Laptop for a teenager

[ShinyF1]

Looking for a laptop for my 14 year old daughter - not sure I even recognise what is available any more. I think I need a 13"/14" screen, a decent size HDD, and don't want to spend more than £300 if I can help it. But what do I go for from:

Windows laptop - why all W8? Can you still get W7?
Chromebook - no windows OS? Any good?
Netbook - again what is that?
2-in-1 Laptop/tablet thingys - more trouble then they're worth?

She uses Windows machines and various windows based software at school - are the non-traditional options still compatible?

What are decent manufacturers? I have a Samsung SF310 which is a 13.3", i5, 320GB machine with a good graphics card which I've been happy with for the last 5 years+, but are any others OK?

Any suggestions/advice appreciated

Thanks

Sean

 

[markjay]

You can not buy a new laptop with Win 7.

However, if you buy a laptop with Windows 8.1 Professional edition, then you can legally downgrade it to Windows 7. But laptops with Windows Professional cost more so not sure it's worth it.

Alternatively you could try and purchase a Window 7 license online from old stock, or on eBay, then downgrade the laptop, but you will need to know what you are doing as some drivers may need to be downloaded and installed manually.

On balance, I would say stick to Windows 8.1, it's the cheapest and least complicated option.

A Netbook is essentially a low-cost no-frills laptop aimed at Internet browsing. This is a market sector invented by Asus some years ago. The low cost is typically achieved by using slow Atom processor with low power consumption, no Windows OS on some models i.e. supplied with free Linux, and minimal hardaware i.e. no RJ45 Ethernet (WiFi-only laptop), no HDMI port, few USB ports, etc. The slow processor and small screen are not only cheaper but helps prolong battery life.

Also, there are now laptops available with no Hard Disk Drive at all - called 'Streamers' - Windows boots from 32gb SSD and you are supposed to keep all your files in the Cloud.

As for brands.... Dell, HP/Comoaq, Sony, Toshiba, Samsung, Acer, Asus, all make good laptops as long as you choose the right model.

Personally I would go for an old fashioned laptop.

£300 should but you a branded laptop with i3 processor, 4gb RAM, and 500gb HDD (albeit the slower 5400 rpm), 13-14" screen, and Windows 8.1.

Warranty will only be 1-year (possibly 2) Return-to-Base but you can't expect much for this price.

You might also want to Purchase Microsoft Office, either Home & Student (no Outlook) or Home & Business. It will typically come preinstalled as a 60 day trial, which you then need to buy and activate.

 

[wongl]

Worth considering one of these as they are built to last. If you do go ahead with the purchase of one of these, I would contact Lenovo to get a new factory restore disk (circa £24) to make sure that you have a clean install of the Windows 7 Pro OS to avoid any spyware or virus.

If you do go for one of these, be aware that it does not have a CD rom drive, and you will need a USB CD-ROM drive to reinstall Windows 7 Pro.

? TOP RANGE LENOVO i5 CORE/ 3.4GHZ/ 8GB RAM /warranty/THINKPAD i7 IBM/ x220 x230 12.5 inch | United Kingdom | Gumtree

 

[markjay]

Worth considering one of these as they are built to last. If you do go ahead with the purchase of one of these, I would contact Lenovo to get a new factory restore disk (circa £24) to make sure that you have a clean install of the Windows 7 Pro OS to avoid any spyware or virus.

If you do go for one of these, be aware that it does not have a CD rom drive, and you will need a USB CD-ROM drive to reinstall Windows 7 Pro.

? TOP RANGE LENOVO i5 CORE/ 3.4GHZ/ 8GB RAM /warranty/THINKPAD i7 IBM/ x220 x230 12.5 inch | United Kingdom | Gumtree

Lenovo make excellent laptops, and the spec on this model is good (i5 / 8gb).

These laptops come with 3 years onsite warranty, so 'warranty until 2016' means this is an old high-end model made on 2013 and sold for cheap in 2014.

The processor might be 3rd-generation as opposed to 4th-generation, but even so the spec is good.

The 12.5" might be considered small by some, though this is a matter of personal preferences.

BTW, no need for CD/DVD drive for Windows installation, the ISO file can be written to bootable USB flash memory stick and installed from there. If Windows is supplied on DVD (i.e. not as Internet download), then you will need another PC with optical drive to generate the bootable USB stick.

 

[wongl]

BTW, no need for CD/DVD drive for Windows installation, the ISO file can be written to bootable USB flash memory stick and installed from there. If Windows is supplied on DVD (i.e. not as Internet download), then you will need another PC with optical drive to generate the bootable USB stick.

The Lenovo factory restore disks comes in 3 (sometimes 4) DVD's and reimages the C drive as well as a separate rescue partition. I haven't found a way (more accurately I haven't tried) to put all 3 ISO image on to a single USB stick.

 

[normanh]

Mac book pro/ air can't go past Apple

 

[boxbrownie]

Morgan Computers sell a huge range of pre used reconditioned stock and come with new installations of OS including W7 or W8, I have bought three laptops over the years and all have been top names (HP, Lenovo etc).

Well worth a look.

 

[dozypillock]

Might be worth checking here out. http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews Has good reviews on most laptops. I would suggest with a teenager that build strength will be important, and please advise her not to walk around with it running, plonking it back down onto tables etc ( hard disks do not like this when spinning) and do not sit in bed, with it resting on her quilt, blocking off the air vents. Almost all problems I come across when fixing them is due to one of those 2 things.

Neil

 

[ShinyF1]

Might be worth checking here out. Reviews | pcpro Has good reviews on most laptops. I would suggest with a teenager that build strength will be important, and please advise her not to walk around with it running, plonking it back down onto tables etc ( hard disks do not like this when spinning) and do not sit in bed, with it resting on her quilt, blocking off the air vents. Almost all problems I come across when fixing them is due to one of those 2 things.

Neil

I started at PC Pro's 'A' List which has been the basis of my previous two laptop purchases, but they don't list anything at the price/spec point I [think I] want. More to do with not being up to speed on this new cloud based thing. Backup yes, primary store - not so sure

 

[Sp!ke]

I have a dell chromebook and it is quite a liberating experience.

It wont replace a windows computer entirely but it will do 90% of what you want a computer to do for a very small outlay. It boots from cold in 6 seconds and malware and viruses are not a concern.

If your daughter has occasional access to another computer in the household for times where she might need a windows machine then a chromebook is worthy of consideration. The best one currently is the Toshiba chromebook 2 HD. UK availability however is a bit of a problem as the official UK launch date is Jan 2015.

In terms of budget windows Laptops, a good option would be to get something with an i5 processor (preferably haswell) and then buy an SSD hard disk separately and swap out the slow spindle disk for the SSD - it will be the only way you'll get decent performance out of a £300 laptop - yes, you'll increase your cost by £90 for a 250Gb SSD but it will be like night and day.

 

[markjay]

...plonking it back down onto tables etc ( hard disks do not like this when spinning)...

SSD largely resolve this issue, though the cost is still high and the capacity is relatively low so not to everyone's taste.

On another note, SSD also reduce heating and prolong battery life through low power consumption and lower fan speeds

 

[boxbrownie]

If your worried about rough handling my previous recommendation for Morgan might be even more interesting as at the moment they have a great deal on Panasonic Tough Book laptops, from personal experience at work these are made for a very rough life, may be older specs now but if just being used for email, work projects and FB they will last.

 

[smurgewurfler]

Go to John Lewis and buy either an Acer or a Samsung.
John Lewis because they will usually match the best price you can get on line but with additional warranty, and the brands because over 25 years of running an IT repair workshop these two brands were notable because we saw very few of them.

 

[ShinyF1]

Lightweight is also a factor. Plenty of food for thought here, thanks all for contributions

Sean

 

[markjay]

If your worried about rough handling my previous recommendation for Morgan might be even more interesting as at the moment they have a great deal on Panasonic Tough Book laptops, from personal experience at work these are made for a very rough life, may be older specs now but if just being used for email, work projects and FB they will last.

I tend to agree, however having three daughters myself, I can say that the laptop's shape, size, and colour are equally important...

 

[markjay]

Lightweight is also a factor. Plenty of food for thought here, thanks all for contributions

Sean

SSD will be lighter.. but expensive as previously mentioned.

 

[flango]

I've just set one of these lennovos up for my daughters friend, for £170 its a bargain

 

[Sp!ke]

I've just set one of these lennovos up for my daughters friend, for £170 its a bargain

That's cheap I grant you but the N2830 processor is dog slow - in fact its half the speed of an i3 and about the same power as an atom chip found on cheaper netbooks and tablets.

Intel Celeron N2830 / N2840 / N2820 CPU Review with Benchmark, Gaming, and Specs | Laptoping | Windows Laptop & Tablet PC Reviews and News

 

[flango]

That's cheap I grant you but the N2830 processor is dog slow - in fact its half the speed of an i3 and about the same power as an atom chip found on cheaper netbooks and tablets.

Intel Celeron N2830 / N2840 / N2820 CPU Review with Benchmark, Gaming, and Specs | Laptoping | Windows Laptop & Tablet PC Reviews and News

Yep I agree, It would be useless for gaming or serious work but she only wants it for Facebook, Web surfing and Microsoft Office for Uni as well as a few other stats programs that will run quiet happy at this speed. Its quite a bit quicker than my Samsung Netbook wih the atom processor, but this is shiny new and doesnt have the carp on it my netbook does. Good value for money I thought

The AMD E1-6010 Version is even lower at £160 but I know nothing about that one, whilst the i3 version comes in at £250 so still pretty good value

 

[Meldrew2]

"Laptop for a Teenager"

Sounds like a fair swap…








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