So DS (15) would like "a gaming laptop a Mum" for Xmas.

[DeloresJaneUmbridge]

The problem is I really do need both my kidneys....and the laptops in question seem to start at £900 ....I needed a lie down after researching them.

So ...DS is our only child. He is 15 five days before Xmas and his birthday is sorted. However, he doesn't know what he wants for Xmas at all beyond this gaming laptop. He is autistic and has very narrow interests...which is another topic all in its own!

Now for the first time ever we could actually afford to buy him a gaming laptop BUT I feel that amount of money on a child/teen at Xmas is almost immoral. We wouldn't generally spend even a third of that at Xmas to do everything. We are not of the worthy "look how little we can spend" people as we love Xmas....but I just feel this is a step too far.

Sooo....do your teens like gaming via PC/laptop?

What do they use?

Could he get away with a standard laptop? He uses Steam for gaming.

I will post this under Gaming too.

So maybe buy him the gaming laptop for his bithdy instead ?

And what youve already sorted for his birthday can be his xmas present

In all honesty, for gaming you do need something powerful and fast - there's really no point otherwise.

Could you look at something like an XBox instead? Or buy it, but explain that it's basically his Christmas and birthday presents for the next 3/4 years - so he'll only get token gifts from now on.

Have you looked at getting a desk top gaming computer?
I looked at both fir my son and you get much more fir your money with a desktop.
Also you can upgrade one bit at a time with a desk top and if it breaks you can replace a part rather than the whole laptop.
I’ve had one built fir Christmas for my son and although not cheap, £500 it is a better build and more powerful than the £900 - £1300 laptops.

If you can afford it and he'll use it why not?

You can't get away with a non gaming laptop. You need stuff with a decent graphics card and a fast processor. I'd actually say that a PC rather than a laptop would be better, much more long term. You can get individual components upgraded down the line if needed and they tend to last longer.

I game quite a bit and teen dd games a lot.

I'd recommend PC Specalist as somewhere to buy a gaming PC from if you do end up getting a PC. They will build a PC to your specification. Can work out cheaper and I would say better quality than a mass produced machine. I know it sounds daunting but they have a forum where you can give an idea of budget and what games he wants to play and random nerds will list you a full spec.

Could you give him a contribution towards the laptop and he'd save/use other birthday and Christmas money for it? We're doing this with DD who wants an iPhone - we just can't justify spending that much on a phone, so she's getting what we would have spent on a new handset and will put it with any other money gifts she gets till she can afford the one she wants. The fact it will take a bit of time isn't a bad thing, in my book, it makes her understand the value of saving for something she really wants.

Something like this would be quite good. £571. So not cheap but better than £900. They do finance as well.

Could he get it as a joint birthday and Christmas present since they’re so close together?

Thank you all....and yes that's a great idea to get a PC instead.

I will keep looking.

Wow....you are all so helpful...I didn't think I'd get any replies.

My DS is also obsessed with Steam games, he uses our standard family laptop.

My adult ds has a gaming pc , he looked extensively last year and eventually got a Zoostorm ( I think) , cost about £2k .

My DS is autistic too. I would love to be in the situation to get him that. His laptop is his link to the outside world as he doesn't have any friends.

If that is what he wants.... and you know he'll use it.... get him it - not a cheaper alternative as it won't be "right".... l know my son would not appreciate an inferior replacement

I wouldn't get him a desktop if he asked for a laptop, he doesn't want that.

I play a lot of games and have a desktop as I hate laptops, so I wouldn't be happy if I asked for a desktop and someone decided to get me a laptop instead.

I think the thing to do is ask him why he specifically wants a laptop. And explain the pros and cons of each. If he doesn't need the portability of a laptop and discovers the better spec he can get, etc he may decide a desktop is the way forward.

Dd initially asked for a gaming laptop as she'd had cheaper laptops before and just assumed that was the better option. When we discussed all the options she decided she wanted a desktop.

Ds is a gamer and my DH is an it techie - in his opinion there's no such thing as a gaming laptop, a pc will be cheaper, better and last longer (as in easier and cheaper to expand etc) and a bigger screen is better for gaming too!

Ask John at the Telegraph has answered this question a few times - he says definitely not a laptop but recommends various desk tops.

Agree with the desktop advice. A couple of years ago we got DS a zoostorm pc. Quite a cool one as one of the sides is see-through and lights up etc. That has been excellent for steam games etc. If you can get masses of RAM 2x16gb and two hard drives a smaller SSD to put the OS and swap file and a large 1TB for storage. This year we are upgrading the graphics card because he now has some PC games that need a bit more power. The old spec was fine for steam games though.

Also there are two types of RAM that you need to look out for.
The type that comes with the PC I would go for 2x16GB as minimum. Obviously 2x32GB is better but comes with a large price jump.
Also the RAM that comes with the graphics card, again more is better but 2 is minimum 3 is very nice and 4 is very expensive. For example the new graphics card we are getting DS had 3GB and costs £200. Nvidia is a good brand.

Definitely desktop PC. Ask family and friends - there’s bound to be a gamer amongst them who will be able to help you with what you can get for your budget. DH is a gamer and has always built his PC and upgraded bits and bobs every 2 yrs or so. He built DS his PC last summer (high spec for gaming purposes) for £1200! I think he got carried away with the spec and forgot that it wasn’t for himself.

My sons have been playing on "gaming" laptops for a few years but you cannot upgrade anything so they have struggled with some Steam games.

Due to exceptional high grades at school and general good behaviour at home we have bought them both a gaming PC, as you can hammer a PC keyboard if you get a specific gaming one.

Cost wise, we went to a specialist computer place who built it for us, they are about £1100 ish for the unit, then add on a screen, keyboard and mouse on top. They are getting one each.

It may seem excessive and we never spend anything like this at Christmas, ever, we are usually quite frugal but we are rewarding effort at secondary school, they have both been presented with awards for outstanding effort by the school so this is our acknowledgement of that.

Dh is IT so knows a lot more about this stuff than me so he did the research.

Thanks all. I will sit down with DS and have a chat with him but this is great advice here.

DS has an Alienware gaming laptop. He loves it.
I thought it was to ££ so we bought it as joint Christmas/birthday and from us and both sets of GPs. He didn't get much else & knew that but has no regrets.