Laptop recommendations for a year 7

[Phineyj]

My soon-to-be year 7 needs a laptop for September. Something lightweight yet sturdy with excellent battery life.

Any tried and tested recommendations?

Is this to use in school? Do you know what he will need it for? I only ask because my son had an independent educational psychology assessment (we wanted it to support a parental EHCNA request) and the report recommended he should use a laptop/tablet for written work. His handwriting is appalling and his typing is phenomenal, so totally makes sense. In year 6 teacher agreed he could use one so we bought him a basic chromebook for £129. He took it to school and wasn't able to use it as they couldn't connect it to their server and had no way to access the work he did on it. So they assigned him a school chrome book and our one sat at home unused.

Fast forward to secondary school and he started year 7 in September - the school we wanted him to go to (closest to us, all his friends going etc) have a chromebook scheme so all pupils need one and I think they provide the laptop and parents pay for it, so they are all linked to the school system - but we got allocated a school that doesn't have such a system, so my son took the chromebook we had bought him the year before. This was working okay, as the school had a relaxed phone policy and he could tether the laptop to his phone to get internet connection. The school has now tightened its phone policy so no phones are allowed out during the school day, so this is now limiting what he can do with the laptop he has.

So my point is that make sure whatever you go for will be compatible with what your child needs to do on it and how the school will access that, as it has not been straight forward for us. My son's school has been fantastic for him in so many ways, but this is one area I feel he is being let down, he needs to be using a laptop to be able to access education on a level playing field with his peers, yet school are doing nothing to support this. Sorry I've not helped with model and spec etc but hopefully someone else will be able to do that.

Thanks, we have an EHCP that specifies laptop and I work at the school so I can overcome those problems I think -- which are very true!

Just after device recommendations really.

Ah, that’s good! The Chromebook we went for was Asus and cheap, no touch screen or anything. Was marketed as being hardy and it did cope with being carried around in a school bag but did get damaged when it got dropped and stamped on in rage 😬 It’s still working though, even with a corner of the screen being damaged. Hoping someone more knowledgable than me comes in to advise!

(My son never got the EHCP)

I am definitely here for devices that can be stamped on and survive.

Come over to my EHCP support thread if you'd like advice on that.

EHCP support thread no. 3 - www.mumsnet.com/talk/special_educational_needs/5077140-ehcp-support-thread-no-3

Our school scheme users the Acer TravelMate B3 (for those who want to purchase via the scheme). It is pretty light, but the bag is still flipping heavy once you add all the other stuff they have to bring each day (start weight training now)!

Thanks @Beanorules.