Which laptop for A Level study?
Discussion
Not sure if it needs to be of a certain spec, but I'm wanting to get a laptop for my son who has just started his A levels please, and he may then be going to university. He'll be taking it to school with him.
One of his subjects is Computer Science so he will be using it for programming. I guess decent storage space would be useful. If the choice was left to him he'd be trying to pull the wool over my eyes to get a high spec gaming laptop, but he already has a gaming PC.
No particular budget but don't want it to cost the earth. So are there any features/specs that I should consider or should any modern laptop be suitable?
One of his subjects is Computer Science so he will be using it for programming. I guess decent storage space would be useful. If the choice was left to him he'd be trying to pull the wool over my eyes to get a high spec gaming laptop, but he already has a gaming PC.
No particular budget but don't want it to cost the earth. So are there any features/specs that I should consider or should any modern laptop be suitable?
For college and uni, I would consider a refurbished PC from one of the big refurbishers. They are often business machines, and a bit more robust than the usual consumer machines. Having said that, I imagine anything made this century would be fine for note taking, coursework, programming. The only absolute requirement for me would be that it absolutely must have an SSD not a mechanical hard drive, and must be 1920x1080 full HD, and not less than 8GB memory.
Nice to have: 16GB memory, 1TB SSD, 15 inch (not too big to lug around, big enough for decent work). Processor type isn't crucial. This one happens to be an i7, but i5 or AMD would be fine for that job.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325650551298
£300 would get you an 8th Gen i5, 16GB 1TB. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/374855937212
Even an 8GB 256GB wouldn't be terrible. SSD can always be expanded later.
It would leave some cash over for a 10 inch Android tablet + SD card to read course book PDFs. Much easier to read on a tablet (when you are on the bus, train, etc) than a laptop or a phone.
Nice to have: 16GB memory, 1TB SSD, 15 inch (not too big to lug around, big enough for decent work). Processor type isn't crucial. This one happens to be an i7, but i5 or AMD would be fine for that job.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325650551298
£300 would get you an 8th Gen i5, 16GB 1TB. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/374855937212
Even an 8GB 256GB wouldn't be terrible. SSD can always be expanded later.
It would leave some cash over for a 10 inch Android tablet + SD card to read course book PDFs. Much easier to read on a tablet (when you are on the bus, train, etc) than a laptop or a phone.
The Gauge said:
If the choice was left to him he'd be trying to pull the wool over my eyes to get a high spec gaming laptop, but he already has a gaming PC.
Of course if he ends up doing much with AI/Machine Learning, that would be an appropriate choice....Why not ask the computer science course's teacher?
If he's studying computer science, then he'll likely be writing and compiling code over and over again. Code compilation is very CPU intensive but often not multi-threaded, so a decently powerful machine would be nice to have. An i7 rather than an i5 I'd say. Get at least 16GB RAM, and if possible more so that he can run one or more Linux virtual machines with ease. All modern laptops will have solid state storage - you need at least 250GB+ of storage space, more is better.
I work in IT and have no particular allegiance to either the Mac or PC platforms, but be aware that recent Macs don't use x86 processors any more, and that might make a Mac unsuitable depending on the syllabus. Either way, I always advocate a Lenovo laptop if an Apple Macbook isn't suitable. I've had Dells, HPs and a few other brands and none are as good a Lenovo for durability and reliability, but everything trumps Lenovo for style.
I work in IT and have no particular allegiance to either the Mac or PC platforms, but be aware that recent Macs don't use x86 processors any more, and that might make a Mac unsuitable depending on the syllabus. Either way, I always advocate a Lenovo laptop if an Apple Macbook isn't suitable. I've had Dells, HPs and a few other brands and none are as good a Lenovo for durability and reliability, but everything trumps Lenovo for style.
the-norseman said:
He's doing computer science so he will no doubt know a lot more about them that the OP, I would say let the person doing the course say what machine he needs.
So he is gonna spec a Razer Blade 16 with RTX 4090? Snip at about £5k. Op didn’t mention a budget 
. Will definitely cope with A-Levels and a uni CS course.wyson said:
So he is gonna spec a Razer Blade 16 with RTX 4090? Snip at about £5k. Op didn’t mention a budget . Will definitely cope with A-Levels and a uni CS course.
Difficult to set a budget as I have to factor in the amount of money I lose if he drops it and breaks it when going to/from school, meaning I have to buy another, compared to spending enough to get the correct spec for his needs.. Will definitely cope with A-Levels and a uni CS course.I suppose I'd hope around £600 might get the laptop he needs, but anything less than that would lessen the ££ impact if he dropped/broke it. I'm guessing I'd need a bit more than £600 for an i7 with 16GB Ram, 512GB SSD and light enough to carry each day?
Edited by The Gauge on Monday 2nd October 21:14
For A-levels and Uni I got junior a Dell XPS 13 with 4 years coverage, which we claimed on twice (next day call-out, fitting a new screen and keyboard, so worth every penny). When that one was four years old we sold it for a good price and bought the latest model XPS 13 which is still going strong after MSc
The Gauge said:
Any recommended placed to buy from please?
For the XPS with warranty? Try https://www.dell.com/en-uk/dfh/lp/outletthe-photographer said:
For the XPS with warranty? Try https://www.dell.com/en-uk/dfh/lp/outlet
Thanks. Are Dells refurbished laptops a good purchase, worth buying?Get a P, H or HX processor, not a U. This letter will postfix a set of numbers eg. i5 13500H.
i3, i5, i7 denote a pecking order in a processor line up and aren’t indicative of absolute performance. An i5 HX will demolish any i7 U for sustained processing performance.
Will help a lot with tasks that require sustained performance. Like software compilation and gaming
Razer Blade 16, 32GB RAM, RTX-4080, i9 13950HX will definitely breeze through a bit of software compilation, be reasonably portable, and he might be able to play a game or two. £3.6k, if you are baulking at the near £5k cost of the RTX-4090 version. Someone has to advocate for your son!
In seriousness though, gaming is a huge industry, why would you spec a laptop that wont allow him to experiment in that space if he is interested in CS and gaming? What if he goes away for uni and has the tiniest student room that won’t have space for his desktop set up?
i3, i5, i7 denote a pecking order in a processor line up and aren’t indicative of absolute performance. An i5 HX will demolish any i7 U for sustained processing performance.
Will help a lot with tasks that require sustained performance. Like software compilation and gaming
Razer Blade 16, 32GB RAM, RTX-4080, i9 13950HX will definitely breeze through a bit of software compilation, be reasonably portable, and he might be able to play a game or two. £3.6k, if you are baulking at the near £5k cost of the RTX-4090 version. Someone has to advocate for your son!
In seriousness though, gaming is a huge industry, why would you spec a laptop that wont allow him to experiment in that space if he is interested in CS and gaming? What if he goes away for uni and has the tiniest student room that won’t have space for his desktop set up?
Edited by wyson on Tuesday 3rd October 12:03
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