Laptop for 14 year old

-TangleFoot-

real1314 wrote: »

Or you can get them as low as £129 (maplin and aria both get this low) but the spec is obviously lower - smaller screen, less memory, run windows CE though which may be a bonus for some people over linux

How can that possibly be a good thing? You can get a refurbished Acer Aspire ONE for less!

macman

Netbooks lack an optical drive, the OP didn't mention gaming, but with a teenager it is likely that he'll need a DVD drive.

macman

real1314 wrote: »

The inspiron 15 at £299 is celeron based.

Have a look at the dells at tesco for £349, use quidco for 4% back (about £15) use a voucher code for at least £5 off (see the voucher board) and get clubcard points (maybe double points?) for another £3.50 (or more if you use deals). get delivery to a local store too.
Brings it down to £327 ish or less

I know-that's why I suggested that the OP spend another £50 or so to get a Core Duo laptop. But if it has to be £300 or less, and has to be new, the basic Dell will do the job.

-TangleFoot-

macman wrote: »

OP didn't mention gaming, but with a teenager it is likely that he'll need a DVD drive.

Not necessarily - many games can be obtained via the Internet these days.

cmm5

Thanks 2 all! My brain is pounding i've looked at that many websites .......and still no conclusion!! HELP!! Lol any more advice gratefully recieved.
Thanks

£$&*"($£&(

Forget the netbook - with their small screens these aren't really great as a main pc. You can pay £280 and get a laptop with a fairly weak processor (Celeron 550, Sempron SI-42) and you'll need to buy more RAM (you probably need to have 2gb). You can pay £300 and get a laptop with a low end but better processor (Celeron T1600) but will still need more RAM ( http://www.ebuyer.com/product/164881 ). Or you can spend £350 and get a laptop with a decent processor and enough RAM to begin with (for instance The Tesco Dell mentioned above).

pbryd

I'd avoid the small netbooks and stick to a 15" screen size unless you need the ultra portability of the smaller size.

My choice of processor would be an Intel Dual Core, personally I'd avoid AMD.

http://www.pcworld.co.uk have some atm.

Something like this

Phil

GunJack

to be honest, for the useage the OP described, I wouldn't go more than £200, and get a refurb for possibly £150-£180. Even if it last 2 yrs, it don't owe you anything, and something like this:-

http://www.bigpockets.co.uk/product.php?nav=&product=SOLV126&title=Dell+D420+Core+Duo+1.2+Ghz+Laptop+-+1.5Gb+-+60Gb+-+Wi+Fi+-+XP+Pro

http://www.bigpockets.co.uk/product.php?nav=&product=SOLV041&title=Dell+D610+Centrino+1.73Ghz+Laptop+-+1Gb+-+40GB+-+DVD-ROM%2FCDRW+-+Wi+Fi+-+XP+Pro

http://www.bigpockets.co.uk/product.php?nav=&product=SOLV006&title=IBM+Thinkpad+T41+Laptop+Centrino+1.4Ghz+-+512Mb+-+30Gb+-+DVD-ROM+-+WiFi+-+14.1+inch+TFT+-+Win+XP+Pro

would get my vote (with an external optical drive for the first (£15ish) or with extra 512Mb RAM (£15 ish) in the last one). I got T41s for my kids for xmas, rugged, perform well, and legendary build quality.

Best compromise would be the middle one, no need for extras, all-in £185 bargain

davetrousers

What about accessing internet !!!!!!?

inmypocketnottheirs

davetrousers wrote: »

What about accessing internet !!!!!!?

The first thing that concerned me with a 14 year old having a laptop, probably on a wireless connection in his bedroom!!

Make sure you get some parental controls set up. If you get a machine with Vista, then there are parental controls included that can be set up.