Laptop/notebook/tablet for Uni?

Bryce88

Bryce88

Likes Dirt
It has taken me 10 years since leaving school to decide to go to Uni. Yay for procrastination.

Just wondering what fellow Uni goers use for notes/essays etc. I am basically looking for a small netbook/laptop to do interweb browsing, research, essays etc and would like some suggestions? I have a limit of about $400. It will just be for uni so I can do without fancy graphic cards etc.

Finally, are refurbished laptops worth looking at? It sounds like more trouble to me but I could be wrong.

Cheers.

Also suggestions on best places to purchase laptops would be great. I have sussed out the local shops (harvey norman, office jerks, dick smith) but wondering if I should be looking at some amazing site online too?
 
Tubeless

Tubeless

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Sorry, I have no suggestions for you, however...
I would like to say from my experience that there is nothing to worry about with refurbed computers. Its not like buying a secondhand car that has had a 'service' before sale. The failed parts are replaced and the computers are cleaned/checked and presented back on sale as if new from the factory.

Good bang for buck option.
 
D

Daniel Hale

She fid, he fid, I fidn't
any cheap netbook will do, add a ssd instead of the hard drive & it will be fine (ssd can be had for $80) domyuo KNOW anyone who can open the thing for you to fit it.
I have a cheap aldi tablet with foldable keyboard, its pretty reasonable. Harvey norman AR usually overpriced. Pendo pad do a 10" tablet with keyboard was recently on special for 249 at Dick smith, which is now almost bust
Usually adding more ram only improves marginal sped performance
 
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spoozbucket

Likes Dirt
I'd prefer to go a decent used machine over an entry level new one.

Can't vouch for the seller but Fujitsu gear is commercial grade stuff that is assembled in Japan. I bought a convertible tablet from Grays online a few years ago and it is still a solid little machine(but I have a newer model now), I did have to get another battery after about a year as it started dying. You can also slide out the DVD drive and insert a second battery for more run time(they pop up cheap from time to time).

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Fujitus-...450592?hash=item280c15da60:g:4AUAAOSwcdBWSpuI

View attachment 323743

Battery, may not be the correct one.......

http://www.amazon.com/Antiee-Notebo...8&qid=1452421709&sr=1-2&keywords=t731+battery


Or, the ASUS tablets are pretty cool, this is a top deal but I'don't know if you can add a keyboard to this one-

http://www.computeralliance.com.au/asus-me400cl-1b070w-10.1-64gb-vivo-tab-windows-8-tablet-save-$250-includes-microsoft-office-home-and-student-2013
 
stirk

stirk

Burner
This mob have been around for a while and always have fairly good pricing and deals. Stretch the budget a little for a core i3.

http://www.msy.com.au/home.php

http://www.msy.com.au/nswonline/not...i3-4005u-4gb-500gb-156-dvdrw-win81-64bit.html

At this price range laptops are big heavy slow things with just OK battery life. If you could work with a smaller screen and keyboard something like the Asus transformer would be very easy to live with around campus, lightweight good battery life, usb charging so you could carry a spare battery pack. Dont disclude an android tablet as you can run office apps.


The flip looks good for the money http://www.cnet.com/au/products/asus-transformer-book-t100/
 
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Plankosaurus

Plankosaurus

Spongeplank Dalepantski
spoozbucket said:
I'd prefer to go a decent used machine over an entry level new one.

Can't vouch for the seller but Fujitsu gear is commercial grade stuff that is assembled in Japan. I bought a convertible tablet from Grays online a few years ago and it is still a solid little machine(but I have a newer model now), I did have to get another battery after about a year as it started dying. You can also slide out the DVD drive and insert a second battery for more run time(they pop up cheap from time to time).

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Fujitus-...450592?hash=item280c15da60:g:4AUAAOSwcdBWSpuI

View attachment 323743

Battery, may not be the correct one.......

http://www.amazon.com/Antiee-Notebo...8&qid=1452421709&sr=1-2&keywords=t731+battery


Or, the ASUS tablets are pretty cool, this is a top deal but I'don't know if you can add a keyboard to this one-

http://www.computeralliance.com.au/asus-me400cl-1b070w-10.1-64gb-vivo-tab-windows-8-tablet-save-$250-includes-microsoft-office-home-and-student-2013
Click to expand...
I can vouch for the seller, used them a couple of times now with good results.

+1 for a decent used laptop, should be able to get something with an i3 or i5 and ssd for that money, no getting frustrated at the speed of it! just factor in that you may need a new battery, they do degrade over time...
 
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spoozbucket

Likes Dirt
Plankosaurus said:
I can vouch for the seller, used them a couple of times now with good results.

+1 for a decent used laptop, should be able to get something with an i3 or i5 and ssd for that money, no getting frustrated at the speed of it! just factor in that you may need a new battery, they do degrade over time...
Click to expand...
Yeah I second running a SSD, I went from a laptop from 2009(Core 2 Duo) that I'd installed a SSD in to an i7 quad core laptop and for normal browsing and light duty stuff the old laptop was quicker than the newer one with a conventional HDD.

If you do buy a cheap HP, Toshi, Dell whatever, it REALLY helps them if you remove all the bloatware that comes on them or to at least disable it all at startup.
 
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Skydome

What's invisible and smells like hay?
As others said, go refurbed. You can probably get something mid/high end for cheaper.

I've never bought a refurbed laptop so I don't really know about refurbed dealers.
 
mtb101

mtb101

Likes Bikes and Dirt
if you're on a budget, go for this. chrome os aren't too bad as main thing you need is word process, internet, pdf viewer - you'll be doing a lot of screen reading so take that into account, also any good uni will have labs for more industrial level work so think of device as accompaniment to lab pc.

don't go second hand as laptops are like mtbs they get knocked around.


https://www.kogan.com/au/buy/hp-chromebook-11-g4-116-intel-celeron-n2840-2gb-ddr3l-ram-16gb-emmc-no-dvd-chromeos-1yr-3cell-bt4-hewlett-packard/
 
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spoozbucket

Likes Dirt
True I guess but with PayPal like credit card you should be able to get your money back pretty easily.

The laptop I linked will have a spill resistant keyboard and a removable grille so you can clean the CPU heatsink.
 
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stirk

stirk

Burner
mtb101 said:
if you're on a budget, go for this. chrome os aren't too bad as main thing you need is word process, internet, pdf viewer - you'll be doing a lot of screen reading so take that into account, also any good uni will have labs for more industrial level work so think of device as accompaniment to lab pc.

don't go second hand as laptops are like mtbs they get knocked around.


https://www.kogan.com/au/buy/hp-chromebook-11-g4-116-intel-celeron-n2840-2gb-ddr3l-ram-16gb-emmc-no-dvd-chromeos-1yr-3cell-bt4-hewlett-packard/
Click to expand...

Can you use office apps offline on a Chromebook?
 
Bryce88

Bryce88

Likes Dirt
You guys are legends. Plenty of food for thought. Thank you!

I am not so sure what this SSD thing is and why it is so great though? It's basically just a memory card yeah? Why is it better than a hard drive? Most netbooks I've been looking at have 32gb SSD storage with 5gb cloud storage.
 
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Skydome

What's invisible and smells like hay?
faster read/write rates over hdd's and longer life over hdd's though i've had my hdd in my rig for over 5 years, no failures.

also less likely (Impossible?) to suffer damage from magnets
 
redbruce

redbruce

Eats Squid
Bryce88 said:
You guys are legends. Plenty of food for thought. Thank you!

I am not so sure what this SSD thing is and why it is so great though? It's basically just a memory card yeah? Why is it better than a hard drive? Most netbooks I've been looking at have 32gb SSD storage with 5gb cloud storage.
Click to expand...
It is a form of HD, just not mechanical.

They also suffer from magnetic corruption (maybe not as easily). They also suffer from aging failure like HDD's. Advantage is smaller space, faster response.

In any case 32Gb isnt enough (my iphone has more), nor is 5Gb external (cloud or otherwise).

My advice is get >250Gb on board and external (and location) can be what it needs to be.
 
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stirk

stirk

Burner
SSD rocks, spinning platter still has its place as cheap external storage but the cost margin is dropping fast and I wouldn't be surprised if platter goes the way if the dodo ver soon and unlike vinyl things that spin I can't see anyone reminiscing about it!

As red said 32gb is small, 64 will get you by better with a few movies and music which will end up on the thing. The more storage the better of course but back your shit up twice in separate locations or pay for cloud or risk losing it, I have it sucks.
 
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