Advice please on laptops for my daughter entering nursing school

If you've got $1,000 budget, you'll be fine...

Basic recommendations:

8GB RAM minimum, I prefer 16GB
SSD - size depends on needs, but a 1TB is not very expensive
Ryzen 5 chip (much more bang for the buck), or settle for a Core i-5

All doable on a $1,000 budget.

That said, I do prefer Dell, although I usually only buy the Business Class versions with ProSupport - and for laptops, their ProSupport Plus, which even covers even accidental damage (coffee spilled on it, fell off the top of your car when you drove off, etc).

The biggest issue with consumer grade PCs (the ones you can buy in a store) is the crapware they come pre-installed with. If you can't do it yourself, pay someone to clean out the crap when you first get it.

Also, be sure her working account is a Standard (non-Admin) LOCAL (NOT a 'connected', aka, a real email address) account. Create the Admin account (the first one you create during the setup process), set a password for it (and DON'T forget it), then create another Standard (non-Admin) account for her to use for her day to day work. They try to hide how to create a local account, but you can. Just act as if you don't have an email address.

originally posted by: wehere
Thank you all so much for your response and willingness to advise. I’m lost in this arena lol .
We are in the USA in NC. We are working with a $1000 budget with a little wiggle room if it is going to make a fair difference. She knows price is comparable to quality and would like something that will last through the next year and a half definitely and hopefully further on.
Her last and current dell has been an absolute pain since day one she doesn’t feel she can afford to risk it. The school when asked straight out has been less than helpful. Their entire system has always been slow and infuriating to work with. They say Chrome works best with their stuff and school computers are HP. Because of the respondus browser chrome book however is not an option as it is not compatible. Most of this we figured out the hard way since the school doesn’t have any other ideas they are willing to share.
I wasn’t sure if refurbished was a sensible route. I also wondered if there was a way to remove the “S” from the 10S if she was left with only that option. For the next year and a half at least it will only be used for school. She has been plagued with setbacks leading up to her acceptance into the program and several since so she wants to have the best advantage possible going in.
I hope I have answered your questions. If I haven’t just let me know please. I may not be tech savvy but I am grateful for the time any and all of you are willing to spend helping us. I also know y’all have lives to live and families to love so I will try my best to accommodate and catch on quickly so as not to take up too much of your time.... like with these long-winded responses😁.
a reply to: wehere

originally posted by: Encia22
a reply to: wehere

Any Windows 10S computer can be upgraded to Home or Pro for about $50... so any economic laptop, even if it has 10S on it is still a viable option.

This.

If you could get by with a desktop, about $700 will build a great pc that will last a decade or more.

a reply to: wehere

Im rockin a samsung flexbook alpha 2 in 1 right now. Its been very nice so far.

My other advice:
1. Lenovo is shady. They have been called out twice on pimpin data.
2. hp are worse than any dell. Every hp laptop ultimately has a gpu reflow problem it seems.

a reply to: tanstaafl

Also, be sure her working account is a Standard (non-Admin) LOCAL (NOT a 'connected', aka, a real email address) account. Create the Admin account (the first one you create during the setup process), set a password for it (and DON'T forget it), then create another Standard (non-Admin) account for her to use for her day to day work. They try to hide how to create a local account, but you can. Just act as if you don't have an email address.

Why would he do this? It's for a nursing student. An adult. She will own and use the computer. She should be the admin account I would think. I definitely agree on the local account though. Best way is not to connect it to internet until the first user profile has been created.

Thank you oddly enough that hadn’t crossed my mind. a reply to: 1947boomer

Thank you she was actually looking at a Samsung earlier today. And Lenovo wasn’t really on our radar due to word CNNof mouth. Thanks for the input. a reply to: drewlander

a reply to: smh4wg
Yes. This. I have bought upgrade keys from brytesoft and had no issues to date.

Thank your for the input but she will have to use a laptop for nursing school. She will have to have it during her clinical day the various facilities she will be sent to. a reply to: smh4wg

Thank you this may be an option if money gets too thin. a reply to: glen200376

Thank you. a reply to: tanstaafl

Thanks. Appreciated. a reply to: smh4wg

Thanks it’s something to think about if she ends needing a second one for at home. She is definitely not wanting to get a new computer every couple of years but that is how it seems to have happened so far. a reply to: smh4wg

originally posted by: wehere
We are in the USA in NC. We are working with a $1000 budget with a little wiggle room if it is going to make a fair difference. She knows price is comparable to quality and would like something that will last through the next year and a half definitely and hopefully further on.

www.apple.com...#

$1000.

a reply to: wehere
I’ve not gone wrong with Lenovo.

I’m a tech manager for a university and we give out Lenovo T series laptops to every new class of med school students and faculty/staff. The newer T490 and T14 are a solid no nonsense laptop.

a reply to: wehere

Latest generation Intel i5 or Ryzen 5 processor, 8GB Ram and 256GB SSD should be the minimum you're looking at. Will offer decent performance in everything other than gaming.

The following laptop is IMO a great deal and under £1000, ordered for my Lad as a birthday present, will handle everything you can throw at it including high framerate 1080p gaming on high settings:

www.ebuyer.com...

That's a lot of bang for your buck.

originally posted by: Klassified
a reply to: tanstaafl
"Also, be sure her working account is a Standard (non-Admin) LOCAL (NOT a 'connected', aka, a real email address) account. Create the Admin account (the first one you create during the setup process), set a password for it (and DON'T forget it), then create another Standard (non-Admin) account for her to use for her day to day work. They try to hide how to create a local account, but you can. Just act as if you don't have an email address."

Why would he do this?

Because this is how UAC (User Account Controls, introduced in Windows 7, totally mucked up in Windows 8/8.1, and finally fixed to work properly in later versions of Windows 10 after the first few really bad releases) is intended to be used to stay safe online.

It's for a nursing student. An adult. She will own and use the computer. She should be the admin account I would think.

She is/will be. I didn't say don't give her the Admin user account or password. I said don't use the Admin account for day to day use.

This way, when you see the UAC prompt asking for the Admin password, you know that unless you are intentionally installing or updating something requiring admin privileges, something bad is trying to install itself, so don't enter the password.

When using an Admin account, it is all too easy to just click (intentionally or accidentally) the OK button and screw yourself royally.

I definitely agree on the local account though. Best way is not to connect it to internet until the first user profile has been created.

Not necessary to create a Local account, but it does keep you from accidentally creating a connected account.

Another reason I prefer the Dell Business Class machines is, you can disable Driver Updates in Windows Update (too many times I've had Microsoft replace fully/properly functional drivers for graphics, printers, or something with crapped up versions of Microsoft drivers that breaks everything), and use the most excellent 'Dell Command Update' utility to keep the drivers (and BIOS, etc) updated with the official Dell versions.

originally posted by: jtrenthacker
I’m a tech manager for a university and we give out Lenovo T series laptops to every new class of med school students and faculty/staff. The newer T490 and T14 are a solid no nonsense laptop.

Sorry, but I wouldn't touch anything that comes straight from China.

I know, most PCs have some components made there, but Lenovo is a Chinese company.

Stay away. Far far away.

originally posted by: tanstaafl
Basic recommendations:

8GB RAM minimum, I prefer 16GB
SSD - size depends on needs, but a 1TB is not very expensive
Ryzen 5 chip (much more bang for the buck), or settle for a Core i-5

One other minimum for me at least, is Windows 10 Pro not Home.

Mainly because I do a lot of things with Policies, and, while you can enable gpedit.msc on Home, there are many things you still cannot do that you can do on the Pro version.

Not an absolute need in your case, unless she is a real techie...