Is this laptop any good

iammumtoone

I am looking for a laptop for my seven year old, he will use his Christmas money and I will top it up a bit, budget is as cheap as possible (I will also be using it as and when I can get my hands on it :rotfl:)

Will this be any good
http://www.dell.com/uk/p/inspiron-15-3531-laptop/pd?oc=cn53105

I realise for the price it is not going to be great I don't expect it to be super fast but worry that it will be so slow it will be unusable.

It needs to be able to cope with web browsing and online games suitable for seven years olds. He would also like to play minecraft, will it play at all on this spec? it doesn't need to play perfectly just enough to satisfy a seven year old. If not its not too much of a problem he has it on an xbox.

Thanks

mwddrwg

Hi. Just had a look at the link you posted and here's what I think anyway... processor is a Celeron and is therefore not among the latest i3/i5/i7 models that Intel brought out in the past few years. I'm guessing that it would therefore be slow, even with 4GB of RAM. Would probably be fine for general browsing and office work and web-based games for kids would probably work fine too.

Integrated graphics is not good when considering Minecraft for a laptop in my experience of trying to run it on a laptop with an Intel i3 processor and 3GB of RAM (probably needs more RAM to stand a chance), although others seem to have more luck with similar spec. A seperate graphics card in the laptop would be ideal but pricey.

iammumtoone

Thanks i did think minecraft would be a step too far. I will forget about that aspect as the amount I would have to pay for a laptop to make it work is not worth it, he is seven he will have to make do with minecraft on the xbox.

Just looking now for opinions on even thought it will be slow will it still be usable? or will it be that slow it will cause frustration and not get used as it will take too long to load pages etc.

Thanks

NiftyDigits

Look here..

iammumtoone

Thank you.

I have read the article and ordered one :eek: (really not sure about windows 8)

I think it will be fine, not sure if it would be suitable to have as the only computer in the house (we also have a desktop) but as an extra one, it seems good value. It will not be used for multitasking or picture editing all that can be done on the desktop. To be used to browse the web whilst sitting on the sofa and for ds to play the odd online game and do homework I think it will be ideal. If not it can go back!

I will be back for help on how to uninstall all the unnecessary programs it will come loaded with to try to make it as fast as possible.

goodmorningsunshine

Just saw this on tescos sale.

7 inch tablet with windows 8.1 and office 365 personal 32gb WiFi,if its just as a second one for the couch.

Oh, forgot to mention 59.00 quid in their sale.