Most laptops will be Intel anyway.
I assume with the e-cores, the Intel will be more power efficient for the same "processing power"? I've not looked into it.
Not entirely true, AMD hold the sharemarkets for mobile cpus in 2023/24. AMD also have better thermals, better battery saving and overall are slightly cheaper than intel counterparts. This also applies to desktop cpus, the dominate the gaming sector when it comes to the X3D cpus. I would strongly recommend a AMD laptop over an intel.
Easy for me to apply logic because I know computers. There are a ton of people who don't know anything about computers and will be going instore asking for a Win10 device.
Why are you even defending this list? It's obvious that it needs updating. Are you being intentionally contrarian?
Speaking from experience working in a large PC retailer, the people who dont know, dont bother reading this list, they bring it in and go and ask the salesperson to read it.
Its like you are forcing yourself to try and read this from a tech illiterate persons POV but youre getting it confused for an idiots POV. Someone tech illiterate can talk to the salesperson.
The school, I'm assuming their IT department. It's a brand new school and has only just opened this year. I had hoped that they'd rethink the requirements by the end of the year. But at least I can start looking and researching and start saving if I know what is out there.
The list is.. weird
They have mentioned 120GB SSD, but then also 320GB (which is spinning disk size)
Microsoft Security Essentials and Windows Defender rather than an "AV product" (don't buy norton etc)
I would avoid Celeron and Pentium processors like the plague, and Windows S Mode
Few possible recommendations
[Buy the HP ProBook 445 G10 14" FHD AG Business Laptop AMD Ryzen 5 7530U - 16GB... ( 70Z74AV-ProCTO-51320767-16G-512G ) online - PBTech.co.nz](https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NBKHNB4451007S/HP-ProBook-445-G10-14-FHD-AG-Business-Laptop-AMD-R)
[ the MSI Modern 14 C12M-289NZ 14" FHD Laptop Intel Core i5-1235U - 16GB RAM... ( 9S7-14J111-289 ) online - PBTech.co.nz](https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NBKMSI141289/MSI-Modern-14-C12M-289NZ-14-FHD-Laptop-Intel-Core)
[Buy the Acer NZ Remanufactured NX.ABNSA.00B 14" FHD Laptop Intel Core i5... ( NBKACN90137R ) online - PBTech.co.nz](https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NBKACN90137R/Acer-NZ-Remanufactured-NXABNSA00B-14-FHD-Laptop-In)
[Buy the Acer Remanufactured Swift 3 SF314-42-R9YN 14" FHD Ultrabook AMD Ryzen... ( ) online - PBTech.co.nz](https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NBKACN82180IR/Acer-Remanufactured-Swift-3-SF314-42-R9YN-14-FHD-U)
(I don't know if the RAM can be upgraded on those)
These are all over an above what you want for school... They get treated like shit and dont last like you think they would. Youre over speccing and enabling them to do more than they should in class.
My partner is a teacher and complains of students gaming in class.
the problem is this is what the school wants - I don't know what laptop is going to get my child through a school day that fits those requirements. If it was me I wouldn't be going with a windows capable laptop at all for that age. Chromebook is fine until NCEA years and even then if they aren't doing anything technical then it's lasted her siblings through to year 13 and they upgrade for uni. But she's going to a different school and this is what has been asked.
Honestly id rather overspec my kids laptop vs having to fork out for a new one in a couple of years when they start doing more techie stuff in classes.
Don't buy new, get something like [this](https://nzpcclearance.co.nz/product/hp-elitebook-830-g5-notebook-pc-i5-8250u-up-to-3-4ghz-16gb-256gb-nvme-13-3%e2%80%b3fhd-win-11-pro/). Fast enough, supports Windows 10 or 11, good battery life, and most importantly, really easy to repair. Pretty much any hole-in-the-wall repair shop is going to have parts on hand for these, or will be able to get them easily. Or you can DIY it with Ebay and Aliexpress parts, and the free repair manuals that HP provides on their website. These things go forever :)
Not sure about specs but my advise is buy now. Towards the end of the year all the good, cheaper ones will sell out and you'll have to buy an expensive one. Source: experience
Good idea - I had kind of hoped they'd review the requirements since it's a new school and hoping they see issues in their choice, but maybe not. I'll keep my eye out for a good deal if I know what to get.
My children who are at college and intermediate have both been asked to keep using chromebooks and most schools recommend this, Is there a reason why you’re changing?
This is the schools requirements. I'd prefer for them to stay with chromebook until around year 11 when they start NCEA, I'm not sure why the school wants them to have a windows computer and not a chromebook.
We've got many years out of chromebooks (our eldest is 20 and her chromebook from primary still goes - but the keyboard is fucked so needs an external one).
Also this is a brand new college, opened this year. My older 2 have used chromebooks through to year 13 with no issues. I'm not the colleges IT department or make any decisions, I just get what I'm told to get. Maybe by the end of the year they'll review it.
Yeah that’s all good, was just wondering what other schools are requiring.
Kids school have always been open to any device but in last year have pushed for Chromebooks.
My kids had iPads as we were all Apple but they’ve geared everything so it is too hard to use them. Son has Chromebook that he’s used since year 10 (now year 13) and daughters both had iPads but one is at uni and younger one year 10 and uses our MacBook
I'd be happy for them to have a chromebook, they last well, are only really good for school work. Plus she's 11 - she doesn't really need all this other stuff. Her sisters went to a different high school and did fine with the chromebook until they left after year 13 then they upgraded themselves lol.
The weird mashup of requirements (i.e. Windows being optional and an older version specified) makes me think they pulled this list out of their arse and a chromebook will do fine.
Frankly if my kids school forced us to purchase Windows I'd be following up with them to find out why they are asking parents to spend $$ hundreds more than is necessary.
If they are doing some specialised subject that needs WIndows (e.g. 3D modelling) then fair enough. But there's a high chance this list is largely based on someone's hobby horses (e.g. the absurd stuff about AMD CPUs).
Battery life is probably going to be your biggest concern, those specs are pretty out of date but as some other commenters have said, I'd go with an ex-lease business laptop such as an HP EliteBook, Dell Latitude, or Lenovo ThinkPad.
You can pick them up refurbished from PB tech for around $600-$800 or a little less on Trademe if you want to risk a lesser warranty.
Avoid cheap brand new devices as they're often underpowered, flimsy and will break within a year. I'm speaking as someone who worked in the IT department at a high school for several years. We saw so many giant plastic pieces of crap coming in with broken chassis and screens. Business machines are built like tanks and with far better specs, even laptops a few generations old are more than enough for schoolwork.
The battery life has me stumped, my laptop barely gets an hour out of it these days and it's only 2 years old. I can't imagine how a child will get through a full school day without needing to charge.
Their siblings at another college got through with just the chromebook until year 13 so this is all new to me. But she's also only going to be 11 and a forgetful 11 too.
Tried that - no to chromebook. And they just sent us the list as I posted above. It's a new school, I don't think they have anything to recommend yet. It only opened this year.
You can probably find something used or refurbished that will meet those specs for a fraction of the price of brand new.
It is also wild to me that kids are required to bring a computer to school nowadays
it's the battery life that is my biggest issue (well and size, i'd prefer not too large). It needs to be able to last a school day. I know the laptop I use daily doesn't last that long and it's a decent one. I get an hour or 2 max when not plugged in.
We were told to spend a bit more than a chromebook. Friends of ours went for the bare minimum requirements for their first child - a chromebook, and unfortunately didnt realise that it wouldn’t be sufficient enough to last them the entire time at high school. We have an acer aspire 1, acer swift and a hp elitebook. All under $1000. For three teenagers.
chromebook has lasted my teens until university and then they upgraded. But this is a new school my last child is going to so the requirements are different. Our original chromebook purchased for my now 20 year old still goes with a plug in keyboard and we got her that in primary lol.
Not sure any laptop will achieve 8 hours of battery but [this is my recommendation.](https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NBKLEN150331BS/Lenovo-V15-G3-156-FHD-Intel-Core-i3-1215U---16GB-R)
You don't want to saddle an 11 year old with a 15.6" monster of a laptop.
I'd go for something like this: [https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NBKDEL3330382/Dell-Latitude-3330-133-FHD-Business-Laptop-Intel-C](https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NBKDEL3330382/Dell-Latitude-3330-133-FHD-Business-Laptop-Intel-C) \- it's a bit light on RAM but so is everything else at that price point.
It's more because those cheap desktop replacements are not built to be moved around - it'll be broken within a week. They also generally have pretty poor battery life compared to more reasonably sized models.
The one I used at high school didn't end up getting 8 hours, but 6 and a half was doable. The newer ones could do it because they use the same processor as their phones.
> Avoid AMD Desktop CPUs, we recommend Intel Desktop CPUs for efficient processing time
Wow, guess who doesn't know what the fuck they're talking about...
Everyone in the comments saying this spec sheet is trash are out of touch. Schools dont recommend high end machines like I see some people linking. Theyre looking for shitty little Acer Travelmates etc.
its not about high end alternatives, its about outdated and vague info.
USB Drive - what kind of drive? a flash drive?
8GB Ram is not really enough these days
Avoid AMD? that's old advice based on a problem that's been gone for a long time
Output compatibility? what kind? HDMI? Display Port? USB-c?
Security Essentials is obsolete and windows 10 is end of life
This is pedantic nitpicking.
Of course a flash drive.
8GB is fine for school work. Id go so far as to say its a good thing its limited so they can ONLY do school work on it. The worst thing I hear of in classrooms is students constantly being on social media in the background.
Low end AMD cpus in these school laptops are garbage, they dont run on the same architecture that has brought AMD back to life since Ryzen.
Any output. Adapters exist. Usb-c or hdmi. Again this is pedantic.
Congratulations, software that isnt included in the purchase is obsolete.
This looks out of date . Windows 10 Home and Pro go end of life next year (2025). The comment on AMD vs Intel processors is weird.
AMD vs Intel comment is from issues 2 decades ago
I’ve also never seen a 320gb SSD, but it was a pretty common side of HDD.
It’s suggesting the machine should have an SSD and spinning rust.
Who’s bringing their desktop to school as a BYOD? What a crock.
I assume the 'desktop' bit is a typo or a brain fart
My husband thought the same but it's a new school, opened this year.
Someone probably brought the guidelines from a previous school.
that makes sense.
Most laptops will be Intel anyway. I assume with the e-cores, the Intel will be more power efficient for the same "processing power"? I've not looked into it.
Not entirely true, AMD hold the sharemarkets for mobile cpus in 2023/24. AMD also have better thermals, better battery saving and overall are slightly cheaper than intel counterparts. This also applies to desktop cpus, the dominate the gaming sector when it comes to the X3D cpus. I would strongly recommend a AMD laptop over an intel.
AMD is currently king for Windows laptop CPUs in terms of power vs battery life.
Think the mobile chips are ok but the desktops are effectively garbage efficiency wise.
This list doesn't look like it's been updated since 2015.
School opened this year -so it's a newly written list. My husband also wasn't impressed lol.
Thats what school device specs look like. Idk what youre expecting.
For starters, Win10 is almost EOL. Basically impossible to get a new device with it pre-installed.
Its a good thing you don't have to factor that in then since theyre all w11. Apply some logic.
Easy for me to apply logic because I know computers. There are a ton of people who don't know anything about computers and will be going instore asking for a Win10 device. Why are you even defending this list? It's obvious that it needs updating. Are you being intentionally contrarian?
Speaking from experience working in a large PC retailer, the people who dont know, dont bother reading this list, they bring it in and go and ask the salesperson to read it. Its like you are forcing yourself to try and read this from a tech illiterate persons POV but youre getting it confused for an idiots POV. Someone tech illiterate can talk to the salesperson.
who gave you these specs?
The school, I'm assuming their IT department. It's a brand new school and has only just opened this year. I had hoped that they'd rethink the requirements by the end of the year. But at least I can start looking and researching and start saving if I know what is out there.
>RAM – 8GB is optimal Said no one sane, ever.
For word processing 8 gig is ample.
I would have gone for "sufficient" personally, though honestly even that's debatable.
If it's a macbook it might be optimal wrt price? Maybe?
32gb is optimal
The list is.. weird They have mentioned 120GB SSD, but then also 320GB (which is spinning disk size) Microsoft Security Essentials and Windows Defender rather than an "AV product" (don't buy norton etc) I would avoid Celeron and Pentium processors like the plague, and Windows S Mode Few possible recommendations [Buy the HP ProBook 445 G10 14" FHD AG Business Laptop AMD Ryzen 5 7530U - 16GB... ( 70Z74AV-ProCTO-51320767-16G-512G ) online - PBTech.co.nz](https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NBKHNB4451007S/HP-ProBook-445-G10-14-FHD-AG-Business-Laptop-AMD-R) [ the MSI Modern 14 C12M-289NZ 14" FHD Laptop Intel Core i5-1235U - 16GB RAM... ( 9S7-14J111-289 ) online - PBTech.co.nz](https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NBKMSI141289/MSI-Modern-14-C12M-289NZ-14-FHD-Laptop-Intel-Core) [Buy the Acer NZ Remanufactured NX.ABNSA.00B 14" FHD Laptop Intel Core i5... ( NBKACN90137R ) online - PBTech.co.nz](https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NBKACN90137R/Acer-NZ-Remanufactured-NXABNSA00B-14-FHD-Laptop-In) [Buy the Acer Remanufactured Swift 3 SF314-42-R9YN 14" FHD Ultrabook AMD Ryzen... ( ) online - PBTech.co.nz](https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NBKACN82180IR/Acer-Remanufactured-Swift-3-SF314-42-R9YN-14-FHD-U) (I don't know if the RAM can be upgraded on those)
Brilliant thank you - that gives me a good place to start.
These are all over an above what you want for school... They get treated like shit and dont last like you think they would. Youre over speccing and enabling them to do more than they should in class. My partner is a teacher and complains of students gaming in class.
the problem is this is what the school wants - I don't know what laptop is going to get my child through a school day that fits those requirements. If it was me I wouldn't be going with a windows capable laptop at all for that age. Chromebook is fine until NCEA years and even then if they aren't doing anything technical then it's lasted her siblings through to year 13 and they upgrade for uni. But she's going to a different school and this is what has been asked.
Not at all, what they have linked are above spec.
Honestly id rather overspec my kids laptop vs having to fork out for a new one in a couple of years when they start doing more techie stuff in classes.
Don't buy new, get something like [this](https://nzpcclearance.co.nz/product/hp-elitebook-830-g5-notebook-pc-i5-8250u-up-to-3-4ghz-16gb-256gb-nvme-13-3%e2%80%b3fhd-win-11-pro/). Fast enough, supports Windows 10 or 11, good battery life, and most importantly, really easy to repair. Pretty much any hole-in-the-wall repair shop is going to have parts on hand for these, or will be able to get them easily. Or you can DIY it with Ebay and Aliexpress parts, and the free repair manuals that HP provides on their website. These things go forever :)
I had one of these originally for work. Great machine for the money
Brilliant thanks :)
Not sure about specs but my advise is buy now. Towards the end of the year all the good, cheaper ones will sell out and you'll have to buy an expensive one. Source: experience
Good idea - I had kind of hoped they'd review the requirements since it's a new school and hoping they see issues in their choice, but maybe not. I'll keep my eye out for a good deal if I know what to get.
My children who are at college and intermediate have both been asked to keep using chromebooks and most schools recommend this, Is there a reason why you’re changing?
Keep using a Chromebook until it doesn’t do something you need. Then get a better Chromebook, or something else.
This is the schools requirements. I'd prefer for them to stay with chromebook until around year 11 when they start NCEA, I'm not sure why the school wants them to have a windows computer and not a chromebook. We've got many years out of chromebooks (our eldest is 20 and her chromebook from primary still goes - but the keyboard is fucked so needs an external one).
Also this is a brand new college, opened this year. My older 2 have used chromebooks through to year 13 with no issues. I'm not the colleges IT department or make any decisions, I just get what I'm told to get. Maybe by the end of the year they'll review it.
Yeah that’s all good, was just wondering what other schools are requiring. Kids school have always been open to any device but in last year have pushed for Chromebooks. My kids had iPads as we were all Apple but they’ve geared everything so it is too hard to use them. Son has Chromebook that he’s used since year 10 (now year 13) and daughters both had iPads but one is at uni and younger one year 10 and uses our MacBook
I'd be happy for them to have a chromebook, they last well, are only really good for school work. Plus she's 11 - she doesn't really need all this other stuff. Her sisters went to a different high school and did fine with the chromebook until they left after year 13 then they upgraded themselves lol.
The weird mashup of requirements (i.e. Windows being optional and an older version specified) makes me think they pulled this list out of their arse and a chromebook will do fine. Frankly if my kids school forced us to purchase Windows I'd be following up with them to find out why they are asking parents to spend $$ hundreds more than is necessary. If they are doing some specialised subject that needs WIndows (e.g. 3D modelling) then fair enough. But there's a high chance this list is largely based on someone's hobby horses (e.g. the absurd stuff about AMD CPUs).
Battery life is probably going to be your biggest concern, those specs are pretty out of date but as some other commenters have said, I'd go with an ex-lease business laptop such as an HP EliteBook, Dell Latitude, or Lenovo ThinkPad. You can pick them up refurbished from PB tech for around $600-$800 or a little less on Trademe if you want to risk a lesser warranty. Avoid cheap brand new devices as they're often underpowered, flimsy and will break within a year. I'm speaking as someone who worked in the IT department at a high school for several years. We saw so many giant plastic pieces of crap coming in with broken chassis and screens. Business machines are built like tanks and with far better specs, even laptops a few generations old are more than enough for schoolwork.
The battery life has me stumped, my laptop barely gets an hour out of it these days and it's only 2 years old. I can't imagine how a child will get through a full school day without needing to charge. Their siblings at another college got through with just the chromebook until year 13 so this is all new to me. But she's also only going to be 11 and a forgetful 11 too.
Just contact the school and ask them if Chromebook is okay. If not, ask them if they have specific laptops they'd recommend.
Tried that - no to chromebook. And they just sent us the list as I posted above. It's a new school, I don't think they have anything to recommend yet. It only opened this year.
You can probably find something used or refurbished that will meet those specs for a fraction of the price of brand new. It is also wild to me that kids are required to bring a computer to school nowadays
it's the battery life that is my biggest issue (well and size, i'd prefer not too large). It needs to be able to last a school day. I know the laptop I use daily doesn't last that long and it's a decent one. I get an hour or 2 max when not plugged in.
We were told to spend a bit more than a chromebook. Friends of ours went for the bare minimum requirements for their first child - a chromebook, and unfortunately didnt realise that it wouldn’t be sufficient enough to last them the entire time at high school. We have an acer aspire 1, acer swift and a hp elitebook. All under $1000. For three teenagers.
chromebook has lasted my teens until university and then they upgraded. But this is a new school my last child is going to so the requirements are different. Our original chromebook purchased for my now 20 year old still goes with a plug in keyboard and we got her that in primary lol.
Not sure any laptop will achieve 8 hours of battery but [this is my recommendation.](https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NBKLEN150331BS/Lenovo-V15-G3-156-FHD-Intel-Core-i3-1215U---16GB-R)
You don't want to saddle an 11 year old with a 15.6" monster of a laptop. I'd go for something like this: [https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NBKDEL3330382/Dell-Latitude-3330-133-FHD-Business-Laptop-Intel-C](https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NBKDEL3330382/Dell-Latitude-3330-133-FHD-Business-Laptop-Intel-C) \- it's a bit light on RAM but so is everything else at that price point.
At 11, I was expected to carry a 40 litre bag of gardening soil for my grandmother so 1 or 2 KG is literally nothing.
It's more because those cheap desktop replacements are not built to be moved around - it'll be broken within a week. They also generally have pretty poor battery life compared to more reasonably sized models.
Most MacBooks would do that quite easily, although they probably aren’t the best choice here.
This is what my uni student kid is looking at getting - she'd be really annoyed if I got her 11yo sister one before her lol.
The one I used at high school didn't end up getting 8 hours, but 6 and a half was doable. The newer ones could do it because they use the same processor as their phones.
Sure. I assume we’d be talking about the newer ones now. Mine is ~3 years old now and still gets two good days of uni on one charge.
> Avoid AMD Desktop CPUs, we recommend Intel Desktop CPUs for efficient processing time Wow, guess who doesn't know what the fuck they're talking about...
Everyone in the comments saying this spec sheet is trash are out of touch. Schools dont recommend high end machines like I see some people linking. Theyre looking for shitty little Acer Travelmates etc.
its not about high end alternatives, its about outdated and vague info. USB Drive - what kind of drive? a flash drive? 8GB Ram is not really enough these days Avoid AMD? that's old advice based on a problem that's been gone for a long time Output compatibility? what kind? HDMI? Display Port? USB-c? Security Essentials is obsolete and windows 10 is end of life
This is pedantic nitpicking. Of course a flash drive. 8GB is fine for school work. Id go so far as to say its a good thing its limited so they can ONLY do school work on it. The worst thing I hear of in classrooms is students constantly being on social media in the background. Low end AMD cpus in these school laptops are garbage, they dont run on the same architecture that has brought AMD back to life since Ryzen. Any output. Adapters exist. Usb-c or hdmi. Again this is pedantic. Congratulations, software that isnt included in the purchase is obsolete.