Entry-level laptop for a Med student

[darnyill]

Hi all,

I am helping my mum look for a laptop for someone we know who just got into med school. Her previous laptop was R4000 and didn’t last very long.

Do you have any recommendations for decent entry-level laptops, what specs should I look out for? Is there a particular model that’s doing well at the moment? I guess our budget is R5000-6000? Unfortunately my knowledge is only good for gaming rigs.

It would also need MS Word etc - plz advise if you know of cheap options for this.

Thanks,
Daniel

 

[Valheru]

I would suggest starting off with a 2nd hand professional range laptop, like the older Dell's or Lenovo's (something 6th gen or newer). Most of these have solid uni-body style chassis construction and woul generally last a long time if taken care of properly. 8GB RAM (min) and an SSD should be a good start, you can upgrade this at a later stage along with adding a 2nd/desk monitor.

Some suggestions around this price point:

[Reseller] - Dell Latitude 5280 - 12.5" HD Display - Core i5 7300U 7th Gen - 8 GB RAM - 256 GB M.2 SSD - Win 10 Pro - Intel HD 620 - WIFI - HD Webcam - HDMI | Laptops

Item: Dell Latitude 5280 - 12.5" HD Display - Core i5 7300U 7th Gen - 8 GB RAM - 256 GB M.2 SSD - Win 10 Pro - Intel HD 620 - WIFI - HD Webcam - Excellent Battery life - HDMI 2x available Age: Used (3 years old) Price: R6499 Warranty: None (Out of warranty) 1 week warranty on me Packaging: None...

carbonite.co.za

[Sale] - Dell Inspirion 3580 8th Gen i5 | Laptops

Item: Dell Inspirion 3580 (8th Gen Core i5 8265u) Age: Not sure Price: R5500 Warranty: Nope Packaging: Can make a plan Condition: Great Location: Bedfordview Reason: Not needed Shipping: Cost & risk on you Collection: Yes sure Link: takealot.com Specs overview: 8th Gen Core i5 8265u (up to...

carbonite.co.za

[Sale] - Dell Vostro 15 5568, i5 7200U, 8Gb Ram, 1Tb HDD, 15.6 FHD, Backlit Kb, Warranty Till 2021 | Laptops

Item: Dell Vostro 15 5568 Age: +-2 Years Price: R6500 Warranty: With Dell Onsite Till Sept 2021 Packaging: Not Original, Will package safely Condition: Mint 9.5/10 Location: Cape Town Shipping: Yes, Cost and risk on you ( Add R180 for Overnight Courier ) Collection: Yes Link: Vostro 15 5000 |...

carbonite.co.za

[Reseller] - ThinkPad T460 Enterprise™ BUSINESS-READY, HIGHLY MOBILE 14" ULTRABOOK™ |Corei5 6th Gen 6300 |8GB |240GB SSD|14" HD Display| Dual Battery | Laptops

Item: ThinkPad T460 Enterprise™ BUSINESS-READY, HIGHLY MOBILE 14" ULTRABOOK™ |Corei5 6th Gen 6300 |8GB |240GB SSD|14" HD Display| Dual Battery| WIFI| Bluetooth| 720p HD Webcam| Intel HD Graphics 520| HDMI| RJ45| Mini Display port| SD Card Reader| USB 3.0| Less than 2 kgs Age: Used (not sure)...

carbonite.co.za

These are all easy enough to open, clean, service and repaste (a must).

 

[Jacobu]

Most universities provide their students with free Microsoft Office subscriptions so please don't pay extra for that

 

[Hades911]

So my girlfriend just finished her medical degree last year. And also used some POS laptop but it did the job.

Basically anything that she can use office on. A lot of online things as they tend to do assessments and such online (this was the case for Tuks don't know about other varsity) and obviously if you don't want to pay for textbooks download the pdf.

We eventually had to get an external for all the documents because it filled up the 1tb hard drive. But this only happened after 5th year

 

[souljazk]

Don't settle for less than -

1) FULL HD LCD (1920x1080) don't settle for plain HD
2) 8GB RAM
3) 250GB SSD or >

Stick with Dell or Lenovo.

 

[dalion619]

My 2c, avoid Dell unless it maybe has typc-c charging. The whole issue of the charger pin not reaching further enough inside the charging port then it starts flashing like a rave, is an experience I don't want to go through again.

If you're buying lower spec to upgrade then double check that the RAM isn't soldered.
If upgrading HDD to SSD, get an enclosure then you have your external HDD for backups sorted.
Turn on auto-save within MS Office.

Lastly also look into tablets, I went with this this option this year.

 

[Switch]

A tablet should be more suitable unless there is some special [windows] software required to be installed.

 

[Bloubliksem]

If you have to buy Win 10 and office, get both(Office 2016) from @BountyBox .
They are cheap and every key I bought from them was delivered in minutes and never had problem with it.

 

[dalion619]

A tablet should be more suitable unless there is some special [windows] software required to be installed.

This is more an experience problem than a technical one.

Word documents can render different depending on platform.
Screen size is also an issue, not so much the DPI but the actual size.
Typing on a cheap keyboard case is horrid vs a better Bluetooth one but all these costs do add up.

 

[darnyill]

Thanks for all the replies so far everyone!