Best sub £300 Laptop for a student

Frunkstar · 22 March 2017 at 11:34PM

Hello all

Looking to get a good deal on a laptop for our daughter for college/Uni, we are on a budget & hoping to get something suitable for about the 300 pounds make or as close to it as possible, but not very tech savvy so some advice would be very appreciated.

Many thanks

EdwardB · 23 March 2017 at 12:36AM

Dell Outlet is good, they sell Dell kit that comes back because of any customer complaint, from a missing cable to a dirty great scratch.

You can choose Certified Refurbished or Scratch and Dent.

http://www.dell.com/learn/uk/en/ukdfh1/campaigns/splitter

Cisco001 · 23 March 2017 at 1:45PM

If she doesn't need a lot of storage, get one with SSD.
http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/hp-255-g5-amd-a6-7310-2ghz-4gb-256gb-ssd-15.6-inch-windows-10-laptop-z2y29es/version.asp

agrinnall · 23 March 2017 at 2:48PM

You need to budget for software too. Some courses will require specialist software, but at the least it's likely that she will need to use MS Office for some of her work. The good news is that as a student she'll be able to buy a 4 year subscription to Office 365 University for £60.

https://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msuk/en_GB/pdp/Office-365-University/productID.260260600

The possibly even better news is that some universities take part in a scheme with MS to offer Office to their students free, so she should check that out before paying for it.

On the hardware side, one thing to consider is what is the best size of laptop. If she'll be leaving it at her accommodation then it doesn't really matter (and bigger may be better if she wants to watch videos), but if she's taking it into classes every day then portability is an important factor.

Frunkstar · 23 March 2017 at 5:47PM

Thank you all some great advice there, I will look into the possibility on the MS office subscription being offered by the Uni great tip that could save a few quid, will also check into the Dell returns.

I like the look of the HP too, be handy having a HP as I have a fried that works in the states fro HP so he'd be on hand for tech advice on it.

Please do keep it coming if you have further suggestions, it's greatly appreciated

grumpycrab · 23 March 2017 at 8:33PM

Cisco001 wrote: »

If she doesn't need a lot of storage, get one with SSD.
http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/hp-255-g5-amd-a6-7310-2ghz-4gb-256gb-ssd-15.6-inch-windows-10-laptop-z2y29es/version.asp

256GB SSD - not bad (but probably not FHD).
£300 @Misco http://www.misco.co.uk/productinfo/productinfo?productCode=2673874
EDIT: sorry - need to add P&P @Misco

System · 23 March 2017 at 9:54PM

Bombproof ex-corporate was £1000+ when new Lenovo Thinkpad T430 sub £180 on Ebay with a 12 month warranty and change the HDD for a SSD.

were · 24 March 2017 at 12:47AM

Think this is the one that Tarambor refers to http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lenovo-Thinkpad-T420-Windows-10-Laptop-i5-2520M-2-50GHz-4GB-Ram-250GB-Warranty-/232194704148?

Besides Lenovo (ex-IBM) having a great build quality, even these old ones have a good CPU rivalling new ones, but out of the five cpu sites I visited, four say the intel cpu is generally better and one says the AMD one is generally better, but this is not bad CPU benchmark list https://cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php

The bad thing about lenovo is that they seem to be on the heavier side, but on the plus side they last and are reliable. For around £200 you get 8Gig, and SSD with a years warranty.

On the other hand the newer laptop may have features that your daughter likes, like B&O sound, HDMI ports for tv, nicer screen, or better camera, but for many for £100 cheaper, these are not a deal breaker.

CardinalWolsey · 24 March 2017 at 3:41PM

I've had two machines from the Argos Outlet on eBay now - both grade A machines. http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Argos

Best sub £300 Laptop for a student

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