So what topic are you studying and at what level? Ie are we talking masters in biology or PhD in English literature? They will vary significantly and the more information you give the better the answer. As at present you could be talking about anything about those three universities

I have no knowledge on any of those three unis but if you do want help it might be a good idea to say;
1. What you want to study/research area
2. What level masters/PhD
3. If you know who your supervisor would be what your thoughts are on the supervisor
4. If you have offers what is the funding situations/entry requirements
There is much more info you could give but that would be bare minimum you would need to give to even have a chance of helping.

Also, there generally isn't an overall better university, just a better option for your particular set of circumstances. So without giving us the circumstance, it is virtually impossible to help.

Hello,

I have just started a PhD in engineering in a UK university. Over the summer the department changed policy from all PhD students having a fixed desk to hot desking, so they are still figuring it out.

I have no issue with hotdesking except most of the desks are just a desk, monitor, keyboard and mouse, no actual computer. With the expectation that we bring a laptop. There are some high-end workstations available however priority is given for people doing high-end simulations. So if you want to work in a quiet area at university you need to lug your laptop (and mine is rather heavy) to and back from uni every day. Is it usual to have hot desks without workstations?

The students that started before September were provided with a laptop from a central fund. On my first day, the PhD coordinator said that all the new starts are getting laptops. However, it is becoming more likely (from many internal rumours) that if the new starts want a laptop it is coming out of their bench fees, as they dont have the money to give new starts a free laptop. Were the previous students just lucky to get free laptops? I know I can use my laptop in PhD hot desking area but I am without the full range of software that is on a university workstation/laptop. And using communal undergraduate workstations is possible, I lose the advantage of working with colleagues.

I dont see the point in giving previous students a free laptop, then not buying workstations and then expecting us to use bench fees for a laptop so we can effectively use the PhD hot desking area. They could have bought workstations with the laptop money and everything would be easier and fairer.

TL;DR Is it common for hotdesking areas to be without workstations and what is the laptop policy with bench fees for you?