recomemdations for Laptop for University

[Tommy2]

My wife is looking for a new laptop for university, she has spotted a Lenovo ideapad 520s (i5 processor) for £399.
I’m not up on tech anymore, not that I was that much before, anyone have any input/tips/recommendations?
£400 is probably top end of budget.
She would like something fairly quick and light with decent my battery life.

Thanks

 

[User10119]

IF it is the exact same model (and it does need to be exact) then John Lewis do price matching and they supply PCs and laptops with a 2 year warranty as standard. It can be worth looking at what you like from their offerings and then seeing if anyone else is undercutting them on the same thing...
https://www.johnlewis.com/lenovo-id...gb-128gb-ssd-14-full-hd-mineral-grey/p3265728

Some people wouldn't be happy with 128Gb of storage - personally, if that is the spec above, I reckon it'd do me _very_ nicely indeed. For laptop choosing I would always recommend if possible going and meeting the one that you're considering in the flesh because the ergonomics - keyboard etc - make a massive difference to how quickly and easily and firmly you'll make friends with it.

 

[bruce1530]

Doesn’t really impact on the choice of laptop, but don’t spend a lot of money on software without seeing what’s available through the University. Many, if not most, use Office365 for student email, and if they do then all students can get licenses for Office (word, excel etc) for free.

If the Uni subscribes to Microsoft Imagine (formerly Dreamspark) then Science & Engineering students also get free access to a much wider range of Microsoft packages.

 

[midlife]

There's this that has popped up....

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/315909/#comment14056644

 

[Piemaster]

Depends what she is doing.
My daughter is a graphics design student and needed a lot more storage and horsepower for rendering work. Her pc still has 128Gb SSD but backed up by 1TB of hard disk, but then it cost twice that Lenovo.

 

[Tommy2]

Thanks for your tips everyone.
Good shout about going and having a play on it first to see if it’s ergononicallycompatible.

It’s going to be mainly essays and thing like that so nothing to storage gobbling.

I believe it is the same as that at John Lewis, a friend of hers actually spotted the laptop for £399 elsewhere and rang John Lewis to get a price match which they will, for exactly the same reasons.

She will be getting office and things through university.

Thanks.

 

[User10119]

I haven't had a lot of Lenovos to play with over the years, so can't comment on the model but spec-wise for essays and stuff it should be morethna adequate And hurrah for price-matching!

 

[bikingdad90]

Lenovo’s are the standard issue and spec for auditors at PWC and Ernst and young. Proper workhorses and can take a bashing

 

[tom73]

Go for a good preowned MacBook much better and once you move to one you won't go back to a PC. Been PC for years and not a problem. You'd get much more value and spec and will last for years.

Is she going part time or full time ?

If Part time she can still get a NUS extra student card cost 12 quid a year or buy a 3 year one and save a bit. Discounts are all over the place once you start looking. inc student discount both in and online at Apple store

 

[Piemaster]

Daughter sensibly waited until she'd been on the course for a few weeks before buying to see what her needs would be. After using the Uni Mac workstations she bought a PC, and still complains when she has to use Macs for some work.

 

[Cycleops]

Don't know if this might be of interest, a new cheaper Surface machine:
https://gizmodo.com/microsoft-surfa...et-that-might-1827464500/amp#amp_tf=From %1$s

 

[AndyRM]

Daughter sensibly waited until she'd been on the course for a few weeks before buying to see what her needs would be. After using the Uni Mac workstations she bought a PC, and still complains when she has to use Macs for some work.

A graphic design student who prefers a PC?! She'd better keep that quiet!

 

[tom73]

Don't know if this might be of interest, a new cheaper Surface machine:
https://gizmodo.com/microsoft-surface-go-is-a-cheap-tiny-tablet-that-might-1827464500/amp#amp_tf=From %1$s

Still expensive a chopping board

 

[Cycleops]

Still expensive a chopping board

Given the plaudits that Microsoft have received for the build quality of the Surface machines it might just be worthwhile getting a better quality 'chopping board' .

 

[AndyRM]

Given the plaudits that Microsoft have received for the build quality of the Surface machines it might just be worthwhile getting a better quality 'chopping board' .

It would. So buy a Chromebook, rather than a Surface.