Grade 10 Laptop - Lenovo or HP for BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) ?

singlefished on 30/11/2014 - 21:27

Hi Guys,

What are peoples ideas on Lenovo Thinkpads?

My son needs his own laptop for grade 10 next year… there's a whole bunch of specs the school has provided but the minimum boils down to Intel I5 with 8GB RAM.

I can get the following from Lenovo for $818.55

ThinkPad E540
•Intel® Core™ i5-4210M Processor (3M Cache, up to 3.20 GHz)
•Windows 8.1 64
•Windows 8.1 64 - English
•15.6" FHD Antiglare Display (1920 x 1080) Midnight Black
•Intel® HD Graphics 4600
•Security Chip Enabled
•8GB DDR3 1600MHz (2 DIMM)
•Keyboard with Number Pad - US English
•Trackpad without Fingerprint Reader
•Integrated 720p HD webcam
•500GB 7200 RPM HDD
•DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer
•6 cell Li-Ion Battery - 75+ (62Wh)
•65W AC Adapter
•Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 (2x2, 802.11 ac/a/b/g/n) with Bluetooth 4.0
•Language Pack Win8 US English
•1 Year Depot or Carry-in

could also get the following (smaller screen and no keyboard number pod) for $713.14

ThinkPad E440
•Intel Core i5-4210M Processor -nVPro
•Windows 8.1 64
•Windows 8.1 64 - English
•14.0" HD Antiglare Display (1366 x 768) Midnight Black
•Intel® HD Graphic
•Security Chip Enabled
•8GB DDR3 1600MHz (2 DIMM)
•Keyboard - US English
•Integrated 720p HD webcam
•500GB 7200 RPM HDD
•DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer
•6 cell Li-Ion Battery - 75+ (62Wh)
•65W AC Adapter
•Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 (2x2, 802.11 ac/a/b/g/n) with Bluetooth 4.0
•Language Pack Win8 US English
•1 Year Depot or Carry-in

The school has a deal set up with HP and could get the following ProBook for $1,089.00 (includes 3 year accidental damage protection warranty)

HP 430 with 3yr ADP warranty
[F6N65AV]
•HP IDS UMA i5-4210U 430 Base NB PC
•Win 8.1 Pro 64 430
•Win8.1 Driver DVD 430
•WEBCAM Integrated 720p HD 430
•13.3 LED HD SVA AG f/CAM flat 2Ant 430
•8GB 1600MHz DDR3L 2DM 430
•500GB 5400RPM 430
•4 Cell 40 WHr Long Life 430
•45 Watt Smart nPFC AC Adapter 430
•Fingerprint Reader 430
•1/1/1 Warranty 430
•Broadcom 943228 abgn 2x2 +BT 4.0 LEWW430
•No WWAN
•TP 430
•C5 1.0m Power Cord 430
•Country Localization 430
•Core i5-14 BLU Label
•eStar PCID Setting
•WRNTY14 BOOK-AP-1YR s
•HP 3 year Accidental Damage Protection Next business day Onsite Education/Limited Notebook Only SVC

Any thoughts on the above or suggestions on where can get a good student laptop deal? Thanks :)

Computing

Comments

  • Mikinoz on 30/11/2014 - 21:32

    Just keep in mind the warranty depot repair means there is no guarantee on a fix timeframe.

  • singlefished on 30/11/2014 - 21:46

    We can get a "loaner" from school for a few weeks/months if a Lenovo warranty requirement pops up…

    The "loaners" would be the 3 year old laptops the kids are currently using (which were bought during the Rudd/Gillard "BER Edumacation Revolution")

    HP will supposedly service the issue at school the next day is something popped up.

    The main thing will be to run a nightly backup on our home server to minimise lost data in the event of a disaster….

  • cypher67 on 01/12/2014 - 10:48

    I know they need to keep the price down, but I cant imagine why they wouldnt be sourcing an SSD solution. Having these mechanical drives bouncing around with a grade 10er wouldnt be doing them any good (especially if they are in standby) and you dont need bulk storage for school work, 128gb would be plenty as opposed to the 500gb.

    Is there any downsides to BYOD? Like no onsite tech support if it has issues, preloaded software required, docking station compatibility or something like that?

    These machines are ok, but id personally go for something lighter with an SSD, I was always late for class and the start up times would be critical.

    • mrmarkau67 on 01/12/2014 - 10:57

      I agree. Anything not SSD based is crazy.

      I think 13" or 14" is better for school - less weight and leaves more desk space for other materials.

      I'd be looking very carefully at battery life.

  • sm007h on 01/12/2014 - 10:54

    If you can afford it, try going for the L series Lenovo laptops - they are a little extra but significantly more durable. They can withstand accidental drops, water spillage, etc.

  • singlefished on 01/12/2014 - 22:31

    You're right about the SSD… they do recommend it in their min specs but I figured I'd clone the spinner onto a SSD myself to get better value (Lenovo want $100 for 128G!!!)

    Downside to BYOD is limited tech support at school and still have to pay over $100 per year to cover the network access and upkeep (government doesn't pay, it comes out of the piddly small school budget), you cover insurance and repairs.

    Upside is you get office 2013 for free with 5 different installs, cheap Norton ($36 for 3 years)

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