Recommendations for a new laptop

pollyloppy

Hi,

I am going to be starting teacher training in September, and need to have a laptop to start building presentations for lessons (including powerpoint, video clips etc to be stored), and keep all my own study notes on etc, browse the web for teaching resources. It would solely be used for this purpose, but I guess I will need it to work reasonably fast to run multimedia type presentations without freezing/being too slow
Has anyone got any advice on what would be a good laptop for me? Would touchscreen be the way to go or not? (also, as I am training, I will not be earning a wage and I have not got a huge budget).

Thanks in advance for any advice!:)

itwiz

IMO, you don't need anything special. Practically any laptop will be fine for video clips. I'm assuming you're thinking of Youtube type clips and not full HD videos. I'd avoid anything that mentions "Celeron", which is a cheaper but generally slower CPU, as that may struggle with multimedia.

Most new laptops are supplied with Windows 8 or 8.1. If you buy one with this, I'd recommend a touch screen as they make Windows 8 easier to use. Alternatively, if you can still find a laptop with Windows 7, you'll probably find this much more familiar and you can operate it comfortably with a keyboard and mouse.

The only other thing you may like to think about is video output. If you're planning to connect to a projector, most use a VGA connection so try to make sure the laptop has that as an output. Newer projectors have a HDMI input, so your best bet is if the laptop has both.

I personally use ebuyer.com and have bought several laptops from them over the years. I think they represent good value for money but there are plenty of other sites to try. Go into a high street store like Currys to find one you like the look of, then search for a cheaper price online.

Good luck with your training and your laptop hunting.