Laptop recommendations for 11 year old please?

Werdnal

My son has just started Secondary school, and we are thinking of getting him a new laptop for Christmas. He currently borrows mine, which is getting on a bit and I occasionally get the "blue screen of death" when I try to start up, so hopefully I can nurse mine on a bit longer, if he uses his own.

He needs internet to log onto the school network for homework etc. Will need to do coursework, store photos, and envitably play online games too.

Looking for some advice please on a good spec, and any deals that might be around at the moment. I have seen some packages being offered on the online shopping channels and often wonder whether they are as good a deal as they seem - any comments here? Also, am I better getting something from an online type "superstore" or are the high street retailers better? I got my Acer from a Laptop website and never had a problem with it, but can imagine it being a nightmare if anything did go wrong and we had to send it back under guarantee, rather than just take it back to a local shop.

Also, what operating system should we look for? I'm still a dinosaur using WinXP, but guess thats pretty old hat now. Heard bad stuff about Vista, so where do we go now?

Sorry for all the thick questions. Any advice appreciated, Thank you


PS, sorry should add that budget is £300'ish, maybe stretch a bit more if the grandparents chip in!

TakeThis

Werdnal wrote: »

My son has just started Secondary school, and we are thinking of getting him a new laptop for Christmas. He currently borrows mine, which is getting on a bit and I occasionally get the "blue screen of death" when I try to start up, so hopefully I can nurse mine on a bit longer, if he uses his own.

He needs internet to log onto the school network for homework etc. Will need to do coursework, store photos, and envitably play online games too.

Looking for some advice please on a good spec, and any deals that might be around at the moment. I have seen some packages being offered on the online shopping channels and often wonder whether they are as good a deal as they seem - any comments here? Also, am I better getting something from an online type "superstore" or are the high street retailers better? I got my Acer from a Laptop website and never had a problem with it, but can imagine it being a nightmare if anything did go wrong and we had to send it back under guarantee, rather than just take it back to a local shop.

Also, what operating system should we look for? I'm still a dinosaur using WinXP, but guess thats pretty old hat now. Heard bad stuff about Vista, so where do we go now?

Sorry for all the thick questions. Any advice appreciated, Thank you

This Fujitsu covers most bases.

What is your budget? Otherwise you can pick up a cheap ACER and purchase a three year extended warranty for £30. Perhaps a good idea where an eleven year old is involved.

MoneySavingUser

Most new laptops will come with Windows 7 - get that

Any processor will do these days for normal tasks (though a dual-core/i3/5 and gaming) might be better for the long run - I'd recommend getting something like 3GB of RAM or more and a decent hard drive (will be nice in the long run) - but if there is a choice between a 320GB HD and a 500GB one and the latter is £50 more go for the cheaper one - as you can get cheap external drives which work out cheaper

I usually buy online and have gotten my last 2 laptops from dabs.com as they tend to have deals on

However a lot of the offline stores will price match these days (and if you used i.e. tesco you might get clubcard deals etc.)

There are lots of deals around but a quick look has suggested this: http://www.dabs.com/products/asus-k52f-ex635v-i3-370-3gb-320gb-dvdsm-15-6-w7hp-7LL4.html

i3 processor, 3GB ram , 320gb hd space and less than £350

But there are of course lots of other deals around so look on different websites and compare

edit: that Fujitsu looks quite nice too - still a good processor but more hd and extra ram

edit2: I assume you mean he will connect to the school network from home?

I wouldn't recommend allowing him to take it to school (I expect they provide computers there anyway) as he might damage it etc.

neilwoods

As said, best place to start with is your Budget.

That Fujitsu is ok, processor is pants though. When you say games, do you mean some of the latest first person shooter, or facebook games. May need to budget in the programs the schoolwork will be done on, such as Microsoft office or use a version similar to Office (libreoffice)

High street is good for being to see the laptop first, sometimes quicker to deal with should any problem occur (depending where you go to that is). But for price not the best place to go.

So online will be best for price

ChadMan

i think it would be good if you could ask yourself "if i was 11 what would i like" then go from there. you might come up on ideas for what you need or dont need to help save you mony

TakeThis

neilwoods wrote: »

As said, best place to start with is your Budget.

That Fujitsu is ok, processor is pants though. When you say games, do you mean some of the latest first person shooter, or facebook games. May need to budget in the programs the schoolwork will be done on, such as Microsoft office or use a version similar to Office (libreoffice)

High street is good for being to see the laptop first, sometimes quicker to deal with should any problem occur (depending where you go to that is). But for price not the best place to go.

So online will be best for price

Please refrain from posting nonsense about the processor.... P6200 has a CPU benchmark of 1630.

penrhyn

Windows 7 comes with new PCs, its more user friendly than Window Vista, I don't like that.

Sheldon Cooper.

TakeThis

There is also this MSI CR630 with it's utterly pointless BluRay player for £230.

mum2one

Dell has some pretty good deals, the Inspiron 15 starts at £279, good level entry price.

I've got to get another laptop as mine is literally on its last legs, and whereas last time I spent £600+ this time the budget is bare minimum, got student grant £265 (mature student with Ou), so when get few more quid, it will be a Dell.

My DD shes 9, she had her laptop 2 yrs ago, joint family prezzie, she has a Dell Inspiron and manages brilliantly with it.

I'm not technically Savvy, but have found Dell to be ok, I've had netbook, old laptop (freebie 4 yrs ago), DD got Dell. Lot better than the Toshiba I originally had.

I wouldn't go for a netbook, as theres no cd section, smaller memories, I tend to use my netbook for when I on hol or a catch up on everything, xx

closed

if last legs means slow, look at the sticky threads, a hijackthis log might also help the op with bsod's

globalds

11 years old ...The world is his oyster.

If you have a budget of £700 it is a much bigger oyster than a £350 budget.

Tell us what you have to spend and we will show you the best bang for your buck.

At 11 I would have loved a machine that did whatever I wanted it to do.

Tell us your budget and we will show you your limits.