Hello, I'm about to start my PhD at ETH Zurich. The person taking care of my arrival there has been unable to find any places to stay for me (understandably so, from this forum it seems like it is insanely hard to find accomodation in Zurich), so she has suggested Maximilaneum Hostel.

http://www.maximilianeum.ch/english/

Has anyone heard of this or stayed there?

I've NEVER stayed in a hostel before and I've travelled a lot in Europe (UK, Spain, France, Italy, Austria...), and I've always stayed in (small) hotels. Is a hostel safe? I've always heard horror stories. Can I bring my laptop with me? What a nightmare.

Switzerland is very safe, and yes your laptop will work here provided you acquire a Swiss plug to the laptop's power adapter.

Hostels

Search the Uni Market Place for student needs as well as shared lodging here. Use Google Translate if required.

Power Plugs

Oh yeah, I know about the plugs, I have a European one as well as an UK one I was more concerned about it being stolen in a hostel...

I've had a look at that Uni housing website and using google translate is fine, but once I need to contact the person I am unfortunately stuck asking "Sprechen Sie Englisch.." etc because it's still very hard for me to form sentences in German, although I'm trying I've got no replies from anyone from that site so far

Use" Sprechen Sie auch Englisch ? " - most will oblige you. Hostels are safe as well.