[Recommendation Requested] Laptop for student for around $500?

Pkirk618

Pkirk618

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Hi, my daughter-in-law is looking to replace her Chromebook. It did the job for undergraduate school. She asked me for some help but I haven't followed laptop trends in a while. She has access to an Army/Navy Exchange too.

She likes Dell, Toshiba and I think she mentioned HP.

I'm thinking,16gb ram and 1TB or storage to start. SD expandability makes sense as well.

Suggestions or considerations?
 
Of those you mentioned, I'd go with a Dell XPS 13 11th/12th gen. Get an onsite warranty so the repair tech goes to her instead of having to send the laptop to Dell, but only buy 1 year at a time. They'll send plenty of renewal reminders when the expiration date nears.

If she's open to a Mac, the M1 Air is the best bang-for-the-buck laptop ever released.
 
thanks man, I tried talking her into an M1 as i purchased one last year and love it. She said she cant use it because some program she needs for school isn't compatible. I mentioned how streamlined and simple they've made things but she's set in her ways. Looking at Dell's website now.
 
Good luck! I missed the $500 budget part, so my Dell suggestions might be too pricey.
 
HP had some killer sales earlier if you need to stick to $500. I found a 15" with a 6 core Ryzen processor, for $400, then upgraded the RAM and SSD with parts online (way cheaper than choosing the upgrades).

This is not the same, but similar to the one I got, and looks like it is priced about what it was at a month or so ago, due to Memorial Day:
https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/pdp/hp-laptop-17z-cp300-799v0av-1

Again, I upgraded RAM and the NVMe it came with with parts I bought.

edit: this will ship straight from China, so dont buy if you need it right now
 
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