Laptop recommendations not DJ related

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tunes4046

tunes4046

DJ Extraordinaire
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Jul 24, 2008
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Fennimore Wi
i have a daughter graduating high school this year she will be attending a local tech school for her nursing degree I would like to buy her a laptop that will hopefully get her through her schooling probably not an apple product as they are not compatible with some of the course software she needs to use looking for help choosing something not too pricey but decent quality
 
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First check with the school to see if they have specific offerings. When my daughter started college, the school had a preferred machine AND they supported it locally, so she had people to go to if there was an issue.

If not, spec wise, go Intel .. preferably an i5, 8Gb of RAM and anything above 256GB of storage. For nursing, she may be better off with a convertible (screen flips all the way over to make a tablet). Microsoft surface is an option, but a bit expensive.

Here's a decent machine with decent specs for around $450 .. Buy Dell Inspiron 15 i5559 Signature Edition Laptop - Microsoft Store
 
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steve149 said:
...For nursing, she may be better off with a convertible (screen flips all the way over to make a tablet). Microsoft surface is an option, but a bit expensive...
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I have a Microsoft Surface Pro. It's OK, but I don't recommend it. First off, the screen is much too small for typical academic content creation purposes, IMO. Also, accessories like styluses, keyboards, mice, and cases are too expensive compared to other brands, and really not any better. Get a 15.6, i5 CPU laptop at minimum.

A Lenovo, Dell, or HP touch screen with an i5 and 8gb RAM will run around $500-$525.


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DJ Bobcat said:
A Lenovo, Dell, or HP touch screen with an i5 and 8gb RAM will run around $500-$525.
Click to expand...

Those would be my choices, and also in that order, quality wise.
It's hard to beat a Lenovo for all around quality and durability.
Lot's of them available as off-lease refurbs at a good price.

Asus also deserves honorable mention. Stay away from Acer, cheap shyte imo.
 
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DJ TJ said:
Those would be my choices, and also in that order, quality wise.
It's hard to beat a Lenovo for all around quality and durability.
Lot's of them available as off-lease refurbs at a good price.

Asus also deserves honorable mention. Stay away from Acer, cheap shyte imo.
Click to expand...

I own an Acer laptop as well. It has an AMD processor and it's 6 years old, but it was a good solid laptop. It was the laptop I used for my first two gigs. I've never had a problem with it. I was going to replace it this year with a new laptop, but bought the iMac instead. Guess I'll look at laptops again later this year.


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Unless you absolutely know it would not work with an Apple, I wouldn't discount it. I have a relative that went (and still is going) through school to be an RN and has used an Apple all the way through.
 
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ittigger said:
Unless you absolutely know it would not work with an Apple, I wouldn't discount it. I have a relative that went (and still is going) through school to be an RN and has used an Apple all the way through.
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It's what I would prefer
 
MS side - I'm in line with the others - Lenovo, Dell and then HP (in that order). Most of the tablets are not even worth considering (especially if you're looking for laptop performance).

Apple - The entry level Macbook should be more than plenty (or even a used / refurb one). The 2012 models are still really good.

The last few generations of Mac's allow MS to be installed as well (and do it better than the PC side does).
 
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DJ Bobcat said:
...Get a 15.6, i5 CPU laptop at minimum.

A Lenovo, Dell, or HP touch screen with an i5 and 8gb RAM will run around $500-$525.
Click to expand...
I might add... for that price, you're only gonna get a DUAL core i5. If you want a quad core i7, it'll cost ya more than a grand. Also, most of the laptops I looked at came with 1TB hard drives and Windows 10 Home. They can be found with SSD drives and Windows 10 PRO, but that'll cost you more as well. I believe the laptop I was looking to purchase was in the $1,700 range. That's one of the reasons why I decided to get an iMac. It was not a replacement for my old laptop, but was a good diversion.[emoji4]



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For a non-performance, business/educational machine, not as much need for a quad-core unless the student is doing video or graphic design work.
 
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steve149 said:
For a non-performance, business/educational machine, not as much need for a quad-core unless the student is doing video or graphic design work.
Click to expand...

True... but for a techie, you might want to run a virtual machine or two (perhaps with another OS) and dual cores are just not quite enough umph.[emoji1]


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DJ Bobcat said:
True... but for a techie, you might want to run a virtual machine or two (perhaps with another OS) and dual cores are just not quite enough umph.[emoji1]


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Click to expand...
Agree .. I'm assuming Tunes daughter wasn't .. :) And there's the "reasonable cost" thang.
 
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steve149 said:
Agree .. I'm assuming Tunes daughter wasn't .. :) And there's the "reasonable cost" thang.
Click to expand...

Are you assuming Tune's daughter is not a techie because she's a she? STEVE!!!![emoji1]

... or maybe because she's Tune's daughter??? ... got those Tune's genes![emoji1]


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DJ Bobcat said:
Are you assuming Tune's daughter is not a techie because she's a she? STEVE!!!![emoji1]

... or maybe because she's Tune's daughter??? ... got those Tune's genes![emoji1]


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Click to expand...
Not at all .. having worked with high school kids for a while, I know not many are at that capability level.
 
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dunlopj said:
Jeez...the only major IT purchase I made when I was in college was a TI scientific calculator....about $100.00 back in 1977...

My how things have changed...:cheers:
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I'm with you .. the laptop was yet to be invented .. heck the PC wasn't invented. The Apple II was out. I used a MITS Altair (early home computer with switches on the front panel) in a microprocessor lab at school.

I didn't have a TI .. I was a HP guy with my HP-25c.
25c3q.jpg
 
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