Laptop for child - recommendations?

[NetflixandWill]

Hello,

We'd like to buy a new laptop for our primary aged kids in case we end up all working from home again. We are PC users.

I'm looking for a not too expensive, FAST/responsive, decent laptop that we can use for Google Classroom, Zoom, the various school learning platforms and any googling we need to do. Nothing fancy, just one that does the things the kids need.

Our last was a Lenovo and it was the slowest laptop I'd ever encountered, so frustrating.

If you've bought one recently that you're pleased with, please recommend!

Thanks

It’s the processor you need to go by, not brand. The Ryzen 5 processor is a good fast and reliable one currently on the market. It is especially suited to streaming video. You also need at least 8GB of RAM to get the benefits.

Thank you @PlanDeRaccordement

I have Lenovos to use with work and I hate them - so slow, unreliable and temperamental. I may just have been unlucky, though.

Obviously it depends on what your budget will run to, but I'd avoid the £250-£300 ones if you're in a position to do so, as that only really covers the very basic components (such as the chassis, screen, battery, charger, Windows licence etc.) and there's very little left for quality components. I really don't think they're fit for purpose for any but the lightest occasional user. If you can stretch to £500-£600, you'll get something much faster, more responsive and more reliable that will last considerably longer. Also, bear in mind that a large percentage of the cost is the Office (Excel and Word etc.) software (not to be confused with the Windows operating system). Check if this is included, as it often used to be by default but now frequently is not. You can use free alternatives (which may or may not be compatible with school work and other programs), or go for the subscription model (Microsoft 365); but if you prefer a one-off purchase of Office software, it lasts the life of the device, so you'll have to buy it all over again if/when it fails or you want to upgrade.

You may prefer the peace of mind of brand new, but personally, if I only had/wanted to spend £200-£300, I'd go for a refurbished ex-business model of a decent spec from a reputable retailer over a new one.

I definitely second getting at least 8GB of RAM and I would suggest getting one with an SSD (solid-state drive) only and without a HDD (hard-disk drive) - SSDs are faster and less likely to fail than HDDs as they have no moving parts. HDDs offer more storage for less money, but they can be the weak link (and are noisier and consume more power), plus a lot of things are cloud-based nowadays, so if you can get a SSD of 250GB (some will be taken up by Windows and other rudimentary software), that would likely do you fine. You can always get huge-capacity USB flash drives very cheaply these days if they have a load of big files, photos or videos they want to access.

I don't know how old your kids are, but I would also plan ahead for them getting older, hence the recommendation for a better spec model. I chose a decent-ish spec one for my 6yo DS (refurb from eBay was all we could afford - a Dell, which is one of the better branded ones IMHO), which was more than plenty sufficient for what he needed then, but he's now 8, has really taken to it and knows more than I do learned a great deal, and whilst it's still going strong, I'm now seeing that it is more limited in relation to his current abilities and what he wants to do with it.

Apologies if any of what I've said is blatantly obvious to you - we're all at different stages, so I'd rather mention something that you already know full well than not mention what you may not have previously had chance to encounter!

Don’t do what we did and buy a laptop with only 32GB storage thinking that as most of the work is online it will be enough...2 Windows 10 updates and it is now too full to be used, cannot do another Win 10 update which means we cannot update anything else. We now have to buy DD a new one or get the whole thing wiped and reloaded (at a cost of £80) which will probably only be good for another 6 months.

We got a chromebook for the same purpose. I can't remember the brand but it's a rose gold one. It's so good for the kids as it's always on, super quick and the combination of touch screen and keyboard is brilliant. They're cheap too so maybe worth considering.

The only problem with a chrome book is that it’s got its own OS, so doesn’t run on Windows. Most students can get windows free through the school, but not ChromeOS. It also massively slows down the WiFi if you have multiple users because most applications are run online in the cloud (docs, sheets, slides). You can work offline but have to select that function. It then saves your work and uploads to the cloud. It also can’t do much beyond school work so if your child wants to play any games...they’ll be suffering.

Hit post too soon. Agree it’s worth considering. Here is a good objective review:
www.which.co.uk/reviews/laptops/article/top-laptops/best-chromebooks-a02kZ9W0KQF4

Chromebooks are obviously popular and do meet a need, but I think they're very 'oversold' inasmuch as they're presented as the solution to all your needs - and you're supposed to see it as 'a laptop - but a very cheap one' - when their functionality is very limited.

The reason they keep saying in the adverts that you don't need to charge them 10 times a day (obviously a clear exaggeration on their part) is because they are so low-powered and limited. It's a bit like selling a car based on its much better advertised fuel economy than similar rivals, but then replacing the back seats and boot with fixed-in big polystyrene blocks, preventing it from being able to tow and fitting a speed limiter to maximum 30mph.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll super-helpful and not at all obvious to me, thank you!

@exLtEveDallas good advice, thank you! Our current one is low on storage and it's arghhhhhhhb

@Newuser123123 @PlanDeRaccordement @WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll I keep wondering about Chromebooks. So good to hear your views. I wish we could trial run whichever laptop we choose for a month or so!