Good Evening Ozbargainers.
We need to purchase 2 new laptops for university students.
Student one is studying accounting.
Student two is studying Linguistics and would also like to play some light games (eg Left for Dead 2).
Both are currently studying from home using their old high school MacBooks which are no longer working very well. Both will go back to on campus learning eventually.
Looking for some tips from the Ozbargain experts please. Such as what specs should we be looking for? Any brands to look for/steer clear of? What price range to aim for? I don’t really know enough about computers to know what else to ask but hopefully you get the idea.
Thankyou.
Laptop Purchasing Advice Please
Showmethebargains on 16/06/2020 - 19:39
Comments
A few more questions…
What laptops have your kids asked for?
Is there a particular aesthetic they want?
Is screen size or weight a factor?
Is either requiring applied computing in their coursework?
Is there an operating system need?
Can we be more precise about gaming needs?Perhaps if we can answer those, we can get the ballpark on what budget to aim for and a recommendation.
They haven’t asked for particular laptops.
No particular aesthetic.
Size/weight needs to be suitable to cart to and from uni on public transport.
No applied computing requirements.
The one doing accounting is finding that her MacBook is not suitable as the stuff that uni sends to her is not formatted correctly for it. I guess that means she needs a regular computer, not an Apple? Like I said, I don’t know much about computers so I am sure this sounds very dumb.
The gaming is not that important, it would be to play light games such as Left for Dead 2 or Star Dew Valley.Thankyou for taking the time to try to help. Please excuse my extreme lack of computer knowledge.
In consideration of the needs, I think the best value-for-money in this price point is the Inspiron 7000 or XPS.
Dell has the full spec from $2,999 down to $1,700 with cashback in their EOFY sales.
In 2020, I think that you do ideally want to grab a machine that's light (under 1.5kg), reliable (Dell, Lenovo, Asus et. al), and at a minimum, has 1TB SSD of storage, 14 inch screen, 8hr battery life, high-quality CPU and 16GB of RAM. In consideration of the need for light gaming, the one I have recommended has a discrete GPU, which will support light gaming.
Review - https://au.pcmag.com/netbooks/65446/dell-inspiron-14-7000-74… (4.5/5)
https://www.dell.com/en-au/shop/dell-laptops/inspiron-14-700…
This one is $1999, but has a touch screen and market-leading processing power for the laptop's size and weight. Gaming will also be VERY serviceable. You lose some memory and storage as a tradeoff.
https://www.dell.com/en-au/shop/2-in-1-laptops/new-inspiron-…
As a uni laptop, it will get quite a lot of daily use and be subjected to a fair bit of wear and tear, so it's a good idea to plan for 3-4 years of exhaustive ownership and buy a little bit ahead of current needs.
Good luck!
Cant these hip young youth figure it out themselves?
They probably could but I offered to help as they are currently in the thick of exams and I’d rather they concentrate on that.
Your adult children made it through high school and are in university without a single tech savvy friend in 2020, just wow
Thankyou so much for that ultra helpful reply.
Usually, portability and battery life are in conflict with game-playing ability. Get a list of "minimum system requirements" for the games they want to play, then see if a small light laptop with high battery life fits those minimum system requirements. Note that the laptop needs to be much stronger than the minimum requirements which are often understated. For accounting, Excel spreadsheets might need more power if they are very complicated.
They are guaranteed to complain about your choices. Aw, Mum, what were you thinking. So get them to choose.
I have been relentlessly searching for a replacement laptop these last two weeks coming (down?) from a MacBook Pro 15 2013 model.
Out of the gate, https://www.lenovo.com/au/en/laptops/ideapad/ideapad-s-serie… is pretty good bang for buck, $1100 and that gets you a solid build with enough puff to last for many years to come, and relatively, very good gaming performance.
I have bought this plus 1 year onsite support ($15), an expanded SSD ($110), a fancy colour ($30) and a faster CPU, but, really only the SSD and maybe the onsite support (convenient insurance) aren't luxury upgrades.I wonder how that compares to this non-slim version: "Lenovo's IdeaPad 5 REVOLUTIONIZES the Budget Category"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jf7itO2YKg
EDIT: I just saw this is a 15 inch. The Accounting student might like the numpad for fast number entry, but the laptop would be heavier and maybe less battery life. Note also that the screen has bad colour accuracy. Also not the slow delivery times.
EDIT: Here's a IdeaPad 5 14 (Ryzen 4700U) Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI8oc5FxW0A
Agree- the AMD Ryzen 7 4700U build with full spec coming in at under $1400 is crazy good. That wont slouch for many years to come.
A mate of mine built a Lenovo ThinkPad for under $1200 a fortnight ago - He pulled in a 3700U, Vega 10, 32GB of RAM, 1TB SSD + unused expandable, screen, backluight and BT upgrade as well.
We both agreed it was a pricing error - delivered last week!
That's close to the specs I want not not what I want to pay! I had $800 in mind.
Thankyou to everyone who took the time to help. Very much appreciated.
$400 off the surface laptop at the moment: https://www.jbhifi.com.au/products/microsoft-surface-laptop-…
otherwise check this from time to time for XPS laptops:
https://www.dell.com/en-au/outlet/shop/laptops-tablets