Laptop Advice

[pmcgsmurf]

Looking at a laptop for one of the kids for uni work.

What do folks think of this spec. for the price, £599.99?

Lenovo ideapad S540 13
13.3" QHD IPS Glare LED 2560x1600
i5-10210U Processor ( 1.60GHz 6MB )
8.0GB DDR4
256GB SSD M.2 PCIe NVMe
Intel UHD graphics

Would have liked to get more RAM but going up to 16GB takes the price up to £743.99 (also adds Nvidia MX250 graphics).

Machine has to be 13~14", not 15.6 as this is found to be too big to be easily portable.

 

[markjay]

Sounds alright?

 

[markjay]

The dedicated nvidia graphics adapter might come in handy if anyone on your household is a gamer... or obviously if using graphics software. But apart from that, the integrated Intel graphics chip (using shared memory) will be fine.

 

[John]

Sounds about right price-wise.

Spec-wise it should be fine for typical uni work.

That processor is current and the fact it has SSD is a must!

8GB should be fine unless running Photoshop or lots of things at once. I actually run 8GB in my home machine and I've never got close to it.

I personally am not a fan of Lenovo and buy HP where I work but they aren't all bad and I've no doubt others like them.

That said I do have an old X1 Carbon and it's pretty good despite being 6 years old and very limited on spec now.

I find the higher resolution smaller displays a bit of a waste of time - full HD screen (1920 x 1080) if available and saves any significant money might be better.

 

[markjay]

One other thing... check the version of Windows.

If it's a business laptop, it might have Windows 10 Professional, which you don't really need, but will bring the price up.

If so, then a laptop bundled with Windows 10 (used to be called Windows 10 Home) will be cheaper.

The only relevant feature that you'll be losing is Bitlocker (drive encryption).

 

[pmcgsmurf]

Thanks folks.

I was initially looking at FHD but seems can get the QHD for about the same cost.

Machines have Win10 Home so that will be ok.

Just also seen another one at John Lewis for £450.

Honor Magicbook Laptop
14" Full HD 1920x1080
AMD Ryzen 5 3500U
8.0GB DDR4
256GB SSD
Radeon Vega 8 Graphics

Still think the Lenovo is a better one though.

 

[markjay]

Thanks folks.

I was initially looking at FHD but seems can get the QHD for about the same cost.

Machines have Win10 Home so that will be ok.

Just also seen another one at John Lewis for £450.

Honor Magicbook Laptop
14" Full HD 1920x1080
AMD Ryzen 5 3500U
8.0GB DDR4
256GB SSD
Radeon Vega 8 Graphics

Still think the Lenovo is a better one though.

It is...

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Dont only get 8GB RAM, 16 should be minimum these days.

 

[Dickster]

Not what the OP is after, but Apple do great deals this time of year for those in education:

Apple Store Online

Spread the cost of your new Apple product over 24 months at 4.9% APR. Compare models and get expert shopping help.

www.apple.com

We’ve bought a couple of MacBooks for the kids in the past.

 

[pmcgsmurf]

Dont only get 8GB RAM, 16 should be minimum these days.

I know, you would think that given how much memory is in our phones, mine has 12gb and 256gb storage.

Seems though that 8gb is the popular choice for soldered in memory.

 

[Deleted upon users own request member 138506]

Still think the Lenovo is a better one though.

Just a suggestion, If you prefer the Lenovo there is the Lenovo ThinkBook 14 Core i5-1035G1 8GB 256GB SSD 14 Inch Windows 10 Laptop here for £519.97

Similar specs, slightly newer processor i5-1035G1 against i5-10210U but processor benchmarks here much the same

 

[fabes]

From experience, is such a good (expensive) laptop necessary?
They sprout legs at uni (or get dropped, forgotten, split on......)

Look at liquid proofness of keyboard, robustness of power supply and shell

A decent sleeve, and a cloud account for work are also necessities.
Insurance / warranties?
The specs are fine though (unless photo or vid editing, then as Carl says, 16gb, though that's easy to add)

Edit - though if they won't actually be going (i.e. on line) then most of the above isn't directly relevant

 

[clk320x]

For uni work you can’t beat a MacBook (IMHO)... probably why most uni students these days have them

 

[pmcgsmurf]

Just a suggestion, If you prefer the Lenovo there is the Lenovo ThinkBook 14 Core i5-1035G1 8GB 256GB SSD 14 Inch Windows 10 Laptop here for £519.97

Similar specs, slightly newer processor i5-1035G1 against i5-10210U but processor benchmarks here much the same

Thanks, will have a look at this.

 

[pmcgsmurf]

From experience, is such a good (expensive) laptop necessary?
They sprout legs at uni (or get dropped, forgotten, split on......)

Yes, looking for something well specified that will last a good few years like the last one (5+ years).

A decent sleeve, and a cloud account for work are also necessities.
Insurance / warranties?

Always kept in a padded sleeve with some extra foam protection (they take notice of how I store and keep my laptops so long or perhaps it's me harping on).
Covered by the insurance on the rented flat for theft and damage too so covered.
All the uni work seems to be cloud based these days.

The specs are fine though (unless photo or vid editing, then as Carl says, 16gb, though that's easy to add)

Edit - though if they won't actually be going (i.e. on line) then most of the above isn't directly relevant

Does not seem possible to add memory to these ones that are soldered in.

 

[pmcgsmurf]

Not what the OP is after, but Apple do great deals this time of year for those in education:

We’ve bought a couple of MacBooks for the kids in the past.

For uni work you can’t beat a MacBook (IMHO)... probably why most uni students these days have them

Prefers a Windows machine at this time as has never had a Mac.

 

[anglaslt]

While you're looking through the options have a look at the Lenovo Mix. There are various specifications but my daughter has the Mix 520 i5 for her University studies. She likes that it can be separated into a tablet, has a touch screen and a stylus for taking lecture notes direct to laptop. It's about the size you want too.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

No-one can answer this question without knowing the type of uni course, and whether it's being for any complicated gaming. If its a science course it'll need to be "a bit" more powerful than the average student hack. As you've not mentioned gaming, we can guess that this isn't for a gamer - but it's worth asking that question.

Most Uni students are on MacBooks. The build quality is phenomenal, as is the after sales support, and "free" advice available from bulletin boards. We haven't had a single physical failure on a MacBook in the last decade. (I've been using home PC's for 40 years - and that's not something I ever thought I'd be able to say).

i5 processors and 256 gb is plenty. Most storage is on the cloud these days, so there's no issue there.

The best trick is to buy last year's model, which will be on 30% discount. No-one will notice the difference.

Don't pay full retail. Students and teachers get 20-30% discounts. If you want to close the deal now, contact a student or teacher and get them to order it for you - they have all the links to Lenovo, Apple, HP etc.

 

[pmcgsmurf]

While you're looking through the options have a look at the Lenovo Mix. There are various specifications but my daughter has the Mix 520 i5 for her University studies. She likes that it can be separated into a tablet, has a touch screen and a stylus for taking lecture notes direct to laptop. It's about the size you want too.

Thanks, think the idea was laptop rather than flip as has a tablet for taking notes and sometimes leaves laptop at home.

 

[pmcgsmurf]

No-one can answer this question without knowing the type of uni course, and whether it's being for any complicated gaming. If its a science course it'll need to be "a bit" more powerful than the average student hack. As you've not mentioned gaming, we can guess that this isn't for a gamer - but it's worth asking that question.

Thanks, nothing fast required, only for Word, Powerpoint, Excel etc.
Oh and watching Netflix of course I would think.

Most Uni students are on MacBooks. The build quality is phenomenal, as is the after sales support, and "free" advice available from bulletin boards. We haven't had a single physical failure on a MacBook in the last decade. (I've been using home PC's for 40 years - and that's not something I ever thought I'd be able to say).

Have steered away from Mac due to never having used and the fact I'm not a user so would not offer support.

i5 processors and 256 gb is plenty. Most storage is on the cloud these days, so there's no issue there.

The best trick is to buy last year's model, which will be on 30% discount. No-one will notice the difference.

Don't pay full retail. Students and teachers get 20-30% discounts. If you want to close the deal now, contact a student or teacher and get them to order it for you - they have all the links to Lenovo, Apple, HP etc.

Yes, been looking at that, have a Student login for Lenovo which takes a bit of the standard prices.
First one I mentioned above is £675 before the student discount.