Students and their parents always find it difficult to choose from a wide variety of laptops that are available in the market these days. A few years back, the question that used to play at the back of their mind was whether they should go for Desktop PC or Laptops, but now with huge competition between top players in the industry bringing the laptop prices down, the aim now is to get the best deal available on the internet.
Set your priorites
While the parents are bothered about the price, the students are easily carried away by popular brands and their marketing techniques. However, top brands like HP, Sony and Apple come with a hefty price tag. You can easily find cheaper laptops with almost similar or sometimes even better features if you really look at it that way. All it takes is a little window shopping over the internet and a desire to save some serious money! We all know how expensive Schools can be these days, so it always pays if you could save a few bucks on laptop.
What should you look for?
Buying laptops online gives you opportunity to save a lot of money as the company also saves by cutting costs on employing sales people and maintaining a store. There are special student discounts available online as well. You should search for special student offers that could be either special discounts or price reductions.
Buying a student laptop is serious business. You must consider the kind of software that you are going to use. Of course, Microsoft Office and other utility software would run even older computers but if you are the kind of advanced user who uses Matlab, HFSS, Cadence, Synopsys, Xilinx ISE and other such resource hungry software then you better make sure that you buy a equally performing laptop.
Many students are confused when deciding on the processor. Latest entrants like Intel i5 and i7 may sound fancy but you are good to go even with a Pentium 4 or Core2Duo processor that would cost you much less compared to the laptops with latest processors. You should be good with a 2 GB RAM and a little dedicated graphics on board.
Recommended sites and products
When it comes to online shopping, what matters the most is trust. And you can’t go wrong with market leaders in the online shopping world like amazon.com and ebay.com. I follow amazon.com for their rich customer experience and amazing deals and prompt customer service.
Acer laptops are pretty cost effective and give decent performance for its price. You can browse for them at amazon.com. Acer is a Taiwanese computer maker which is currently ranked 2 globally among laptop makers and is the proud sponsor of Ferrari F1 team. They sell laptops at surprisingly low prices with competitive performance and features. Here is a list of my favorites:
2. Acer Aspire AS5750Z-4835 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) (save $30)
3. Acer Aspire AS5560-7402 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) (save $120)
HP, Dell and Asus also offer some excellent budget laptops. You can check these out as well:
1. Dell Inspiron i15RN5110-7126DBK (save $160)
2. Lenovo G570 4334DBU 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) (save $150)
3. HP Pavilion g7-2010nr 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black) (save $100)
4. HP Pavilion dv6-7010 us 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) (save $150)
5. Dell Inspiron i14RN-1227BK 14-Inch Laptop (DiamondBlack) (save $110)
6. ASUS A53U-EB11 15.6-Inch Laptop (Mocha) (save $80)
And If you are one of those who is really brand conscious and can’t compromise in that manner then you should check the Sony VAIO T Series SVT13112FXS 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (SilverMist) which is an extremely stylish and high performance laptop from Sony at $770. Amazon offers a $100 rebate as well.
Amazon is also offering this Back to School savings offer in which you will get a $100 Amazon.com gift card with the purchase of select Ultrabooks (Ultrabooks are designed to feature reduced size (less than 2.1 cm thick) and weight (usually less than 1.5 kg (3.3 lbs)) without compromising performance and battery life). Here is a list of some of the ultrabooks worth mentioning:
Note: I have taken extra care to make sure that I don’t cross the $800 mark. If you are not restricted by a budget, then you should look at other options (read “high-end”) as well.
Amazon is also offering a 12 month interest free EMI option for laptops above $599 which is a really good option for those students who are expecting a Teaching or Research Assistantship or are on a scholarship with a monthly stipend. This is helpful if you can’t pay the lump sum amount but still want to buy a high-end computer.
Another advantage with online shopping of laptops is the free shipping. All the models that I have listed come with free shipping.
Dell offers its special Back-to-School laptops at reduced rates. They have a wide variety of laptops with rich feature set at every prize range. You can get them from Dell’s direct sales portal, dfsdirectsales.com. Dell also offers a special discount to students who are student member of professional organization called IEEE. Please check the IEEE website for more details.
Tigerdirect.com is a very good website for online purchase of laptops and other computer peripherals. You can also look for Toshiba Satellite C-series laptops starting from $349, which are value for money and come with many freebies. You can get them from toshibadirect.com. In India, flipkart.com is a very good website for buying laptops with very nice customer support.
I have tried to touch upon the various needs and solutions for an well informed buying experience in online laptop purchase. Please leave some comments if you feel something is missing.
Consider the purchase of a laptop as part of the investment in your student's education. Watch for sales.
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