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Secondary education

Lap top for Year 10

10 replies

FanGurrl · 25/11/2020 10:17

Hi all, DS needs a laptop for school. I have no idea where to start! Have asked the school, but no reply, so please does anyone have any advice? As cheap as possible!
Thanks for any help.

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clary · 25/11/2020 23:48

Look for the best processor your budget will allow. That's what makes a laptop faster and able to run several platforms at once. What is your budget?

You totally get what you pay for IMHO.

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FanGurrl · 26/11/2020 13:03

Thanks @clary . I have not the faintest idea about processors
Budget, hmm really as little as possible. He only needs it for school but he is doing computer science, so not sure if that makes a difference

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FanGurrl · 26/11/2020 13:06

We have an apple desk top but it's getting on a bit now, he's been happy to use that, but it doesn't support Microsoft Teams. He's not doing design or art, so don't think it has to be too fancy!

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clary · 26/11/2020 13:31

You need to have a budget in mind. As little as possible from Currys will get you a £150 ideapad. If that is your budget you might be better looking at reconditioned models, I believe there are sellers on ebay for example.

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FanGurrl · 26/11/2020 17:14

Ah, ok. No, I was hoping for something around £300 I guess.....

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clary · 26/11/2020 17:39

You can get a basic laptop for £300, it won't matter much which one as they will be much of a muchness. Just look for a good Black Friday reduction maybe.

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titchy · 26/11/2020 18:22

Or a refurbished one. I've had good bargains on high spec laptops before now. Try Amazon Renewed.

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Hotchox · 26/11/2020 18:27

We got our lad a chromebook for about £300 when he went into year 7. The school recommended it and he uses it for EVERYTHING school-related!! I believe there are programming toolkits available for them so your son might still be ok. If I were you I'd check with the school if there are minimum requirements on the spec, and if so, what they'd recommend

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heathergem · 03/12/2020 08:55

Buy the best Dell laptop you can afford and avoid all the chain retailers. You can buy direct from Dell UK. They're the best vfm for processor, RAM, hard disk size, screen quality. If you get a good spec, it'll see him through all of secondary.

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FanGurrl · 03/12/2020 09:30

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. Looking for a refurb seems like a good idea, maybe Dell is the way to go. School have actually got back to me now, and given me a few pointers, so I'm not feeling quite so confused by it all!