Head over to Hotukdeals and search there for many deals that get posted every day.. Good luck
Thank you. Waiting for GCSE results, so difficult to concentrate this morning. They are not even mine lol.Thanks guys
Road2Ruin said:
It will be at home mostly on her desk. Occasionally taken to college.
So many different options in terms of CPU. Usually I would say and i5 is a good choice, but so many older versions around and difficult to sort between them. That and the ryzen chip leave me baffled now.
Don't focus on the CPU - almost any i5 from the last 4 years will be quick enough. Personally I'd prioritise:So many different options in terms of CPU. Usually I would say and i5 is a good choice, but so many older versions around and difficult to sort between them. That and the ryzen chip leave me baffled now.
Screen quality
Keyboard quality
i5 (or AMD if buying new)
12-16Gb RAM
500GB SSD
The commercial Lenovos generally have good keyboards but the screens can be a bit average.
Unless she is running intensive workloads 8gb of ram will be sufficient, the ssd is a must.
As for software. As a student she can get academic software licences via school for office, which will come with a chunk of 1 drive space for backup.
If its being transported a 14" form factor is great a 12" will generally be too small as a screen at anything above HD (1080p) resolution - which is a bare minimum resolution.
15.6" or above generally is bulky to move around.
The smaller form factor and screen resolution will be key cost drivers, at a home as mentioned above an extra screen is a good addition, and creates a defined working "space".
Keyboard/mouse quality/accuracy is key, it's often worth trying before you buy.
Also think as it's for a student about accidental damage cover - my half sis went through 3 machines on her 4 year pharmacy course with screen damage being the death of 2 of them.
S.
As for software. As a student she can get academic software licences via school for office, which will come with a chunk of 1 drive space for backup.
If its being transported a 14" form factor is great a 12" will generally be too small as a screen at anything above HD (1080p) resolution - which is a bare minimum resolution.
15.6" or above generally is bulky to move around.
The smaller form factor and screen resolution will be key cost drivers, at a home as mentioned above an extra screen is a good addition, and creates a defined working "space".
Keyboard/mouse quality/accuracy is key, it's often worth trying before you buy.
Also think as it's for a student about accidental damage cover - my half sis went through 3 machines on her 4 year pharmacy course with screen damage being the death of 2 of them.
S.
Apologies for the thread hijack, but better than starting another very similar one...
We're looking at getting a laptop for our niece who's starting 6th form in September. Some great suggestions already, my only question is that our niece will be studying photography so not sure if we need to consider/prioritise anything else?
We're looking at getting a laptop for our niece who's starting 6th form in September. Some great suggestions already, my only question is that our niece will be studying photography so not sure if we need to consider/prioritise anything else?
Zetec-S said:
Apologies for the thread hijack, but better than starting another very similar one...
We're looking at getting a laptop for our niece who's starting 6th form in September. Some great suggestions already, my only question is that our niece will be studying photography so not sure if we need to consider/prioritise anything else?
Screen quality becomes most important in such cases. If she's going to do lot of photo editing then better to get a laptop with graphics card... We're looking at getting a laptop for our niece who's starting 6th form in September. Some great suggestions already, my only question is that our niece will be studying photography so not sure if we need to consider/prioritise anything else?
I recommended the Lenovo L340 gaming version to my Brother in law and he loves it (it was around £599). I'm a big fan of gaming orientated laptops because the extra power and graphics cards on board helps greatly with photo editing and other intensive tasks - in short they're just snappier to use usually. As a result you also get more years out of them before they feel slow.
For anyone doing photography and editing in something like Lightroom or Photoshop a decent on board graphics card is a must!
Saxon
For anyone doing photography and editing in something like Lightroom or Photoshop a decent on board graphics card is a must!
Saxon
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