We dont have a computer but with two kids now not in school I'm looking a laptop and probably a printer I'm thinking one of those hp instant ink jobs as I can print out maps too bonus
I would want a laptop that will last a while too , easily upgradeable would be nice but am I looking at say 4 or 8 gb ram, i5 or i7 , then min of 256 ssd this is just what I've picked up from looking online, thanks for any info as I know nothing on computers
Ps I can get 10 percent off a lenovo as an emergency service worker, and costco sometimes have deals on, but I guess spec is the most important information I need thanks again
On a budget/secondhand, there's loads of great ex-corporate Thinkpads to choose from. Get a T or X series, good keyboards, they're built like tanks, useful ports, parts replaceable (lots have a removable battery) and designed to be mostly fixable by a tech on site.
128GB is OK for storage these days unless you'll be needing to keep a load of photos or video or other bulky stuff on there.
i5/Ryzen 5, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD is a good all-rounder spec. that should be future proof for a couple of years.
For extended use I would always recommend an external monitor, keyboard and mouse as well
I'd priorities an SSD and decent amount of memory (8Gb) as that makes the biggest difference to performance therefore minimising frustration in use. Storage less so as you can always buy cheap external hdd or usb memory for all the docs photos video music that uses up space. Just make sure you have a cloud backup facility as you'll never realistically store the two elements separately and without offsite backup if you have a fire or break-in you're stuffed.
Interestingly my kids school have just suggested a purchase scheme for a chromebook.....I may be wrong but aren't these entirely online machines....if so you have a single point of failure there (in terms of ability to use not data) if the internet is not available....so not ideal I'd suggest.
There are loads of pre owned business machines out there that come with WIN10 installed for less than £200. As an example check Here
I've just picked up a second had Dell from ebay, I've had a couple of similar ones from the same seller ( https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/blackmoreit ). Offered a quick return / replace of one that failed on arrival so they seem pretty good.
For home schooling pretty much any laptop from the past 5 years will work - my daughter's using a pretty crap Acer which was low spec even when we bought it 3 years ago...
That said, I'd be looking at something similar to what @FuzzyWuzzy says - 8GB + 256GB SSD, the latter particularly makes a huge difference compared to an old-school spinning hard drive. (New you'll be hard pushed to find a spinning HD model, but if you go 2nd hand it's something to avoid).
What Mogrim said.
If you want something half decent then you've pretty much answered your own question in the OP. Personally I'd want to factor in a decent screen also, the budget end tend to come with poxy low-res screens.
Hard to beat Lenovo for build quality. It's what we had across the board at work up until a refresh a year or two back and failure rate was low. Back when I was working in IT, common faults were HDD failure (moving parts), fan failure (moving parts) and screen breakage (people are idiots). That's it. I've had them thrown across the car park and still kept going bar cosmetic damage.
Personally I’d want to factor in a decent screen also, the budget end tend to come with poxy low-res screens.
Not really needed for home schooling, but granted nice to have.
I'm not an expert on printers by any means, but be very careful with a) letting your kids use it and b) the price of new cartridges. Fortunately we don't use ours much, but when my daughters were younger they had a lot more projects that required making posters etc...
I'd agree withe the 8gb 256gb ssd.
Other thing will be office subscription, my partner is a teacher and I think the initial plan is to use teams for lots of there work
Chromebook it’s what my youngest uses all the time links in with the school’s google pack.
Thanks for the advice I'm just back from costco as I needed some toilet rolls for the wifes work care home.
Probably overkill but hope I wasnt fleeced lol I picked up a lenovo s540 ideapad, 15.6 fhd ips dunno what that means other than size, 256gb ssd, 8gb ram with i5 10210u and windows 10 home , I paid 575 I figured it was worth that as costco has a 5 year warranty and it felt a solid build compared to the other flimsy feeling things , fingers crossed it's a good buy
Bugger now I need a office 365 doh...the brick was correct
I went for pcspecialists
15.6 inch screen laptop with Intel pentium 8gb, 64+256gb ssd. £420.
If kids are high school age you can probably download Office for free, School will advise, otherwise this (bargain) - https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8837505
I guess the ship has sailed already on this one but what are your children actually going to use it for? I'd have been tempted by whatever chromebook I could get with a 1080p touchscreen.
Thanks for the link scuttler, Johnny the eldest school has an online learning platform but we have never used it as you could always get hard copies which she preferred but now she has no choice but all the work is there it's very good actually, and as it happens itll be easier for the wife to book on shift with the nhs and I can use it for my Garmin Haha bonus cheers all
As said office should be available for free through the school, otherwise I'd look at Libreoffice for the basics (word processing, spreadsheets etc.) Don't quote me but I think the days of compatibility issues should be long gone.
Touchscreens are a waste of space on a proper computer, be that a desktop or laptop.
Not sure if it's too late firestarter, but I've just picked up the Lenovo 540S, pretty much same spec as the one you mentioned but with an i7. £589 but can get 4.8% cashback too via topcashback.
I'm after a laptop as well. All i really need to WFH is internet to get onto the work serva and my virtual desk top. So looking at one of these, any good for £380 ?
Cheers yokaiser but yeah I bought one, costco has the 5 year warranty and they are good with it too, when my washer packed in after 3 years they just swapped it no questions
Interested in this as I am looking to buy one for my daughter. We have a very old Macbook (I think maybe 2007/8); interwebs does not really work that well, it's not supported by Apple anymore and the battery does not charge.
I don't have a clue about IT but was thinking a chromebook or equivalent, as I don't want to spend loads.
Do chromebooks allow you to write basic stuff in a word processor* or equivalent program?
*please don't mock my 1990s terminology 🙂
A chromebook does not use windows.
It is a Google system and is basically like a mobile phone type technology. It is part of the new fangled cloud approach to computing. The theory is that the device will not be doing the processing or storing of data. You will just use it to access the internet and via that subscription services to things like office 365. So you would use a chrombook to access the Microsoft servers that will 'run the program' and 'store the files'. Hence if you look at the spec they have tiny processors and little memory.
Its a brave new world.
(or you could get get a cheap traditional laptop and hedge your bets - that is my plan)
A Chromebook is basically a web browser. So if the answer to the question "can I do what I want using Chrome" is yes then it'll be suitable, if it's no then it won't be.
Most MS Office apps are online for free, if that helps any.
As well as doing things in the browser most, if not all, recent chromebooks will also run Android applications. Pop a memory stick/card in the side and save to that if you're worried that your web access might conk out or you'll run out of local space.
Was considering a chrome book for the boys via school but at £11x36 months it wasn’t far of a decent laptop so went with that as I know what I’m doing with that- sort of
Btw I had an email from Pcspecialists today saying production is going ahead but 7-14 days due to demand and staff off.
Your kids might have a Microsoft account through School...
If they log in to Office365 online they can use all the office apps online. (I think they can download them too).
My lads log in with their School email address. It has access to One-Drive which has 1TB of storage.
We use a cheap (£35) HP printer. The ink subscription is a couple of quid a month, they just post new cartridges in plenty of time before it runs out.
My lad has been using an 8gb i3 with olde worlde spinning drive for a few years. I wasn’t expecting much for £400 but it’s pretty good. The battery is crap now though.
Managed to get onto schools office 365 and picked up an envy printer cheap enough with 4 month free printing, cheers all
