Should I use my old laptop or buy a new one? (2 Viewers)

[mamehapumpkin]

So I need a laptop for uni, basically for my programming units for the practical work.

I have my ASUS laptop I use at home but I'm a little hesitant to use it. I've had it for several years and it still works good. 15.6 in screen so it's also pretty big. It's got all my personal stuff, it's got my life on it. But given its size it might be impractical to use for other things like taking notes in lectures. I'm not too worried about that, I think I will mostly hand write any notes anyway since my units are all math and comp sci. I probably won't even be taking too many notes since it's more of a practical subject.

ANYWAY so I was considering to get a small cheap laptop, to take notes and do any practical/tutorial work. I thought I'd have to buy micorsoft office but remembered there was some free stuff given to students, like microsoft word and all that. But yeah I don't really have much money to spare, none at all really, I'd be looking at under $400, even $300 max, but overall I don't know if it will be worth it. Should I just bring my ASUS laptop? It's not heavy if carried in a backpack or anything. But the size makes it a bit impractical and it's also very valuable to me so I don't want it broken or stolen or anything. wot do i do

 

[astroman]

dont bring your laptop, it's not very practical, i'd recommend you buy a tablet with a keyboard attachment, ipad air is nice.

 

[Drifting95]

Anything more than 13 inch will be annoying during a lecture. My 15 inch used to overhang the lecture theatre desks, i'd recommend something smaller.

 

[Drifting95]

dont bring your laptop, it's not very practical, i'd recommend you buy a tablet with a keyboard attachment, ipad air is nice.

You don't even uni, how'd you know?

 

[astroman]

You don't even uni, how'd you know?

school, uni, notes, pretty much the same.

 

[mamehapumpkin]

Do yous have any laptop suggestions then? I don't want a tablet with keyboard attachment though, not really my thing

 

[astroman]

Do yous have any laptop suggestions then? I don't want a tablet with keyboard attachment though, not really my thing

if you just want something to type your notes on say MS word, get something like this, rated best under $500 for 2015
Asus Transformer Book T100TA (64GB), it's not really a tablet or laptop, bit of both
http://au.pcmag.com/asus-transformer-book-t100ta-64gb/503/review/asus-transformer-book-t100ta-64gb

 

[mamehapumpkin]

if you just want something to type your notes on say MS word, get something like this, rated best under $500 for 2015
Asus Transformer Book T100TA (64GB), it's not really a tablet or laptop, bit of both
http://au.pcmag.com/asus-transformer-book-t100ta-64gb/503/review/asus-transformer-book-t100ta-64gb

how about this one? much cheaper:

https://www.jbhifi.com.au/computers-tablets/laptops/asus/asus-eeebook-x205-11-6-notebook/612433/

all I'll be using is microsoft word, excel, access, and also some programming applications like Eclipse which I don't believe need much to run either

 

[RenegadeMx]

how about this one? much cheaper:

https://www.jbhifi.com.au/computers-tablets/laptops/asus/asus-eeebook-x205-11-6-notebook/612433/

all I'll be using is microsoft word, excel, access, and also some programming applications like Eclipse which I don't believe need much to run either

if that is all you are planning to do then any piece of shit will be alright

 

[astroman]

how about this one? much cheaper:

https://www.jbhifi.com.au/computers-tablets/laptops/asus/asus-eeebook-x205-11-6-notebook/612433/

all I'll be using is microsoft word, excel, access, and also some programming applications like Eclipse which I don't believe need much to run either

2gb of ram is honestly a very little amount, you will not like it a lot, especially once you start opening up the internet and typing simultanously, you will feel it slowing down quick. Stick to a 4gb device and it will last you much longer as for futureproofing, The processor is also pretty bleh.

 

[seremify007]

It'll be more than adequate for word processing, excel, Facebook and Youtube... but anything more than that like having lots of browser tabs open in Chrome will be painful given it's an older Atom processor. I had a Z3775 in my T100TA and that was ridiculously painfully slow to use and coupled with a painfully small keyboard, it just didn't make sense. To it's credit though, I did like how the keyboard base made it like a laptop to protect the screen in a bag but apart from that, I'd probably steer clear of it.

In all honesty though the key things you need as a uni student in a laptop are portability, battery life, and ability to boot up/shut down (or sleep) very quickly and that's why the recommendation of tablets is a good one since Microsoft does have certain specifications which most manufacturers oblige to.

Also worth mentioning is Windows 10 launches in a few days time (July 29th) so expect to see a new onslaught of laptops with Windows 10 preloaded on it- and hopefully some price drops on Windows 8.1 machines. Don't worry though as Windows 8 PC's all come up with a free upgrade to Windows 10 anyway so you aren't missing out on much and may be able to get a good deal.

If your budget could stretch more I would've recommended something like a Surface 3 or Surface Pro 3 which is a tablet, can be used with a keyboard, and can also be used with a Microsoft pen (I'm reluctant to call it a stylus given it's a lot more advanced and 'natural' than most stylus people usually refer to)... but it definitely won't be in the <$500 range.

 

[Sien]

Surface rt

 

[mamehapumpkin]

ok thanks everyone. I ended up buying an ASUS laptop with 4gb ram for $296. It is a little big, the screen size is only slightly smaller than my laptop I use at home. But it is slim and light compared to my bulky heavy home laptop. It's got windows 8 but apparently I could reserve windows 10 for free since it's coming out in a few days.

 

[mamehapumpkin]

ARGH what the hell. I went to get the free microsoft office thing for students (I used this before) but it says my IT department thing turned off the access to it. Uh why? What can I do?

 

[turntaker]

dont bring your laptop, it's not very practical, i'd recommend you buy a tablet with a keyboard attachment, ipad air is nice.

ipad? srsly?

 

[turntaker]

I got an Acer c720 chromebook.
Its awesome.

 

[Flop21]

Do yous have any laptop suggestions then? I don't want a tablet with keyboard attachment though, not really my thing

I've seen a lot of people in the library with their Microsoft Surfaces. They have a keyboard thing, and look really sweet and portable.

Yeah they're technically a tablet, but seeing people use them, they look they they enjoy it and type quite efficiently. Plus they have a range of them from around $650 - $2000.


EDIT: Oh oops, didn't you see you already got something.

 

[obliviousninja]

Macbook pro

 

[Speed6]

Macbook pro

Too mainstream- I like it though, however I have the surface

 

[anomalousdecay]

Well given you are doing comp sci courses, you want something that you can code on any time during uni, or if your uni offers it (for example, UNSW does) then you can use computers at uni which allow you to freely code any time you want.

Also, for maths courses, I can imagine using a tablet that you can write on (or a surface as a good mention) being the easiest. This is simple because you can use lecture notes and make notes onto them as well, without going through the hassle (like me) of printing stuff out and writing on it.

But yeah, I think you can get by without requiring a laptop at uni. Depends on how you like to go to lectures, make notes and study in general really.