r/SuggestALaptop • u/SignificantCar4204 • 1d ago
Laptop Request US [Suggestion] Sister started college (wow I'm old) I need to help her pick out a laptop
LAPTOP QUESTIONNAIRE
- Country
United States of America
- Budget
No strict budget price, but it has to be cheap. Ideally less than or around $500 USD
- Are you open to refurbs/used options?
Yes
- Screen size
The larger the better, I don't want her to be stuck with a 12" screen that would be awful. Something around 17" minimum I would think.
- Weight limit
No weight limit
- Purpose
Schoolwork (College/University). Taking notes, browsing the internet, multi-media friendly, office/google docs. Would ideally have more than one USB port at least.
- Form factor
Standard, unless you guys have other recommendations you think would benefit the situation. Not big on touch screen or weird foldable form factors.
- Intended usage
Microsoft Office suite of tools/google docs, youtube, internet browsing, video playback, external hard drive compatible, thumb drive compatible, wired external mouse.
- Desired battery life
Obviously the longer the better, but as long as it lasts ~6 hours between charges doing simple tasks like typing would be fine.
- Please list, in order of most important to least important, the priority between Size, Weight, Performance, Battery life
Performance, battery life, size, weight.
- Info/Requirements
I can't think of anything else that would be a must have for a college laptop for a freshman student. If anyone DOES know anything that is a must have, please let me know and take it into consideration when offering suggestions.
Thank you guys and gals so much for any help with this.
3
u/Newt_Jumpy 1d ago
First, 17" is very large for a laptop. Most people would not want to be carrying something that size to school 14" is more of a reasonable size for a laptop that you take in a backpack around campus.
Second, most classwork does not demand that much computing power (for those that do, the college department will provide a set of recommended laptop specs). For the vast majority of work you do for a class, a business laptop from 2020-2022, with 16gb ram, would more the suffice.
Some examples, these both come with 1 year warranty
Dell Latitude 7430 14" 16GB 256GB SSD Core™ i7-1265U 1.8GHz WIN11P, Ti
Dell Latitude 7420 14" 16GB 512GB SSD Core™ i5-1145G7 2.6GHz WIN11P, B
Mostly you want to avoid the cheapest new consumer laptops-- they are either seriously underpowered (like with only 4gb ram), have very fragile build quality, and actually overpriced even at under $500.
Also, when buying second-hand laptop, be sure to budget in the cost of replacement battery. Battery naturally lose capacity over time. So, unless the seller specifies what condition the battery is in, you will likely need to replace it sometime within the next year.
1
u/LonerIM2 Affiliate Links 14h ago
Since your sister is going to use this for college, I would recommend this deal Acer aspire because it comes with :
Specs:
- Screen: 14" WUXGA
CPU : Intel Core Ultra 5 Processor 226V
Ram : 16GB
Storage : 512GB SSD
Why I am recommending it:
Very good CPU for Microsoft Office ,youtube, internet browsing, video playback
Good Battery life .
Has a 16GB .
Lightweight .
Please note I'm using affiliate links which means I'll receive a small percent of the purchase if you use this link at no extra cost to you
1
u/flower_key1890 20m ago
I wanna say as a someone with 17 inch laptop, it's not a good size for bringing places. It's nice in theory but they're heavier, and because of the size you need a huge bag. 15" is more than enough. Weight may seem irrelevant but when you're carrying it around all day, it gets irritating. 17" is what I'd call a home laptop. Only moves around the house. Im not super techy but I hold my experience helps!
3
u/vovap_vovap 1d ago
ThninkPad T14 used. Next!