Best laptops for year 9 student.

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RAINBOW

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Wannabe Geek

#254282 5-Aug-2019 14:20

Hi I am not to sure what type of laptop I should be buying my 2 year 9 children for next year. I want something that it going to last them throughout their college years (is that even a realistic expectation?) I don't know what subjects they will be taking once they get to year 11, so it's hard to know what their requirements are going to be. I do know that I want it to run quickly, be light and robust as they have so much else to carry as well. It doesnt have to be touch screen. Budget obviously dictates as I will be needing to buy two. Please help.

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~HONYAKKER!~
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#2290192 5-Aug-2019 14:33

First off - what does the school recommend? The high school my kids go to recommends Chromebooks, but that may not be the case for yours.

If that's the case, then that's great - they're plenty powerful enough for most schoolwork, have amazing battery life, and are surprisingly robust, even when handled by teens.

esawers

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Ultimate Geek

#2290205 5-Aug-2019 14:57

My kids are still primary school, but the high schools around us recommend Chromebooks.

We bought them Lenovo 300e Chromebooks, they work with a normal HB pencil as the stylus.

Dynamic

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#2290207 5-Aug-2019 14:59

I agree.... chat to the school and find out what the requirements are before you start.

If Chromebooks are their recommendation, then you are in luck. Chromebooks have a very low ongoing cost of ownership. Easy to factory reset if something misbehaves. Ideally find a Chromebook with the 4Gb of RAM rather than the basic 2Gb of RAM models, as these allow you to have more tabs open.

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xpd

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#2290219 5-Aug-2019 15:12

Dynamic:

I agree.... chat to the school and find out what the requirements are before you start.

If Chromebooks are their recommendation, then you are in luck. Chromebooks have a very low ongoing cost of ownership. Easy to factory reset if something misbehaves. Ideally find a Chromebook with the 4Gb of RAM rather than the basic 2Gb of RAM models, as these allow you to have more tabs open.

And minimum 256GB storage. Dealt with a couple with 128GB and they dont last long space wise.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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sen8or

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#2290231 5-Aug-2019 15:28

Our 2 bought different laptops with different purposes -

Son wanted a gaming laptop, it was mostly his coin, topped up by us so he went higher spec (Acer Nitro V15(?) somethingorother with I7 and "decent" gfx card, 17inch IIRC 1080p monitor). It is now into its 4th year and is still rock solid. He only uses it at school now as has a dedicated gaming rig, but it still boots fast, runs well and the battery lasts the day.

Daughter wasn't so fussy, so bought a Lenovo, I7 processor, can't remember ram I think 4gb and 500gb HDD with a cheaper gfx card. Pretty much useless from day 1, screws fall out of the back, battery lasts only 2-3 hours, laggy on games (Minecraft) and crashed on other games (Sims 3) regularly. Upgraded ram and HDD to a SSD earlier this year, better performance but still only really good as a workhorse.

To last 5 years being tossed in and out of school bags I would think SSD would be required, 240-500gb should be heaps. For school work only, 8gb ram and an I5 or similar processor. Battery life will be important too though, you'd want 4-6 hours use. 1080p screen is a nice to have, but unless they are into gaming on them, not really critical.

Not sure if it applies to all high schools, but ours (LIncoln in Canterbury) provide office365 free to students and utilise word, excel, powerpoint, onenote and teams a lot for their work.

Probably around $6-800 or so per laptop would be about right at a guess

Dynamic

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#2290232 5-Aug-2019 15:29

xpd:

And minimum 256GB storage. Dealt with a couple with 128GB and they dont last long space wise.

Nah.... remember the Chromebooks only come with 16Gb or 32Gb of storage, and just move everything onto Google Drive for you.

Windows-based educational laptops like the HP Stream tend to come with 32Gb or 64Gb of eMMC. If you want larger, you budget needs to rise significantly.

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billgates

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#2290276 5-Aug-2019 16:05

If you want laptop to last 4 to 5 years then you can look at Surface Laptop 2 with minimum 256GB storage, HP x360, Lenovo X1 Carbon. Lightweight and great battery life.

Do whatever you want to do man.

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KrazyKid

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#2290328 5-Aug-2019 16:16

Brought my year 9 daughter an entry level HP for warehouse stationary at the beginning of last year. Cost about $500 as I made sure it had an SSD.

I recall they prices started from $350 for a basic Chromebook to ~$400-450 for a windows machine with a HHD.

The next step up was near the $1000 mark.

Long story short year 9 & 10 this cheap machine is fine.

I ended up deciding that if she took a step up and needed serious processing power for year 12 or 13 I'd buy a new Machine then.
No point spending $$$ on something that she never needed , and if she needed a powerful machine then why saddle her with one that was 3+ years out of date for her year 12 stuff.

Her feed back seems to be that is can be a little slow at times still in starting up still but she seems happy to use it and she gat get her school stuff done.

Teenage use case seems to be messaging, you tube, netflix, spotify, email, web browsing and word processing/school stuff in that order :)

Next year I need to get my year 7 a laptop, Grrrr.
Not sure if I'll go for the Window or chromebook for her, as i have heard good things about Chromebooks.

Dynamic

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#2290864 6-Aug-2019 12:22

If a ChromeBook is appropriate, you could consider grabbing this deal on a 4Gb RAM model that is new enough to have the Wireless AC standard built in.

https://www.1-day.co.nz/products/dell-chromebook-11-6-4gb-16gb

I buy from 1-Day regularly, and they have always been excellent to deal with when a warranty issue comes up.

“Don't believe anything you read on the net. Except this. Well, including this, I suppose.” Douglas Adams

Referral links to services I use, really like, and may be rewarded if you sign up:
PocketSmith for budgeting and personal finance management. A great Kiwi company.

RAINBOW

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2290890 6-Aug-2019 12:59

esawers:

My kids are still primary school, but the high schools around us recommend Chromebooks.

We bought them Lenovo 300e Chromebooks, they work with a normal HB pencil as the stylus.

My kids school reccommends ipads. We don't have to get them but that is what is reccommended. If we were going to pay that much I'd rather buy a laptop that will fit their requirements for years 11-13. I like chrome books, my youngest has one at year 6.

RAINBOW

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2290891 6-Aug-2019 13:01

xpd:

Dynamic:

I agree.... chat to the school and find out what the requirements are before you start.

If Chromebooks are their recommendation, then you are in luck. Chromebooks have a very low ongoing cost of ownership. Easy to factory reset if something misbehaves. Ideally find a Chromebook with the 4Gb of RAM rather than the basic 2Gb of RAM models, as these allow you to have more tabs open.

And minimum 256GB storage. Dealt with a couple with 128GB and they dont last long space wise.

Thanks for that info about the 4g ram.

RAINBOW

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2290900 6-Aug-2019 13:17

KrazyKid:

Brought my year 9 daughter an entry level HP for warehouse stationary at the beginning of last year. Cost about $500 as I made sure it had an SSD.

I recall they prices started from $350 for a basic Chromebook to ~$400-450 for a windows machine with a HHD.

The next step up was near the $1000 mark.

Long story short year 9 & 10 this cheap machine is fine.

I ended up deciding that if she took a step up and needed serious processing power for year 12 or 13 I'd buy a new Machine then.
No point spending $$$ on something that she never needed , and if she needed a powerful machine then why saddle her with one that was 3+ years out of date for her year 12 stuff.

Her feed back seems to be that is can be a little slow at times still in starting up still but she seems happy to use it and she gat get her school stuff done.

Teenage use case seems to be messaging, you tube, netflix, spotify, email, web browsing and word processing/school stuff in that order :)

Next year I need to get my year 7 a laptop, Grrrr.
Not sure if I'll go for the Window or chromebook for her, as i have heard good things about Chromebooks.

I like your thinking about buying something closer to the time rather than saddle them with something that will be outdated in a few years time, thanks for that.

RAINBOW

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2290903 6-Aug-2019 13:20

esawers:

My kids are still primary school, but the high schools around us recommend Chromebooks.

We bought them Lenovo 300e Chromebooks, they work with a normal HB pencil as the stylus.

I might have another look at the chromebooks, it has to be light weight, they have so much stuff to carry.

RAINBOW

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2290904 6-Aug-2019 13:20

billgates:

If you want laptop to last 4 to 5 years then you can look at Surface Laptop 2 with minimum 256GB storage, HP x360, Lenovo X1 Carbon. Lightweight and great battery life.

Thanks so much I will go and check them out.

RAINBOW

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2290906 6-Aug-2019 13:23

Dynamic:

If a ChromeBook is appropriate, you could consider grabbing this deal on a 4Gb RAM model that is new enough to have the Wireless AC standard built in.

https://www.1-day.co.nz/products/dell-chromebook-11-6-4gb-16gb

I buy from 1-Day regularly, and they have always been excellent to deal with when a warranty issue comes up.

Appreciate the link Dynamic, thankyou.

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