Small laptop for uni student recommendation please

reevesy

hi all,

not bought a laptop for years so no idea whats hot and whats not...

daughters after a new laptop for uni...
...budget..well cheaper the better but would like something half decent.

i suppose good battery life would be needed as well as something not too big and hefty.

ssd would probably be best over a standard hard drive?

decent screen and dvd as she watches the odd movie and boxset on it.

probably stacks of suitable ones out there but any guidance ....and makes to avoid would be great.

cheers

Educated Guess

If you could stretch then I would suggest a macbook instead of a PC.
My son had virus after virus and numerous issues with his laptops prior to uni. I was forever re-installing Windows and troubleshooting. When he went to uni I brought him a macbook. In three years he never had a problem or needed to reinstall any software.

Just my observation.

reevesy

Yeah did think of a Mac book ......till I saw the prices !

To be fair all the years she's being using a laptop I've never known her to have any problems like that.

Cheers

reevesy

she''s after something more smaller ...so maybe something along the lines of 13"...light and portable with good battery life and reasonable cheap...so puts the macs out of the equation

reevesy

Would a decent spec Chromebook be up to the job?

Pacifico

If you are worried about viruses go with Linux - Dell work well (you can even buy with Ubuntu pre installed)

reevesy

Not really worried about virus's to be honest.....my daughter's had a laptop for a few years now and never had a problem with any software ....I've never had to look at the 2 she's had

dansstuff1979

I've just ordered an Acer Chromebook for my niece this afternoon

She's started some of her GCSEs and wants something that can carry on through into college etc

It was only £129 via Amazon Prime; went with it as it has USB3 connectivity (sorted a USB 3 hub for her to connect mouse, keyboard and external HDD to do back-ups to). It's got HDMI out so she can connect it to her TV for the likes of Netflix etc (she has our old flat screen TV that doesn't have Netflix capabilities etc). She's already set up on Google re Drive and back-ups etc as she uses a Samsung S7 Edge mobile etc

She didn't want to spend more than £150 on the laptop/Chromebook (£200 overall budget for all the extras too) so I think she's done well

She'd love a Macbook like my Pro; but even older ones were way out of budget!

For now; this Acer will do what she needs and she can save again and get a Macbook Air at a later date (her folks are already buying one for her 17th as a surprise)

reevesy

Thanks....after a brief chat about it the other day.....I think she wants to keep her main laptop in her room....and have a smaller more portable one to take to classes....
She's studying chemistry so can't see any heavy processing power needed for any thing like graphic work etc

Not sure if the chrome OS will be a problem.....shouldn't be

reevesy

still looking