She is starting an online school program next semester and we will have to buy her a notebook. She has a Chromebook from the local public school system which she will have to return at the end of the year.
The new online school mandates that the notebook must run either Mac OS or at least Windows 7. That means no Chromebook and no Linux. They give absolutely no specs on what is needed in terms of hardware, but I’m guessing it’s not much more than web browsing, zoom and some sort of proprietary software Pearson, who is behind the school (I know they suck, but the program she’s in now is so much worse), probably makes them run.
I really doubt she needs anything powerful. We’d like to spend less than $300. Even $200 if we could because we are down to a single income. Obviously, that means no Macbook, and I don’t think it’s worth getting one even if we can afford it.
So here’s my question. There are a bunch of sub-$200 name brand notebooks on Amazon- no way am I buying some weird Chinese brand and I’m wary of buying used because I don’t want to chance something going bad in the middle of the semester. The notebooks on Amazon have really poor specs, like 4 GB of RAM, but maybe they will work?
Here’s an example - https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Vivobook-Processor-Microsoft-L510MA-AS02/dp/B09SVR5VD4?ref_=Oct_DLandingS_D_dd93bda7_2&th=1
Intel Celeron N4020 processor, 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. Windows 11 Home S Mode, but claims you can switch out of S mode, which I’ll probably have to do to install whatever software they want me to install.
Since they will accept a Win 7 notebook, I imagine that whatever they want us to run does not need a powerful machine, but will 4GB RAM be so little for Win 11 that the machine will be ridiculously slow even just running things like a web browser and Zoom? Would it be worth getting it and then installing an older version of Windows? Is that even possible these days?
I haven’t bought a computer since 2015 and, because of the industry I worked in, it was an iMac. I also have a Macbook for the same reason. I’m not particularly interested in remaining in the Apple sphere when the ones I have need to be replaced, but I basically know nothing about Windows at this point.
TL;DR - Online school mandates a Win machine, there are really cheap ones, but I don’t know if I should buy one.
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
There are a lot of good sellers of corporate leasebacks out there… A five year old ThinkPad is going to kick butt over anything new with a Celeron. I’m a student, and I got an MSI workstation with an i7-9750H, 16GB RAM, 256GB NVME, and a garbage battery for 250$ CAD. That’s less than 200$ USD.
We can’t do a garbage battery. She really likes to do some of her schoolwork out at a cafe or somewhere else away from home. That’s one of the reasons I am thinking something new would be better. But if you can get something like that with a good battery, it would be perfect.
At that price, buying a 2nd battery becomes an option as well, so long as it’s user replaceable
Those cheap ones don’t look like they have replaceable parts from the pictures.
The best advice here is to just not buy new. You can get a refurbished laptop from trusted sellers that will definitely exceed the requirements for under $200. If you are willing to spend up to $300 then there is literally no concerns.
For example here is a DELL Latitude 7490 Laptop Intel Core i5 8th Gen 8250U (1.60GHz) 16GB Memory 256 GB SSD Intel UHD Graphics 620 14.0" Windows 10 Pro for $192 on Newegg.
https://www.newegg.com/dell-latitude-7490-work-business/p/N82E16834833592?item=N82E16834833592
If you don’t like Newegg there are tons of other stores that offer refurbished laptops. I assume you are in the USA and stores you can consider are Target, Walmart, Best buy.
There is very little risk with refurbished laptops. They are usually tested before being shipped out and if you buy from a legit company they usually offer some kind of store warranty. Walmart for example offers a 90 day return policy for any reason.
It’s hard to make suggestions on which laptop to get since availability plays a bigger role here. So just look around at your desired budget and pick what you think your kid needs.
If you think your kid won’t accept a laptop that has a scratch, simply look for “As New”. Then there usually aren’t any visible damages. But if you are fine with some cosmetic damage you can get real bargains.
Will the battery be okay? That’s my biggest concern with something like that.
Generally yes. Some refurbished laptops are literally brand new and have never been used before. And if there is an issue, you just return it and try out a different one.
Depending on the model, you can also just buy a replacement battery and it can still be cheaper than anything comparable new.
My suggestion? Some old ThinkPad. I was using a T420s for several years for online college classes. I have since moved onto a T480s.
Just looked on eBay. A refurb T470 is around $140USD and a new battery on Am*zon (if you are okay with Jeff Bozo, I am not) is less than $30. So you have two batteries that you can swap out for decent time away from an outlet and a semi recent laptop with 8GB RAM and an SSD for low power consumption.
I can PM you links if you want.
Important edit: some ThinkPads don’t have webcams! I don’t know if your kid needs to video chat for school, I know my sister had to. Make sure whatever you order had a webcam – they aren’t always present!
I’d suggest looking at one of the slightly older Surface Pro units. They are cheap and I love them.
As a guy that works at a repair store, used laptops are insanely cheap. You’ll get a much more powerful and capable laptop if you go used, and you’re not at any risk because many reputable sellers and refurbishers will provide warranties too.
Most importantly when looking on eBay for laptops you want an SSD, if it says it’s using an HDD or “hard drive” avoid it. SSDs are 6x faster or more than HDDs and are much more reliable in mobile devices. They are cheap now too and most quality refurbs will have an SSD in most of their devices.
A lot of SSDs are somewhat low capacity so make sure she gets a little more storage than what she needs right now, but also external storage is pretty effective if the laptop’s storage gets a little full.
Other important features. 1080 HD screen. This will be really nice to have and often means that the processor on the laptop is pretty decent too for day to day tasks (most modern CPUs on many computers are far more powerful than most people ever need).
8gb or preferably 16gb of RAM. A lot of new computers today have a lot of RAM, which now means software devs are a lot lazier optimizing their programs. More RAM nowadays is really important and for good longevity I highly recommend 16gb.
Availability of parts. If you’re interested in a laptop, open a new eBay tab and put in “laptop model number parts”. If you see an abundance of cheap parts available that’s a very good sign. This means repairs are not only possible but likely easy and cheap.
Additionally feel free to ask questions, if you see a laptop that’s great but lacks a bit of ram, or has an SSD a little too small you can ask the seller to upgrade it. It’s gonna cost a little but shouldn’t be much. Unfortunately screens and processors (in most cases!) cannot be upgraded and usually not worth asking.
Thanks, I really appreciate the advice! I think I’m going to take someone else’s recommendation and get a refurb from NewEgg because the prices look good, but I wanted to know about the RAM because that seems to be a big price point. If 16 is preferable, that’s what we’ll go for, so thank you for telling me about that. I was planning on getting an SSD instead of an HDD anyway due to the speed and reliability as you say. I’m not too worried about storage because I am guessing most of the things she has to save for school will be cloud-based. Certainly in the (shitty) online program she’s in now, all of her work is done in the lessons, which are sort of PowerPoint slides but more interactive. I don’t even know for sure if we couldn’t just go with a Chromebook instead, but they say Windows or Mac OS, so I have to go with what they say. Anyway, it looks like Chromebooks aren’t any cheaper than refurbished notebooks running Windows 10. Thanks again for the advice!
