Do we need a gaming laptop?

Legette

My 9 year old son has a very old, and now very battered HP laptop that came to us as a castoff from my husband's work. It's taken a heck of a beating; it's been dropped frequently off the sofa and even once down a flight of stairs. It's a miracle it actually still works! However, the charging point is bent and misshapen, meaning you have to get the cable in just the right position for it to charge, and the panel on the back of the screen is now coming away and bent. It is also very slow, runs Windows 7 and probably has a lot of rubbish on it he's downloaded along the way.

I'm thinking ahead and planning on getting him a new one from Santa. He likes to play Simsig, Football Manager and Cricket Manager (strategy games rather than action games). Do we actually need to buy a gaming laptop for these kinds of games, given that they don't seem very graphics heavy?

Thanks

wongataa

You won't need a gaming laptop for those.

Legette

Great news! saves us a few pennies. Is there anything i should look for, or will just a bog standard jobbie from the likes of PC World do the job? Don't want to spend an absolute fortune in case there's another stairs incident

Carrot007

The bottom spec ones have trouble with turning on ;-)


A ryzen 5 should do fine though. (The AMD haters will come along soon but it is the better value for low end gaming).

ToxicWomble

Personally I wouldn’t spend too much money on it for him.
He obviously doesn’t look after it very well if it’s been dropped as many times as you say. He needs to learn the value of things.
Get him to pay for half so at least he will have some financial interest in looking after it.

stragglebod

Get a reconditioned Lenovo Thinkpad. They're aimed at business users so are built to be beaten up, and there's a steady stream of reconditioned ones available as companies upgrade their entire systems.

Legette

That sounds perfect. Is there anywhere you recommend looking for these? It’s been literally decades since I’ve bought a laptop.

EveryWhere

Here are some inexpensive examples; https://www.gigarefurb.co.uk/refurbished-laptops?dir=asc&order=price

We can talk you through fitting an inexpensive solid state drive.

Legette

Thanks Everywhere. I think I once had a Think Pad in a previous job and it seemed fine. I'll purchase one then be back in touch for instructions (I have zero technical skills) on how to fit a SSD. At least I have an inkling of what one of those is!

EveryWhere

Legette wrote: »

Thanks Everywhere. I think I once had a Think Pad in a previous job and it seemed fine. I'll purchase one then be back in touch for instructions (I have zero technical skills) on how to fit a SSD. At least I have an inkling of what one of those is!

Perhaps ask about the one that you are considering before purchase. There may be someone here who has had some experience with a particular model.

Something like this is good value; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Touch-Screen-Dell-Latitude-E7240-Core-i5-4310U-Laptop-8GB-128GB-SSD-FHD-Win-10/312656528949

Unfortunate is the peeling of the bezel. But it has a Full HD Touchscreen. Though of course no warranty. An example, rather than a suggestion.

GunJack

ToxicWomble wrote: »

Get him to pay for half so at least he will have some financial interest in looking after it.

The kid's 9 fgs!! How's a 9-y-o going to come up with half the money for a laptop???

He'll be washing up for many years past the life of the lappy :rotfl: