Need some help please , going around in circles and not tech savy enough .
I need a decent laptop/touch screen for my son who basically needs it for some programming at uni , needs to be lightweight with a bit of storage
and suit a 23yr old moving forward for a few years .
He's back in 2weeks but a bit torn as to whether to wait for EOFY sales ?
******** thanks everyone for your help went with a Mac *********
those click frenzy things drive me mad , take up so much of your time, but hey someone has to get lucky !
MacBook Air m1 - I use it for same purpose above and same age. hard to beat…. get it on education discount for about $1300.
16 hours battery life for me browsing, uni assignments and programming etc
thanks, will get him to look at the specs
I second the MacBook Air M1. Sign up for UNiDAYS with his school email to get 11% off the RRP. If he doesn’t need it before July then it may be worth waiting to see if they would release an update for MacBook Pro next month.
Not touch screen though. I have it and like it, not sure how it would perform for programming.
I'll look out for one of the Dell XPS 13 deals, they pop up often enough. But my personal preference would be a Thinkpad for IT work. Also personal preference, I'd steer clear off HP, unless it's free or heavily discounted. Also, if this is for your son, have you asked him if he has a choice in mind? If he's doing an IT degree (since you mentioned programming), I would expect him to know which laptop to get.
Thanks for your comments , he's doing his Masters in Analytics so apart from mentioning storage , screen size , light weight and programming he's left it to his bargain hunting mum haha. Will get him to have a look at those mentioned
Look out for Microsoft surface laptop 3. About $1450 with student discount. Good build quality and the large displays are awesome.
Good idea , I actually have the surface laptop 2 for when I travel , didnt even think of the newer one .
4 is out now but 3 is on clearance
I'd rather get a 4; 3's battery life sucks.
Source: Have a SL3
Ask your son. He's 23 and doing programming at university.
He's going to know exactly what he wants.
This was my first thought, would be hard to let anybody else buy tech for me.
He's not doing programming its Analytics as I mentioned above and of course we have discussed it . Not every 20+ yr old kid knows good tech specs for computers….
A 20yr old studying an IT related course normally should know…?
@superveggies: Maybe lets roll with his Maths and analystics mind is off the charts and random computer specs aren't his thing and move on ….. love Oz B but f**k so many people don't contribute and are just negative on genuine questions
If the laptop is for him and he's 23 and studying programming, why are you asking for advice here?? Go ask him!!!
Just let him know the budget. He probably knows every model and specs out there, and their price
I never said he's studying programming and I am certainly not paying !! If you can't help jog on and don't comment …
…who basically needs it for some programming at uni…
'Some" doesn't mean whole course is that ….. most courses have a component, just needs to be able in that price range …
MacBook Air M1 or the 2021 MacBook Pro (if they release it next month), Dell XPS 13, Microsoft Surface Laptop 4, Lenovo X1 Carbon or X1 Extreme. Students get 11% off for Mac, 10% off for Microsoft, 20% off for Dell, not sure what’s the percentage for Lenovo but they have an education store as well.
The M1 is not mature technology. It's only just been released and vendors are scrambling to support it. There's a chance that the compilers needed for the course may well not be available for this chipset - and even if available could perform wildly differently from what was expected by whatever coursework was set.
Apple aren't exactly forthcoming about hardware details and that could be a limitation for an eager student wanting to really delve into technology. Open architectures are far better in that the student is more likely to find whatever information they want on the Internet somewhere. For this reason an open source operating system is really the best because you can literally view the source code if you want. And there's bound to be a lot more information available for a student about the x86 platform than the M1… although a student that eager should probably start by understanding a simpler microprocessor architecture first..
If you want lightweight, 2 in 1 touchscreen look at dell.
Inspiron 2 in 1 with an i7 and 1tb can be had for your budget on sale. https://deals.dell.com/en-au/productdetail/8n66
If you don’t want touchscreen this isn’t bad right now: https://deals.dell.com/en-au/productdetail/8n62
Or a better quality XPS version https://deals.dell.com/en-au/productdetail/8n6a
XPS 2 in 1 here is what I personally own and it was an awesome deal. Waiting on it to come back so I can buy another for the missus, but obviously XPS are above your budget. You can probably get the FHD version around $1900 with codes and cash back.
Dell Outlet has a number of 'As New' XPS models on Sale (up to 35% off on XPS)…
https://www.dell.com/en-au/outlet/shop/laptops-tablets?condi…
Here's my pick … XPS 15 - 9570 Laptop (8th gen model) for $1,259 (was $1,939)…
https://www.dell.com/en-au/outlet/refurbished-xps-15-9570-la…
If interested, it's best to place an order ASAP (as there's limited stock, usually only 1 unit).
AS NEW products are factory sealed products that were either cancelled or unopened returns:
https://www.dell.com/learn/au/en/audfh1/shared-content_campa…
Thanks alot , will check it out tomorrow.
Click Frenzy starts May 18th next tuesday so you could wait till then for some (hopefully) good computer promotions.