Student Laptop (Basic!)

[iTodd98]

I’m currently working on building a workstation which is a whole other matter but I’m looking for a small laptop roughly £300ish that just needs to run word, download files and surf the web for when I’m in class. Any recommendations? I seem to see a lot about the surface go but this laptop needs only basic features as it’s almost exclusively for notes. I would prefer it to be slim and stylish with small bezels.

[Fasauceome]

chromebooks work really well for this, there are a lot of models in your price range and if you stop into your local electronics retailer you might spy one on sale.

[5x5]

Slim stylish isn't happening with that budget. Your best option is looking at the outlets from Dell, HP or Lenovo and getting a refurbished model with full warranty. You should be able to find a decent device there for the price

[5x5]

Also, don't by Chromebooks they're horrid. I cannot begin to describe how slow.they are, how cheap they feel and are internally and how bad the displays are. Don't torture yourself with them

 

[TheBean]

chromebooks... cheap windows is worse than cheap chromebook

[TheBean]

1 minute ago, 5x5 said:

Also, don't by Chromebooks they're horrid. I cannot begin to describe how slow.they are, how cheap they feel and are internally and how bad the displays are. Don't torture yourself with them

 

I have used chromebooks. they arent bad. for something that cheap (under $350) chromebooks are worth it. windows is too heavy for 4gb ram

[5x5]

2 minutes ago, Saksham said:

I have used chromebooks. they arent bad. for something that cheap (under $350) chromebooks are worth it. windows is too heavy for 4gb ram

If you know how to set it up, W10 works wonderfully on 4GB of RAM. The issue is people don't Google.

[TheBean]

Just now, 5x5 said:

If you know how to set it up, W10 works wonderfully on 4GB of RAM. The issue is people don't Google.

huh? wdym by people dont google?

 

chromebooks have better battery life, unlikely to get viruses, are lighter, can run android apps (some of them), quick and snappy, almost never any bloatware, and you dont have to deal with windows.

 

however, you dont get office apps (native desktop versions) and i dont think you can get onenote on chromebooks

 

[5x5]

1 minute ago, Saksham said:

huh? wdym by people dont google?

 

chromebooks have better battery life, unlikely to get viruses, are lighter, can run android apps (some of them), quick and snappy, almost never any bloatware, and you dont have to deal with windows.

 

however, you dont get office apps (native desktop versions) and i dont think you can get onenote on chromebooks

 

Battery life is better because they use severely cut down CPUs that are meant for tablets and can barely handle two chrome tabs at full speed before overheating due to the poor cooling.

 

Size varies depending on model. Weight is due them literally having nothing of value inside.

 

Most android apps run in a phone sized window or refuse to boot out right. It's a glorified browser OS.

 

Only snappy I'd you get a rare SSD model. Most are eMMC based and that storage is 2-3 times slower than a 5400RPM drive. Not fast at all.

 

They don't have bloatware because you literally can't install anything useful. It's extremely locked down so anything past email and Facebook is a chore. You have control or access to anything. You have no admin rights. It's like you don't own your device. The only good thing to do with a chromebook is hack Linux onto it.

 

Just, don't waste money in glorified browser tablets mascarading as cheap junky laptops

[TheBean]

1 hour ago, 5x5 said:

Just, don't waste money in glorified browser tablets mascarading as cheap junky laptops

alright..... have you actually USED a chromebook? or are you just trashing on them. if you have, which model. my high school had cheap dell ones and they were really good. like REALLY good for how cheap they are. 

 

dell chromebook I am refering to:

https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-laptops-and-notebooks/chromebook-3100-education/spd/chromebook-11-3100-laptop

[Donut417]

I have to second @Saksham here. I have used Chromebooks in the past. As long as you can live with in their limitations, you should be fine. The only thing is ChromeOS was built around cloud computing. Meaning if you dont have internet, its very limited in what you can do. However, it does have off line version of their office suit, it has an off line media player. In some cases you can run Android Apps, but this seems to be a feature for more expensive models, and not all apps work. 

 

You just have to understand that ChromeOS is very similar to Android/iOS, so it uses little system resources, but does have limits. Hardware wise most run on Arm chips or very low end Intel chips. Battery life is like 9-14+ hours on most that I have seen. My dad has a Chromebook as he needed a cheaper machine that he could check and write emails on. Though hes getting better at using his Android Phone for that. Storage is generally 16 to 32 Gigs, but many have SD card slots as well as USB ports. The best part is they start around $129 USD from what I seen on up to over $1000 USD if you get a Google designed one. But Im sure you can find one that suits your needs. 

 

[5x5]

I've used several ones from Dell and Asus. I have never seen one that is actually worth money.

[iTodd98]

16 hours ago, iTodd98 said:

I’m currently working on building a workstation which is a whole other matter but I’m looking for a small laptop roughly £300ish that just needs to run word, download files and surf the web for when I’m in class. Any recommendations? I seem to see a lot about the surface go but this laptop needs only basic features as it’s almost exclusively for notes. I would prefer it to be slim and stylish with small bezels.

We went into a local pc shop today to see if there were any and basically narrowed it down to 3 possible buys. The ASUS E406MA, GEO Book 1M 11.6” or HP Stream 11-ak0502sa (I can provide links if you can’t find them but they’re all on the English version of curry’s). The prices were £300, £150 and £180 respectively and the GEO Book looked quite nice. As mentioned it just needs to run chrome, and light word/PowerPoint as we have a workstation at home this is more for notes while studying and on the go. Anyone know much about the GEO book? Crazy cheap so must be some trade offs and a curries own brand computer (like the Walmart OP) so pretty sure it won’t be wide spread as I’m pretty into computers and had never heard of it before visiting the store. Based off looks and price alone GEO book comes top in both categories but again just wondering on the trade offs.