Xbox for Christmas

[MrsStinkey]

DD1 (6) has asked for an Xbox for Christmas. She literally only wants it so she can play mine craft though and at £229 for the cheapest package I can find I don't really think it's justifiable. If she got it it would basically be her only Christmas present as well as we can't afford to spend much more on her. Are there any cheaper solutions out there so she can play Minecraft? I don't have the first clue about these things so would appreciate some advice!

[Winterfellismyhome]

You can get it on the Xbox 360 which is fairly cheap now as the Xbox one has since been released. Could even get a second hand one from CEX or something

[UnaPalomaBlanca]

Do you already have a decent laptop/ PC?

[Hobbes8]

My son is exactly the same! The cheapest package I've seen is £199 in Argos for an Xbox One including the minecraft game, so a little bit cheaper. Someone at work suggest CEX for second hand / nearly new consoles.

You can also play minecraft on an iPad or PC though.

[dementedpixie]

My dc prefer Minecraft on the pc

[LexieLulu]

Have you got a phone contract coming to an end?

My BIL has just got a Xbox that way x

[MrsStinkey]

I don't have a devent pv or laptop just an iPad! I would consider a decent laptop for the house though rather than just for Christmas. Any recommendations there? We don't really do tech in our house so this is all new to me!

[UnaPalomaBlanca]

I’m not techy but I did a bit of research before buying a laptop. This was about 3 years ago so I can’t recommend a particular up-to-date model. Howevever, when gaming, you should go for a ‘separate graphics card’- whatever that means.... It will be a bit more expensive than a standard laptop. Otherwise graphics heavy games will lag- and that’s annoying for gamers apparently!
I would post separately looking for recommendations/ advice on this if that’s what you decide to do. Obviously the laptop can benefit the whole family.

[UnaPalomaBlanca]

Or was it a ‘dedicated’ graphics card?

[BikeRunSki]

My dc play Minecraft on their tablets.

[Kerberos]

Also consider the future. A laptop will give access to internet and other applications which she will start to find useful when she's researching homework later in primary school. Wouldn't worry too much about graphics card unless you are planning to run something more demanding than minecraft.

Also I would suggest you get your head around tech. Our children's careers are very likely to depend in a very great part on it. Whatever help you can give at home will be valuable.

[chelseamorning]

Minecraft is so much better on the iPad than it was a year ago. More interesting features and servers to play on. My 11yr old has asked for an Xbox for Christmas too (we're such bad parents! ;-)) but he says not to bother with bundling Minecraft with the Xbox, as his iPad version does all he wants it to do.

[MrsBirdseye]

£229 for the cheapest package I can find I don't really think it's justifiable
buy pre-owned. XBox One older versions are about £160