Laptop or netbook for DS (11)

[letseatgrandma]

I want to get something that he can use for homework (ie MS Office), surfing and games (that might use flash) and things like Sims 3. Would a laptop be better than a netbook for these things?

Can anyone tell me what sort of spec I should be looking for as I don't know what all of the numbers mean!!?

Neither at age 11

That was helpful! It's not just for him-it's for all of us, but I wanted something that would be useful for the above.

Why reply with something so rude?!

Santa brought a laptop to us primarily for dd to use (she is about the age of your grandson), and I considered the netbook vs laptop question too. My local computer 'geek' advised as follows:

The netbooks were all the rage until people started using them. A full webpage won't fit on the screen, the smaller keyboards make them hard to type on (maybe not a problem for an 11 year old), and they lack real power. On the positive side, if it gets dropped, it doesn't work out, it is not a major expense. Lenovo, Acer, HP and Dell all make decent netbooks. Netbooks are pretty homogenous in their specifications. I would probably recommend one of the 10 or even 11? screens. I would not get an 8? screen.

Laptop Specs:
a. Processor ? I like Intel Core 2 Duo or Core i3 or i5. I don?t much prefer AMD processors or the Intel Pentium. Pretty much any speed rating on the previously mentioned ones will be ok. (2.4Ghz, 2.53 Ghz, 2.8Ghz) Don?t feel like you have to go higher on this.
b. RAM ? 4GB is good. Anything over that is really overkill right now. 4GB is really overkill, but I don?t think you can find one with less at a retail store.
c. Hard drive ? any size here. 160GB, 200GB, 500GB. The higher the number, the more you can store. Unless you are going to have a vast iTunes movie and Telly show library, you?ll probably never get close to even 200GB worth of storage space.
d. Screen size ? personal preference. The bigger the screen, the heavier it is. One of the things to take into consideration is how small you want it to be. The "average" size is about a 15" screen and weighs about 6-7 lbs. You can go smaller and lighter and get 14" screens and even 13" screens, etc.

Keep in mind that most computers purchased from retail outlets do not come with Microsoft Office, so that will be an additional expense. Also, the laptop we got came with a one year guarantee. I paid a bit more, and bumped the guarantee up to 3 years.

Hope that helps.

Grandson? Sorry - don't know where I got that from!

Laptop.

Final comment: games were not a big factor for us, so someone who uses games might advise you differently.

But I can't help you with the spec :o

Laptop. Netbooks are rubbish for playing any sort of games on. The screen is too small and they're not powerful enough. The lack of power will also become annoying very quickly if you're trying to do a few things at once, for example have a word document open and several browser windows because you're researching for an essay.

I have a netbook and I love it. However, it's not my primary computer - I have a highpowered desktop for that; the netbook is for use while traveling and in the library (I'm a student).

Spec wise - depends somewhat on budget, as with all things :o I'd go for a 15" screen or thereabouts, 4GB RAM, dual core processor (quad is overkill but it's not a bad thing, obviously, if you find a good offer). Windows 7 is standard now, and that's fine. Graphics - Depends a bit on how much gaming you/DS are planning on doing, and what kind of games. Sims is older and doesn't need much, but as DS gets older he might want to do more graphically demanding stuff - it depends a bit on how much gaming he will want to and be allowed to do, and how long you want the laptop to last for. Hard drive space - I wouldn't go for something that's only 120GB or something like that but anything over 500GB starts to become meaningless unless you're storing vast quantities of photos or video. If someone tries to sell you something with a solid state drive (SSD), tell them to go away, they're lovely but expensive and not necessary for what you want to do.

I would get a laptop but sadly cannot help with which one as I k ow nothing!

I bought my son aged ten a laptop for christmas.

For all the stuff that he does surf the web and homework..... microsoft word etc any laptop in the shop will will be fine.

Even the lowest spec one will do the job.

As for gaming I am not sure he does play games on it but only ones that he has downloaded but for bought games I am not certain what spec he would need.

If the computer is only going to be used at home, then a laptop is better than a netbook.

If you need to carry it around, then a netbook is more compact, and you give up processing speed for portability.

If you have space in your house, a desktop is better.

Hmmm-it won't be carried around that much, so maybe a desktop would be better! I hadn't really thought about that-DH and I have both just had laptops for years.

Are desktops really expensive? Am I looking at HP/Dell for a good make?

Desktops give you more bang for your bucks. Also, it is often suggested that children's PCs should be in a public part of the house. It is difficult to enforce this rule if the child were to have a portable laptop/netbook.

£400 is a reasonable budget for what you want. Anything more expensive is like buying a performance car for the school run :) As for make, Dell's PCs are quite competitively priced.

If you don't need portabilty, don't go for a laptop. As PushyDad has said, you get a better spec desktop than laptop for the same price.

An aditional bonus is that generally a desktop will last longer than a laptop - although there are obviously exceptions. There are other factors, but a major reason for this is that heat build up is less of an issue in a tower, with decent airflow, than it is in an inherently compact laptop.

Again, as PushyDad has mentioned, Dell are good value for money and in my experience (I do PC repair for a living) they are no worse than any other brand for reliability and are more durable than the really cheap makes...many of which are matched on price if you wait for a Dell online sale on the model you want.

Whatever make you choose you'll find lots of people claiming that they're rubbish and theirs "only lasted 13 months", but sadly (for you - less so for me more failures = more work!) that's simply a factor of the cheap components and poor build quality of PCs nowadays (gosh - I sound old!) Then again, you can buy 3 PCs for the price of the equivalently "top of the range" one of 7 or 8 years ago, so the savings have to have come from somewhere...sadly that "somewhere" is quality.

For what it's worth in our household we have a Dell desktop that is 6 years old and still going strong, a much newer HP desktop (2.5yrs ish) that has been nothing but trouble and has failed USB ports, new PSU and had its graphics card replaced once, too. We have/had two Acer netbooks (one died after 2 years, the other is working fine after 3.5yrs), 2x Dell laptops (both Vostros) that are 3.5 years and 1 year old, with the newer one being a replacement for one we got replaced just before the warranty ran out because it regularly reached CPU temperatures of 90-95C... We also have a Toshiba laptop of about 4 years old that is still limping along, and finally a 4 month old Lenovo laptop, so I am not some sort of Dell "fan" - I just see that they are usually better value than most other brands and are no worse for lifespan.

I gave my ds (age 11) my old macbook pro for xmas. He already had an ipad2 (long story...not in the habit of buying electronics for my children). The iPad2 was not actually terribly useful for school work as it doesn't run Microsoft Office, Keyboard is mini and it wouldn't run the online math program that his school uses. The Macbook Pro has been fantastic. DS brings it to school every day and takes notes in class on it, starts his homework in homework period etc. etc. His gaming time is fairly limited (only weekend mornings), but the laptop seems to be the tool of choice when he does play games.

Oh, I totally agree with SofiaAmes that your DS would no doubt prefer a laptop - my two do prefer theirs to the family PC, definitely - but a desktop is better value. And it's worth knowing that laptops that are used for gaming have an even greater tendancy to overheat, so that's another consideration if you think that might be an area that interests him when he isn't doing his homework on it?

Also SofiaAmes post has just reminded me that I forgot to mention the Macbook that my DH has for work (he has to have both platforms so that he can support both.) It is great for keeping your legs toasty warm, but not outstanding at anything else. It was almost twice the price of an equivalent spec PC laptop at the time it was purchased, but I think they're starting to wise up a bit on pricing. And regarding the famous Apple reliabilty - its hard drive died after 14 months and its network card at just over 2 yrs, but to give it its dues, it then went on to survive an (accidental!) drop from the top of an 8' tall ladder.

I am a big fan of getting a £300 desktop every 3 years or so, rather than something more expensive Kids really mess up PCs with their silly downloads. It is really easier just to start afresh when they become painfully slow.

Wow-that is all such good advice-thank you! I think we'll go for a desktop for him. We already have laptops that we can take if we need something portable, but this is just for the house.

I've had a look on Amazon (purely because they've always been so good when we've had to return anything). I've always had Dell laptops through work and they have been fine, but these look really whizzy!

www.amazon.co.uk/Lenovo-Desktop-i3-2120-Windows-Premium/dp/B0065HBV78/ref=wl_it_dp_o_npd?ie=UTF8&coliid=I8SKYSD46IEYL&colid=21RE50OV9VLRH

Is there a reason not to get an all in one-might they go wrong more easily? I've never heard of Lenovo (though DH has and seems to think they used to be IBM?)-are they ok?

We have an Acer all-in-one. It is good to not have the base. We have had a few problems with dust getting into the fan and it turning itself off. However, we just blast it out with the hair dryer every few months.

Ours has a touch screen which is a total gimmick.

Ours has a touch screen which is a total gimmick

Oh no-really-why's that?

Your arms get tired if you want to use it for anything more than a few seconds.

If you want to click on a hyperlink, you use the mouse!