Best laptops for year 9 student.

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Wade

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#2290907 6-Aug-2019 13:24

Got my Yr9 Daughter one of these at beginning of year and so far has proven to be a great decision (if Chromebooks are acceptable device)

14" FHD touchscreen, can install Android Apps, 64gb storage and 8gb ram

Semi-flagship features @ mid level pricing

Dynamic

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#2290914 6-Aug-2019 13:34

RAINBOW: 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.

iPads make little sense to me as a school device.... they are great for content consumption, but not so great for content creation (in my opinion). I would encourage you to talk to the parents of older kids about their experience with iPads for school.

iOS apps won't run on a laptop, so if an iPad is strongly encouraged (and you choose to follow that encouragement), then you'll be best following that path.

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jonathan18

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#2290927 6-Aug-2019 13:44

Seriously, the first reply contains the most critical piece of advice - I suggest there's no point investigating specific devices, or even researching laptops with a particular operating system, until you've checked with the school as to what their requirements are. Once you've got that then you could report back here; this will allow people to provide advice relevant to the type of computers you'll need to purchase.

You'll often find this information is included on the school's website, or in a 'guide to new students' (may be a pdf on the website); if not, contact the school directly as this will be a question that they commonly have to answer.

Personally, I think there's not enough consideration of device types for schools, including a real lack of integration between the levels. My kids need different devices at primary, intermediate and secondary schools, despite the latter two being common feeder schools for the preceding level. I get that iPads work well at primary school and by intermediate a laptop with a proper keyboard is appropriate, but surely allowing the same device and OS at intermediate and secondary would be logical? (In our case intermediate = ChromeOS; secondary = Windows or Mac OS, and these two schools are literally next to each other!)

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