Cheap laptop

Da1sycat

Da1sycat

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Folks, I’ve had enough of my kids not looking after stuff. Took a £1200 MacBook Pro into Apple today to be told it has suffered liquid damage. Cost to repair £750. That’s out of the question so I’m on the look out for two simple laptops that can be used for schoolwork.

Saw these on amazon and my first thoughts are they are good value and seem almost too good to be true for the money.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-VivoBook-Microsoft-Processor-Exclusive/dp/B085FCS9F7

At this money I’d used them as a doorstop if they break down. I’ve had a seriously expensive desktop that I was sold on the basis “it’s upgradeable and quality” but things move on so fast these days who actually updates hardware? I’ve had two MacBook Air that have been flawless (one new and one bought on this forum). The MacBook Pro was new and guess what it was “upgradeable and quality” which isn’t much use when it’s not looked after.

I have considered a chalk and slate but with school looking like it may not be the same again I’m going to have to concede that laptops are required.

So, for those in the know, are these machines suitable for word PowerPoint etc for homework and of course surfing the net?
 
If they are for your kids, then maybe check out what software they might benefit from running at home. You don’t say which key stage your kids are in. It is Particularly important in the light of the distinct possibility of a good deal of time in the future being spent working from home, that you equip them as well as you can. Also worth saying that the way and the extent that individual schools depend upon and make use of IT is extremely variable.

I would generally advocate a Mac or a good quality PC. (I’m completely Mac these days). In most situations and for most applications, it won’t make any difference. But if the school is particularly ‘wired’ and uses software that can only run in Windows, that might sway your decision. A typical example for instance is the use of CAD software in D&T some of which allows schools to issue home licenses. That said, some such as Autodesk Fusion 360 will run on both platforms.

Might be worth a conversation with the school if you haven’t already made the decision on platform.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Thanks Guys. TBH I’ve found the macs a pain in the arse as the schools all use windows based systems. The children are all later secondary school age and all use google classroom, google drive and of course office 365.

They are likely to head the medical route so I can’t see any requirements for CAD type stuff, just the basic Word, PowerPoint etc.

The reviews on these machines are good but then again I know bugger all about computers so would likely post a good review myself if it turned on and I got a couple of years out of it.
 
the main consideration is whether the devices will run media they either stream or download - if they want to watch stuff in HD and/or stream it to a TV then those processors will get overwhelmed.

As your kids are older have you considered asking them what they feel is suitable? If it is expensive, ask them to write a business case as an exercise. A friend did this recently during lockdown when a child requested a subscription to a particular service. The kit got his wish.
 
I'm going to go against the grain here and say these are ideal for your kids.

Your getting them for school/college, and as your not wanting to go expensive then you simply cannot get a very fast processor and graphics - or your back at spending several times this amount. Software like 365 has been around for decades, and it's not a high power application for even a basic laptop. These are idea for home/school use, and the 365 office subscription is worth about £50+ each on it's own, which you will have to re-subscribe to in the future, but you would have that with any PC you buy.

I also agree Macs are very good machines, but most of the time they are not suitable for school/college work as you have found out most schools/colleges use windows based software and it's a pain when they do group work and one kid has a Mac. I'm sure this will upset the Mac brigade, but it's like having a Ferrari and you can't fit your mates in it or get over the speed bumps in your road - it's not about performance, it's about practicality - and it's cheaper to repair a Fiesta! (which you have found out with a £750 repair bill!)

Go for it, for a couple of hundred quid they are an ideal combination of power/size/price :okay

James
 
one thing to check is whether the school has a deal with Microsoft - no point paying a subscription for 365 if the school can get a full Office suite for a tenner like I have done through my employer.
 
The devices cited by the OP come with Windows 10S which, if I remember correctly, will only install apps from the Windows store although I've read somewhere that it can be upgraded to Win10 Home for free (used to be £50 to upgrade). 64 GB of eMMC is no substitute for even a 128GB SSD. It's also a very basic screen. It's the sort of thing I might put in a top box for travelling with as at least eMMC isn't sensitive to vibration like a traditional HDD.
 
Da1sycat said:
Folks, I’ve had enough of my kids not looking after stuff. Took a £1200 MacBook Pro into Apple today to be told it has suffered liquid damage. Cost to repair £750. That’s out of the question so I’m on the look out for two simple laptops that can be used for schoolwork.

Saw these on amazon and my first thoughts are they are good value and seem almost too good to be true for the money.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-VivoBook-Microsoft-Processor-Exclusive/dp/B085FCS9F7

At this money I’d used them as a doorstop if they break down. I’ve had a seriously expensive desktop that I was sold on the basis “it’s upgradeable and quality” but things move on so fast these days who actually updates hardware? I’ve had two MacBook Air that have been flawless (one new and one bought on this forum). The MacBook Pro was new and guess what it was “upgradeable and quality” which isn’t much use when it’s not looked after.

I have considered a chalk and slate but with school looking like it may not be the same again I’m going to have to concede that laptops are required.

So, for those in the know, are these machines suitable for word PowerPoint etc for homework and of course surfing the net?
Click to expand...

I've got one and it works fine for browsing etc and I'm sure it'll be fine for schoolwork .. don't be put off by the price ..
 
Borderbob said:
If they are for your kids, then maybe check out what software they might benefit from running at home. You don’t say which key stage your kids are in. It is Particularly important in the light of the distinct possibility of a good deal of time in the future being spent working from home, that you equip them as well as you can. Also worth saying that the way and the extent that individual schools depend upon and make use of IT is extremely variable.

I would generally advocate a Mac or a good quality PC. (I’m completely Mac these days). In most situations and for most applications, it won’t make any difference. But if the school is particularly ‘wired’ and uses software that can only run in Windows, that might sway your decision. A typical example for instance is the use of CAD software in D&T some of which allows schools to issue home licenses. That said, some such as Autodesk Fusion 360 will run on both platforms.

Might be worth a conversation with the school if you haven’t already made the decision on platform.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

school will / should also provide a route to subsidise software as its for education. About 1/3 rd of the price of normal. Also if school uses office 365, they get a chool account and can use it across all devices. also what phones do they use..
 
Thank You Guys please keep the ideas coming it’s all very useful.

You’re correct with the school c2knet whatever that is they get access to office365 for free.

I have also learned elsewhere that MMC is a poorly performing item (no idea what it is other than it’s a poor relation).

Happy to ponder for another week or so therefore open to your continuing advice.

They all use apple phones though I still have two working Macs which can be used for backups (which the kids never do anyway).
 
Da1sycat said:
Thank You Guys please keep the ideas coming it’s all very useful.

You’re correct with the school c2knet whatever that is they get access to office365 for free.

I have also learned elsewhere that MMC is a poorly performing item (no idea what it is other than it’s a poor relation).

Happy to ponder for another week or so therefore open to your continuing advice.

They all use apple phones though I still have two working Macs which can be used for backups (which the kids never do anyway).
Click to expand...

365 uses Onedrive cloud based storage so their school work will be backed up anyway and they can access it from the home computer or one in school
 
This then put a £25 120GB SSD in? Lenovo make great laptops (used to be IBM). £115 all in.
 
I get emails from a company that does refurbished ex-corporate laptops.

For the money they are fantastic specs, properly refurbished so they're clean inside and out - if you know what I mean - I would go down that route esp as laptops for the kids are somehow prone to scratches, drops, varied misuse!
 
Check out Itzoo, they're really good for refurbed business laptops.

Sent from my LYA-L09 using Tapatalk
 
Pointless the kids having something like Macbook, but have you looked at the YouTube vids of guys repairing them after spillages etc. I guess it depends on how far the fluids went, but it's got to be worth a look.

OK, it's a grim job to replace the keyboard, the item that usually suffers first, with some 50 tiny screws holding it in, but tedious rather than difficult. Just a thought.
 
Thanks for all the advice. Couldn’t quite live with the idea of a refurbished item though I’ve bought many refurbs from apple which have been great as is their customer service. Last night I ordered two Lenovo units I didn’t realise that an ssd could be installed so cheaply. The ones I’ve bought are ssd but only 4gb ram which I understand may limit how good they are. Once they are out of warranty I may look into a diy upgrade for the ram. As an aside more than 3/4 of what I was considering are out Of stock with no delivery scheduled thanks to COVID
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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