LAPTOP Purchase help

[BaldGuy]

Guys n Gals,

I know there is a huge amount of expertise on this subject on this forum...

What I need is a laptop for my 11 year old son that mainly plays online games... so it has to be quick, decent amount of RAM... Now i have no idea as to what it means when they say dual core quad core etc etc

I only have 300 quid to spend and have found this at PC World..

Laptops from PC World - Get Laptops online here

Any good or any other that I should look at...

Cheers Greg

 

[Alex]

Greg hi,

In a word, don't. Up your budget and get a model with a quality screen that won't ruin his sight. Your son will thank you few years down the line.

Apple, Sony, Lenovo Thinkpad are a good start.

 

[A210AMG]

Hello

Maybe silly but why does he need a laptop to play online games? Generally at this price point laptops with have shared graphics and not be 'that' good at games even though the spec may seem ok.

John Lewis had a Toshiba SP 15.4" Intel i3, 6gb Ram, 320GB H?D and 2 yr warranty for £349. Good spec, cheap but not a gaming machine?

Would he not be better with a xbox and online subscription & a laptop (netbook) if needs be for school work etc. Both probably around £350

 

[markjay]

A few guidelines for spec:

1. Intel's current range of processors is i3, i5, and i7. Within each range the processors are available in different speeds (GHz).

For this budget, you are likely to find only laptops with the basic i3 processors, though you can opt for i3 with the highest GHz rating you can find within this budget.


2. As for RAM, 4gb would be good, not less.


3. Hard disk capacity, 320gb is absolute minimum especially if he is into gaming, 500gb good, 640gb very nice. For the budget you'll get 320gb, or with a bit of luck 500gb.

Hard drive speed, some are 5400rpm and other 7200rpm. The 7200rpm are faster but also more power hungry (i.e. shorter battery life), and at any rate I think that within your budget the hard drives will all be 5400rpm anyway.


4. In general, prefer brand names due to availability of parts and repairs. And at any rate branded laptops these days - from HP/Compaq, Acer, Samsung etc - can be had for very little money, so no need to scrap the bottom of the barrel.


HTH

 

[wemorgan]

Not the latest or fastest processors, but they near to your budget

Dell XPS M1530 Laptop T6400 2.0Ghz 4.0GB RAM 320GB HDD Black

Dell Studio 15 1537 Laptop P8600 2.4Ghz 4.0GB RAM 250GB HDD Blue

Dell Studio 15 1537 Laptop P8600 2.4Ghz 4.0GB RAM 250GB HDD Blue

Dell Inspiron 15R N5010 Laptop 370M 2.4Ghz 3.0GB RAM 320GB HDD Black

Dell Inspiron 15R M5010 Laptop P360 2.3Ghz 4.0GB RAM 500GB HDD Black

 

[neilz]

Refurbished Laptops - Cheapest Used Laptops from StudentComputers

 

[Sp!ke]

you want a gaming laptop for £300?

Gaming is the single biggest requirement there is and a mid range gaming PC will cost £1500 a gaming laptop probably more but will still suck as gaming shouldnt be done on a laptop.

A top end gaming PC is upwards of £10k.

 

[Benzowner]

Laptops

I use these people for my home PC's. The prices are all plus VAT though, worth a look.

 

[wemorgan]

you want a gaming laptop for £300?

Gaming is the single biggest requirement there is and a mid range gaming PC will cost £1500 a gaming laptop probably more but will still suck as gaming shouldnt be done on a laptop.

A top end gaming PC is upwards of £10k.

Are online games as demanding as that? I thought the above was more for locally installed games.

 

[dulayj]

if gaming is essential you need to make sure it has a standalone graphics card either AMD or Nvidia otherwise it wont cope with gaming

 

[Sp!ke]

Are online games as demanding as that? I thought the above was more for locally installed games.

He'll last aboput 5 minutes on the online gaming sites before wanting to play something proper.

BTW, virus writers are actively targetting childrens gaming sites now due to better hit rates. You might find you spend each evening cleaning viruses for him. Be warned.

 

[John]

It does depend what the 'online game' is as that is a broad term.

I play Call of Duty MW3 online, and that requires a fast machine to run COD on.

I would not recommend buying a notebook/laptop for gaming - they are for portability really and as said, you will pay a lot more pro-rata for a gaming laptop than PC.

You are better off with a gaming console (like a PS3 or XBOX360 - as you can take this somewhere), and a cheaper laptop for the other requirements than gaming, if there are any.

If funds don't allow, I'd wait until they do or consider second hand etc.

 

[neilz]

Or for <£400 build your own gaming-standard desktop as my son did (not for gaming, for me!)

 

[BaldGuy]

Thanks all... I've just bought one of these....

Buy Toshiba Satellite C660-23M Laptop, Intel Core i3, 2.4GHz, 6GB RAM, 640GB, 15.6", Black online at JohnLewis.com

Cheers......

 

[neilz]

I'm not sure the processor on that is anywhere near gaming standards and from the comments it looks to run a bit hot, but a very good price for it!

 

[d w124]

BTW, virus writers are actively targetting childrens gaming sites now due to better hit rates. You might find you spend each evening cleaning viruses for him. Be warned.

Tell me about it

 

[Rich27]

Thanks all... I've just bought one of these....

Buy Toshiba Satellite C660-23M Laptop, Intel Core i3, 2.4GHz, 6GB RAM, 640GB, 15.6", Black online at JohnLewis.com

Cheers......

Thats exactly what i am typing this on now, but mine is red.
They are OK but the case is a crappy plastic and so is the keyboard.
Another gripe is that when using it for some reason it can make the screen jump up or down, which is bloody annoying when I am trying to beat the wifes Bejeweled Blitz score.