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Thread: Laptop for student

  1. #1

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    Laptop for student

    My daughter is starting an online education education program to further her nursing education. She needs a new laptop. Mainly she will be using the internet, MS Word and MS Power Point.

    It doesn't sound like anything to taxing. So if she doesn't want to spend much I'm thinking,

    11th Gen i3
    8Gb Ram
    256 SSD

    I think that would be plenty. But I don't know anything about what Power Point needs, actually I don't know what MS Office 2021 needs in general. I'm still using Office 2010 and it runs fine on Win 10 with 4Gb ram.

    Any thoughts? Any experience with these products?

  2. #2
    Fanatic Member 2kaud's Avatar
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    Re: Laptop for student

    You say she needs a new laptop. Does that mean she already has one but that isn't suitable or she hasn't one at all and needs a laptop?

    If she needs a laptop for what you describe, have you thought about getting a used one? I've bought several used ones for friends from ebay over the past couple of years (Dell ones) and they're all been pleased. There's been no issues.

    Just a thought to reduce the cost. Also with climate change etc, the more we can re-use what has already been produced and consumed earth materials the better for the planet.
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  3. #3
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    Re: Laptop for student

    What you specify is more than enough, way more than enough, so I would just take her out to look what design fits her eyes better.
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    PowerPoster jdc2000's Avatar
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    Re: Laptop for student

    Those specs are adequate. An i5 might be better, but not necessary. Screen, keyboard and available ports and connections should also be checked out.

  5. #5
    Fanatic Member Delaney's Avatar
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    Re: Laptop for student

    One thing important is if she has to deal a lot with numbers a keyboard with a numbers pad is just mandatory (well I forgot you are American and US keyboard has the numbers as primary keys on the top of the keyboard which is not the case in France)
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  6. #6

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    Re: Laptop for student

    Thanks for the replies.

    Buying used would make sense if money was the limiting factor. A new machine with those spec's is @ 4 or 5 hundred and she could afford that. Just trying to save her some money by not buying a machine that's more than what she needs. My friends and family seem to thing that because I was a programmer that I know a lot about computer hardware, windows OS, the internet .... I don't. lol

    Yeah I think finding a keyboard and screen size she likes is important. I have a 4yr old Surface Pro I was thinking of lending her but it only has 4Gb ram and the screen is only @ 10 or 11". That just seems small if going to be using it as a school computer.

  7. #7
    Super Moderator Shaggy Hiker's Avatar
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    Re: Laptop for student

    I think that having her get her hands on the keyboard might be the biggest single piece. The second would be an SSD, but you already included that. For those applications, even 4GB is likely enough, except that with 64-bit OS, 4GB is getting a bit scant. I have used 8GB without any problem for things that use text (VS, Word, etc.), but Powerpoint??? Well, that might want more. Graphics always have a higher demand.

    Still, the keyboard is likely the most important feature for school. I have a Surface Pro 2 and a Surface Pro 7. One of the drawbacks of the 2 was the keyboard. The 1 and 2 have smaller screens than any that came after them, and since the keyboards couldn't be any larger than the screens, the smaller screen meant a more cramped keyboard. I found the 2 to be usable, but hard to type on. The 7, which uses the larger screen that was added with either the 3 or 4, has just enough more room that the keys can be spread out a bit more, and makes them easier to type on.

    Being able to type easily and comfortably is key. I don't find screen size to be all that important. Yes, it's nicer to have a larger screen, but when you are getting a computer for portability, you are accepting that the screen will be a bit smaller. You can always plug in an external monitor when you are in a place that allows for that, so screen size shouldn't be the deciding factor...except for the impact of screen size on keyboard size.
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    Fanatic Member Peter Porter's Avatar
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    Re: Laptop for student

    Wes, what's the specs to your daughter's old laptop? You might be able to speed it up by upgrading it's hard drive to an SSD, and adding more memory to get it to 8GB. 1 Terabyte SSD's are pretty cheap, about $90. There are plenty of instructional videos on YouTube showing how to back-up and clone an OS from and old hard drive to SSDs.

    If her laptop is too old, it's on-board graphics might be a problem, so you would then need a new laptop. You can check online to see if her old laptop could handle whatever programs she plans to use, and if it can, then maybe upgrading it's SSD and ram would be the best option, that's if you're comfortable with tinkering with it.
    Last edited by Peter Porter; Dec 5th, 2021 at 05:50 AM.

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