Teenager and laptop

daisiegg

Would you expect items like phone, laptop etc to just be bought for a teenager, or would you expect them to be given as a Christmas/birthday present?

aliasojo

Depends on need.

No need...then Xmas/birthday present.

Need..... (laptop for schoolwork or some other 'real' situation for example) then bought at other time.

tea_lover

Present, imo. But possibly with a bit of leeway on timing if necessary. My niece has just started high school and will be getting a laptop for christmas from all of us. She'll be getting it before then as she does need it for homework, but she fully understands that come christmas day she won't really be getting anything else (a few stocking fillers maybe).

2gorgeousgirls

Phones have always been bought as birthday/Christmas presents.

I bought my daughter a laptop when she was starting grammar school for homework. I didn't want her hogging the home computer!

My other daughter starts big school next year so will likely get one then too.

Spendless

It depends. On Christmas Day last year son's xbox broke! A few days later so did our PC, neither financially viable to repair, so we bought a (refurbished) gaming computer, as I also use the pc and haven't replaced the xbox.

74jax

If it was around christmas/brithday time then i'd probably tie it in with that, but if not I'd buy them anyway.

lostinrates

I think it depends on lots of things.

I certainly don't think its an essential but in a separated family a daily five minute Skype chat could make a huge difference to a teens life I'd probably consider it money well spent. If that's a bigger income family I'd probably give it as a gift in the year of wanted lr needed but then not give something OTT at Christmas or birthday. But I'm not a fan of 'huge' Christmas and birthday gifts, and would rather give moderate gifts at those times and a gift 'because' of hard work or love or ability when I could.

angelil

I wouldn't buy a child a laptop at all (can't see why they need one before 6th form) but that's for a whole other thread

If they really 'need' these items, then I'd get them for birthdays/Christmas - although perhaps, as said above, with a little leeway on timing depending on the situation.

tyllwyd

I think it depends on timing as much as anything (if they need something in July, it might be too long to wait until a November birthday, say) - with something like a laptop, it might be nice to tie it into a good end-of-year report or something similar.

One thing I would say is that with high-tec things like that, your rights as a consumer are much stronger in the first few days after you receive the item, so I would never buy something weeks in advance and then just wrap it up and leave it in a cupboard - if there is a problem, you need to find out asap.

daisiegg

angelil wrote: »

I wouldn't buy a child a laptop at all (can't see why they need one before 6th form) but that's for a whole other thread

.

No, nor would I, but the teenager in question is in sixth form.

Toto

I've always given them as Christmas/birthday gifts. The laptops have been given as a gift before the need arises. So, a birthday in April got the laptop ready for the September school/homework need. This way it saves a big random spend in September.