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Okay, Child 1 is due to go to university in October.
She'll need a laptop for writing that student shizzle that they do. I'm thinking of a minimum spec of 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD, i5 processor and 14" screen. And light.
She's reading History & French so doesn't need a dev machine and doesn't game or anything. Watches too much foreign art films though.
So does that spec sound okay?
Recommendations? NOT Dell, they're a pile of elephant and no one will ever persuade me differently.
[OT: Yea, fine thanks. Double dosed of 5G today and Bill says hi!]
veni bibi saltavi
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Nagy Vilmos wote: Watches too much foreign art films though.
Needs intervention more than a laptop. 
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Sadly she's a linguist - like the ma - and watches a lot of French, Hungarian and Korean films.
Can't stop that, but she claims it's all art...
veni bibi saltavi
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Korean and Hungarian?! Wow, I'm impressed.
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She also speaks a bit of German.
Hungarian and English are her home languages - wifely and I - she learnt French & German at school - top grades obvs - and is self taught in Korean for the fun of it!
veni bibi saltavi
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Je trouve que c'est très bien.
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You what? She's the nutter wot speaks forn, not me!
veni bibi saltavi
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I kinda like my dell...
Ask her what she thinks she needs. Personally, I'd want a larger screen, but I'm old and blind.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
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When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013
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She is as tech savvy as a fish, so I'll have to best guess. I have a 15" and she thinks it's a bit too big.
veni bibi saltavi
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Nagy Vilmos wrote: I have a 15" and she thinks it's a bit too big.
Oooh Errrr!
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Nagy Vilmos wrote: I have a 15" and she thinks it's a bit too big.
Heh.
The Phone Generation(tm), obviously.
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What does the University suggest for incoming students? If the most prevalent laptops among the professors are fruit, you might want to have her join the dark side. 
If you can keep your head while those about you are losing theirs, perhaps you don't understand the situation.
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Unless it's socketed which most thin and light laptops don't do anymore, I'd probably go with 16GB of ram. Maybe she'll never need it; but if she does buying it now will save a buying a new laptop in 2 or 3 years.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
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+1 for the 16GB of RAM.
8GB is fine if you boot up Windows 10 and leave it running and not do anything all day, but given how memory-hungry browsers are nowadays, 16GB buys you a little more future-proofing.
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I had a long search to find a laptop (price and functionality) but I found that ordering direct from HP was the way to go. It took a while because the build literally came from China but it was well worth the wait.
I went with AMD chip, but they have Intel too if you're stuck on that.
Here's the link to the laptop catalog: https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/mdp/pavilion-15-344522--1#!&tab=vao[^] .
Quote:
HP Pavilion Laptop 15-eh0097nr
(8)
2B4R7UA#ABA
Part number: 2B4R7UA#ABA ENERGY STAR
Windows 10 Home 64
AMD Ryzen™ 7 processor
AMD Radeon™ Graphics
16 GB memory; 512 GB SSD storage
Tech spec
See all offers
$799.99$699.99
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I second this choice. While I dislike much of the hp bloatware, I really like their recovery features from the BIOS, saved me and my data a few times already. And had no trouble with the HW so far, but for a few minor things after windows updates.
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Rage wrote: While I dislike much of the hp bloatware,
Agreed! Took a few sessions to keep noticing unnecessary stuff and uninstalling, but after you get it all rooted out, it's not a bad laptop (especially considering price).
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I'd second most of these specs, with the exception of the screen size. A 13".3 screen is too small for prolonged typing, but a 15" screen is too heavy to lug around for a full day. The 14" screen is the happy medium.
Even at my advanced age (57), I have no problems working on a screen of that size when on the go. Obviously, at home I connect the laptop to a larger screen.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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Nagy Vilmos wrote: NOT Dell, they're a pile of elephant and no one will ever persuade me differently.
Looks like the subliminal ads from the second jab are already kicking in. On a scale from 0 to 10, how is the urge to buy a Surface ?
8Gb is the minimum, since the OS sucks up to 2Gb and browsing (which is the main activity with student laptops) takes about 200Mb per open tab, all the rest is fine.
I would not go for a too thin one, since they need to be a tad robust - student laptops are not sitting on a desk waiting like most work laptops do, they are more than often on the road.
Maybe you have additional requirements for connections (USB B ? C ? ), or whatever can spare you a costly docking station at home.
Fingerprint unlock is quite handy, since the damn thing locks often when you are sitting listening and typing in a course. (No, setting the locking time to more minutes is not an option, unless you want someone to spam the campus if you go for a minute and forget to lock your laptop).
And one or two solid graphics cards to mine bitcoins to pay for the student loans 
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I would actually recommend a Dell, but if the local Dell service contractor sucks then so does Dell. The specs sound good and are close to what I purchase for our company.
Take a look at the Surface Pro (screen size is a little smaller) and Surface Book lines of equipment. Microsoft doesn't overload their equipment with crapware (unless you consider Office crapware ).
Also, spring for the accidental damage protection - it'll pay for itself.
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I think you should review the minimum RAM requirements (I've got 32 GB for mine, but I suppose 16 GB could be enough).
14" for young people is a very good screen size, in my opinion.
"In testa che avete, Signor di Ceprano?"
-- Rigoletto
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Consider adding a Dock to the list.
I have a 13" Dell XPS, but at my desk I have a real keyboard, mouse and 3 monitors, one Portrait orientation.
Staring at a small laptop screen and hunched over a tiny keyboard late at night not a good experience.
Back in her dorm/study area, two screens and a good keyboard would be great.
One should be portrait for reading scholarly papers, and one for writing assignments/videos. The elevated screens help prevent the dreaded "programmer's slouch" and back pain. The larger screen helps prevent the eye strain.
Plus, if she is in a dorm, equipment locks.!!
Also, since she is study languages, really good noise cancelling headphone might be a good splurge.
"Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana."
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Matthew Dennis wrote: Plus, if she is in a dorm, equipment locks.!!
Another idea might be to stick a Bluetooth tracker on each unit (portable, screen, etc.). They are ideal as poor-man's theft tracking devices, but may have some privacy issues.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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Ignoring your remark about Dell  :
I can only remark that you need to avoid any computer that still uses SATA style SSDs. Look for a M.2 NVMe SSD. They are many times faster that the older SATA technology, since they do not connect to a serial bus, like SATA. They plug directly into the PCI bus.
Get me coffee and no one gets hurt!
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Why a PC? Get her a tablet with a touch screen and a detachable keyboard (or attachable depending on how you look at it).
If pigs could fly, just imagine how good their wings would taste!
- Harvey
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