A Laptop for my son

chrisco_3

Hi

Im wanting to buy a laptop for my son for xmas, but i have absolutely no idea what to get or what is good. If any of you could help it would be greatly appreciated.

He is wanting to play games on it and our computer at home wont play the some of the games he's got, i guess its not powerful enough. Ive pasted the games spec below so you have an idea of what the laptop needs -

Windows 98/ME/2000/XP (Windows 2000 with Service Pack 3, Windows XP with Service Pack 1 or later)
Celeron 1.2 GHz or AMD Athlon 1.2 GHz
256 MB RAM
2 GB free hard disk space
DirectX 8.1 compatible audio support
Minimum graphics card: nVidia GeForce 2 (MX 200/400 not supported) with 32 MB or ATI Radeon 8500 with 64 MB, with Microsoft DirectX 9 driver installed
Recommended graphics card: nVidia GeForce 4 Ti (not MX) with 128 MB, ATI Radeon 9500 with 128 MB, with Microsoft DirectX 9 driver installed

Obviously i want to spend as little as possible, does anybody have any idea of what I should be looking at?

Thanks

Chris

albertross_2

is a desktop a no no (better for games, and cheaper/easier to upgrade).

what is your ideal, and max budget?

chrisco_3

He says he wants a laptop, Im not really sure what I want to spend, as long as it matches those games specs then the cheapest, thats what ive been told!!

Chris

rjm2k1

Difficult to advise, the specs you pasted are not particularly high, but with laptops you get what you pay for and they can't really be upgraded. I recently bought a toshiba laptop for just under 500 quid, i assume that would be too expensive. You could go for a less well known brand, but you really need to be careful with graphics card specs etc. Personally, I wouldn't touch a laptop which costs less than 350 quid and at that price I would have to be very sure of what I was getting. Laptops don't tend to be used for games, though of course they can be.

crompton

how old is he?

JohnR

PC world will be doing a laptop for £199 this xmas - I think this is going to be in the sale which starts Boxing Day. The spec will be fairly minimal at that price point, 256Mb RAM and 14" screen most likely. It will be fine for basic stuff and internet, though.

Hillfly

How do you know about the pcworld sale laptop?

organic_wanabe

I also have a son who wants one for Christmas and we had a look around PC World yesterday. The member of staff I spoke to said, for games to be played on it, it would be advisable to spend no less than £350. However, I have always used Dell in the past and would prefer to use them again. I am willing to spend £500 and my son would pay any extra required (from his paper-round savings) to get a good system. Can anyone make any recommendations?

(Apologies for butting in on this - but it seemed a bit silly to start a new thread.)

Sweetchuck

It's the recommended 128MB graphics card which will send the price of this laptop soaring, I'm afraid. Good gaming laptops are hugely expensive, and unless you're prepared to spend £500+ it's unlikely you'll get one which could cope with the latest games.

If you gave us more of an idea about your likely budget, I'm sure we could come up with some decent recommendations.

Browntoa

this in Dell £510 if you drop the service to 90 day collect and return (still 12 months warranty) and upgrade the battery to 8 cell

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?b=&c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&oc=N11157&rbc=N11157&s=dhs&sbc=ukdhsftdppnotebook1

Components AMD® Turion 64 X2 Mobile Technology TL50

Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 (incl Operating System Re-Installation CD)

Basic Package, 2 Year At-Home Service

15.4" Wide Screen XGA TFT Display: 1280x800

1024MB 533MHz Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM (1x1024)

ATI Radeon® Xpress 1150 256MB HyperMemory™

80GB (5,400rpm) Hard Drive

Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including Software

6 Cell, 56Whr Lithium Ion Primary Battery

Accessories
Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g 54Mbps Wireless Mini Card18

No Carry Case

Services & Software Free - Upgrade to McAfee® Security Centre™ 36-month Protection

Microsoft® Works 8.5 - English

Network Assist - 90 Day Trial

No Photo Organising & Sharing Software/No Photo Editing Software

Also Includes
Internal Keyboard - (QWERTY) - UK/Ireland
List N11157- DHS 1501 (3)
Inspiron Order - UK
System Documentation
English - Adobe Reader 8.5.8
65W AC Adapter
56.6k V.92 Capable Internal Modem & Adapter
Collect & Return, 90 Days Service only
Save £30 inc VAT
Dell Internet Order.
Memory Upgrade from 512MB to 1024MB
Resource CD- Contains Diagnostics and Drivers

David_B_2

Well now is the right time (as well as january sales) because everybody is selling laptops. As advised above PCworld and most others (comet, curry's etc) are selling good spec's and I'm guessing good enough for your son's needs. I don't think you'll go far wrong by taking a visit for PCworld, comet and ask then to meet your spec and then play then off each other if you want a discount. Or of course by online with codes and cash back sites.

Most I've seen better your spec for about £350/450 and even less.