new laptop for tertiary study?

Forums › Laptops and mobile computers › new laptop for tertiary study?

jim.cox

224 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 17

#230418 23-Feb-2018 06:08

My daughter is off to University this year and needs a new laptop.

She is studying Media and Communication and enjoys some gaming.

She has found an Asus VivoBook Pro 15 that she thinks would be suitable (ie good processor and graphics while still being portable)

The price is acceptable, but I see it is only Win10 home and I don't know much about Asus as a brand.

Any comments or suggestions as to other possibilities?

advTHANKSance

=mjc=
.

Lias

5673 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3990

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1962755 23-Feb-2018 10:31

Windows 10 Home is fine for most non business/enthusiast users. Asus is a well known, well respected brand, better known for their components (e.g. Motherboards, Graphics Cards), but have been making inroads into the laptop market in recent years and have a reasonable reputation with them. I've never had one of their laptops, but after 20 odd years they are still one of my top picks for quality when it comes to PC components.

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. Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

l43a2

1784 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 591

ID Verified

Trusted

#1962796 23-Feb-2018 11:01

that laptop looks like a good all rounder not to bad for the price either :) maybe consider swapping out the internal hard drive with an SSD to make it super speedy

Davy

200 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 66

#1962800 23-Feb-2018 11:05

That looks ideal - Win10 Home has 99% of everything in Win10 Pro so go for it!

lxsw20

3728 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2214

Subscriber

#1962815 23-Feb-2018 11:40

That hard drive is going to make it slow as a wet week. If going for it, allow budget for an SSD swap. (160ish for a 256gb, 260ish for a 512gb, plus labour if your not OK to DIY). And maybe an external case for the current HDD so it can be used as a portable HDD>

Also if carrying it around classes I would see if you can get your hands on it first to make sure a 15 is OK. Personally if I wanted portable I'd be looking at 13/14" laptops.

kobiak

1621 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 564

Trusted

#1962868 23-Feb-2018 11:45

or this: https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=77&topicid=225695

helping others at evgenyk.nz

antoniosk

2387 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 752

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1962983 23-Feb-2018 14:09

Having been through a couple of times now, I’d concur with peoples thoughts:

1. SSD instead of mechanical hard disk
2. Check weight of machine plus extras when being carried
3. Eyeball the thing to get a feel for strength and whether it’s going to survive being carrier around
4. Repairs for when it breaks and how long - the stress of being without a machine is something you will hear ALL about when it’s broken.

________

Antoniosk

Samsung

Shop now on Samsung phones, tablets, TVs and more (affiliate link).

rb99

3534 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1866

Lifetime subscriber

#1963008 23-Feb-2018 14:50

Was looking at this also a few weeks ago...

https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumId=37&topicId=228842

ended up going with the Dell, mainly cause it has quite a large battery. Screen is quite reasonable though apparently the Asus one is better.

This probably does help much as the Dell was on sale at the time and isn't anymore, but just though I'd mention it.

Also time is getting on a bit so you may not be interested or have the time for an overseas order.

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

rb99