Laptop for research and thesis

[dochealth]

Happily using iPad for 2 years since my laptop gave up ghost.
About to start PhD and have been strongly advised to purchase a Windows based laptop to manage research and write thesis.
Would appreciate any suggestions re how much to spend and specific laptops I might consider.
Thanks
DH

[andytug]

If you're never likely to use it for gaming or video editing or anything processor heavy like that, almost any mid-price laptop around £300-450 should do.
Then it's your choice of size, touchscreen or not, etc. Dell or Lenovo would probably be my choice, but read plenty of reviews before you buy.

[G0ULI]

Absolutely no reason to buy a Windows based laptop except to ensure compatability with health service systems. I assume that the systems administrator will insist on installing some additional security software on your system before allowing it to be connected to health service or other systems. Having a Windows based machine should allow your computer to be more easily integrated into the existing network and allow you to access databases and other information.

On a personal note, I would keep a back up copy of all your research and source data on the iPad or another non Windows based system.

Any modern brand name laptop with an Intel Core 5 or better processor will be good enough. The more money you spend, the bigger screen and the more storage capacity you will have. If you need to do presentations, then having 16Gb of RAM is a good idea to keep things moving along video wise.

Try to keep a grandfather, father, son, backup system using USB sticks for vital information that you can't afford to loose. You cannot have too many backups.

Anything from £500 upwards should be more than sufficient for your needs. Worth budgeting for a wireless printer and a Logitech ball mouse (also colloquially known as a rat). These are a lot easier to use than standard mice or trackpads. A decent full size external keyboard is also useful when having to do lots of typing. The printer, keyboard and mouse can be left wherever you normally do the most work and just the laptop carried about when necessary.

Finally, get a decent carry case or messenger bag for the laptop. Something with protective padding and a decent shoulder strap that allows you to keep both hands free if necessary.

You haven't given a budget but £500 will get you all the computer you need. A decent carry case might cost £50. Mouse and keyboard £100. Wireless printer £100. USB sticks or external hard drive back up system £50-£100.

With careful shopping around, the basic minimum of computer, carry case and back up system could be purchased for £500.

Secondhand equipment will be much cheaper, but you don't get a guarantee or support if things go wrong.

[dochealth]

Thanks Andytug and Gouli.
DH

[cdtaylor_nats]

If you buy a windows laptop you will get free cloud space from Microsoft and Google. Synching to both of those will provide a real time backup of your files. Once a day backup to alternating usb thumb drives.

[Homsap]

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!

[Jet II]

Seconded what Homsap says. Before you buy anything check with the department for the course you are doing to see if they use any specific software or apps on the course that require a certain operating system.

If all you are going to use it for is internet, word processing and other office functions then a Windows machine is a bit OTT - have a look at Google Chromebooks instead.

[ExXB]

Or if you like Apple products they run windows as well. Best of all worlds, OS X; Windows; iPad.

It will cost you more.

[dochealth]

Thanks everyone for your thoughtful feedback!
DH

[sk999]

DH,

You have a lot of good advice by now. I have a bit of a long view - my undergraduate thesis was written with a manual typewriter, and my PhD thesis was written using IBM Selectrics, except I had 4 of the department secretaries volunteer to do the actual typing. Wonderful people.

There is a presumption that the thesis will be prepared using MS Word or equivalent. I teach graduate courses in the physical sciences, which means lots of equations. Whenever I take a poll as to what program is used to prepare manuscscripts, it is 100% Latex. YMMV.

To first order, the operating system is irrelevant, but I guess it depends on what your field of research is.

A couple of people have stressed the need for backups, and I heartily endorse those comments. The worst thesis disasters I have seen all involved loss of data due to no backups. One of them involved line printer output that had been accidentally carted off to the city dump - the guy actually traveled to the dump to try and recover it (apparently without success). These days almost every I know uses Macs, and they rely on time-machine to provide backups. I work a little differently and spread out my work on lots of machines at different locations, so I rely on occassional backups to offline storage combined with mass replication to all those machines (mainly accomplished using code repositories).

A good keyboard and a good trackpad matter, and they are only loosely coupled to the cost of the machine. My all-time favorite keyboard was on a machine that cost $3000. My current favorite is on a machine that cost $350. My $120 machine keyboard is pretty nice too, but the trackpad stinks. Others may chime in here.

[Saab Dastard]

If doing a lot of typing and / or numeric work, I would strongly recommend a separate keyboard & mouse, and a separate monitor if budget & space permits.

SD

[jimtherev]

And following on from SD, there is the fact that if the keyboard height is right on a laptop, then the monitor is too low, and vikky versa. If you haven't a bad back now, then you will have in a few years.
Ask me how I know...

[Homsap]

While on the subject of writing up a thesis, has anyone had any recent experience of speech to text packages.

i used one a number of years ago, I understand that medical practioners are now using them. I think I have the MS version on my PC, is that any good?

[andytug]

While on the subject of writing up a thesis, has anyone had any recent experience of speech to text packages.

i used one a number of years ago, I understand that medical practioners are now using them. I think I have the MS version on my PC, is that any good?

I've seen Dragon Naturally Speaking in operation and it's excellent, although pricey and you have to invest the time in training it to your voice in order for it to work at its best. The MS supplied one is pretty average.

[Homsap]

Andytug,,, Thanks for that, I'll look at Dragon Speaking. I used an IBM product a numbers of years ago, which was OK, and I remeber you have to read to programme a number of times. I have a feeling MS bought the IBM product.

[andytug]

I dealt with a weird incident at work involving a lady who thought she'd got a virus, the machine was typing random words in a document by itself. She'd inadvertently started the built in MS dictation and somehow minimised it so the only sign of it was a tiny thin toolbar at the top edge of the screen - by thin I mean about 5 pixels deep. The built-in mic on her laptop then attempted to translate her words. Without much success!

One thing with Dragon is you do need a good quality headset/microphone and sound card for it to work really well. It has inbuilt diagnostics as well though.

[motpmats]

Any midrange dell or HP will do, look for something with an SSD is the only prerequisite I'd suggest.