Best laptop for secondary school - advice please

[Cora]

We are thinking of getting our son a computer in readiness for secondary school - it needs to be a laptop because of space issues at home but it will be kept and used at home.

Any advice on what make, spec etc would be appropriate much appreciated - we are a Mac family thus far but am thinking PC may save us money and be more comptible with those at school? We will also want to buy a full size keyboard to use with it so that he can touch type - I'm guessing this is easy enough these days....

Thank you

[RobMiller]

Do you know what applications your son will need to use? I'd seriously consider a Chromebook as they cost much less than a PC and I'd be able to do anything I need on one.

[Cora]

Thanks Rob - my only concern with those is that they talk about using the cloud etc to run and our internet is pretty slow at the best of times....do you think this should be a concern? We should probably change internet providers but that's a whole other job!

[BeccaL]

We're in a similar situation (daughter in yr 6) but are going to put off the purchase until we know which school she's going to and what they need there - some schools use tablets, others laptops, so we thought better to wait and see what they suggest/recommend/ask for...

[RobMiller]

@Cora, a Chromebook might not be the best option if you're not confident in your internet connection... But that is probably something that will be an issue anyway as I'd expect that homework etc will include needing to use online services (our boys are in year two and get maths and coding homework online).

As an aside, I've been interested to see how it's increasingly common for younger people joining us at work to be unfamiliar with the traditional Windows & Microsoft Office tools, and accustomed to using online systems like Google, Dropbox etc etc.

[Cora]

Rob are you saying that as an employer the traditional Microsoft skills are important to learn or do you think they'll be outdated soon by Google and Dropbox?

[RobMiller]

This is my pet subject! 😀 I think that it's not just about what's useful in the workplace, but also about developing the skills needed to feel confident in and make the most of the way that 'digital' is changing the world we live in.

We've been used to 'computing' meaning a Windows PC running Office, but the dramatic growth of mobile and the web means that is rapidly becoming much less relevant (this article is a useful summary: http://ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2015/7/8/capitulation).

The coding stuff that our boys are doing seems to have really captured their imagination, and I'm really liking seeing how they're learning about logic and patterns, and applying it to make things happen. At work we've just moved 4,500 users away from Microsoft Outlook etc onto Google Apps for Work, and while for some people that's been a bit of a shock to the system, most people are getting on well, and many are doing amazing things in terms of collaborating more effectively and getting lots of their work done on mobile devices - making totally new ways of working possible.

[redjam]

Cora, there's a version of your question answered in the Guardian today:

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/askjack/2015/nov/05/which-laptop-should-we-buy-for-our-child

[uncleglen]

schools have ICT teams and they would be the best to advise so that your child can access the school remote apps for HW etc

[Cora]

Brilliant - thanks all :)