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Old 04-19-2013, 08:07 PM
 
Location: Powell, Oh
1,846 posts, read 4,723,495 times
Reputation: 1088

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Hi,

I am wanting to buy a laptop for my son.

He likes to play games on it. It will be used for school work as well.

He is 12 so the types of games he plays are limited. My wife and I don't let him play mature rated content. He likes to play Minecraft, some games on Steam, Terraria, and things like that.

I am thinking that I will spend about $500-600 on it. Maybe cheaper if I can get away with it. I want this to last a few years. If I can get a great laptop for $300, then even better right?

So I saw this at Costco, and it has me interested.

Toshiba Satellite® S855-S5165 15.6" widescreen Laptop (Blue) | Laptops | Computers | us.toshiba.com

i7 processor
12GB memory
1TB hard drive

I am thinking that is plenty fast and will have room for improvement.

But is it too much computer? He turns 13 this year.

On a side note, he has shown interest in computers and I thought that a good one will let him have all that he can play with and play around with developing programs and things of that nature.

Is this overkill, or can I get another decent one for him?

I will admit that I am not that hip on processors and things like that. I know that an i7 processor is fast. I don't know about other brands of processors.

Thanks for any info!
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Old 04-19-2013, 09:40 PM
 
11,715 posts, read 40,309,597 times
Reputation: 7585
Well, you can't get a great laptop for $300.

I don't think I'd give a 12 year old that one from Costco. That's a lot of computer and he'll probably just beat the crap out of it no matter what you give him. An i7 CPU is a waste unless you're doing very heavily CPU intensive tasks such as video encoding. I'd look for a lower priced i5 based machine with 4-8GB of RAM. I'd probably get a 13-14" model for better portability.
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Old 04-20-2013, 09:42 AM
 
Location: Powell, Oh
1,846 posts, read 4,723,495 times
Reputation: 1088
What about processors? Is there one that I need to stay away from?
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Old 04-20-2013, 11:25 AM
 
11,715 posts, read 40,309,597 times
Reputation: 7585
Quote:
Originally Posted by brianjb View Post
What about processors? Is there one that I need to stay away from?
I'm personally not an AMD fan. On the Intel side, I wouldn't buy anything less than a third generation Core i3. The lesser chips might be OK today, but they'll show their age sooner.
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Old 04-20-2013, 11:53 AM
 
28,803 posts, read 47,480,102 times
Reputation: 37905
You should buy the one you linked to and pass your existing laptop to him. An assumption here, but that one looks like something you want as opposed to something you want to give him. Not trying be a smartass here, that's just how I'm reading it.

But, yeah, that's probably overkill for what he needs. As far as him beating the crap out of it; that depends on your son. Some 12 year-olds can handle the responsibility. If yours is one then I'd worry less about spending a little more for a better laptop.

And I am a fan of AMD CPUs (just to throw a monkey wrench into it) and all our laptops have them as well as our desktops. No problems with playing games, doing graphics work, etc.
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Old 04-22-2013, 06:11 PM
 
Location: Scranton
1,384 posts, read 3,163,442 times
Reputation: 1670
Does it have to be a laptop? If he will be using it as a gaming PC, you will need a dedicated graphics card. Laptops with dedicated graphics are expensive, most likely over $1,000. If you buy one without it, you're stuck with whatever integrated graphics the laptop came with. On the other hand, you can buy a decent desktop for $500-600. Even if it comes with integrated graphics, you can always add a dedicated graphics card later, if needed.
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Old 04-23-2013, 01:19 PM
 
137 posts, read 135,604 times
Reputation: 74
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trucker7 View Post
Does it have to be a laptop? If he will be using it as a gaming PC, you will need a dedicated graphics card. Laptops with dedicated graphics are expensive, most likely over $1,000. If you buy one without it, you're stuck with whatever integrated graphics the laptop came with. On the other hand, you can buy a decent desktop for $500-600. Even if it comes with integrated graphics, you can always add a dedicated graphics card later, if needed.
The way that I understood the OP, it's primary purpose is not a gaming PC and the games he does play do not require special hardware. I thought it was clear that gaming is not a priority for the OP in regards to a laptop for his son.
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Old 04-23-2013, 04:06 PM
 
Location: Scranton
1,384 posts, read 3,163,442 times
Reputation: 1670
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tenured View Post
The way that I understood the OP, it's primary purpose is not a gaming PC and the games he does play do not require special hardware. I thought it was clear that gaming is not a priority for the OP in regards to a laptop for his son.
I believe that the OP is perfectly capable of answering the question himself.
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Old 04-23-2013, 05:25 PM
 
28,803 posts, read 47,480,102 times
Reputation: 37905
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trucker7 View Post
I believe that the OP is perfectly capable of answering the question himself.
I believe you should be perfectly capable of reading the OP and figuring it out.

Don't be an ass.
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Old 04-23-2013, 09:46 PM
 
Location: Scranton
1,384 posts, read 3,163,442 times
Reputation: 1670
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tek_Freek View Post
I believe you should be perfectly capable of reading the OP and figuring it out.

Don't be an ass.
We must be reading different threads. The first post that I saw says:

Quote:
Originally Posted by brianjb View Post
He is 12 so the types of games he plays are limited. My wife and I don't let him play mature rated content. He likes to play Minecraft, some games on Steam, Terraria, and things like that.
Minecraft recommends a dedicated graphics card. (Mojang | Minecraft system requirements). Sure, you can dial down all the graphic settings and be happy with 10 frames per second, but most people won't. If that's the case, you might as well buy a $500 laptop and a $300 console.

Are the games limited by mature content? What Steam games does he play? Racing games require a dedicated video card. So do flight simulators, and most open-world games. There are plenty of E and T rated games that will overwhelm a PC with integrated graphics. It's not just first person shooter games.
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