Reasons to buy from Online instead of DSA Supplier

The whole point of dsa is that you don’t buy it, you get given it. Sometimes there may be a contribution tho.

Heya

What sort of reasons can be acceptable for buying the DSA laptop online instead of the supplier? Is better prices/discounts count as a good reason?

Can I buy the printer also online or only through the supplier?

The other reply is wrong, you don't need a reason to buy something yourself instead of through the supplier. The supplier is recommended by SFE but it's your choice whether you take the laptop that they offer. DSA is supposed to be an open market although, in reality, the suppliers are quite clearly engaged in price fixing and are currently under investigation for these illegal practices.

If you can find a better deal yourself, then I would recommend doing it as the DSA laptops aren't always very good quality. At the moment, the suppliers recommend an i5 processor and 8gb of RAM and charge SFE £460-£500 for this (most of the laptops seem to be Lenovo from my experience). I can find an ASUS with similar specs for £380 online so it's likely I could buy a better laptop for £460 than what the DSA suppliers will provide.

In the above case, SFE expect students to contribute £200 towards their laptop so, if you bought your own online, they would likely give you around £260-£300 towards it. You need to get in touch with SFE and tell them you want to purchase the laptop yourself, then wait for them to send a letter confirming the cash contribution that they'll make. DO NOT buy the laptop before you get the confirmation letter as they won't reimburse you for a computers purchased in advance.