need to buy 2 cheap laptops

geordielass

I want to buy two laptops for xmas presents and despite reading all the posts about 'which laptop to buy' etc I find I am still confused as to what specifications will be needed.
They will be used for playing games,football manager etc,chatting on MSN and doing senior school homework.I would just like to know what to look out for when searching for them,like the memory,graphics and battery life etc and I want it to be wireless.All those letters and numbers are confusing to one who is not techie at all.
I know I'm not going to get a supa-dupa laptop for £300 (my budget) but I don't want two moaning teenagers complaining that they can't do this and that on it so I just want to be a bit more clued up before I buy.
thanks

other

its unlikely that they will be able to play 3D games on a laptop under £300 because at this price they will almost all have integrated graphics and not a dedicated graphics card. unfortuneately, you cannot upgrade the graphics (say next christmas) on a laptop, so depending on the games required, £300 may not be enough.

champ manager would appreciate 512MB or even 1GB of RAM.

Mizz_Pink

Look at acernotebooks website and tesco, all laptops are wirless these days.

Gaming causes problems, especially Simms 2 etc, as the previous poster said u cant really upgrade graphics card on laptops. The worse thing is is to buy one and then they cant play the game on it. Also be aware that although the games say "need a machine of this spec", which is normally quite low, the game wont run properly and cause the pc to crash.

Is a tower system not appropriate ? You can get more for your money and a wireless card can be put in cheaply if they dont come with one ?
Dell have good deals at the mo.

geordielass

thanks for your quick replies,it's much appreciated.
I may have to rethink my budget if £300 won't be enough to buy one with suitable graphics.Aaarrgggh.
I need laptops because there's of a space problem and they will want to use them in their bedrooms so they will have to be portable.
That's the thing I'm most worried about mizz_pink,that I'll by them and they can't play the games on them then they will have been a waste of money.

Mizz_Pink

Your right,

when simms 2 came out hubby was so busy upgrading graphics cards and installing extra memory!

Have just spoken to hubby and he said the problem is the gaming industry moves on so fast you need to be able to upgrade your pc every 6 months or so. He said laptops arnt suitable for gaming.

They need to to rethink the no space dilemma and go for a tower.