Advice on Laptop for New High School Students (Budget $1800?)

Would you consider this good value??

It's $ 1774.05 includes:
Lenovo Warranty Upgrade - 3YR Onsite (L13)
Lenovo Warranty Upgrade - 3YR Sealed Battery (L13)

Lenovo L13 Yoga G3 / 13.3-inch Touch / Intel i7-1255U / 16GB / 512GB SSD / Windows 11 Home
Model Number: 21B6S04400

Specifications:
13.3 Inch WUXGA ARAS Touch (1920 x 1200)
Storm Grey
Intel Core i7-1255U (Up to 4.7GHz)
16GB DDR4 3200Mz SODIMM
512GB m.2 NVMe SSD
Intel Iris Xe Graphics
Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX201 (2x2, 802.11ax) + Bluetooth
Integrated 720p HD Camera with Privacy Shutter + World Facing Camera
Lenovo Integrated Pen
3 Year Return To Base Warranty included
Windows 11 Home

I am not sure if I should wait for a sale-god-knows-when or just get this one
Any comments are much appreciated

Comments

  • +7

    While it will be future proof for a while it seems very high tech for high school work.

  • I would suggest to buy amd, not intel. Lenovo Ideapad 5 pro is on sale right now. https://www.lenovo.com/au/edu/en/p/laptops/ideapad/ideapad-5/ideapad-5-pro-gen-7-(14-inch-amd)/82sj002sau?groupId=education
    $1369 with a very high end processor ram n gpu

  • +4

    This would suit a 12 yo who is generally careful with technology. Otherwise it's a lot of money to be replacing for when things go wrong. 13" is the max size I'd recommend for portability. For a 12 yo who is more carefree with belongings, I'd suggest something low cost and robust like this one. Most of their work will be done at home and can be hooked up to a larger monitor, so a non-FHD screen should not always be the deciding factor since they will not be spending hours on the screen in school. If it is going to be the primary screen for home use, then yes definitely consider FHD/4k.

    • +1

      Your link to the 7290 has 12.5 inch 768p screen. OP would want a 7390 or 7490 with FHD screen for not much more. Link included in the below response to another post.

  • +3

    Seems excessive for a high school student. Don't need to spend more than $1K or even $750 on a laptop that'll last them through Year 7 - Year 12. Unless your kid is doing work using Blender and the Adobe Suite or whatever, it's overkill. Most of the time it's just web-browsing, basic word-processing and nothing much else. Once they start Year 10-12, then they might need specialist software like the ones mentioned earlier.

    Would reccomend a refurbed model, at least for the first year or two. If they prove that they can keep care of their device, and if they need a more powerful one, then you can consider a more expensive one.

  • It’s a well equipped device no doubt, I wouldn’t say overkill but it will definitely last 4 years if your kid doesn’t bash it around.

  • +3

    Unless money isn't a problem, go with something cheaper - either your kid or another kid will damage it in some way or another…

  • -3

    whether you buy 500 or 2000 laptop, you will need to change after 8-9 months, as teenagers needs new things every now and then(similar to iphone craze).

  • +2

    If you're going to drop $1800 on a laptop with the goal of lasting them at least 3 years, I'd go with 32GB RAM. Everything in that system is massive overkill except for that.

    But as has been mentioned, there's very little a $1800 laptop can do that a $500 laptop couldn't do when it comes to your kid. And at least if they break it or it winds up being too small/large for them then it's not breaking the bank to replace it.

  • Used to work as a school tech - typical good move is a cheaper device for 7-10 and then a faster/upgraded/new device for 11-12.

    I'd be verrry hesitant to suggest an i7 to start off with, at most an i5 should be more than enough for starting out in highschool.

    It's also worth checking with your school to see if they've got any recommended options / deals available through them for BYOD

  • +2

    Is your heart set on brand new? Eg. Refurb ThinkPad.
    1 Year Wty, don't have to stress about losing much value on it as it ages, should be fairly solid build quality.

  • +1

    Complete overkill. Students only need glorified word processors. They are not doing anything remotely hard on graphics and most schools have firewalls and policies against watching videos, YouTube and playing games.

    Do everyone a favour and buy something cheap this got good RAM to stop sluggishness. And ensure you have adequate insurance.

  • +1

    Thanks everyone for the valuable advice, decided to just pass on the 2018 surface laptop 2 and upgrade when needed. this is the way!

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