Dochealth ..... Re the best laptop or operating system.
My advice is ask your prospective supervisor if the department has a computer technican and see what he recomends. My department had a great computer technician who even upgraded my PC, uploaded windows and statistical software all for free.I'm not sure that was his remit, but he never complained when a case of beer arrived.
My gut instinct is that your best using the same operating system as your department, which is most likely to be Windows, having said thatI seem to remember some depatments, such as Zoology favoured Macs at one stage, likewise graphic designers also favoured Macs.
In terms of laptops, I have found Dell and Toshiba are very robust and as Andytug stated around £350 should get you something half decent. In relation to software, in the UK and I suspect in Ireland, you can get a special student rate for Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Access, but again your department IT technician may be able to do it for free under the university licence. Likewise the technician might from have some surplus laptops to sell or lend.
As to computer bags, I have found the best is the rucksack type is best, it keeps your hands free, you can cycle and you less likely to have it stolen. My old Toshiba travelled all around Afica in a Rucksack type laptop bag without any problems.
Finally, all the best with your studies, remember to back everthing up in two different ocations!
Last edited by Homsap; 24th Aug 2017 at 08:50.