Laptop for Uni

[trooperiziz]

My other half is starting at uni this year and she's after a laptop to use purely for uni work. We have a few other PCs kicking around the place that can be used for the more important things, such as games, email and surfing the net.

Criteria is:
Small
Light
Small
Light
No more than £500-£600
Wifi
Good battery life
Small
Light

Any suggestions? It needs to be Windows and be able to run MS Office.
Doesn't have to be new.

[annodomini2]

Something like this:

www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/115617

[Plotloss]

Thinkpad off eBay

[bez_uk]

why ms office? Openoffice is just as good if not better and bonus... its free!

www.openoffice.org/

edit: with that bigger budget you could buy an extra 512Mb of ram, will help multitasking and make it slightly more futureproof, although not just vista will be wise on a machine without dedicated graphics.

Edited by bez_uk on Tuesday 22 August 11:48

[trooperiziz]

bez_uk said:

why ms office? Openoffice is just as good if not better and bonus... its free!

www.openoffice.org/

edit: with that bigger budget you could buy an extra 512Mb of ram, will help multitasking and make it slightly more futureproof, although not just vista will be wise on a machine without dedicated graphics.

I already have openoffice and as good as it is, it isn't perfectly compatible with MS office in terms of file formats and the UI.

For going into a Uni environment, it's much better to be on their standards, particulary if you aren't doing an IT course.



That ebuyer one looks pretty good, I've had a look at the picturebook vaios on ebay, but at the price she is looking at, they don't seem good value.

[bez_uk]

(N08136) Inspiron 1300
http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellst
1.7Ghz 2mb l2
Xp Home
3yrs cover. + accidental damage + full warranty
15.4 1280x800 TFT screen
512Mb 533MHz DDR2 RAM
60 GB 5,400rpm HD
8x DVD rewriter
36 month protect mcafee
wireless networking

645.74 <<< worth going over budget for warranty and protection.
I've had good service from dell, they are slightly on the pricier side but worth it for the aftersales support etc. I have XPS M1710 and they replaced the systemboard the day after I rang with a problem with the powerunit.

[thepassenger]

bez_uk said:

3yrs cover. + accidental damage + full warranty

Got to agree with bez. Considering you'll be taking this to University where it'll recive a beating and a half, getting a Dell and their 3yr warranty is the way to go if your budget can stretch. After all the warranty will last for the whole 3yrs your studying

[dr bob]

bez_uk said:

I have XPS M1710 and they replaced the systemboard the day after I rang with a problem with the powerunit.

Funny, mine went the same way - but again fixed next day.
I got my laptop from Dell's outlet on eBay (ebay name: dellfactoryoutlet), where they shift cosmetically damaged stuff at a fair saving - well worth a look... should be able to do really well on that budget and have the warranty.

CH

[Zad]

I might be inclined to get a slightly better (and less nickable) desktop system, plus something like this for taking notes and word processing/interwebbing.

www.itdealers.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/27_41/products_id/116

Obviously upgrade it to 256MB or so and it'll run Win2K no problem (my dad has one). I don't think I would risk lugging around more than 100 quids worth of lappy around Uni.

[bez_uk]

That comp is a little underpowered for even XP seeing as recommended ram for XP is 512!... that motherboard probably doesnt support that seeing as its hosting a pentium 2! (SO SLOW!!)

Edit: no networking options either ewwww!

Edited by bez_uk on Tuesday 22 August 17:52

[trooperiziz]

Zad said:

I might be inclined to get a slightly better (and less nickable) desktop system, plus something like this for taking notes and word processing/interwebbing.

www.itdealers.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/27_41/products_id/116

Obviously upgrade it to 256MB or so and it'll run Win2K no problem (my dad has one). I don't think I would risk lugging around more than 100 quids worth of lappy around Uni.

I understand the sentiment, but Kate will still be living with me when she goes, as she is going to a local Uni. So it's not like it's going to be left in uni accomodation, it's more being able to take it to lectures/library etc...

I've had a look at the dell outlet and that seems like a good bet, the main problem we have is I think that size/weight is a major issue, and to get a really light laptop you need to spend around a grand. We've already got one laptop that weighs just under 3kg, so I was really hoping for something that is noticeably lighter and I think we'd be more than happy to drop down a couple of generations and go second-hand as long as it will still run office well enough.

[annodomini2]

trooperiziz said:

Zad said:

I might be inclined to get a slightly better (and less nickable) desktop system, plus something like this for taking notes and word processing/interwebbing.

www.itdealers.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/27_41/products_id/116

Obviously upgrade it to 256MB or so and it'll run Win2K no problem (my dad has one). I don't think I would risk lugging around more than 100 quids worth of lappy around Uni.

I understand the sentiment, but Kate will still be living with me when she goes, as she is going to a local Uni. So it's not like it's going to be left in uni accomodation, it's more being able to take it to lectures/library etc...

I've had a look at the dell outlet and that seems like a good bet, the main problem we have is I think that size/weight is a major issue, and to get a really light laptop you need to spend around a grand. We've already got one laptop that weighs just under 3kg, so I was really hoping for something that is noticeably lighter and I think we'd be more than happy to drop down a couple of generations and go second-hand as long as it will still run office well enough.

The problem is the lighter/sleaker the laptop, the more significant the price rise.

[bez_uk]

some of the smallest and lightest laptops... have already taken a step back in terms of tech but at cutting edge prices £1500+ for the processing power of a £200 desktop!!!

[deva link]

bez_uk said:

some of the smallest and lightest laptops... have already taken a step back in terms of tech but at cutting edge prices £1500+ for the processing power of a £200 desktop!!!

Very true - a couple of my colleagues bought super sexy Dell and Sony notebooks but they've got something like 1.2GHz processors are they're almost unusable.

A second-hand IBM/Lenovo T41/42/43 with a 14" screen is a reasonable size/weight and a joy to use. Processor level depends on what you can get / afford.

I don't think many students take their laptops into lectures (my 2 kids didn't) so everyday carrying it around may not be an issue.

One thing that should go without saying is to store important work away from the laptop, and get into the habit of doing this everyday. For the last couple of years simply being able to email work to Hotmail (or whatever) proved very reassuring.

[bez_uk]

yea on that note if you are looking on ebay for example don't be put off my small HD's (although I wouldn't bother with anything less than 40Gb) as buying an external drive is cheap and you can backup everything onto it... if you get a bigger one (maybe 500+Gb for about £160) you can even backup your desktops, bonus!