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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

What laptop

23 replies

clayspaniel · 18/08/2019 12:07

What laptop are you getting your DC for uni and is there anywhere offering student discounts on laptops? (Can they watch tv on laptops or do most students get their own tv or not bother?)

OP posts:
BubblesBuddy · 18/08/2019 15:16

Mine didn’t have their own TVs. Lap tops normal but check licence arrangement in hall of residence.

One of ours had an Apple lap top. Needed the specific software. Any decent make with enough storage is fine. Check deals on line. It’s easy to compare prices. Mine had printers too as university printing costs can be high. Some DC might not need to print much and many DC don’t watch much TV either at university! Other things take over.

Propertyfaux · 18/08/2019 15:36

DS has put our Netflix and Amazon prime on his laptop and has one of our sky go devices on his phone. I think he will probably take his tv for Xbox purpose (I’d rather he didn’t).

Dandelion1993 · 18/08/2019 15:44

I had a 13" mac book pro when I started uni in 2014 and it's still going strong!

Loads of memory, easy to use and all the software I need was compatible with it.

Soontobe60 · 18/08/2019 15:52

I told my did I'd buy her a laptop to the value of £X. She wanted a MacBook so she put the rest to it herself. We bought it from Apple, they do offers for Uni students so got a fair bit off. Plus their after sale a service is excellent. Hers is still going strong 5 years later whilst my laptop that I bought at the same time died ages ago 🤣

BasiliskStare · 18/08/2019 16:13

Ds and his friend bought ones - Acer and one ASUS ( sp? ) - they play games on them as well & watch videos ( so no TV licence in student house ) - but both said if you only want word processing and some internet lookup - no need for an expensive laptop. As a cheap evening Ds and friend would put a film on laptop & get a cheap takeaway or indeed make sure they had eaten in halls beforehand. No actual televisions in his accommodation over 3 years We did buy a printer for DS as , the college printer room was good for e.g. thesis etc but given he is dyslexic a printer was useful for day to day work on his desk

BubblesBuddy · 18/08/2019 16:28

Yes, DD2 had a MAC Book Pro! It’s been fine for 6 years. Had a debug though!

BubblesBuddy · 18/08/2019 16:30

If they are doing design or need certain programs you need one that supports that. If it’s for standard use, then a bit cheaper is fine.

SistersOfMerci · 18/08/2019 16:38

My dd had a normal Acer laptop for her first year, she never complained but said it was such a pain because it's large.

So we've just bought her an 13" Mac book pro for her second year.

PantsyMcPantsface · 18/08/2019 16:46

I've got an iPad Pro with the keyboard (I have Microsoft Office on it). I know that's sufficient for what I do in terms of typing and I can use the Apple Pencil to take lecture notes electronically, it's got tonnes of relevant textbooks saved onto it and I can work on the train on my commute each day as well. If I do need a full laptop on-campus I can get one from uni loans for the hours I do, and I've got access to a full PC at home (or I can remote access into my home PC over the internet if needs be) - so for what I'm using it for for uni it's a good solution.

2919HereWeGo · 18/08/2019 16:46

MacBook Air here.
No TV but will have Netflix and amazon prime on the Mac.

Decorhate · 18/08/2019 16:53

This link was on a UCAS email for companies giving discounts

www.ucas.com/undergraduate/student-life/student-discounts/tech

ProfessorLayton1 · 18/08/2019 17:51

What sort of printers did you all buy?
She has Apple lap top which her grand parents bought for her after her GCSEs. Not sure about the model though but I would have never thought of buying a printer but it makes perfect sense if the printing costs are high.

PantsyMcPantsface · 18/08/2019 21:05

Mine is a Canon Pixma - can't remember the exact number but it's a fairly cheap scanner/printer all in one jobbie that's airprint enabled (main reason I bought it was so the kids can print from their iPads as DD2 uses hers to do some of her work on in school). Not an earth shatteringly amazing model - I picked it up in Tesco - but does the job. Cartridges are about as pricey as inkjet cartridges ever are.

Might be able to see on the uni website what they allocate in terms of printer credits - think we get like 500 A4 pages free to last us the full 3 years and then have to pay for more.

2919HereWeGo · 19/08/2019 07:11

UNiDAYS is a website offering discounts. DD got free head phones as well as a good price for the MacBook.
Not planning on buying a printer at this stage.
I offered but older D.C. decided to wait before buying one and still hasn't after 2 years but uses the uni ones.

So with DC2 will wait and see if required.

2919HereWeGo · 19/08/2019 07:12

Should say much more work seems to submitted on line these days which cuts down printing too.

hellsbells99 · 19/08/2019 22:41

Check their course details to see if they need to be able to run any specific software before you decide whether to go for a windows or Apple laptop

Decorhate · 20/08/2019 07:46

@hellsbells99 We are trying to do that but no info available online. I got ds to (reluctantly!) email the department yesterday to try to find out. I think one of yours is also doing an engineering degree? What laptop did she go for?

MrKlaw · 20/08/2019 08:56

we have a dell inspiron - basic £500 laptop from a couple of years ago. Technically a family laptop but my son adopted it for revision so its kinda his.

I'm in two minds - he is very undemanding so he seems happy to take that, but it isn't very powerful. But for maths notes etc probably fine. But he isn't hugely tech savvy either so I don't know if a windows laptop would be a pain to live with over 3-4 years of a course. In my experience they can have limited useful lifespans or need attention - certainly more than the macbooks I use at work.

So although a lot more expensive, and he hasn't asked for it - I'm tempted to get a macbook air or 13" MBP. under £1000 from edustore which is an approved apple reseller and they 'just work' generally and will easily last the full course and beyond.

Decorhate · 20/08/2019 09:13

My dd got a Mac laptop (no idea which one) 4 years ago & she says it has outlasted many of her friends windows ones. But I am unsure if Macs would be suitable for an engineering degree.

MrKlaw, trawling through the Bath website, I see they have an IT shop on site & they claim to sell equipment at cost so that is another option.

MrKlaw · 20/08/2019 09:43

I'm thinking no TV - rooms are small and if they want the 'communal' aspect of sitting around a TV they can go to the communal areas. Ipad/laptop will be enough personally. Saves on packing space too

hellsbells99 · 20/08/2019 13:15

Hi Decorate. My DD already had a MacBook when she went to uni but then found she needed the windows operating system to run engineering software on. You can install dual operating systems on the MacBooks but I think it can cause problems (at least on the older ones). We ended up buying DD a windows laptop. I am sure it also needed to have a minimum of 5 cores on it too for the software (i5). But that was 3 years ago.

hellsbells99 · 20/08/2019 14:38

Sorry Decorate that was meant to say a core i5 processor. But DD does still prefer her MacBook for day-to-day use and writing lab reports etc as it is quicker (even though it is old now), smaller and lighter.

Decorhate · 20/08/2019 16:13

Thanks @hellsbells99 We usually go for macs but I think a windows one might be better for ds

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