Laptop for computer studies GCSE needed, any advice?

[ihatethecold]

We have an ancient desktop and an iPad at home.
My ds14 is taking computer science and graphical products as 2 of his GCSE's next school year.

He would like to be able to do coding on this laptop.

What do we need to look for in a laptop?

I really don't have a clue, I would prefer to not buy at PC world after reading how bad their customer service is.
Thanks

Anyone?

i suppose it depends on your budget?
Any modern laptop should be able to run the kind of apps you need for basic coding and graphical apps such as photoshop.
Ideally, 3 or 4gb of RAM, decent sized harddrive (340gb+?) recent dual or quadcore processor? All available in the £350-500 price range.
Alternatively, have a look on ebay for a reconditioned (cheaper) laptop?

Thanks , I am being given one by a relative that will do for a while.
It will also give me an idea of what we really need from the laptop.

How can I find out if it's got a decent graphics card?

google the spec of the model/brand of the pc you have been given to find out about the graphics card/chip. As long as the laptop is not too ancient, i would have thought it would be ok...