BYO Laptop for My Son

mel82 on 16/01/2018 - 23:08
Last edited 17/01/2018 - 00:28 by 1 other user

needing some help to purchase Laptop for my son heading into yr 10 he is now required to bring his own laptop has to hand back his school HP laptop. I need to best price but it needs to have to following things which mean nothing to me its like Spanish!! obviously after the cheapest that can be found with all these requirements!!! any help would be much appreicated

  • must have wireless adapter 802.11ac wireless protocol, 802.11 b/g/g protocol won't be able to connect to school wireless network
  • must support both 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless networks
  • minimum Intel Core i5 processor
  • minimum 4gb memory
  • minimum 128gb solid state drive (PC) or flash storage (mac)
  • minimum display of 11inches

  • minimum 6hr battery life

  • must be running current windows 10 home/professional not the light weight version microsoft windows 1OS. Can be apple Mac OS X

Computing

Comments

  • Wakety-Wack on 17/01/2018 - 00:52
    +1

    You will find that these requirements will be easily found in todays laptops.

    What is your budget?

    One example

    Does it need to be brand new? Maybe a second hand one off ebay or gumtree would suit?

    • mel82 on 17/01/2018 - 08:44

      As cheap as possible as under $700 would be fantastic!

  • AlienC on 17/01/2018 - 07:50

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/355719

    128gb SSD

    ~$779 AUD

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/354991

    More storage 256gb SSD

    $874.03 AUD

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/354613

    This would have been perfect for a school laptop imho.

    $570 AUD

    Lastly I think I saw a GTX 1050ti 15.6" laptop for around $1000-$1100 AUD somewhere can't find it now but it was a steal and very good price.

    I remember it clearly because I was comparing it to a low end GTX 1060 laptop deal at $1359 and comparing the $300+ difference in cost.

    Pretty overkill but will last your son a very long time maybe even until the end of uni or whatever he decides to do when we graduates from highschool.

  • mel82 on 17/01/2018 - 08:43

    Thanks AlienC yes the $570 HP would have been great for the budget! You’ve been a great help :)

  • Savas on 17/01/2018 - 10:20

    Does he need a laptop? At my school one person bought one and they never used it.

    • ms_caz on 17/01/2018 - 11:49

      All information regarding school administration - eg student timetable, assessment tasks, reporting, the daily bulletin and most of the class resources are issued to students electronically at my school, and in all of the schools I have come into contact with. It is essential that students have a device that is able to access these things. We do not have computer labs or access to computers for students to work from. Some kids do manage to negotiate their way around just using their phone, but they need to have their own data to do this, and it makes it impossible for them to download, complete and submit learning tasks. Students might still have a textbook and work in an exercise book for some subjects but I think you will find that very few, if any, students can expect to be able to participate effectively without a laptop, particularly in the OP's son's situation, given that he will be in the Senior School.

      • Savas on 17/01/2018 - 12:04

        wow things are very weird in VIC!! how do they enforce you to use your own data, surely the teachers wouldn't check whether you are connected to the WiFi.

        • ms_caz on 17/01/2018 - 15:26

          All students are expected to have a netbook so they can connect to the school network. If they don't have a computer then some students use their phones to access, but they cannot connect to the network and school's wifi from their own unsecured device, therefore they use their own data to locate the relevant website. Nobody can force them to use their data - the point was, it is a work around (and not a very effective one) that some kids use if they can't log in to the network on a school approved device.

        • Savas on 17/01/2018 - 15:30

          @ms_caz: what's an unsecured device? in NSW any device can connect

    • mel82 on 17/01/2018 - 13:27
      +1

      Yep unfortunately! They rarely use books anymore

  • 0FoxGiven on 17/01/2018 - 12:56
    +1

    Get a second hand Macbook Air 2013 model or above. Its light, meets all the spec requirements, looks good, can run Windows if required and will most likely outlast even some of the newer windows laptops..

    Speaking from experience.. I have had 2 Dell laptops and one Acer (basically all the non-apple laptops I have ever used) conk out on me within 2 years of use. Me and my wife both have Macbooks from 2014 that still run the way it did when it was brand new.

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