- Mar 5, 2003
- 879
- 5
- 81
I haven't bought or thought of laptops in over 5 years so I am completely out of touch.
My kid needs a laptop for high school, Requirements are pretty vague except that it must have 802.11a worker (5GHz) and must be able to use Google Docs. I would like the kid to be able to run OpenOffice and similar apps, and a simple development environment for development since my kid is interested in Java programming.
The kid would like something a little more beefy than a netbook, I think that means running windows not ChromeOS. I have never upgraded anything at home beyond Windows 7 so I have no idea what is required to run Windows 10 well.
The intent is for the laptop to continue running well for 4 years (through high school).
The kids have limited charging capability in some classes, so something that is battery efficient would be good. I think an SSD would be good in that regard? I don't expect him to have to use a ton of storage beyond homework, etc... Although he may take a movie making class (they would use the school workstations for work, but may want to store and play the project on the computer)
Lighter is better since you carry it all day but it needs to be relatively sturdy (probably rules out 2 in 1s?)
I'm having a hard time figuring out how that translates into specs or possible devices.
Price is not a huge factor but it seems that I should easily be able to keep it under $500, possibly quite less.
Can you help? What else can I tell you to help spec/pick it?
My kid needs a laptop for high school, Requirements are pretty vague except that it must have 802.11a worker (5GHz) and must be able to use Google Docs. I would like the kid to be able to run OpenOffice and similar apps, and a simple development environment for development since my kid is interested in Java programming.
The kid would like something a little more beefy than a netbook, I think that means running windows not ChromeOS. I have never upgraded anything at home beyond Windows 7 so I have no idea what is required to run Windows 10 well.
The intent is for the laptop to continue running well for 4 years (through high school).
The kids have limited charging capability in some classes, so something that is battery efficient would be good. I think an SSD would be good in that regard? I don't expect him to have to use a ton of storage beyond homework, etc... Although he may take a movie making class (they would use the school workstations for work, but may want to store and play the project on the computer)
Lighter is better since you carry it all day but it needs to be relatively sturdy (probably rules out 2 in 1s?)
I'm having a hard time figuring out how that translates into specs or possible devices.
Price is not a huge factor but it seems that I should easily be able to keep it under $500, possibly quite less.
Can you help? What else can I tell you to help spec/pick it?