Which laptop?

minihay

Can anyone suggest a laptop that's suitable for my daughter who has just started secondary school. She needs it for homework and the internet. We don't want to spend too much and I'm confused whether it is best to buy new or should we go for a reconditioned model - any advice greatly appreciated. Thanks

NiftyDigits

What's your budget?

Medion Akoya E6234 £209.99

Specs here

Coraline

Dunno...I've never bought one before but if it's just for internet and homework a decent low priced tablet would suffice.

I say tablet because (in my belief and nothing else) laptops will be obsolete in less than 10 years and it's best to get her started on operating a computer without a keyboard so it'll be second nature.

Jivesinger

Coraline wrote: »

I say tablet because (in my belief and nothing else) laptops will be obsolete in less than 10 years and it's best to get her started on operating a computer without a keyboard so it'll be second nature.

Tablets are selling well because most home use is about "content consumption"; watching videos, surfing the web, etc. which a tablet is very good at.

But.. as soon as you need to use a computer to start producing content (writing, spreadsheets, databases, many other things in the work environment, and specifically in your case, doing homework) for anything more than a few minutes, a tablet is ergonomically much worse because the keyboard and screen are one and the same.

VDU rules for workplaces say you should be able to adjust the height of the screen so that when you're sitting at a desk, the top of the screen is at eye level, and the keyboard is at (roughly) elbow level. You can't achieve that with just a tablet.

Although technology may advance at a fast pace, the design of the human neck, back, and arms are unlikely to change any time soon. If my employer gave me a tablet without a separate screen/keyboard arrangement, and expected me to use it for any non-trivial keyboard work I suspect I could probably take them to court under health and safety legislation. Even a laptop should have a separate keyboard/mouse or screen (ideally both) for prolonged use.

So the upshot is that Qwerty has a lot of life left in it, and you should definitely consider doing your daughter's back and neck a favour by buying something where screen and keyboard can be separate. I have a £10 external keyboard and £10 (maybe less) mouse, and some old copies of Yellow Pages to get my laptop screen up to a decent height.

Coraline

You definitely have a good point--but I do think eventually people will get used to typing without a keyboard and hand swipes/gestures will become second nature. This is just me, but I can't really function with a mouse anymore, I've been using a trackpad for a long time and find it extremely efficient and saves hand/finger movement. Or maybe I read too much science fiction!

The thing is...you can dock the tablet to a portable keyboard (or standard cheap one like you describe) and then to a large monitor at home. Then you have the best of both worlds, a desktop computer at home, and a tablet with keyboard on the go.

I don't do that with my tablet (yet) but have the same setup with my main laptop.

Jivesinger

Coraline wrote: »

You definitely have a good point--but I do think eventually people will get used to typing without a keyboard and hand swipes/gestures will become second nature. This is just me, but I can't really function with a mouse anymore, I've been using a trackpad for a long time and find it extremely efficient and saves hand/finger movement. Or maybe I read too much science fiction!

Typing on a tablet is horrible though - it's much easier to be productive on a keyboard where you can feel the physical keys without looking at them, and unless you have a docking station-type setup, you're still looking down all the time to see the screen which is bad for you.