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Thread: Suggestions for laptop for son as a college freshman?

  1. #1
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    Suggestions for laptop for son as a college freshman?

    We understand a laptop is a necessity these days in college. In my day, it was notebooks and tape recorders. He has used a school provided Chromebook in high school and it was constantly having issues which the school would address, but in college he will be on his own. Reliability would be the most important factor. He is not going into graphic design and will be going to a community college about 2.5 hours away from home. He will be going into the trades but he is undecided at this time. Any advice would be greatly appreciated to get us pointed in the right direction.
    Thank you,
    Kevin

  2. #2
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    Our department at the University of Arkansas recommends freshmen have a laptop with these 3 specs: Intel Core I5, 8.0 GB of RAM and 500 GB Hard Disk. The brand and model is up to the student (Hp, Dell, Acer, etc.) as well as the operating system (Windows or Mac). Just from personal observation I would say most students carry an HP, Dell or Mac with a 15" screen, some carry a 13" models.
    Last edited by julian abram; 05-19-2018 at 11:06 PM.

  3. #3
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    I wouldn’t go cheap. You’ll just end up replacing it sooner. I currently really like the HP Spectre X360 line which Best Buy carries. Nice performance and a compact, lightweight machine with a decent display. I wouldn’t buy less than an i7 and 8, preferably 16gb if you don’t want to just be spending more in a couple years.
    Last edited by Matt Meiser; 05-19-2018 at 11:25 PM.

  4. #4
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    The school department might be able to recommend a computer depending on what type of courses hes taking. My general choice would be a samsung chromebook plus or pro. The one with the pencil stylus.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Carlson View Post
    The school department might be able to recommend a computer depending on what type of courses hes taking. My general choice would be a samsung chromebook plus or pro. The one with the pencil stylus.
    Does the college have a preference? If he needs help connecting to school resources, he might have better luck with a machine the school's support people are familiar with.

  6. #6
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    Most schools will have recommendations as already noted and I agree with the statement that this is not the time to buy the least expensive machine you can get away with. Quality counts because this is an essential tool for education...analogous to a business machine, rather than a personal nicety. I do not recommend another Chromebook in any way shape or form because the students may be required to use certain software applications that are only compatible/available on Windows or MacOS...such as MS Office. Most schools these days provide a subscription to Office 365 for students and faculty. You can't use that on Chromebooks nor can you use certain applications that may be required for some classes or subjects.

    My daughter is using the MacBook Air she and I shared the cost of when she was a sophomore in HS. It's clearly well suited to get her through her remaining three years at Penn State or beyond.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  7. #7
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    Completely agree on no Chromebook. Its analogous to the people who showed up at school in the early 90's with a word processor.


  8. #8
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    Near endless choices. The University where I work is currently handing out Dell Latitude 5480/5490 or 7480/7490 laptops as the staff standard platform. One of the groups in my department manage them and some of their folks operate the Help Desk so they have a historical knowledge of what survives. This is not a testimony, I'm just reporting in to add stuff to your decision process.

    When I got my 7480, as always, I immediately tried to break it. My group does some terrible things to laptops and we can't have them fail when people are in the field. We run tools that make aggressive use of the hardware and the platforms undergo a lot of configuration changes throughout the day depending on what they are being used for. The 7480 held up fine which is more than I can say for some machines. I was pleasantly surprised. The point being that if this model can do all the things we have to do, it should perform for an average user just fine.
    "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".


    – Samuel Butler

  9. #9
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    Buy a case and see how much breakage insurance costs. My high school charges $20 a year to fix/replace any broken laptops.
    l would ask the department the student intends to major in if they prefer apple or ibm.
    Bill D

  10. #10
    Year old macbook pro would be perfect. Save probably 10%-20%. I'd also check the Refurb section in the Mac store. Save $$ and they are all warrantied like a new one, only a year.

    I'm still using my 2008/2009 macbook I got for grad school. The first year they went to intel processors and alum chassis. I did max out the ram and swamped in a solid state hard drive about 4 years ago. I'm getting close to having to buy a new one as the OS I'm using can no longer support certain applications.

    Point is, 10 years I def got my money worth and it wasn't the top of the line then. Figure $1,200 and he has it for 5 years, that's still good.

  11. #11
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    An Apple MacBook Pro or Air would be my choice. My oldest daughter went through 3 Windows laptops over 8 years of college. My youngest daughter consumed 3 Windows laptops in her first three years so I bought her a MacBook Pro in her senior year and she is still using it today after 6 years. Only one Windows laptop in our family has survived, its the one in my shop that I use for my vinyl cutter. Several years ago Jackie and I each bought MacBooks, for us they are less expensive in the long run. I use an iMac as my business computer and in all the years we have been using Apple computers not one virus, failure to start up and no blue screens of death. They work and they are reliable for us.
    Last edited by Keith Outten; 05-20-2018 at 11:49 AM.

  12. #12
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    I use a small MacBook Air, and very happy with it, but while I was taking classes last year, I found it problematic to write and submit documents, spreadsheets and presentation materials, written on Apple software, to the schools Windows-based system. Docs could often not be opened or read by others, or got corrupted in conversion, even if I saved docs asWord/Powerpoint, etc. Probably my lack of current computer skills, but nevertheless, it was an obstacle.

    I think I would ask the school, and see if they offer some student discount program with one of the providers, maybe through the bookstore. Also don't forget the cost of any additional windows software that will be needed that is not part of the package.
    Last edited by Stan Calow; 05-20-2018 at 12:04 PM.

  13. #13
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    Does apple still offer discounts for students and teachers ?

    on edit: They do offer college student pricing.
    Note: the federal Apple loan has nothing to do with computers.
    Bill D.
    Last edited by Bill Dufour; 05-20-2018 at 1:27 PM.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Dufour View Post
    Does apple still offer discounts for students and teachers ?
    Yes, they do.[/QUOTE]

    Quote Originally Posted by Stan Calow View Post
    I use a small MacBook Air, and very happy with it, but while I was taking classes last year, I found it problematic to write and submit documents, spreadsheets and presentation materials, written on Apple software, to the schools Windows-based system. Docs could often not be opened or read by others, or got corrupted in conversion, even if I saved docs asWord/Powerpoint, etc. Probably my lack of current computer skills, but nevertheless, it was an obstacle.
    These days, everyone, for the most part, uses Microsoft Office 365 regardless of platform. There are zero issues passing documents back and forth because it's one document format. There are no conversions. Nobody uses the free Apple applications for this kind of work.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Matt Meiser View Post
    I wouldn’t go cheap. You’ll just end up replacing it sooner..........
    I would counsel just the opposite for this very reason.

    For each of our kids we purchased computers for them as high school graduation presents to be used in college.

    When our oldest son started we went top of the line and paid a premium. We made the purchase in late July as there was a sale. By December there were already bigger, faster, more powerful machines on the market for less money. But he was stuck with that machine for almost his whole time there.

    For our other kids we went with less expensive models, but we replaced them almost yearly with newer less expensive models. That way they were never more than about 6 months behind in current technology.

    Total, replacing during their time in school came out about the same as buying the one premium. And it actually saved us quite a bit. It gaves us an easy Christmas or birthday present, money we were going to spend anyway. So we didn't waste any money on superfluous presents.

    P.S. These were windows machines. If you go the Mac route, you could easily be happy with that for the four year use.
    Last edited by Charlie Velasquez; 05-20-2018 at 5:39 PM. Reason: added post script
    Comments made here are my own and, according to my children, do not reflect the opinions of any other person... anywhere, anytime.

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