Looking for a bit of advice from anyone with their finger on the pulse of the laptop market.
I am buying a laptop for my niece who's a uni student. I am a bit anti Windows, being a Mac and linux user.
Is there any advice on which brands to focus on for a smaller (11 to 13 inch) laptop that should be relatively hassle free to install Ubuntu on? Price is also a concern. We'd rather be around the 500 quid price point than 1000.
Many thanks for any help/advice.
I'm a Mac user and bit of a Linux geek at times - but can't help thinking you're going to have a much happier niece if she has a Windows 10 or OSX machine.
Unless she really wants Linux, I can imagine she'll miss MS Office, games, specialist software etc.
You haven't said what she is studying, have you checked that there is no specialist software required for the course?
Last time I was studying (a year or two ago) we were recommended refworks which more or less required windows/word to be useful and while some people chose not to use it I definitely saved a lot of time using it to manage citations.
That being said take a look at ebay OS free - I'm rather tempted by the x240 but remember that their is no power supply. You could install Mint or have it run from a USB stick to try it.
Ebuyer has some Free DOS laptops but I'd not recommend a 15.4" screen for university as its a but big - I'd recommend a separate screen and keyboard for home/dorm use
Have you considered a Chrome Book - just avoid the very cheep ones.
How about a iPad and smart keybaord (or Android equivalent)?
As a student she would qualify for an Apple educational discount - that may put a Mac Book Air in your price range (or take a look at the refurbished systems)
I would suggest a windows laptop as a uni machine if she needs to use office, or productivity software. Office on a mac sucks, (well excel at least does).
I would suggest compatibility over preference of OS. Windows 10 isn't that bad IME.
Is your niece anti-windows? Have you asked her what she would prefer?
Thanks for the replies. Good points re. Windows and usability/compatibility. She's studying writing, so not likely to go down a route where *nix adds practical value. In my mind linux is good exposure to "another view of the world", but I think that practically speaking it might just be added inconvenience.
We'll pop down to the local Currys and see what they're recommending.
Office on a mac sucks, (well excel at least does)
This is dependent on what you need to do with Excel, scripting/macros and pivots can be tedious if not impossible. Standard maths and using it as a database substitute (Accountants you know what I mean) it seems ok for.
Yeah, as others have said.
I like Linux, but it's the wrong tool for the job here.
If you really want to get her Linux exposure, you can install WSL and have your own bash shell within Windows. WSL2 has a full-blown Linux kernel rather than the original fudge to get it work, and full GUI support is in the pipeline.
We’ll pop down to the local Currys and see what they’re recommending.
That's probably the worst thing you could do.
It's worth searching the forum here. There's a new "what laptop" thread like every week on STW, it's almost always the same requirements (ie, "not much") and always the same answer. Someone was specifically asking "what laptop for Uni?" only the other day.
I can guarantee that if you gave her a laptop running Linux it would be on Windows before the term is out. Been there, done that, not worth the hassle.
Get her the best tool for the job - common OS, software and such. Even software isn't a big deal as she will more than likely get the Office stuff free at Uni anyway. 8Gb memory, decent sized SSD and you're sorted.