She is starting an online school program next semester and we will have to buy her a notebook. She has a Chromebook from the local public school system which she will have to return at the end of the year.

The new online school mandates that the notebook must run either Mac OS or at least Windows 7. That means no Chromebook and no Linux. They give absolutely no specs on what is needed in terms of hardware, but I’m guessing it’s not much more than web browsing, zoom and some sort of proprietary software Pearson, who is behind the school (I know they suck, but the program she’s in now is so much worse), probably makes them run.

I really doubt she needs anything powerful. We’d like to spend less than $300. Even $200 if we could because we are down to a single income. Obviously, that means no Macbook, and I don’t think it’s worth getting one even if we can afford it.

So here’s my question. There are a bunch of sub-$200 name brand notebooks on Amazon- no way am I buying some weird Chinese brand and I’m wary of buying used because I don’t want to chance something going bad in the middle of the semester. The notebooks on Amazon have really poor specs, like 4 GB of RAM, but maybe they will work?

Here’s an example - https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Vivobook-Processor-Microsoft-L510MA-AS02/dp/B09SVR5VD4?ref_=Oct_DLandingS_D_dd93bda7_2&th=1

Intel Celeron N4020 processor, 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. Windows 11 Home S Mode, but claims you can switch out of S mode, which I’ll probably have to do to install whatever software they want me to install.

Since they will accept a Win 7 notebook, I imagine that whatever they want us to run does not need a powerful machine, but will 4GB RAM be so little for Win 11 that the machine will be ridiculously slow even just running things like a web browser and Zoom? Would it be worth getting it and then installing an older version of Windows? Is that even possible these days?

I haven’t bought a computer since 2015 and, because of the industry I worked in, it was an iMac. I also have a Macbook for the same reason. I’m not particularly interested in remaining in the Apple sphere when the ones I have need to be replaced, but I basically know nothing about Windows at this point.

TL;DR - Online school mandates a Win machine, there are really cheap ones, but I don’t know if I should buy one.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

  • Flying SquidOP
    1•1 year ago

    Thanks, I really appreciate the advice! I think I’m going to take someone else’s recommendation and get a refurb from NewEgg because the prices look good, but I wanted to know about the RAM because that seems to be a big price point. If 16 is preferable, that’s what we’ll go for, so thank you for telling me about that. I was planning on getting an SSD instead of an HDD anyway due to the speed and reliability as you say. I’m not too worried about storage because I am guessing most of the things she has to save for school will be cloud-based. Certainly in the (shitty) online program she’s in now, all of her work is done in the lessons, which are sort of PowerPoint slides but more interactive. I don’t even know for sure if we couldn’t just go with a Chromebook instead, but they say Windows or Mac OS, so I have to go with what they say. Anyway, it looks like Chromebooks aren’t any cheaper than refurbished notebooks running Windows 10. Thanks again for the advice!