What Is The Best Laptop For My Grandson Please?

[sebhfhion]

I bought my grandson an HP laptop about 4 years ago and its on the way out. It turns itself off while he's playing games and I've been told its overheating which is a fault on this particular model and it will eventually go 'bang'. I would like to purchase a new one for his birthday so would be grateful for suggestions of which would be the most suitable. My budget is under £500 and he will be using it for homework (about 5% lol!) and gaming, mainly sims and roblocks. I'm hoping some Techie can give me advice before I head to PC World and get bombarded and buy something the salesperson needs to flog. Thankyou in advance ;-)

[daffy654]

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Asus_BLACK_-_INTEL_CORE_i5-3230M_4GB_500GB_NVIDIA_610M_2GB_DEDICATED_GRAPHI_K55VD-SX696H/version.asp

I was looking at this one recently but couldn't get the money together for it due to oh's car needing work.

[WyeDyed]

http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/bestsellers?gclid=CMvx3deplbcCFabLtAodBxQAJQ
The above website has some excellent deals. You can also search by specific criteria (ie Manufacturer, screen size and specific features)
You'll want one with a decent graphics processor for the gaming.

[daffy654]

If he wants a gaming laptop you need to get one with dedicated graphics, the list that WyeDyed has shown you only has one that fits that criteria.

[sebhfhion]

wyedyed : thank you so much for the link but I need really basic advice . what size screen? what is a graphics card? have no idea what giggy wotts or whatever I need, you are dealing with a child of the Sixties (me), think Computer illiterate double it and divide by the number you first thought of ;-) If Grandson got his way he would have an Apple Mac jobbie and I would not have any change out of about £1500 -I need to pretend to him i know what I'm taking about ;-)

[sunny-dave]

I agree with Daffy (as usual) :+)

I can personally recommend the store she has linked to (it's just up the road from me & they are nice people as well as having very good prices).

There are a selection of laptops in your price range (all with dedicated graphics) - I might go for the Lenovo Z580 myself, but that's just a personal preference

http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/products/finder/FFE00000-04000000-00000000-20000000

[sunny-dave]

Basic Spec :

Minimum 4gb of RAM

Intel i5 processor chip

Separate graphics card (not 'integrated graphics')

Minimum 500Gb hard drive

15.6" screen

[VHG]

Laptops are not the best for gaming due to heating problems (all games cause computers to run hot and laptops cant deal with the heat)

Either get him a dedicated game machine (PS3 or XBox etc).

Or buy a desktop PC.

[WyeDyed]

Agreeing with the above suggestions but, make sure that it has a CD Drive (DVD / optical drive)
The lenovo that SD suggested does not.
It's not a huge issue, but you will need an external one it he wants to use it to load games (around £15.00)

[WyeDyed]

VHG, I know what you're saying but if the lad is happy with a laptop and want's to do other than gaming (ie Homework) why shouldn't he stick with a laptop?

[ChuckFickens]

Unless he's desperate then I'd hold off buying anything for a couple of months, Intel's next generation of CPUs is due to be released in June and once that's released there will be an inevitable drop in prices on laptops with the current 3rd generation of CPUs

The main performance increase between the generations is the graphics processing power built onto the chip but as you're looking at laptops that have a separate graphics chip there is very little downside to getting a 3rd gen chip instead of the 4th gen when they come out.

[sunny-dave]

It was the Z580 I was mentioning Wye - towards the bottom of the list - & it does have a DVD drive

http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Lenovo_Z580_1292735.html

.. and is good for homework - which an eggsbox is not :)

[WyeDyed]

Good point Chuck.
Apologies Sunny Dave but still a point to bear in mind when choosing.

[sebhfhion]

Thank you for all your replies, i've just come in from the garden for lunch so have just seen them. He would prefer a laptop because he brings it with him here when he comes to stay, to play games with his friends online. He can do this at home from the tv x box but apparently talks to his friends on skype as well. As it looks like rain this pm I will have time to look at these links, I can wait until July as this is when his birthday is so if there are any bargains I can wait.

[daffy654]

One other thing I would try and avoid on any laptop is a glossy screen, they can make it very hard to play games in outdoor or well lit places due to reflection on the screen. Unfortunately the one fender just linked to has a glossy screen, otherwise it is a great laptop.

[Wak]

Seb, while you are deciding which to buy for the lad, you could try and clean the fan in the existing laptop which could help to keep it cooler and probably run better?
http://www.computertipsfree.com/how-to-clean-laptop-fan/

[AB Editor]

The only deviation from the good advice posted here is that, sometimes, a quicker HD is better than a bigger one. So if the choice is 1TB of normal hardrive space vs 256 of SSD hardrive space, I would go for the latter, it makes a great difference.

Although, if he can hold on then Chuck's advice would be a good bet.

[AB Editor]

"I can wait until July as this is when his birthday is so if there are any bargains I can wait."

Ah, just seen this. Excellent. You might be a super cool granny when that happens.

[sebhfhion]

Thankyou Ab Editor! ;-)

[WyeDyed]

sebhfhion - just checked in after doing boring worky stuff.
Watch the websites mentioned above and , armed with your new knowledge, post another question when the time comes; the best deals change from week to week and I'm sure there will be someone there to help.
As Sunny Dave said to me when I was looking for a large telly for a pub We love spending other peoples money
:)