BYOD Touch Screen Laptop for Year 7 High School Student

• 

  dan0909 on 05/12/2023 - 19:27

  +2

  Good idea to buy a refurbished surface for new.hihj school students. They learn to take care.of it and if it breaks, you don't loose $2000. I bought surface pro 5 last year and it's been good.

  Have a look at this. It's only $300 and 5+ hours of battery life.
  https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/813844

• 

  Mechz on 05/12/2023 - 19:30

  +1

  If you want 2 to 3 years out of it then minimum has to be 10th gen or later plus 16gb RAM.

  The last 2 in your list are 8th gen and I think all of these are non upgradeable RAM.

  Keep digging through ebay and you will get something decent.

  • 

    bargaino on 05/12/2023 - 19:35

    +3

    There is really not much practical difference between 8 and 10th gen.
    And I upgraded my kids laptops to 16GB, but they did not notice any difference :-(

    I would tend to avoid a laptop with only 8GB soldered, but the Surface Laptop does have a beautiful display, so I might overlook the RAM limit for school use, at that price, especially the $299 deal.

• 

  rumblytangara on 05/12/2023 - 19:30

  +1

  Touchscreen = more likely to have glass in it. I deliberately avoided this for a school laptop.

  If you want 2 to 3 years out of it then minimum has to be 10th gen or later plus 16gb RAM.

  Strongly disagree with this, especially for a 12 year old. 8th Gen Intel means the CPU will handle Win11 without bypassing hardware checks.

  If I had to choose between those three, it'd be one of the first two, I don't put much stock in Dells. The Surface is extremely portable, but totally unfixable (I doubt you can even replace the battery in it by yourself).

  • 

    bargaino on 05/12/2023 - 19:40

    +1

    I don't put much stock in Dells.

    If getting a Dell refurb, go for the 73XX series.

    Surface is disposable, but at least that model is not as vulnerable as the Surface Pro (2-in-1).

    • 

      rumblytangara on 05/12/2023 - 19:43

      Surface is disposable, but at least that model is not as vulnerable as the Surface Pro (2-in-1).

      That sums it up perfectly. It's extremely light, so great for a kid. But essentially disposable, vs an X1C which should last Yr7-12, assuming nobody jumps on it. Might require a battery replacement partway through, but you can do that easy. For a later years computer I would want to go more RAM in case the kid does run more than the usual web browsers and Office software.

• 

  scotty on 05/12/2023 - 20:38

  +1

  Why touch screen is required yet none of your options are 2-in-1? Writing with a digitiser on a laptop screen that cannot be folded like a tablet — it can be pretty awkward. Check out Dell Latitude 7290/7390 2-in-1 on eBay. Many under $350 with 8th gen i5 & 16GB of RAM.

  • 

    NBaidya on 05/12/2023 - 22:11

    Found one for $288 grade A

    https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/186142322230?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mk…

    • 

      rumblytangara on 05/12/2023 - 22:22

      But- why a touchscreen in the first place? As pointed out, they make crappy writing devices (especially vs an iPad/tablet).

      I looked into this last month, and couldn't find any good reason to go touchscreen.

      • 

        NBaidya on 05/12/2023 - 22:33

        Don't know why but school site shows this:

        Ergonomics:
        ¨ The device must have an external keyboard.
        ¨ A stylus (digital pen) is highly recommended so students can make hand written notes on
        the device such as a Surface Go 2
        ¨ Maximum weight: 2 KG

• 

  altomic on 05/12/2023 - 20:57

  i just purchased a HP ProBook 430 G4 with 8GB 128SSD W+ 13.3" TOUCH for $165 delivered for my year 10 (2024) child.

  you can upgrade to 16gb for an extra $35 if you want.

  a basic laptop for school needs

  • 

    Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 05/12/2023 - 21:48

    Surely the battery is toast in those

    • 

      altomic on 05/12/2023 - 21:51

      +3

      it's not, and don't call me Shirley

  • 

    bargaino on 05/12/2023 - 22:06

    +2

    Shirley, I'd just warn people, the only problem with that is it seems to have a 720P screen?

    When my kid had one of those, we were doing a lot more up/down scrolling in apps like Mathspace. Though it was a Chromebook. Maybe Windows copes better?

• 

  WreckTangle on 06/12/2023 - 03:54

  Wouldnt bother with touch screen