Question Need Help choosing a cheap laptop for Uni.

Jan 25, 2020
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Hi all, recently enrolled to university and now considering getting a laptop to do mainly Microsoft office type stuff. I assume mainly I'd be looking at using it for like i said word, one note but also web browsing. I'm not particularly fussed about gaming as I have a good setup on my home PC, I'm more leaning towards the cheaper budget side of a no frills laptop that can get me through my course and that's it.

1. What is your budget?
Around 400 to 600 dollars (AUD)

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
Not really fussed.

3. What screen resolution do you want?
Nothing in particular.

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
portable.

5. How much battery life do you need?
something average that can last at least a few hours of study.

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
Like I said above not particularly bothered about games but running older games on any settings would be a bonus but not a necessity.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
General web browsing, watching youtube.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
Would like to have an SSD but at the budget I'm looking at I wouldn't be too disappointed to settle for a HDD. Anything over 128GB would be sufficient.

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
none, but I'd prefer them to be Australian.

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
3 to 4 years.

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
none

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
Don't really care about brand more looking to whatever is cheapest.

13. What country do you live in?
Australia.

Thanks.
 

QwerkyPengwen

Splendid
Ambassador
not gonna easily find more storage for that price but for basic uni work with word and stuff you don't really need hardly any storage at all.

I've narrowed things down to two options for you so far.

More people can come by and offer something up themselves as well.

First option is decent battery life with 8GB of RAM for your budget (battery life is I think somewhere up to 6 hours)

The second option is 4GB of RAM, but really good battery life up to 9 hours

Those are the two I could find with a tiny bit of googling to see what is a good option in terms of performance, specs, and overall battery life for your budget.
 
Jan 25, 2020
3
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10
It will be close to impossible to find a decent new laptop below 800 dollars (AUD).
I wouldn't considered anything below a IdeaPad L340 configuration.
Intel Core i3-8145U
8GB DIMM DDR4
256GB SSD
Thanks for the reply. Yeah I knew my budget was pushing it, I was looking at refurbished laptops on dells website to see what they had. I'd be happy with a used one but then there's all sorts of pitfalls buying a second hand laptop.
 
Jan 25, 2020
3
0
10
not gonna easily find more storage for that price but for basic uni work with word and stuff you don't really need hardly any storage at all.

I've narrowed things down to two options for you so far.

More people can come by and offer something up themselves as well.

First option is decent battery life with 8GB of RAM for your budget (battery life is I think somewhere up to 6 hours)

The second option is 4GB of RAM, but really good battery life up to 9 hours

Those are the two I could find with a tiny bit of googling to see what is a good option in terms of performance, specs, and overall battery life for your budget.
Thank you so much for the recommendations, I'll check them out. Both look good for what I'm after.
 
Thanks for the reply. Yeah I knew my budget was pushing it, I was looking at refurbished laptops on dells website to see what they had. I'd be happy with a used one but then there's all sorts of pitfalls buying a second hand laptop.
Instead of getting an under-powered close to useless new laptop, I would recommend a unit from Dell outlet.
I have purchased dozens of Dell laptops from the Dell Outlet (refurbished & new) and none have developed any issues.
They do come with a year warranty just like the new ones from Dell website.
I recently recommended a refurbished Dell Inspiron 15 (3585) to a student ($334 USD/$489 AUD).
AMD Ryzen 3 2300U (Quad Core, 3.40GHz)
1TB SATA HDD (5400RPM)
8GB (2X4GB) 2666MHz DDR4 RAM
15.6inch HD (1366x768)
8X DVD+/-RW Drive Optical Drive
We bought a 512GB SSD ($54 USD /$79 AUD) from Amazon and replaced the HDD.
He also bought a HDD enclosure ($9 USD) and placed the HDD from the laptop in it.
The laptop looks like new, he's very happy that the only sign it was refurbished was the refurbished sticker on the back of the unit.
 

QwerkyPengwen

Splendid
Ambassador
Dear OP,
If you decide to look into a refurbished unit from the Dell Outlet, please do your homework on any of the models you look at potentially buying to see if at the very least, they have an average battery life that fits your requirements.

I've personally never seen a Dell laptop that has long lasting battery life except for in their XPS lineup, but those laptops start at around $800 I think for the most basic model.
 
Hi all, recently enrolled to university and now considering getting a laptop to do mainly Microsoft office type stuff. I assume mainly I'd be looking at using it for like i said word, one note but also web browsing. I'm not particularly fussed about gaming as I have a good setup on my home PC, I'm more leaning towards the cheaper budget side of a no frills laptop that can get me through my course and that's it.

1. What is your budget?
Around 400 to 600 dollars (AUD)

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
Not really fussed.

3. What screen resolution do you want?
Nothing in particular.

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
portable.

5. How much battery life do you need?
something average that can last at least a few hours of study.

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
Like I said above not particularly bothered about games but running older games on any settings would be a bonus but not a necessity.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
General web browsing, watching youtube.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
Would like to have an SSD but at the budget I'm looking at I wouldn't be too disappointed to settle for a HDD. Anything over 128GB would be sufficient.

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
none, but I'd prefer them to be Australian.

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
3 to 4 years.

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
none

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
Don't really care about brand more looking to whatever is cheapest.

13. What country do you live in?
Australia.

Thanks.
Would you consider an iPad? I know Apple do Uni discounts here dunno about over there as the cheapest one supports the keyboard and pencil now too.