University - buy a laptop or Chromebook+desktop combo?

Forums › Laptops and mobile computers › University - buy a laptop or Chromebook+desktop combo?

lurker

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#282746 9-Mar-2021 15:33

Son will be studying out of town and just wondering how to cover the IT needs

Was thinking of either decent laptop ($2K-3K)

Or a decent desktop to keep in his room while using a Chromebook for out & about

Anyone been through this before and have any thoughts on what worked for you?

Handsomedan

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#2670522 9-Mar-2021 15:42

Chromebook is limited by the ability to access network - little offline capability I would think, for a Uni student.

My hot take would be a good laptop and a screen/keyboard/mouse/laptop stand for home, so the Laptop becomes the desktop there

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lurker

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#2670554 9-Mar-2021 16:31

Good points, I guess I shouldn't assume that wifi will be reliably available wherever they will be doing their lectures/library work and that a laptop will at least ensure offline capability

Tinkerisk

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#2670558 9-Mar-2021 16:49

Desktop + Tablet

- NET: FTTH & VDSL, OPNsense, 10G backbone, GWN APs
- SRV: 12 RU HA server cluster, 0.1 PB storage on premise
- IoT: thread, zigbee, tasmota, BidCoS, LoRa, WX suite, IR
- 3D: two 3D printers, 3D scanner, CNC router, laser cutter

dklong

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#2670559 9-Mar-2021 16:54

Just my 10c worth... but also worth considering a docking station for at home. We ended up with one for my wife during the first lockdown and 'Work From Home'. She just plugs one USB into the laptop and she has access to multiple screens, keyboard, mouse, LAN, Headset, Ethernet etc. She is back at work this week and number one son has taken it over with his laptop for On-line University. Very flexible and very easy. :-)

MarkM536

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#2670566 9-Mar-2021 17:45

dklong:

Worth considering a docking station for at home. We ended up with one for my wife during the first lockdown and 'Work From Home'.

She just plugs one USB into the laptop and she has access to multiple screens, keyboard, mouse, LAN, Headset, Ethernet etc. She is back at work this week and number one son has taken it over with his laptop for On-line University. Very flexible and very easy. :-)

I agree to docking laptops.

I have a laptop as my only computer device. It docks at home to another screen and peripherals.

Benefit is having the same files and settings between scenarios. It also means you charge the laptop when you use it, no more forgetting to charge it!

Now days there's not many laptops with a full on "docker". It's instead a USB-C adaptor to charge, display video and input USB devices.

I went into buying my laptop 3 years ago wanting one with a large docking connector on the bottom, there's no need now.

1024kb

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#2670567 9-Mar-2021 18:01

Not exactly fitting the topic, but do you have a half-decent laptop hanging around doing nothing? Google recently purchased Neverware, now you can install ChromeOS on pretty much any laptop. Installation is too easy, & done in just a few minutes.

This information could lower your hardware expenditure substantially.

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Wakrak

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#2670609 9-Mar-2021 19:34

+1 for laptop and docking station / adapter with x2 screens at home. Current university student working part time at Plant and Food Research.

Docking stations are the norm within PFR; work laptop, two screens, webcam. University wise; good to be able to take laptop to class and then easily come home and plug it in to a 'desktop' setup.

BlinkyBill

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#2670620 9-Mar-2021 20:00

I have two at Uni, one at Otago and one at Victoria. I asked them and they both said laptop, the portability is important because uni students take computing power to library, laboratories, other peoples houses for study groups, on field trips etc. They need the power of a laptop to run stats packages, R, etc etc, not just document editing.

My two don’t know anyone who doesn’t have a laptop, lots of students have laptops and also tablets for reading textbooks.

Otago, Vic and a client of mine, Canterbury, have fantastic wifi all over their campuses. Can’t speak for others, but I suggest they would be the same - great free wifi is a no-brainer for university study.

They both noted that drama students don’t need laptops. They may be a little sarcastic about that.

k1w1k1d

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#2670797 10-Mar-2021 06:30

Good laptop and a good backup system.

MurrayM

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#2670923 10-Mar-2021 09:58

Handsomedan:

Chromebook is limited by the ability to access network - little offline capability I would think, for a Uni student.

You can do a surprising amount offline with Chromebooks these days. See https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/3214688

I haven't tried this myself but apparently Google Docs works offline for editing documents, and I imagine that would be what most students would be doing (eg note taking)?

Obviously you can't access any websites if you're offline, but that would be the same for a laptop so not unique to Chromebooks.

cyril7

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#2670954 10-Mar-2021 10:48

Hi, as Murray says you can work offline no probs, obviously within limits. Biggest advantage of a Chromebook is going to be weight and battery life, few other devices can match it at a price point.

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lurker

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#2671617 11-Mar-2021 11:47

Ok I may need to test Chromebook offline capability.

After the initial posts I was leaning towards a laptop+dock setup but if the Chromebook works fine offline for notetaking then a grunty PC+Chromebook might work out.

Will do some more research from my end

Tzoi

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#2671621 11-Mar-2021 12:02

It will also depend if he needs to run any specific programs for his course that will only run on Windows

Tinkerisk

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#2671817 11-Mar-2021 17:40

BlinkyBill:

They both noted that drama students don’t need laptops. They may be a little sarcastic about that.

Don't worry about it. Not every student can be familiar with desktops as remote servers, not just those studying drama.