Can anyone recommend a laptop / scribe software for uni?

Your DSA Needs Assessor will advise you according to the particular barriers experienced by the student and in the light of the demands of the particular course they are on.

Make sure you take evidence of conditions as they will need to send this on with the DSA application.

Dictate in Microsoft 365 is pretty decent all round now, I would only personally tend to recommend Dragon more for students with visual impairments or speech impediments. It's also very straightforward to use, operating directly from the main toolbar of 365 on Word on 365, without any of the installation or learning requirements for Dragon.

There are lots of mind mapping software options which convert ideas to essay structures and support with referencing if these are challenges.

Some of the DSA funded AT is now integrating AI in their products, eg Glean, which creates summaries of lectures from recordings and can generate quizzes too. Not all lecturers are thrilled by this however!

does it matter where the information was sourced ? if these machines help the op then this is technical knowledge and rather than guessing, it was bing with the assistance of Microsoft's co pilot, why is it that when its actual tech knowledge its omg about how you got the information ?

What's better a person guessing what they think is a good machine vs actual researched knowledge from a large data base ?

Besides its a starting point for the op to use.

Agree that you should speak with the university support officer.

Btw I use dragon and the new version (required for Windows 11) is awful. It keeps crashing my laptop - the older version didn't. I'm investigating why but also checking out alternatives.

Sorry I should have mentioned this as well. PP is quite right. If you are using Dragon, RAM is your priority when it comes to choosing a laptop.

I wonder if this depends on whether your disability means you can't use a normal Chromebook/cheapish laptop? Because e.g. if you're needing to buy a laptop with massive amounts of ram and a fast processor, this is surely a lot more expensive than a day to day laptop for word processing?

Just to say we have a lot of dragon users at work and it's good but it EATS RAM - we find they need 32gb to run their laptop properly. You might well give you can get a laptop/other kit through DSA. I was supplied with e.g. a Dictaphone etc when I was at uni.

Could you recommend a reliable AI?

There could well be variations based on other factors. The op needs to ask.

Sorry that was obviously for recording lectures. Have you not had the meeting with the assessor of apples for DSA? He also recommended Dragon. It would all be paid for by SFE.

My DD met with the DSA assessor and he recommended Glean. It records then translates to text. You can even press a button to highlight important bits while recording. He also suggested a directional mic which is separate I believe.

It pinged their work up which is always a red flag but with the requirements plus some human intervention the majority went through with no further action.

Please don't buy anything until speaking to the university, they arranged everything for my dc, the dsa covered the recommended laptop (wouldn't cover just any), the software etc. but they had to sign it all off

Can't help you with hardware recommendations, but the very best voice transcriber we have ever used in our business is Aqua Voice. It knocks everything else out of the park. I don't work for them! Just love an efficient bit of software that saves SO much time.

withaqua.com/

This must be a new change then since ds got one six months ago.

The University will supply software for this through the disabled students fund. Wait and see what they offer. I believe you do now have to supply your own laptop as this is a necessity for every student now and not a disability adaptation.

If they qualify for DSs they will be given a laptop and any software they need. The contribution is about £200

these days even Grammarly is also risky, its a mix sometimes

Can't comment on software, but for a Uni laptop, I'd suggest a Samsung 360 where the screen folds back to become a touchscreen tablet with pen, which is ideal for dual use, i.e. using the pen provided to draw and annotate, or the keyboard for typing. The "pen" and touchscreen is ideal for making notes and drawing illustrations, etc. People often ask whether a laptop or tablet is best for Uni, with usually mixed responses, so one that is both is a good option. Samsung laptops have a very good reputation and the 360s are pretty light so easy to handle. Obviously assuming that the OP's child isn't fully reliant on speech recognition and does have some writing/drawing capability which isn't really said in her OP.

Long term user of Dragon software here and I recommend. It's pricey, but worth it - I've tried the built in Microsoft equivalent and it's nothing like as good (though will probably improve over time). The University I used to work for offered Dragon to students who needed voice recognition assistance, so definitely worth speaking to the support team.

Another vote for Dragon and Grammarly.

i use Dragon speech to text software and it’s fantastic