She is graduating high school next week and headed off to college. She will be pursuing a degree in elementary education at Emporia State. I've been looking for a week and honestly my head is starting to spin. My budget is $500.

Thanks in advance from a very proud dad.

Congratulations, Dad! And Dad's daughter, of course

Just my humble opinion, having spent many years around these things (IT Admin): You're not going to get a very good, or very robust, laptop for $500.

Apple. There is a reason so many college kids use them. At the bottom of the Apple page is a link to their discounted models.

My daughter is in the elementary education field and the only computers their school uses with students are Apple. I think this may be fairly widespread throughout the community but you will have to research further. I know that is bad news regarding your budgetary constraint but it won't do her a favor by getting a machine that is foreign to what the norm is. Perhaps others in the field will check in and supply more than second hand info. BTW, you have every reason to be proud of your daughter.

Keep an eye on Dell's outlet site. Look for a Latitude 5000 series and a sale. That should get you below $500 for a laptop that will with stand 4 years of college with good performance.

For a new laptop, sticking with a $500 budget is penny wise but pound foolish. You won't find one that will handle being jammed into a backpack for 4 years and have good performance.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
Keep an eye on Dell's outlet site.

I agree. I bought a nice laptop a few years ago at 40% off the asking price on a special. I see these deals from time to time on www.dealnews.com

I suspect these are lease returns but mine has been fine.

Mike

Look into Student Discounts? Apple offers them and maybe other manufacturers or distributors.

Since your daughter is using it she should make the final choice.

Personally it was easier to go to the Mac OS from XP than from XP to Win10.

I have a love/hate relationship with Apple, but having said that I'd still go with the Apple. Your $500 budget is not going to buy you 4-5 years of service for a college student.

1. College students are mature teenagers who do dangerous stuff. The Apple OS is based on a unix operating system and does not seem to be the target of as much virus/malware as Windows OS. It's also, IMO, less likely for an inexperienced user to hose up. No reflection on your daughter, but she's still in the category above.

2. Apple products are more expensive but they do hold up.

3. As said, in the education sector, Apple has found a nitche market.

If the Apple route does not work for you, check out Woot.com. I just bought 2 Dell Latitudes (business class) laptops. Follow this link Woot Dell Laptops, there are some good deals.

Eta: These are refurbished. But I have no issues with this. Still have full Dell warranty. And you can upgrade the warranty also. I figure if Dell refurbished it's had a closer inspection of its inner a than when it was made. I would go with a 15.6" screen and at least I5 processor. You can upgrade the ram (cheap) and add a SSD-solid state drive now or in the future very easily. This will speed up the laptop and reduce heat, and help the battery last longer. Plus no moving parts to break. Does not mean it can't fail, but a lot more unlikely.

While laptops are ubiquitous on college campuses, the truth is that most students barely need one. Anything that will get her on the internet will suffice. The only distinction that will make a difference to her other than style points is battery life. You can get good battery life from a MacBook Air, or a $200 Dell.

Many students like to take notes on a computer because they can type faster than write, but you should discourage this practice. Recent studies have confirmed what I've long thought-students learn better when they take hand written notes.

Chromebook.

http://www.laptopmag.com/best-chromebooks

In public schools, they've all been going Google and Chromebooks...

My son took an Asus gaming laptop running Windows to college. He uses Windows for gaming, but everything else is in Google Docs and other Google offerings. It's what they use in all his classes.

I have long-recommended refurbished Dells from Dell Financial Services. So let's take a look...

Sticking with "Cosmetic Grade A" Latitudes with a Core i5, Win7 Pro and a DVD-RW drive, and no other limitations: There are ten (10) current offerings that fall below your budget number. We easily get five years of life with most of those we buy at work--and that's even out of field service personnel. (Note, however: Win7 is on maintenance [what they call "extended support" status], and that ends in 2020.)

However... other members' disdain for this opinion aside: I cannot, in good conscience, any longer recommend MS-Win-based computers to anybody, for any purpose. It's just one vulnerability/exploit after the other with those things and the apps that run upon them. Nothing is immune, but, year-in, year-out these things remain the electronic Petri dishes of the Internet

Apple I do not yet know well enough to make a recommendation, but, knowing what I do know of Apple: I'd be surprised if you could do what you want within your budget. Thus my initial comment.

Chromebook?

Far cheaper and some very good ones can be had for less than $500. Fewer tears when one is broken. Chromebooks have been selling into elementary schools at greater volumes than Apple. The fall 2014 Chromebook that I am using now is probably going to have 4-5 years of support by Google in terms of updates. Much of the software is cloud-based, so very little must be maintained on the Chromebook itself.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

However... other members' disdain for this opinion aside: I cannot, in good conscience, any longer recommend MS-Win-based computers to anybody, for any purpose. It's just one vulnerability/exploit after the other with those things and the apps that run upon them. Nothing is immune, but, year-in, year-out these things remain the electronic Petri dishes of the Internet

Apple I do not yet know well enough to make a recommendation, but, knowing what I do know of Apple: I'd be surprised if you could do what you want within your budget. Thus my initial comment.

Having worked at Microsoft for 15 years at HQ in Redmond, I couldn't agree more.

You might try https://www.samsclub.com/sams/laptops/1117.cp
close at 550

Talk to the IT guys at the college. Also, the college bookstores often facilitate student discounts.

quote:

Originally posted by Aquabird:
You might try https://www.samsclub.com/sams/laptops/1117.cp
close at 550

If you mean the Dell Inspiron: Absolutely not, IMO. Inspiron is Dell's "budget friendly" laptop line. They do not hold up well, IME.

When I was temporarily forced into the additional roles of desktop and laptop admin/helpdesk during the recession, I found myself faced with an endless parade of laptop failures. Called and bitched to my normal server guy at Dell. "Well, that's because you've been buying consumer stuff. That stuff is targeted for home users and for mom and dad to get for the kid going to college, not business use." As the Inspirons broke I replaced them with Latitudes. Soon the complaints all but went away. I'd have a refurbished Latitude over a brand new Inspiron any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Like I wrote, earlier: You are not going to get a good laptop for $500. Not new, anyway. Refurbished or used, maybe.

The university book store may offer a discount to students.

quote:

Originally posted by Fredward:
Talk to the IT guys at the college.

This.

There are two types of PCs for college kids. The ones you yourself have to maintain, and the ones their IT department supports.

You really, really don't want the former.

Apple has teacher and student discounts.
http://www.myeducationdiscount.com/apple.htm
I'd ask at the Apple Store