Sixth Formers - do they need a laptop?

[BorisJohnsonsHair]

Up until now DD has shared a laptop with her younger brother; it's now very old and slow so we're thinking of getting her one for when she starts her A levels in September. Do you think a laptop is a)necessary and b) would be better than something else (tablet/netbook etc). If anyone has any wise words I'd be grateful to hear them . Thanks.

"Need" - no. No-one "needs" their own individual laptop unless they run a business from home or something. A mere 10 years ago, I managed to complete school without any sort of home computer at all.

Would it be helpful for her? Probably, in terms of writing essays and stuff. If she's going on to university, it would probably be useful also. Again, I didn't have a laptop at university, so it's not actually a necessity, just something that's useful.

Netbooks are great because they're so light. A bit of a pain to use all the time, I found, but if she wants to take it to school, it's much easier to carry.

Getting a tablet to do work on doesn't make sense I don't think.

You're a nice mum for thinking of buying her one.

I agree with Yellow.

Not a necessity. But useful and very nice yes.

If money was no object I would get her something like a macbook air

Thanks for your replies. I too managed school without a computer (don't think they were invented then ) but now it seems they need to upload homework, use the internet for research etc so it would be quite hard to do with no equipment at all. I think I will wait and see what happens when she starts so she may be able to just use the laptop at home for now.

A laptop at home, the facilities at school and a decent stock of memory sticks would be adequate,

Having her own is always going to be a nice luxury.

I would agree with the wait-and-see approach although it might be an idea to make up your mind fairly quickly as there will be all sorts of offers to be snapped up at the start of the academic year.

Some schools provide laptops - are you sure that yours doesn't?

We had a problem one time when we had a new computer and our programmes were more up-to-date than the school's: any files started at home couldn't be opened by the older software.

I agree that memoy sticks are the way to go. Can they also send files to/from their school e-mail account?

Can you spruce up the old machine by deleting old prgrammes/files and adding more memory?

Laptops per se aren't necessary at A Level, but she will need to spend a lot of time using a computer for research (both academic and UCAS based), writing essays (you will probably find that they all have to be typed) and so on. You will need to consider if the amount of time that she will have to spend using the internet will cause tensions with her sibling, of affect her sibling's ability to do their own schoolwork.

She will need a laptop for university though. There are never enough computers provided by the university, and they are often in locations well away from halls, and not available 24/7. IME universities are now utterly dependent on the internet. And desktops are impractical because she won't be able to bring that home for the holidays, take it to the library or to someone else's flat for group work.

PS tablets are completely impractical for doing anything other than playing Angry Birds - I certainly wouldn't want to try and write an essay on one.

Yes she needs a laptop - I'd say it's essential at 6th form

I'd go for. 17" screen to double as tv in uni

Agree that she doesn't NEED one, but it would be very very useful and yes, would be great for uni. So probably well worth considering - it will make her life easier. I teach sixth formers and if I had one of my own at home, I would definitely try and get them a laptop if I could.

It is almost essential. All DS2s essays are typed and uploaded for marking. The school intranet is the main point of contact to check what assignments are coming up and when stuff is due in. Most/all research for assignments/essays is done on the internet.
If there are going to be arguments as to who can be on the laptop when your DD has school work to do this will cause a problem.
I do wonder how kids at his college manage if they have no computer at home. All school work would have to be done at college. I suppose it is feasible but would be a right pain.

When I say essential, it does not have to be a lap top at this stage. She does not need to take it with her. Can manage perfectly well with a desktop if she can use it when she needs. memory stick is very useful.

def needs a laptop and mem sticks but if she's not all that careful with her stuff then just take 1 mem stick to school and def not the laptop! They can get nicked/damaged/lost/'borrowed' etc. keep 1 mem stick that is a backup of all the important work in case she loses a stick at school.
btw, im an older MNer and think its bad that a laptop is a necessity these days but there you go, it is :(

Not necessary. Ds has just bought himself one for university having managed fine without through sixth form and he's a computer geek. But access to a computer at home is bordering on essential - it just doesn't need to be their own personal laptop.

I attended 6th form and all coursework was done on a laptop. It helped me a lot having one to myself but I had 4 younger siblings who also always wanted to be on the internet.

hmm, I'd wait and see what your child's teachers actually want, rather than just assume it was necessary.

An awful lot of subjects these days no longer have coursework, I know the subjects I teach had it taken away, and I actually ban my students from typing essays for me during term time. My subject demands that they write 3x 35 minute essays in the examination, and I found that students were losing the ability to be able to write at speed, because they were doing all their essays on computer. I know at the college where I work, I am not alone in imposing this ban. I personally insist that all essays are handwritten, to prepare them for their examinations (I usually impose a time limitation too - as we found exam practise was the area the students struggled most with). Since doing this, we have found that student success has really improved.

So if finances mean its not easy to just get a computer, I'd wait and see what subjects your child is doing and what the expectations of the college / school are.

Yes!

My DDs have had lap tops since before they went into Y7.
DD2 has had hers since she was about 6.

Totally unsuccessful attempt to stop her playing flaming SIMs on mine.

Seriously, given long history projects etc. how have they shared through GCSE.