Laptop for high school student

[jgenie]

DS1 has used a Chromebook throughout middle school. I’m thinking we should upgrade him to a laptop. Any advice on what I should be considering? Thanks!

[echoesofspring]

I think it really depends on what he plans to be doing on it and your budget etc. since the price/power/weight can vary so widely:

The activities he'll want to do will affect memory, processor, graphics card, hard drive etc. you'll want to buy which are the components that really change the price:
- word processing, internet research
- coding
- music/art/design
- gaming
- etc.
- will he carry it back and forth to school?

We bought the kids laptops at the beginning of the pandemic, in part b/c they got really into minecraft and I didn't want them playing on mine and we did online summer camps that first summer while we were both working. We got them pretty rugged laptops and it was an investment I'm hoping will last through middle school. But they are heavy, I can't imagine them carrying them back and forth to school.

Are you a mac or windows family? I got the kids windows laptops b/c I couldn't justify spending Apple $$ on them, but I hate managing them and have never trusted I've set it up right in terms of virus protection etc b/c I mostly have worked on Apple computers for so long.

[niccig]

DS is in HS and he has a desktop gaming computer he built and he uses that for his school work. All students have a school chrome book they use in class, can’t bring personal laptop to school. He’s a senior next year and we’ll buy a laptop for college. Glad we held off on the laptop until now so we can get something that will last through college


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[SnuggleBuggles]

If the Chromebook fits his academic needs, hold off. I agree with pp that it's good to wait till closer to college. We did buy a new Samsung laptop for our college kid and it's nice.

[AnnieW625]

We have a family MacBook Pro (it is our lone computer, and then we have an iPad) that the girls use for school. I have thought about buying a separate one for DD1, but she does about 90% of her work on the school issued iPad. My plan is to wait until college and buy her a laptop then. Not sure if we will go with a Mac or a PC.


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[carolinamama]

DS1 has a school issued chromebook and one we bought during his virtual schooling adventures. He doesn't complain about it not meeting his schooling needs for high school yet. We plan to buy him a laptop before he goes away to college. DH, DS2 and I have Windows laptops so he does use ours if he needs something beyond the capabilities of his Chromebook.

[mmsmom]

I think this is really school dependent in terms of what the school provides and/or what he will be using it for. DS has a gaming computer for fun but all of his school work is on his school issued iPad. He has a personal iPad that he hasn’t touched in over a year. He prefers to use his iPhone for anything personal.

[bisous]

My kids have used school issued chromebooks for all their schooling needs throughout high school and they never complained. I'm not sure what a better laptop would have offered them. Now my DH who creates art would not be able to use a chromebook for all the software and stuff he needs to do but my high schoolers were just fine!

[WatchingThemGrow]

I subbed at our high school on Fridays for a few months. Everyone uses the school-issued chromebook, except for a few privileged boys who pulled out a Macbook...but they had to have their chromebook on them as well since they have to do some of their school assignments on them. It was superfluous to have the macbook.

My rising 9th grader wants a PC for gaming, but ugh, I don't want him to have more gaming time. :*

[klwa]

I'm honestly trying to decide if I need to get DS a laptop for this summer/his 11th grade year. But that's because he's starting to take community college classes as part of his high school, and I'm not sure if the school issued chromebook will be enough for those. (And I haven't gotten good info on whether it will be unlocked for his summer class since it's not during the normal school year...) From what I can find, Acer Aspire 5 would be about what we'd want to do. Budget friendly, with all the bells & whistles he would have to have.