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Help with recommendation of Laptop for child's Christmas present

  • 11-11-2006 12:37pm
    #1
    pzurdo
    Closed Accounts Posts: 34 ✭


    Hi, I'd appreciate a little guidance with the above query as I'm buying a laptop for my 12 year old for Christmas and would like a little direction on what I should go for. It will largely be used in the home for searching the net, homework, the odd game (ps2 largely used for this), and so on. Ideally, I'd like something durable, reasonably powerful (I suppose not over specified given relatively modest domestic requirements) and reliable.

    So far I had looked at the Dell Inspiron 1501 or COMPAQ C350EA from PC World - link below: (http://www.pcworld.ie/products.aspx?range_rid=56&image=Compaq).
    Any thoughts and thanks for any assistance provided.


Comments

  • #2
    thebman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,012 ✭✭✭✭thebman


    Well if you want to play games it'll drive up the costs considerably. Probably the most intensive thing you can do and is particularly expensive in a laptop and they become obsolete fast as the latest games requirements increase rapidly.

    For under a 1000 Euro, you'll probably not be able to play the latest games very well in a laptop.

    It should be noted that the latest consoles are coming out in the next few months (Nintendo's on 8th December, PS3 in March 2007, Xbox 360 already available) so your child will likely want one of those. Given he/she has a PS2, they'll likely want a PS3. This will retail for 630 Euro so take this into account and might want to talk to your child about it. Xbox 360 is 400 Euro and Nintendo's is 280 Euro.

    I'd suggest maybe seeing are they going to want the latest games console and if so then go with a reasonable priced laptop with integrated graphics as it'll only really be used for school work. If your child likes Pc games then Xbox 360 is a good console choice as it is Microsofts console.

    Basically I'm saying your wallet is about to take a beating if your child likes games so a budget laptop for school is probably a better option than a gaming laptop. Consoles last about 5 years before you have to buy a new one to play games, a 900 Euro laptop will stop being able to play games in about a year.


  • #3
    pzurdo
    Closed Accounts Posts: 34 ✭pzurdo


    Brim,

    Good advice. Let's go conservative and await the inevitable request for a games console.

    Many thanks.


  • #4
    ambro25
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,994 ✭✭✭ambro25


    I've just completed a 2-weeks assignment (;)) with the exact same situation for my brother in law. I have a quite history of buying and selling lappies on eBay (UK).

    He wanted a laptop for his elder for Xmas, who has a PS2 and is only moderately into games (Age of Empires II/III), so the requirements were really: office-type applications, Web browsing, enough graphical grunt to run Age of Empires II and -say- Counterstrike 1.6 (4/5 year old games), good battery.

    I managed to bag him a Samsung VM8000 for under €175 on eBay: celeron 900, 256 RAM, 20GB HDD, good battery, DVD drive, OS/Office/PowerDVD and mint condition. DVD playback was one he hadn't factored in, but which I thought would come handy for a 12/13 year old ;) That will do the trick nicely for at least 2-3 years (or sooner if he becomes a PC gamer :D )

    Follow what brim4brim posted: for the intended use *and especially if you kid will want and get a next-gen console this Xmas and/or soon after* you don't need any Core Duo or multi-Ghz Celerons or Turions processors and what-have-you.

    Depending on your budget, and the following from (long) eBay experience:

    €200 to €300: I'd track a Dell C600/C800 (PIII up to 1,2Ghz) or a Dell C400 (PIII 866Mhz, ultrathin). Built like brick ****houses, batteries usually very good on these even years on, and cheap to replace anyway - as well as cheap additional modules (DVD, CDRW, Combo, modular battery etc.).

    €300 to €400: I'd track an early-generation Dell D400 or D600 Centrino ("Pentium M") 1,4 or any IBM thinkpad PIII up to 1,2Ghz.

    €400 to €500: follow Dell D600s with better specs (higher CPU clock speed/more RAM), and IBM with entry-level Centrinos.

    Over €500 - buy a new, entry-level laptop (Celeron-M) from PC world or Dell or wherever.

    Bear in mind that it's coming uo to Xmas, so eBay lappie prices will now start to inflate beyond the norm, and there might be more cons than usual - so beware.

    My €0,02 and good luck with it :)


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