12 year old saved his pennys and ready to buy a laptop <$1300

Forums › Laptops and mobile computers › 12 year old saved his pennys and ready to buy a laptop <$1300

rungai

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#165536 12-Feb-2015 18:33

Hi,
My son has been working and saving hard and is now ready to buy his first laptop. He has $1300 tops to spend but $1200 would be better.
He will obviously be doing some gaming on it, He'll be carting it to and from school so no bigger than 15.6". This will have to last him a good few years, so reliability and shop support are important.

The best we can find at the moment is this: HP Pavilion 15-P235TX

It has a i7 5500u processor and a geforce gt 840 graphics card.

Looking at around $1150-1220 shipped.

We were hoping to find something with a quad core processor, like a i7 4710mq or something with a geforce gtx 850 graphics card in his price range but no luck at the mo. We have been doing a bit of reading but are both pretty green on it.
Are we on the right track? Any advice or bargains??

Thanks,
Kev

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#1236762 12-Feb-2015 19:45

From my experience, a lot of HP laptops tend to overheat quite easily.

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blakamin

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#1236764 12-Feb-2015 19:53

sonyxperiageek: From my experience, a lot of HP laptops tend to overheat quite easily.

I can argue the opposite... I have a 3.5 year old HP DV6 (core I5, radeon gfx) that's only been restarted for updates or turned off when we're on holiday for the last 2.5 years.
And I live somewhere that can hit 45°+ during the day inside, while I'm at work. Never had an issue.

sonyxperiageek

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#1236781 12-Feb-2015 20:00

My latest issue was the internal HDD in the HP DV6 laptop (around 4 years old) died. I reckon it was because of how hot the laptop got every time it was used, not even for long periods of time! And yes, I tried cleaning the fan outlet.

Apart from that, I find all other main brands of laptops the same nowadays.. Just whatever has the specs I want, and the price is decent, I tend to get.

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sdavisnz

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#1236823 12-Feb-2015 20:50

with a 1300 budget...

there is the 17 inch hp with a i7 and 850m see

http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=2942533

HP is not my favourite brand for gaming notebooks but there okay, a asus or msi would be alot better but far more pricey....

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sonyxperiageek

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#1236826 12-Feb-2015 20:54

sdavisnz: with a 1300 budget...

there is the 17 inch hp with a i7 and 850m see

http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=2942533

HP is not my favourite brand for gaming notebooks but there okay, a asus or msi would be alot better but far more pricey....

The OP has said that he/she requires a laptop 15.6" or under as the child will be carrying it with him to school. :-)

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sdavisnz

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#1236827 12-Feb-2015 20:54

I know you have a budget of 1300 but this msi notebook with a 850m is a 15" notebook that would be far better than the HP.

http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=2954021

1599 though...

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sdavisnz

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#1236829 12-Feb-2015 21:00

check this link

is a pricespy link with a 840m card and $1300 price filter

shows 9 units in scope

http://pricespy.co.nz/category.php?m=s208829445

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blakamin

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#1236830 12-Feb-2015 21:02

sonyxperiageek: My latest issue was the internal HDD in the HP DV6 laptop (around 4 years old) died. I reckon it was because of how hot the laptop got every time it was used, not even for long periods of time! And yes, I tried cleaning the fan outlet.

hmmm.. mine doesn't get hot at all... occasionally the fan will go stupid, but only when I'm being hard on it in summer without the A/C on in the house. Sits there switched on with the lid shut too.

Batman

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#1236833 12-Feb-2015 21:06

a kid carting a laptop around - will last 12 months tops for normal ones, longer if OCD personality, 6 months for the generic ruffians - macbook aluminium monocoque chassis or not.

go for cheapest you can find.

Xeon

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#1236834 12-Feb-2015 21:08

What games is he wanting to play?
Modern 2014 games such as Far Cry 4, Assassins Creed IV etc. or more casual/older games like Minecraft, Hearthstone, Dota2/LoL, Team Fortress 2?

If its the latter then you would get away with a laptop like the HP Pavilion 15-P235TX but if its for modern more graphics intensive games then as you mentioned you will be wanting a Quad Core + GTX 850M+. If you aren't aware this laptop's processor, the i7-5500U, is only a dual core. Intel processors ending in a U are part of the new Broadwell-U series which are low power CPUs and only dual cores, which aren't ideal for heavy games. Also you should take into account 1080p+ screens aren't always the best thing with a low power graphics card, but are great for non-gaming purposes on laptops.

If no gaming then a decent Windows 8 tablet with keyboard case would probably be better then laptops for general use purposes (cheaper, lighter, longer battery life).

sonyxperiageek

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#1236837 12-Feb-2015 21:10

joker97: a kid carting a laptop around - will last 12 months tops for normal ones, longer if OCD personality, 6 months for the generic ruffians - macbook aluminium monocoque chassis or not.

go for cheapest you can find.

Plus, a lot of 12 year olds can get pretty rough with their bags (with laptop inside) without knowing it, and there goes $1000! Not necessarily saying the OP's kid is like that though...

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Xeon

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#1236841 12-Feb-2015 21:18

sonyxperiageek:
joker97: a kid carting a laptop around - will last 12 months tops for normal ones, longer if OCD personality, 6 months for the generic ruffians - macbook aluminium monocoque chassis or not.

go for cheapest you can find.

Plus, a lot of 12 year olds can get pretty rough with their bags (with laptop inside) without knowing it, and there goes $1000! Not necessarily saying the OP's kid is like that though...

Targus (or other decent brand) laptop backpack will protect it pretty well. When I was 13 what killed my laptop was falling asleep and having it fall off the bed while watching movies. Also gaming on a bed with a fan that sucks in from the bottom; bad idea. Despite my roughness my laptop (an Acer) lasted a good 3 years, I took it to and from school most days in a Targus bag. That was a pretty flimsy laptop too I have to say.

gehenna

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#1236846 12-Feb-2015 21:28

Dell has some great laptops these days.

e.g. http://www.dell.com/nz/p/inspiron-15-3543-laptop/pd?oc=y510134nz&model_id=inspiron-15-3543-laptop

Not a quad but I don't much see the point in a quad unless you're running some virtual guests too... Better off putting the extra money into an SSD.

rungai

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#1236853 12-Feb-2015 21:36

He has been carrying an old second hand laptop for the last yr+ no problems.

If I was going to get sucked into throwing another hundie in, would this be worth the extra?

http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=2971489

I can get it for $1399

macuser

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#1236855 12-Feb-2015 21:43

I would get them a $400 notebook (HP Stream 11) and a cheap game console (eg Xbox 360 4GB $240)

The kid should keep as much money as possible as they're going to break it fast, and they won't be too worried about speed.

This leaves more than half the money in the bank, which I think is a good thing

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