Laptop suggestion for tween

[wdwlover25]

My DS9 would like a laptop for his 10th birthday. He definitely wants to play Minecraft (which i believe is driving this whole desire to have a laptop bc I won't load it on my PC) and various education games.

I'm open to anything but would like to stay under $500 if this is possible.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

 

[Christine]

The problem with most of the PC games is that, in order to run well, you need a pretty decent processor and video card. When my son was about 14, he also wanted to do the same thing and we bought him a $400-ish laptop (had an i3 processor) but didn't have all that much memory.

It was HORRIBLE for his games. Awful. It's fine just to just sit around and check e-mail, surf the net, etc, but anything like gaming, it doesn't really work.

They make computers specifically for gaming for that reason and they are very expensive. We do have an i7 laptop with a good amount of memory and it does just fine with his games but it was not under $500!

 

[Sparkly]

Most laptops aren't powerful enough in processor, memory and graphics for games unless you buy a gaming laptop which are very expensive or buy a PC designed for gaming- again, expensive unless you build your own.

I play some games on this laptop, but a lot don't run very well at all because I have a Intel GPU which is an integrated chip on the motherboard. Very few laptops below the £800 maybe price point will have dedicated graphics for gaming.

 

[wdwlover25]

Thank you for the info! Gaming is the number one priority at this time and would rather spend a little more than be disappointed with speed or graphics.

 

[dawnhaze]

For now, an inexpensive laptop should satisfy him if Minecraft and kids' games are all he plays. Grab something from a known manufacturer (Acer and Asus seem to be popular these days; I haven't bought a PC laptop in years though) that's on the top end of your budget and it should keep him happy for at least a couple of years. Minecraft will run on pretty basic system requirements.

Once he hits 12-13ish, I'd bet a good chunk of change he's going to want to play more and more graphically intense games and you'll be upgrading his laptop. The graphics card is a hugely important factor in a computer for a gamer, and most inexpensive laptops have what's called an "integrated" graphics card which isn't that good for complex games. Hardcore gamers are very attached to their desktop PCs for this reason - more room for beefy graphics cards, and you can swap them out to upgrade when the hot new technology comes out.

But hey, if he grows up to be a techie, you have many years of free technical support for the entire family in your future.

 

[skatalite]

A good, long-lasting gaming laptop will set you back over a grand, and you can't walk into a Best Buy or Office Max and buy one. They need to be ordered, because they're built-to-order.

I would recommend something like this, which is about $1,200: http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/Battalion_101_W370ST_Gaming_Laptop#

 

[ilovejack02]

We spent 499 plus tax on a dell from Walmart .. DS11 plays minecraft and a few other games, nothing fancy . Works great , we are going on two years with it now.

 

[maelstrom]

This is a GREAT time of year to get a great deal on a laptop. It's back to school time! I got my laptop 4 years ago this month, and it met or exceeded all of the requirements to play the new Wolfenstein (pretty hefty at the time). It was around $650 on sale at Best Buy... regular price nearly double that. NOW is the time.

 

[wdwlover25]

Thank you everyone for all your great comments! I was also thinking back to school time would offer the best sales!

 

[Swank]

For Minecraft he will not need a expensive Laptop. I bought my kids I3's and they are just fine. One note, sometimes when you run any game, it may run slow because it is not compatible with the most current operating system. So if it is running slow you can run it it compatibility mode. You will need to right click on the icon or program and go to properties, then choose a previous operating system and run.

I was able to get Minecraft and SIMS to run nicely on my daughters laptop.

I would not spend more the $500 bucks for a decent laptop which he/she can run Kid's games and do homework.

 

[Albort]

A good, long-lasting gaming laptop will set you back over a grand, and you can't walk into a Best Buy or Office Max and buy one. They need to be ordered, because they're built-to-order.

I would recommend something like this, which is about $1,200: http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/Battalion_101_W370ST_Gaming_Laptop#

woah, unless your planning to run some high end games like Battlefield 3 or Company of heroes, you dont need something that powerful for educational/ mincraft. I would suggest a desktop instead of a laptop, save a lot more money that way.

OP: for $500 is a pretty easy budget to hit, though i would suggest more for maybe an ultrabook. The best way to find deals is online.
i suggest looking here --> CLICK ON ME, IM THE LINK <-- Its a user based tech website where people can vote if the deal is good or not so u know for sure u will be getting a good deal so you dont have to worry about that. Sometimes, it does take time to get a very good deal. I get all my tech stuff through that website. Good luck!

 

[wdwlover25]

Thanks for that suggestion. We're really only talking Minecraft/school... nothing too complex at this point. I was thinking laptop over PC simply for wifi and portability.

Checked out Walmart and Target yesterday. The price range was approx $350-$600. Pretty basic systems... No one at either store really knew any more than I do which is minimal.

I'm hoping Best Buy will have a much wider selection and knowledge base!

 

[Albort]

Thanks for that suggestion. We're really only talking Minecraft/school... nothing too complex at this point. I was thinking laptop over PC simply for wifi and portability.

Checked out Walmart and Target yesterday. The price range was approx $350-$600. Pretty basic systems... No one at either store really knew any more than I do which is minimal.

I'm hoping Best Buy will have a much wider selection and knowledge base!

for good deals, id avoid best buy. They tend to be overpriced. do u have like a fry's electronics or microcenter?

 

[kwelch10377]

Thanks for that suggestion. We're really only talking Minecraft/school... nothing too complex at this point. I was thinking laptop over PC simply for wifi and portability.

Checked out Walmart and Target yesterday. The price range was approx $350-$600. Pretty basic systems... No one at either store really knew any more than I do which is minimal.

I'm hoping Best Buy will have a much wider selection and knowledge base!

You can try Staples too. They have a pretty good selection both in store and online and have a good amount of back to school deals right now.

 

[Carl]

Have you thought of a tablet? That might work for him for a few years. I checked, and Minecraft is available for tablets.

 

[wiigirl]

for good deals, id avoid best buy. They tend to be overpriced. do u have like a fry's electronics or microcenter?

 

[HonestAbe]

Minecraft has pretty low system specs. You could probably get away with a 500 dollar laptop for this purpose, especially considering minimum CPU is a P4 which you can't even buy!

Stick with ASUS, Lenovo, Dell, HP in that order.

Avoid Acer, Gateway.

I run multiple data centers and build computers, servers, manage networks, etc.. and am a hard core gamer.

 

[Swank]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834231087&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10440897&PID=404255&SID=323464_desktop


This is from Newegg, I have had good experiences with this online vendor.

$30 off with coupon code VME10BTS [Exp 8/26] = $340 with free shipping.

It is refurbished, I am not sure you are comfortable with this, personally I never had an issue with refurbished computers.

 

[HonestAbe]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834231087&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10440897&PID=404255&SID=323464_desktop


This is from Newegg, I have had good experiences with this online vendor.

$30 off with coupon code VME10BTS [Exp 8/26] = $340 with free shipping.

It is refurbished, I am not sure you are comfortable with this, personally I never had an issue with refurbished computers.

Thats actually a smoking deal!!

 

[skatalite]

woah, unless your planning to run some high end games like Battlefield 3 or Company of heroes, you dont need something that powerful for educational/ mincraft. I would suggest a desktop instead of a laptop, save a lot more money that way.

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