Computer buying advice

[Badams]

We are looking to buy a computer/ laptop/tablet something for our daughter going off to college. We are absolutely lost. There are so many options, and we understand very little. Does anyone have any advice on what to look for, what not to look for, best buys etc...? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[skateycat]

Funny you should ask, we just ordered Young Skateycat her computer last night!

Because we had the budget and our intention was to overbuy so this laptop would last for many years, we got her a 14 inch MacBook Pro with 18 gigabytes of RAM and 1 terabyte of storage. Young Skateycat wanted a Mac.

Will she prefer or require a Mac or a Windows machine? That will narrow your focus by a lot.

Many colleges and their departments publish recommended specifications for laptops. Even if her college doesn’t, you can use one of these pages to kind of guide how much computer to buy. Look for a page like that, or see if there’s a student tech help page with any advice like that.

Some colleges, like the one I work at, has a campus wide subscription of Microsoft 365 for all the students.

Post more questions if you got them.

 

[skateycat]

Mr. Skateycat wanted to wait until the M4 MacBook Pro came out. But we kept reading that the gossip was that they might not come out until November or even later and Young Skateycat needs a computer now, so we bought now.

 

[myhoneyhoney]

Check with her major too. My daughter is Chemical Engineering and hers requires windows (no Mac book) to run all the programs. There are also minimum specs requirements her laptop had to have like a certain graphics card (or better), minimum 16G RAM, etc.

Good luck, these are exciting times!

 

[peibeck]

If you are a Sam's Club member, they are offering some very good sales right now (assuming because of the "back to school" period) once you identify what specs the computer is going to need.

Here is this year's PC magazine guide to best student laptops: https://www.pcmag.com/lists/best-la...u-0yKtgrgb-_86bJEK_uyYpT0jAPQCbUaAnzOEALw_wcB

 

[Aceon6]

We are looking to buy a computer/ laptop/tablet something for our daughter going off to college. We are absolutely lost. There are so many options, and we understand very little. Does anyone have any advice on what to look for, what not to look for, best buys etc...? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

First, make sure it’s the type and operating system that the college’s IT department supports. They may have options listed on their website. Then shop around and compare with the price the college offers. If the lowest price you find is within $100 of the college price, buy it there as it will be configured and tested for the college’s network and LMS. And don’t skimp on memory. Most basic computers come with 8gb, but get 12 or 16 if you can.

 

[MacMadame]

Agree on the memory. The more you have the better (and usually faster) everything works.

One thing you need to decide once you figure out what is best for that college is whether to get a lightweight one -- possibly even a tablet with an attachable keyboard or something like the MacBook Air which is thin and lightweight (don't know the Windows equivalent but I bet they have them) or whether you want to go heavy duty with a bigger screen and more ports.

 

[Aceon6]

Agree on the memory. The more you have the better (and usually faster) everything works.

One thing you need to decide once you figure out what is best for that college is whether to get a lightweight one -- possibly even a tablet with an attachable keyboard or something like the MacBook Air which is thin and lightweight (don't know the Windows equivalent but I bet they have them) or whether you want to go heavy duty with a bigger screen and more ports.

Our oldest next gen just transferred to a new school. One thing he learned at the old one is to buy the same/similar as everyone else. His top end MacBook with all the bells and whistles, dock, and large monitor somehow walked out of his room one day when he was in class. He got the MacBook back thanks to Find My, but everything else was gone, gone, gone.

 

[Jay42]

I'm not the most specification savvy on computers, which is terrible considering that part of my job is selling laptops but I get by. One thing I do know is don't buy anything with less than 8 GB's of RAM. It'll be slow and annoying. Also Solid State Drives load faster and they aren't as prone to failure as they used to be which is why so many laptops have them now. We have a computer and phone repair room at work and I quizzed the guys in there a lot before I bought my new laptop. They said ASUS was one of the better brands for Windows and Acer and Lenovo are pretty good too.

I will say though having 2 Lenovo laptops in a row with 8 GB's of RAM for both, on both of them it would randomly just shrink all my open windows down without me doing anything, sure I could get them back up easily enough but it was never not annoying and it was one of the reasons I was looking as ASUS and Acer when I bought my current laptop.

If you end up looking at Windows based computers and you look at HP's check where the power button is on it, some of their laptops have it 4 or 5 keys in from the side of the keyboard and it's like a regular key so you can hit it by accident really easily and it will just turn off your computer or put it to sleep depending on what you have it set to do. The power button location on all the HP laptops we sold was the deal breaker for me. I sometimes don't pay attention to how I put my hand down on my keyboard.

Also don't buy HP printers, they have really predatory practices with ink cartridges that will end up costing you more money than any other printer brand.

 

[Badams]

She decided on a Lenovo something or other, my hubby helped her out with the specs or whatever after I shared with them the various tips here. She was adamant that she was not doing Apple, so that narrowed it down quite a bit.

 

[MacMadame]

I'm ressurecting this thread instead of starting a new one. I am looking for different POVs on my computer dilemma.

Here's the deal: I have a MacBook Air, 13" M1. So it's 4+ years old, 3 gens behind (M4 is the current chip). And now the keyboard is failing and my disc is full. I can get a new keyboard but the hard drive can't be changed on this thing (it's soldered into the keyboard or something).

OTOH, my AppleCare+ expired 10 days ago, but I have a 36-day window to renew it. $70 for that and then maybe a $300, but maybe a $0 co-pay, depending on whether they think I've done something to make the keyboard fail (like spilling wine on it) or that it's just old. (I vaguely remember spilling tea on it once, but it was years ago.)

So part of me wants to get a new computer and has wanted to for a while. This one works "well enough," but it can be slow at times, and I have a boatload of video to edit from my trip that (a) doesn't fit on the hard drive and (b) is going to suck up a lot of computer power that this computer probably doesn't have.

It's a lot cheaper to just get the keyboard replaced though. $70 or more likely $370 vs. $1900 for the model with 24GB of RAM and a 2TB hard drive. (That's after the $355 trade in is subtracted.) And if I get what I really want, it's $2500.

So... thoughts?

 

[sk8pics]

I think that a 4-year-old computer is old for the type of things you do, or that it sounds like you do. If you have space and memories problems, it probably makes sense to just get a new computer if you can afford it. My MacBook Air has a 2 TB hard drive, which is great, but I have 8 GB RAM. Do you really need 24? That sounds like really a lot…

I’d also suggest looking at Gazelle to see what they would give you on a trade in; sometimes Apple has the best prices and sometimes not. The other thing is that if you have an Apple Card you can usually get interest free financing for various lengths of time, depending on how much you finance. If you don’t have an Apple Card, perhaps apply for one and they may give you a bonus on the first purchase. Apple products give 3% back on your Apple Card, assuming you buy from Apple.

 

[MacMadame]

I think that a 4-year-old computer is old for the type of things you do, or that it sounds like you do. If you have space and memories problems, it probably makes sense to just get a new computer if you can afford it. My MacBook Air has a 2 TB hard drive, which is great, but I have 8 GB RAM. Do you really need 24? That sounds like really a lot…

They don't come with 8 GB RAM anymore. There is a 16 GB option, but the internet said I need 24.

I suspect this computer will last another year, but at some point, Apple's new version of MacOS won't work on it.

I’d also suggest looking at Gazelle to see what they would give you on a trade in;

I didn't know about them. Thanks.

(Not only do I have an Apple Card, I have every class of Apple product except Apple Home and the Vision Pro. )

 

[sk8pics]

(Not only do I have an Apple Card, I have every class of Apple product except Apple Home and the Vision Pro. )

Well, at least you’ll get 3% back on the purchase, and I do think you can get free financing for awhile, so maybe that will help make your decision?

 

[my little pony]

is there an official refurbished MAC store near you? mine has some good deals but it's very hit or miss

I did use the apple care to fix something in mine once and they ended up replacing every single thing in it due to "past water damage and excessive cat hair" so it ended up being a really good deal

 

[MacMadame]

is there an official refurbished MAC store near you? mine has some good deals but it's very hit or miss

I did use the apple care to fix something in mine once and they ended up replacing every single thing in it due to "past water damage and excessive cat hair" so it ended up being a really good deal

I thought I had responded to this. Excess cat hair might actually be my problem!

I've been watching some YouTube videos about the M1 MacBook Air and the new M4 MacBook Air. It seems like the M4 is much, much faster and has a few other niceties. However, a lot of the videos say the M1 is still a very good computer and some even flat out say not to update just yet.

My fear is that I will spend $370 on getting the keyboard fixed and next year it will be something else and I'll end up getting a new computer anyway. If I wasn't having keyboard troubles, I would probably upgrade next anyway.

 

[nlloyd]

Not an apple user, but I bought a refurbished HP 13" laptop at London Drugs and it is working really well. It cost me under C$500 and has 16GB of RAM, 512 GB of storage, and a touchscreen. The only issue is that the battery doesn't last that long - around 4 hours, I think.

Anyway, it was my first venture into refurbished and I am kicking myself for not doing this earlier. London Drugs allows returns for a year.