Laptop for daughter at Uni

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johno1234

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#316270 1-Oct-2024 09:31

Her somewhat old Microsoft device is falling apart and she needs something urgently in Dunedin. She only uses it for writing assignments and reports and doesn't really need a lot of compute power. Something with long battery life would be good.

I'm not sure if she should get a chromebook? Otherwise what would be ideal? Hopefully less than $600.

Thanks for any suggestions/recommendations.

Handsomedan

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#3288447 1-Oct-2024 09:52

With two kids at Uni, I would tend to steer away from a Chromebook and probably go for something like a Surface Pro (secondhand) or a MacBook Air (secondhand).

They're light, fully featured and have the connectivity of a Chromebook, but with the convenience of being independent of a wifi connection.

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johno1234

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#3288451 1-Oct-2024 09:57

Chromebook needs a network connection? Wow, did not know that. Secondhand is attractive but with her down there if anything goes wrong with it it would be hard to sort out.

Her current laptop is a surface pro which lasted 5 years of being lugged to and from school and to and from uni. Quite impressed.

Handsomedan

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#3288452 1-Oct-2024 09:59

johno1234:

Chromebook needs a network connection? Wow, did not know that. Secondhand is attractive but with her down there if anything goes wrong with it it would be hard to sort out.

I think you can operate some apps locally on a Chromebook, but they are designed for online use - hence the low storage and limited memory. They only need to open a browser and use online Google apps

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wellygary

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#3288459 1-Oct-2024 10:11

Otago appear to be a Microsoft Faculty ,

https://student.desktop.otago.ac.nz/

and everything will be in the MS cloud,

So an up to date browser is pretty much all she will need

johno1234

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#3288463 1-Oct-2024 10:19

Update - she went ahead and purchased a refurb HP EliteBook 830 G5 Intel i5 8350U through Dick Smith

tehgerbil

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#3288464 1-Oct-2024 10:19

I've done a fair bit of research on Chromebooks for buying one for the Son and 90% of Chromebook's are utter trash for more than exceptionally basic 1-2 hours light usage a day.

They are FisherPrice toys with criminal prices on 8 year old CPUs (Ex: N3350, rel. '16!) that cannot even run Youtube & a basic HTML5 interactive website at once.

I'd try Offers/Wanted subforum on here asking for a cheap Surface 3 or 4 if any one has one to pass up.

martyyn

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#3288496 1-Oct-2024 11:05

It's horses for courses, so to say they are utter trash is a ridiculous statement.

My eldest had an Acer C720 from year 11 until her second year at Uni. Our son still uses the Acer R11 we bought in 2018 and our youngest is in year 12 with a Google Pixelbook after using a Dell I bought so long ago I can't remember.

Granted, all bar the C720 are not your average Chromebook, but they've all been used for significantly more than YT and browsing and all have been excellent.

Even the "they must have a wifi connection" argument is a bit mute when you think of how everywhere has free wifi now (esepcially a Uni) and if someone is going to find the free wifi it will be a student !

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Scott3

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#3288497 1-Oct-2024 11:11

johno1234:

Update - she went ahead and purchased a refurb HP EliteBook 830 G5 Intel i5 8350U through Dick Smith

An Ex-corporate Elitebook is pretty good outcome here.

This is the top tier of HP's business focused laptops, Orginally sold with a 3 year warranty, so designed for office workers who don't have a personal stake in the laptop throwing it in their bags daily for 3+ years, with a low warranty claim rate. So they are build much stronger than consumer grade laptops.

Also it is a full blown laptop, that can run local software, which is nice.

I was going to recommend a newer (more expensive) version of the same.

The CPU in this was launched late 2017, so it is fairly old. Good news is it the first generation of CPU's eligible for upgrade to windows 11.

It may need a battery replacement.

For a student, if she does a lot of work in her room, an ergonomic setup is a great idea. Also nice to have a charger for home, and one for her bag)

Low cost version is an mouse + keyboard, and a cardboard box or pile of books to get the laptop screen up to eye level. A few more $$ will get a bigger external monitor.

That laptop is old enough to support the older hp slide in side dock, Current HP corporate laptops have moved to USB-C docking only, so the older slide docks sell for peanuts now. Here is a Dock + Charger for $15....
https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketplace/computers/laptops/docking-stations/listing/4934849479

Goosey

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#3288696 1-Oct-2024 16:29

Nothing wrong with chromebooks... but these aint for Uni Students.

Chromebooks belong in Primary and Secondary schools for learning purposes i.e. creating docs, presentations and general surfing of all the online learning websites.

HP ones are pretty good...

michelangelonz

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#3288816 1-Oct-2024 22:35

We got ex lease busines laptops from PBTech. Great value.

lchiu7

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#3288878 2-Oct-2024 07:36

Goosey:

Nothing wrong with chromebooks... but these aint for Uni Students.

Chromebooks belong in Primary and Secondary schools for learning purposes i.e. creating docs, presentations and general surfing of all the online learning websites.

HP ones are pretty good...

I am not a university student (now ;-) ) but my daily driver is a Chromebook

The 12th gen Core I5 version of this.

https://www.acer.com/nz-en/chromebooks/acer-chromebook-spin-714-cp714-2wn

Now I only do Windows on my desktiop if I need to use a specific Windows app like Photoshop etc.

I can edit docs using Office365 and with synchronisation to my desktop I can edit the same docs using the destkop version of the Office apps.

I can't imagine a student being restricted by a device like this.

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