Laptop for an A Level student

[IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads]

DS(17) is in the first year of his A levels. He’s asked for a laptop, and specifically wants to use Word/One Note voice to text software*, as well as general functionality for accessing homework platforms etc. He is also a classical guitarist and does a bit of composition, I think he uses platform called Sibelius.
Basically, he’s outgrown his iPad.

He’s hoping to go to university, so something with a bit of a future would be nice.

Can anyone recommend something? I last bought a laptop 10 yrs ago, a Macbook, which is still going strong, but we’re not quite in that league now.

He’s doing biology, chemistry, history and core maths if that is relevant.

Many thanks

*I posted about this a couple of days ago, and he’s tried it on my work laptop. He absolutely loves this. His handwritting is not great!

How much are you looking to spend? Could you stretch to, say, £500-£600? You can get laptops for half that but they tend to be quite compromised.

I was thinking around £500. DS is willing to use some of the money his got forbhus birthday.

Would a Chromebook be suitable??

If doing sciences then consider a write on screen, I teach and tutor science so went for a surface pro so I can write equations. I think it's great, no need to buy the Microsoft pen , a generic one is cheaper and as good.

Chromebooks have their place but they've still got some frustrating limitations.

A convertible laptop as suggested by @wantmorenow has some merit for equations etc. I've not looked into this in a lot of detail right now (although I will over the weekend) but this - https://www.hp.com/gb-en/shop/product.aspx?id=800P2EA&opt=ABU&sel=NTB looks a good starting point at £479. I'll take a more in-depth look over the weekend - apologies but I went out for a beer after work and I'm not convinced I'd make sound recommendations right now 😆

We use HP laptops at work (I work at a university) and they're pretty good. Dell are also (usually) good. Lenovo similarly although they tend to bundle a lot of unnecessary extra software that you would probably be happier without. You want at least 8GB of memory, ideally 16GB although it can be a lot cheaper to buy the extra from Amazon afterwards. Intel Core i3 or i5 processor. 256GB storage minimum as Windows 11 takes up a lot of space.

We got my dd1 a 14 inch HP Pavillion 2 in 1 touchscreen laptop in the summer ready for her A Levels. It was on offer at Currys at the time and has been excellet so far!

That is a great thought @wantmorenow.

@GasperyJacquesRoberts That looks like a lot of laptop for your money. I’d appreciate your sober thoughts.

Thank you, will look at that @Meredusoleil