Laptop for teenager

Is $60 more doable?   I've had good luck with Acers in the past, and newegg lists this one:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834315157R&ignorebbr=1

The biggest problem with that computer is the harddrive.  It's going to be (relatively) slow to boot/load and the ram is a bit light @ 8Gb.  It'll run modern games pretty well though, and an SSD drive (later) will make it feel super snappy.

So, at birthday time (or if Grandma is looking for something for him too!), grab this for $130:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147373&ignorebbr=1

And the price on those is just going down, so the longer you wait, the more storage vs less cost you achieve.

Another good choice here from Newegg:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=9SIA60G6EH1979

Note: I've never used a refurb computer from CoreTek, but they have good reviews on NewEgg.  I like NewEgg's reviews because it's generally geeks giving them, and we're a fairly brutal lot.  This is not an endorsement of them, though!

It looks like you can get this dell with a 240Gb SSD and 8 Gb of RAM for $430.  It has a dedicated Nvidia 2Gb graphics card and a fairly recent Intel i5 processor.   It's a bit smaller on the screen size, so get an external 21" or 22" monitor  to keep on his desk (should cost less than $100.

This is probably the way I'd go for your budget.  If  he needs more storage later, just get an external USB hard drive.  Speed won't matter here.

Just sent you something via PM that should help. 

bmw88rider said:

Just sent you something via PM that should help. 

 

 

Got it, thanks for that. Is that only for new, or refurbished ones as well? 

That one is just for Refurb. www.delloutlet.com 

Enjoy

So I gleaned some information out of Thing #1 this evening on the way to his doctor appointment. He wants to be able to use a program called Unity. It's video game programming software I guess. Anyone know anything about it? What it might take to run on a laptop? 

There is the right tool for the job. Not cheap but will allow him to program anything he needs for unity. Also, it'll game pretty good as well. 

Option #1

This one is the true rock star for the $$$

Option #2

There is the right tool for the job. Not cheap but will allow him to program anything he needs for unity. Also, it'll game pretty good as well. 

The With all of these computer suggestions, the big thing to do if you want to see if this will be decent for gaming is to look at some reviews. Especially of the GPU (graphics card). The graphics card will either be an "NVIDIA GeForce [something]" or an "AMD Radeon [something]".

Google "[name and number of card] reviews", and see what it says about what sort of games you should expect to be able to play with how good of graphics settings.

Okay one more question. If we were to get one of the above listed options,how soon would it be obsolete? Just don't want to spend as much as I spend on transportation for a computer that will be a paperweight in 6 months. 

realizing this is considerably more than your budget... this asus zenbook has been the non-macbook go-to for our devs: https://www.amazon.com/UX501VW-US71-15-6-Inch-Touchscreen-i7-6700HQ-Thunderbolt/dp/B01CQRNBJG/ref=sr_1_8?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1513221766&sr=1-8&keywords=zenbook

Build quality is very high. There is a version without the 4k touchscreen, the UX501JW that you could probably find a little cheaper. 

I personally don't like the 4k screen as the text is too small for me, but our devs seem to love it.

Prior to these, we used Lenovo W series laptops. I think you'd want a W540 with the i7 and 16+ GB ram. The NVIDIA Quadro isn't the best for gaming, but it works. (Its more of a CAD/Design card). A W540 would be in your original price range. They don't look sexy though and the cases are plastic and they are big and heavy.

I personally use a pretty old W520 at work. I'm the 3rd hand-me-down for it in the office and have had it 4 years (with upgraded RAM and a nice SSD). 

On SSDs: do it. The performance is SO much better. Samsung is the brand to get, specifically  the 850 evo or pro. 

So, within your budget you can get a W530 or W540 used with a SSD. You may want to give it more RAM, or make him save up for it. 

Meanwhile, I work in a software shop and want a TIG welder for Christmas...

Mazdax605 said:

Okay one more question. If we were to get one of the above listed options,how soon would it be obsolete? Just don't want to spend as much as I spend on transportation for a computer that will be a paperweight in 6 months. 

Depends which one. Depends what you're planning to use it for. Computers going "obsolete" is a lot different now than it used to be. Operating systems and basic functionality apps don't really take any more power than they used to. Even the power requirements for PC games aren't really climbing that quickly anymore. It's nothing like the insane jumps that we saw from 95 - '08. More developers are shifting to creating games to run on consoles, which have fixed specs.

That said, if you're looking for something that's capable of gaming, most of the models people have suggested here are already far behind the curve, and arguably obsolete already.

Summary: if you get one that's good for what's out now, it will remain good for years to come, but most of what has been suggested is not up to that task now.

I would agree with Beer Baron here. Laptops at the $500 price point are already not going to cut it for gaming or virtual reality - but for general use, I don't expect these machines to become obsolete for several years.

I just had a thought - how's your internet connection at home? With enough bandwidth, you could get a desktop that would meet your son's needs and have your son access it remotely using a laptop.  Then, all the laptop has to do is to have enough power to drive the remote desktop display and get online - which is a much easier set of needs to meet with a portable machine.

szeis4cookie said:

I would agree with Beer Baron here. Laptops at the $500 price point are already not going to cut it for gaming or virtual reality - but for general use, I don't expect these machines to become obsolete for several years.

I just had a thought - how's your internet connection at home? With enough bandwidth, you could get a desktop that would meet your son's needs and have your son access it remotely using a laptop.  Then, all the laptop has to do is to have enough power to drive the remote desktop display and get online - which is a much easier set of needs to meet with a portable machine.

Internet connection speed is crap. DSL, because Fios isn't available in our town, and I haven't broken down,and sold my soul to the devil that is Comcast.

The couple of laptops listed above are not $500 laptops, and I've decided that I will have to up the budget to get him something decent.

How would this one be for gaming, and such. More than my budget, but not as nice as option #2 suggested by bmw88rider above.

Dell 7567

Actually, pretty good it looks like. The machine that you are looking at is better than the one referenced in the article, and those game frame rates are solidly playable in the article.

Mazdax605 said:

How would this one be for gaming, and such. More in my budget, but not as nice as option #2 suggested by bmw88rider above.

 

Dell 7567

Yeah. That's actually quite potent for a laptop. I would say that would do nicely.

Graphics card in that is actually mid range for today.

That's a good one.   The 1050 line of video cards is quite solid.  The hybrid hard drives are a bit of a mixed bag, since only 8Gb or so is really solid state, so he may want to upgrade that in a few years.  No biggie.

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