Need help picking disabled students allowance laptop

Sncjw

Disabled students allowance laptop help

Hi 

All I have had the email aboit the laptop that is being given as a standard one. Not fully versed on tech like this but want to check if anyone else has it or if you know it's decent. I am grateful for it especially for the software which will help me so much. Just want to check it worth it or if to upgrade.  I have to pay £200 for the base laptop below and if I want to upgrade i have pay this prices next the upgrades on top.

HP 255 G10 (8GB)

I am doing history course currently on level 2. 

Upgrade options in my budget 

Robin Long HP 17-cp2003na \*\*Price Reduced 30% off!\*\*  ryzen 5

Was £99 now £71.90

Lenovo V14 G4 14" Lightweight Laptop. 16gb ram 84 quid  ryzen 5

Acer Swift 3 14" (2024) 16gb ram 512 storage 120 quid ryzen 5

ASUS Vivobook 15 M1502YA 15.6 Laptop 16gb ram 512 storage 154 quid ryzen 7

These are all within reasonable budget

flaneurs_lobster

Do you have any more details of the base laptop you are being offered for £200?

Exact model would be good, the G10 designation is very broad covering models right up to £1500 business laptops. "255" isn't helping with ID.

Sncjw

Thry just gave me the specs for the upgraded ram version.  

AMD Ryzen 5 7530U processor

• 16GB RAM (double standard allocation)

• 512GB SSD, 15.6" Full HD display

• Windows 11, lightweight at 1.74kg

flaneurs_lobster

Looks like this one

https://box.co.uk/ak9v0at-hp-255-g10-amd-ryzen-5-7530u-16gb-512gb-laptop

(no recommendation of box.co.uk, they just came up first on search)

You are being offered one of these for £200? Or is it another £71? New? Bite their hand off.

All the reviews I've found say it's a capable everyday machine, ordinary display.

General points about all laptops, 15.6" is a large laptop, are you going to be lugging it around or will it be fairly static? 

Sncjw

flaneurs_lobster said:

Looks like this one

https://box.co.uk/ak9v0at-hp-255-g10-amd-ryzen-5-7530u-16gb-512gb-laptop

(no recommendation of box.co.uk, they just came up first on search)

You are being offered one of these for £200? Or is it another £71? New? Bite their hand off.

All the reviews I've found say it's a capable everyday machine, ordinary display.

General points about all laptops, 15.6" is a large laptop, are you going to be lugging it around or will it be fairly static? 

I have to £200 for the basic 8gb ram laptop but if i want to upgrade to 16gb I pay £271 in total.

I did chat gpt qnd it saying that the vivobook is coming out top. It would cost me £354 in total. So 83 quid extra for ryzen 7.

I have an extra monitor i bought prior to being able to be assessed due to issues with sfe. 

flaneurs_lobster

Sncjw said:

I did chat gpt qnd it saying that the vivobook is coming out top. It would cost me £354 in total. So 83 quid extra for ryzen 7.

Yep, that looks like a good deal, around £100 less than any deal I can see online.

I've a bias towards that 14" Acer Swift 3 - been my daily drive for the last couple of years, very fond, even with a bust power port.

GDB2222

Do you have to buy from this source, or can you get the money and buy more cheaply elsewhere?

Sncjw

GDB2222 said:

Do you have to buy from this source, or can you get the money and buy more cheaply elsewhere?

No i can't get money. Disabled Students allowance provides the equipment and the software plus it's covered my insurance too. 

GDB2222

Sncjw said:

GDB2222 said:

Do you have to buy from this source, or can you get the money and buy more cheaply elsewhere?

No i can't get money. Disabled Students allowance provides the equipment and the software plus it's covered my insurance too. 

And, you no longer have a choice of supplier. Things have moved on since my wife got her DSA.

I see that you now pay £200 towards the cost. So, your question is about the extra charges for upgrading the computer specification, and whether these are worthwhile. 

Sncjw

GDB2222 said:

Sncjw said:

GDB2222 said:

Do you have to buy from this source, or can you get the money and buy more cheaply elsewhere?

No i can't get money. Disabled Students allowance provides the equipment and the software plus it's covered my insurance too. 

And, you no longer have a choice of supplier. Things have moved on since my wife got her DSA.

I see that you now pay £200 towards the cost. So, your question is about the extra charges for upgrading the computer specification, and whether these are worthwhile. 

Yes and which one  to go for 

GDB2222

I would say that upgrading from 8 to 16 GB RAM would be worthwhile. It’s also worth seeing the different machines, as the feel of the keyboard matters. 

I don’t really understand why you might want a more powerful processor like a Ryzen 7?