Question around Surface Models

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baileym1

100 posts

Master Geek

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#185864 8-Dec-2015 13:34

Hi

We are looking to get our daughter a new computer for Christmas as her current laptop is getting a bit slow
Her intermediate is a BYOD school - so she needs something that suits this requirement

Question:
With the Surface 3 (non pro) - Noel Leeming has the 64GB model for $799 with the keyboard or the 128GB for $959 also with the keyboard
The 128gb has 2GB more Ram
Usability wise is it better to pay the additional $160 for more ram and bigger hard drive?

Alternatively would the infamous laptop that Finch has for sale in the buy and sell section, be a better option for not much more then the Surface 3 64GB model?

- i7 i7-5500U processor
- 2 TB Hard Drive
- 1920x1080 Full HD Screen
- Nvidia 940M Graphics Card
- 8GB Ram

Lias

5589 posts

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Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1442779 8-Dec-2015 14:25

If you get the surface, get the 128gb one.

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup.

geekiegeek

2513 posts

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Inactive user

#1442810 8-Dec-2015 14:57

Surface will be a lot more portable and also has the benefit of touch and pen input. I wouldn't go for anything under 128GB though.

rav4chch

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1442889 8-Dec-2015 15:51

As a dad with a BYOD daughter, key things you want to think about are:
1. Weight/size of the device - they have to carry it around, particularly when they get to high school
2. Battery life - classes don't provide power points at each desk!
3. Decent wifi - get something with dual band if your school supports it, network conjestion can be an issue

To be honest, performance isn't really that big a concern, anything relatively modern will do. At that level they really only run a web browser and office apps. Maybe if your daughter does some year 11-13 NCEA design subjects later she might want something with a bit more grunt, but whatever you buy now will probably be wrong then anyway!

For my daughter I went with a Dell Inspiron 11 with i3 processor. Only has an 11" screen, but she doesn't see that as an issue, besides it has the all important touch screen that she wanted.

If going down the laptop route, replace the hard drive with a SSD.