Can someone tech savvy tell me if this is unrealistic?

[Howmanysleepsnow]

My dc are now nearly all past the toy stage. DS10 has put a “gaming laptop bundle” on his Santa letter (he’s on the edge of still believing, probably his last year). I have no idea what games he’d want to play, currently he plays Minecraft/ roblox/ Fortnite on his switch. I’ve seen some laptops marketed as gaming laptops around £230, or refurbished around £180 which I could probably stretch to. DH says these aren’t good enough for gaming and would be a disappointment, and that anything useable would be around £700: no way I could even nearly afford that! Is DH right? Do I get him a cheaper laptop anyway? He’d probably also use it for coding, assuming that it could do that…. Can anyone let me know if what he wants is possible within budget, or better still share some links?
Hes also asked for a fire stick, but doesn’t have a TV! Would that work in a laptop?
If not I’m back to the drawing board as his only other request is pet rats 😂

I’m not particularly techy but I agree with your husband. My teen has a gaming PC built by a family member and it would have cost thousands if he hadn’t already had some parts.

I don’t think any gaming laptop is as good as a PC, certainly nothing less that 1k.

I have bought my 11 year old a laptop as he really only codes and play Minecraft. Even his very old laptop can manage Minecraft. The one I got was £360 reduced (apparently) from nearly £600.

I would try and get as much RAM and storage as you can for your budget.

Happy to stand corrected though!

I looked into this for DS1s birthday, as he wanted MS flight sim and none of our devices are powerful enough to run it. It was at least 700 for a laptop that could run it, or an Xbox. I’d planned on the laptop thinking he could use it for school work too, but once I saw the price difference we got him an Xbox instead.

But if he only wants it for coding you could get him a raspberry pi and screen etc.

Id recommend you ask him what games he’s imagining playing on a gaming laptop, and then see if he actually needs one. It might be that a cheaper laptop, or indeed a console, is capable of running them.

Ad to the fire stick, there is absolutely no need for it if he wants to watch stuff on a computer, as he can just access everything the fire stick can access via the web browser. If it’s to use with a computer monitor without using a computer (but why), then you can connect it with a hdmi cable.

Oh, and one of mine asked for rats too, but they are cold sensitive and we don’t have central heating, so that dealt with that 😂

Actually, if you can hold him off for a bit you could give him a project later like Tulipvase’s DS. Get him to source and build his own gaming pc a bit at a time, gradually upspec it over several years. Much cheaper to build your own than to buy one, and he’d learn some great skills. But not until he’s a few years older.

When ds was that age he kept on asking for a gaming pc but I think it was because his friends were talking about it. We got him an Xbox instead and now look back and laugh at how silly it would have been!

Yes, mine has a raspberry pi too and very much enjoys using it. Something you can add to as well.

Your husband is correct. Unfortunately gaming laptops are expensive. You’re talking around £650 and up at least for the basic ones.
www.currys.co.uk/gaming/pc-gaming/gaming-laptops

Then you need to buy the actual games which could be up to £45 each, a gaming mouse, Norton protection.
You could be talking up to £1k.

For ones that are around £230 and marketed as gaming laptops they wouldn’t be able to play much, not even sure they could manage Fortnite. I wouldn’t buy one. It wouldn’t be very fun, would be internet surfing and spreadsheet laptop.

As you are on a budget and your son wants to play different games a good compromise and recommendation would be an Xbox Series S, which have a lot of games that are on PC.
www.argos.co.uk/product/8448248

They are £250, games are bought online through the Microsoft Store through the console, no discs, and it also plays all games that the more expensive Xbox Series X plays.
He would also need a TV to play it on.

You can get Gamepass with the Xbox which is £8 a month www.amazon.co.uk/Xbox-Game-Month-Membership-Download/dp/B079XXN6WP

That gets you 452 games to play on the Xbox (just for £8 a month)
New games are added every month, also some removed but it’s a great deal.
gamepasscounter.com
www.eurogamer.net/xbox-game-pass-games-list-this-month-price-6400

Xbox S is what we got for DS1. Having had a gaming spec PC almost 15 years ago and only a PS3 since, I was blown away by how powerful it is.

Your husband is right. At £250 you would be wasting your money as your son wouldn’t be able to do anything with it gaming wise.

Agree with others. My DH is an ex gamer, when I talked about a gaming laptop or pc for my 10yo he shut me down straight away. For anything remotely decent we are talking £1k plus. He wants to build her one, he said it will be far cheaper and better, but wants to wait a bit. This is his area of expertise so Im following his lead,

I agree with the consensus of the thread, DH and I are both gamers and CBA with laptops/PCs , consoles all the way.

there’s also the fact that PC/laptop specs move on quite quickly (and become obsolete) whereas the new console generations come every ~10 years nowadays

Current gaming PCs are expensive - way out of your budget. £1000 would be low end.

An older model at £250 would be pretty dire and useless for it’s intended purpose (it would be ok for coding Python or doing word docuemtns etc.).

Consoles are far more cost-effective for gaming. I’m a Playstation fan but XBox is better value to be honest.

Gaming laptops are a niche product; the risk of overheating means they have to be very, very good and tailor-made for gaming. Basic cheap laptops would just stutter and crash all the time, if the games even ran at all. If you want to PC game cheaply, an actual PC is the way to go.

However for a child, a console is more than fine.

What does he want to do on it? If he really wants a gaming computer then that's a different issue. The games you mentioned, he'll be better off on an x box. My 2 have had one for years, Dh bought a cheap opened but not used one, fab. The newer x box x is about £400.

I would buy the best spec that you can afford. He will be able to play Minecraft and Roblox on almost any laptop I think. But he will also be able to code and do other things that he cannot on a switch. It's much more versatile and useful.

I bought my son a laptop when he was 9, I bought it from CEX. So it was second hand but more value for money.