Spec me a laptop for University

Dirk Diggler · 7 Nov 2016 at 10:39

It's for my daughter. I have no idea where to start with Laptops as I hate them.

Any ideas on what would be perfect for someone to capture their Uni work and general Googling/Netflix?

MiSJAH · 7 Nov 2016 at 10:57

Any I3, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD should suffice.

ic1male · 7 Nov 2016 at 12:49

I'm quite liking the HP Pavilion ones in the high street stores. A good setup for me would be Core i3 processor, 4-8GB RAM and 128-256GB solid state drive.

Dirk Diggler · 7 Nov 2016 at 13:04

Yea, I think SSD must surely be a requirement?

What about screen size? Is 13" enough or does it need to be 15" minimum?

MiSJAH · 7 Nov 2016 at 13:08

What are the benefits of an SSD for googling/netfilx/uni work?

Boot times I understand, but what else?

It woould be adding cost for the sake of it, no?

Dirk Diggler · 7 Nov 2016 at 13:11

MiSJAH said:
What are the benefits of an SSD for googling/netfilx/uni work?

Boot times I understand, but what else?

It woould be adding cost for the sake of it, no?

Mostly because Floppy > HDD > SSD.

And SSD's are pretty cheap these days, aren't they?

MiSJAH · 7 Nov 2016 at 13:17

String said:
Mostly because Floppy > HDD > SSD.

And SSD's are pretty cheap these days, aren't they?

No, not really. SSD per GB £0.32 vs HDD per GB 0.09p.

So that's your price difference, what benefits do you get for the extra cost?

Dirk Diggler · 7 Nov 2016 at 15:42

MiSJAH said:
No, not really. SSD per GB £0.32 vs HDD per GB 0.09p.

So that's your price difference, what benefits do you get for the extra cost?

Fair point. I'll have a think, thanks for the info.

c1tro · 7 Nov 2016 at 22:31

Chrome book any good?

Begbie · 7 Nov 2016 at 22:35

MiSJAH said:
No, not really. SSD per GB £0.32 vs HDD per GB 0.09p.

So that's your price difference, what benefits do you get for the extra cost?

Speed and a lot of it. It's easily the biggest upgrade, that everyone will notice.

Evilpaul · 8 Nov 2016 at 09:17

Probably an important thing to ask is what sort of course the OP's daughter is doing. Is it just going to be Word/Excel/PowerPoint or are there going to be any special requirements like video editing, graphic design, programming, etc...

a66as · 8 Nov 2016 at 10:18

MiSJAH said:
What are the benefits of an SSD for googling/netfilx/uni work?

Boot times I understand, but what else?

It woould be adding cost for the sake of it, no?

I would say the computer will feel smoother, snappier

Dirk Diggler · 8 Nov 2016 at 11:54

Evilpaul said:
Probably an important thing to ask is what sort of course the OP's daughter is doing. Is it just going to be Word/Excel/PowerPoint or are there going to be any special requirements like video editing, graphic design, programming, etc...

It's going to be law, so should just be the normal document stuff.

MiSJAH · 8 Nov 2016 at 12:14

String said:
It's going to be law, so should just be the normal document stuff.

In that case the only noticeable difference the SSD will have will be in boot times.

Biz.Kid09 · 8 Nov 2016 at 12:58

An SSD is crucial, if you are going to be spending any money on a new laptop it has to have an SSD.

For documents, netflix, browsing everything will be so much faster and smoother. If you are like me (uni student) you will throw your laptop around and having an SSD has probably saved me more times than I know! They are more robust and with no spinning parts, less chance of failure over their old and slow brothers!

Begbie · 8 Nov 2016 at 13:07

MiSJAH said:
In that case the only noticeable difference the SSD will have will be in boot times.

Loading documents, PDF files, research etc. It will be much quicker in day to day tasks, not just boot time.

Loads of times I open up large PDF files at work,and it takes an age. On an SSD that just won't happen.

Dirk Diggler · 9 Nov 2016 at 09:36

I'm going for SSD.

What's the thoughts on screen size? I don't want it too big or she'll struggle to lug it around?

Dirk Diggler · 9 Nov 2016 at 09:55

Actually, could some kind soul Google "HP Pavilion 15-au078sa 15.6" Laptop - Gold" and look at the offer from the retailer who sound like they make indian food?

Is the i5 6200U a showstopper with that paltry core clock speed?

MiSJAH · 9 Nov 2016 at 09:57

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Core-i5-6200U-Notebook-Processor.149437.0.html

kae2 · 9 Nov 2016 at 10:03

Whatever you buy, ensure you setup an automatic cloud backup service to backup all of your daughters documents.
Dead laptop = lots of tears when thousands of hours of work are lost!