PC or Lap top for 13 year old Student

[anonymous-user]

What are you being quoted for that? It means nothing wihout a price. (and what's your max preferred spend?)

I'll look at this properly for you tomorrow, but a price is vital, as I can't give an opinion on it without.

For now:

Tower PC - cool
AMD A10-9700 quad Core CPU - I rather an Intel i5 or i7 - I know nothing about AMDs and they are often hardly any cheaper when compared properly
8Gb DDR4 Memory - 16Gb better , 8 will do
No removable drive - not an issue
1 Tb Hard Disk Drive - a 1 TB SSD is only £120 now, or get him a cheap 256Gb SSD boot/windows drive and then a 1Tb mechanical HDD for data. Prob cost the same as a 1TB SSD
DVD Re writer - get a bluray re-writer - only a few pounds more and will do DVDs too
Integrated Radeon R7 Graphics - avoid integrated graphics if you intend gaming at all.
Gigabit Network Adapter - standard
High Definition Audio - standard
Windows 10 Home 64 bit - fine
MS Office 2016 Home and Student - naturally.

Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 23 November 19:55

[Skyedriver]

RogerDodger said:

What are you being quoted for that? It means nothing wihout a price. (and what's your max preferred spend?)

I'll look at this properly for you tomorrow, but a price is vital, as I can't give an opinion on it without.

For now:

Tower PC - cool
AMD A10-9700 quad Core CPU - I rather an Intel i5 or i7 - I know nothing about AMDs and they are often hardly any cheaper when compared properly
8Gb DDR4 Memory - 16Gb better , 8 will do
No removable drive - not an issue
1 Tb Hard Disk Drive - a 1 TB SSD is only £120 now, or get him a cheap 256Gb SSD boot/windows drive and then a 1Tb mechanical HDD for data. Prob cost the same as a 1TB SSD
DVD Re writer - get a bluray re-writer - only a few pounds more and will do DVDs too
Integrated Radeon R7 Graphics - avoid integrated graphics if you intend gaming at all.
Gigabit Network Adapter - standard
High Definition Audio - standard
Windows 10 Home 64 bit - fine
MS Office 2016 Home and Student - naturally.

Edited by RogerDodger on Friday 23 November 19:55

Thanks Roger, the above was quoted at £499 inc VAT

[anonymous-user]

This is a quick search on Ebuyer for around £500 (Your PC isn't bad, but it has a slow AMD processor, and a slow HDD).

£548

https://www.ebuyer.com/836547-hp-290-g2-mt-desktop...

The above has over your PC:

- an intel i5-8500 3Ghz - a MUCH better processor.
- 256Gb SSD - he'll thank you for it. Add a 1 TB mechanical HDD for £36 for bulk storage
- Intel UDH graphics - a little faster than the integrated R7, and technology thats 3 years younger.
- Windows 10 pro

Then if he got into gaming, he can stumble by with the INtel UHD graphics, or, add a proper graphics card at a later date for a massive performance upgrade, and the existing CPU will keep up easily.

You can get a legit office license for less than £5 on ebay

[Skyedriver]

Thanks for that Roger,
I assume that company are reputable, only worry I guess is if it "goes wrong" than I can't just take it into the shop.
the guys suggestion of an SSD rather than a HDD was going to add cost bringing it up to the ebuyer price, his thinking was the 256GB SSD would fill up with school work and ACAD files. The external HDD would be OK though. His thoughts were the AMD processor was as good as the intel one but I wouldn't know the difference. Is the 15 core OK or should we go for an i7 core
Stuff like Office he can get off the school site or "for Students"
Regards

[LuS1fer]

Just received our Lenovo Thinkpad T440S i7 12GB RAM, 240Gb SSD from My Cheap Laptop (Solent Laptops Ltd)
Quick delivery - looks new. Very quick. Easy Windows 10 Pro activation.
Fantastic for £399.
Planning to get a cheap USB storage drive.

[anonymous-user]

Skyedriver said:

Thanks for that Roger,
I assume that company are reputable, only worry I guess is if it "goes wrong" than I can't just take it into the shop.
the guys suggestion of an SSD rather than a HDD was going to add cost bringing it up to the ebuyer price, his thinking was the 256GB SSD would fill up with school work and ACAD files. The external HDD would be OK though. His thoughts were the AMD processor was as good as the intel one but I wouldn't know the difference. Is the 15 core OK or should we go for an i7 core
Stuff like Office he can get off the school site or "for Students"
Regards

Ebuyer are huge and one of the biggest resellers of computer and components.

Tbh - if a PC goes "wrong" it'll be a Windows issue, and then you just need any independent to take a look. your 13yr old will probably run rings roudn them in no time at all as well :-)

i5 is plenty, i7 is better again, it's all about money. For whay your kid wants, an i5 is more than enough. Nothing wrong with AMD processors, I've just had a bad experience once and stuck with Intel. AMD do make it next to impossible to compare their processors to Intel chips, and past research has shown me you only make a small saving with AMD, not enough for me to switch over.

A popular config is smaller SSD (say 256Gb) for Windows and applications, then a normal (not external) HDD for storage of large , less often used stuff, like movies, pictures, music etc. Anything on the regular (mechanical) HDD that is needed for a program to run drags the performance down. A PC booting off an SSD is almost as fast as switching on a tablet/ipad. It is also a joy to use and massively faster in general operations.

[aaron_2000]

Go for a refurb'd Lenovo Thinkpad, an X1 Carbon if you can. Can't rate them high enough.

[Skyedriver]

LuS1fer said:

Just received our Lenovo Thinkpad T440S i7 12GB RAM, 240Gb SSD from My Cheap Laptop (Solent Laptops Ltd)
Quick delivery - looks new. Very quick. Easy Windows 10 Pro activation.
Fantastic for £399.
Planning to get a cheap USB storage drive.

Always worried about anything "refurbed" but those prices are pretty impressive.
Still not sure if a PC or a Lap top would be better for him but will probably go "new" for him. On the other hand my lap top is suffering structural problems (broken hinge).......

[RammyMP]

I’m in the same boat, my son wants a lap top for Christmas, I’m clueless as to what to get. He’s told me he can get MS office free as he’s a student though, so that’s useful!

[LuS1fer]

Skyedriver said:

Always worried about anything "refurbed" but those prices are pretty impressive.
Still not sure if a PC or a Lap top would be better for him but will probably go "new" for him. On the other hand my lap top is suffering structural problems (broken hinge).......

You'd be hard pressed to tell and the ThinkPad has the best keyboard. The one I use for work lives in a rucksack and gets carted round every day, chucked in the car etc. I've had it for four years and it still looks exactly the same. I work in a civil service department and they are pretty universally used so I am happy someone else has done the research.

[Somebody]

For daily use at home I have a ThinkPad X61 upgraded with SSD and Window 10. I have bigger and more powerful laptops but this is the one I use on a daily basis with it's 12 inch form factor and excellent keyboard. Being a business laptop it's bullet proof and really easy to replace parts.

[Skyedriver]

No further forward due to other things getting in the way. Going to call into the shop again later this week to talk again, one hiccup, having said he'd prefer a proper PC his Mum has said would a lap top not be better then you could take it with you if need be.
Lap tops do seem to have a good spec at circa £500 but as my second lap top is trying to self destruct I still think, logically, you get a better computer for your money as you're not buying a keyboard, screen etc. Am I wrong?
And I've googled so many different computer components, I really don't know which is best anymore. A little knowledge etc....

[cat with a hat]

I would buy him a decent second hand desktop and monitor/s.

Do you really want him hunched over a mediocre laptop on a small screen destroying his posture?


edit: hes asked for a proper PC and you are both considering giving him a laptop. I can only imagine how frustrating he finds it

Edited by cat with a hat on Monday 3rd December 23:47

[Skyedriver]

cat with a hat said:

I would buy him a decent second hand desktop and monitor/s.

Do you really want him hunched over a mediocre laptop on a small screen destroying his posture?


edit: hes asked for a proper PC and you are both considering giving him a laptop. I can only imagine how frustrating he finds it

Edited by cat with a hat on Monday 3rd December 23:47

Aye, you're right, (said he, hunched over a lap top)
Back on track looking for a decent spec PC at a sensible price that is at least part "future proofed"

Re frustration, there is no one in this world (possibly with the exception of Mrs May) more frustrating than young son but that's 13 year olds.....

[Haltamer]

SSDs are a massive night and day improvement; Certainly recommend - A 1TB HDD For anything large will be fairly cheap.

If you spec a good PSU, Adding a GPU along the line for gaming requirements will be fairly trivial.

[HantsRat]

Aren't most schools going down the BYOD route? If so it would be worth a decent spec laptop rather than a desktop.

[Skyedriver]

HantsRat said:

Aren't most schools going down the BYOD route? If so it would be worth a decent spec laptop rather than a desktop.

His school, new building, have just restocked with new PCs

[aaron_2000]

Haltamer said:

SSDs are a massive night and day improvement; Certainly recommend - A 1TB HDD For anything large will be fairly cheap.

If you spec a good PSU, Adding a GPU along the line for gaming requirements will be fairly trivial.

The best way to go is an SSD for booting and the applications you always need, like Firefox, Word, Steam etc, then use the HDD for storage.