Argh DS needs new laptop for uni

[Theas18]

He has a functioning laptop running xp.

I agree it's probably approaching the end of its natural life but might have done another year. However uni network or what ever doesn't support xp, just win 7 and above. Or Linux/Ubuntu or mac. ( not chrome though)

Point me towards the best value for money solution to this dilemma - happy to consider anything that is low cost, but clearly needs to be sufficiently future proof too.

Thanks!

My MacBook Pro got me through uni, did everything it needed to and still ran good as new even after leaving uni.

just a thought - DSD had been statemented at school for dyslexia, she applied for and got a free MacBook at Uni.

In my view there is really no such thing as future proof. But it's a good call on XP as it's out of support. Anyone with an XP machine should think about upgrading or replacing it.

£400 at Currys should do it. But I'm wondering why it's you sorting it and not your DS??

You could dual boot.

Kerbos he's 18. He has no money other than uni loans. Of course it's me sorting it out lol

He might fancy a nice macbook aIr, wouldn't we all... But I need to find something reasonable on a small budget! It will no doubt eg an " early Xmas present"

I'm with Kerbos! I get you need to (help) pay for it but surely he should be researching it?

Doesn't; he know savvy people within the University who could put the upgrades on his existing machine for him? This is the sort of thing my BIL does all the time. People give him obsolete computers and he puts bits of freeware on them to make them adequately modern. Not like an up to the minute new one but good enough for most people.

This sort of thing would work:

www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/lenovo-g5070-15-6-laptop-black-22068964-pdt.html

But I still think you should consider letting him manage this one himself. If you want to contribute some money towards it then do but really let him sort the actual laptop as he will know what he wants.

18 is absolutely old enough. He is an adult now.

If there's anyway you can get a mac I'd go for it, Apple do a good student discount, they also do refurbished machines which look like new.

My current macbook is 5 years old and works perfectly. Before that I was getting through a new laptop every 2 years (and I'm careful with them and look after them.)

He'll be a heavy user at uni (music, tv, films, essays galore, wikipedia for said essays)

As he's a student he'll be able to get Windows 7 quite cheaply so an upgrade to that on his existing laptop would be the cheapest solution