Recommend a laptop please ....

[Gollom]

Member @whizzkid11 often has some deals

 

[Deleted member 113659]

My children’s school use iMacs in their music and art lessons.

same ^

 

[GeeJayW]

What software is your daughter/school using?
What platform does it run on?

 

[Dryce]

I've never rated Lenovo as they always seem a bit crap to me and I'm not much of a Dell fan either.

Depends on the ranges.

The lower end ranges of all manufacturers are all much of a muchness. Finish and robustness are not great.

I currently carry two laptops for work - a corporate Thinkpad TS490 which is very plain but is fine. I also carry a Dell XPS15 convertible which I'm really happy with. I spend some of my time working in a collaborative project group from several companies and all of us barring some academics now use Thinkpads or Dell XPS laptops. The academics use Macbooks - nice enough but I don't have much time for Macbooks anymore - poor value IMO.

 

[fabes]

Almost all decent and compatible music software is Apple - fact
It's the software she will be come familiar with and experienced on IF (and it's a sizable if) its anymore that just some loop sampling software that she is currently playing with ( I have daughter's who flit between interests)

Windows has great midi and music creation option (it's what I use) but I am in the minority and do not mix with others
Music student boyfriend of daughter and friend who plays bass in a decent function band both only use Apple.
It expensive, but it is what is is.
Challenge her on it being a phase and buy older Apple laptop initially (she is only 12 atm!) You can always resell it as there is always a market for it

Apple may not be the best to play the games on though - worth checking.....

Ps older Apple screens can be a bit hit and miss / small, but for £100 you can get a decent second / 24 inch monitor which is useful for working on sound file editing and multi track creation

 

[John]

Besides cost another reason why some schools shy away from apple machines is security and control. If they run a Windows Server network a mac can be connected to the domain but it's not possible to use Group Policy to fully administer and tie an apple machine down in the same way as you can with a Windows machine.

That is true but you can lock them down to a standard user.

My company runs a 30/70 split of Mac vs Windows and it doesn't really cause any problems not supporting GPO.

Depends on the ranges.

The lower end ranges of all manufacturers are all much of a muchness. Finish and robustness are not great.

I currently carry two laptops for work - a corporate Thinkpad TS490 which is very plain but is fine. I also carry a Dell XPS15 convertible which I'm really happy with. I spend some of my time working in a collaborative project group from several companies and all of us barring some academics now use Thinkpads or Dell XPS laptops. The academics use Macbooks - nice enough but I don't have much time for Macbooks anymore - poor value IMO.

I did find the XPS was seemingly well-put-together but we've had a very high proportion of problems with them failing in one way or another.

The HP EliteBooks and zBooks I switched to in late 2017 have proved a lot more reliable like for like with the same people using them.

Dell became very unhelpful and supportive we found too with support issues under warranty.

Down to the individual as usual I guess but I felt overall they had gone downhill.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

If your daughter has an iPhone I’d definitely recommend a MacBook, the integration of their software across devices is part of the reason they’re so popular.

I used Windows for years and, not being the most techy of types, always found it clunky and quite frankly dated. As soon as I bought my first MacBook 10 year ago I haven’t looked back and when I do have to suffer things like PowerPoint now it brings back the memories of those earlier years.

 

[219]

Ask the school IT people what they recommend as they will have considerable experience of using laptops in a school environment and they will know which music software is used in the curriculum. The music software used by schools can very expensive, as much as several hundred pounds so you might want to factor that in. Even if the school is closed the IT people may be contactable and working from home. Ours are.

Schools are unlikely to be using Mac books. Some do but they are generally too expensive and won't run all the software that the schools needs.

My son't primary school has an IT room full of iMacs , and each classroom generally has a MacBook for use with the Smartboard . I installed AV into schools for a number of years , and Apple are pretty popular , probably because of Apple's educational discounting - get their future customers young , and they'll have customers for life .

Pretty much the same way car manufacturers see driving schools as very good customers and discount vehicles to them , they know that many learners will go on to buy the same make of car they learned in .

 

[whizzkid11]

Member @whizzkid11 often has some deals

Thanks @Gollom, for some reason MBClubs has stopped sending me emails - haven't logged on in a few days.

@poormansporsche - are you still looking for a laptop or need any advice? feel free to ping me

 

[poormansporsche]

Cheers for all the replies. Upon further discussion with the Daughter we have now discounted Mac's at this stage. Although she goes to the highest performing non selective School in the County, Music is bottom of the pile. No computers whatsoever, Guitars with 5 strings, skinless drums etc etc. So basically back to the best spec and quality brand new not refurbished Windows laptop for 500 quid. The Costco one has gone now.

 

[pmcgsmurf]

HP, Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD, 14 inch Notebook, 14s-dq1009na | Costco UK

 

[John]

Don't rule out HP's own website - some stonking deals on laptops on there...

This one has a Full HD 15.6", 8GB RAM, M.2 D and 10th Gen (current) i5 for £550 all in. 3 year cover is £49. That's decent.

https://store.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Product.aspx?id=8UD82EA&opt=ABU&sel=NTB

 

[John]

M.2 SSD

 

[poormansporsche]

Well as it turns out I've nearly committed infanticide, grrrr

Anyway I've ended up ordering this gaming laptop, using various codes and potions ended up costing £575.

It's a Lenovo with the following spec and built to order

I5 - 9300h
16gb DDR
512gb SSD
Geforce gtx 3gb

So pretty pleased at spec v layout

Cheers to all who replied




Processor - Intel Core i5-9300H Processor (2.40GHz, up to 4.10GHz with Turbo Boost, 4 Cores, 8MB Cache)
Operating System - Windows 10 Home 64
Preload Language - Windows 10 Home 64 English
Microsoft Office - Microsoft Office Trial
Selectable Memory - 16GB DDR4 2400MHz SoDIMM
First Hard Drive - None
Second Hard Drive - 512GB Solid State Drive, M.2 2242, PCIe-NVMe, TLC
Display - 15.6" FHD (1920x1080), TN, 220nits, Anti-glare, No touch
Graphic Card - NVIDIA GeForce GTX1050 3GB GDDR5
Color - Black
Camera - 720P HD Camera with Dual Mic
Keyboard - Keyboard Grey English (UK)
Chipset - HM370
Battery - 3 Cell Li-Polymer Internal Battery, 45Wh
Power Adapter - 135W AC Adapter (3pin)-UK
WiFi Wireless LAN Adapters - Wireless 1x1 AC, Bluetooth Version 4.1 or above
Language Pack - Publication-English
Warranty - 1 Year Depot or Carry-in

 

[Lennox]

It's a Lenovo

Well done that man. [emoji108]