Ok, my 'ex' wife and I are considering going in 1/2 and 1/2 and buying our 12 year old son a laptop computer for Christmas. I know basically nothing about them....and neither does she.

Does anybody have any advice on what to get, brand, where to buy, what to look for while shopping.......what to avoid etc???????? Our upper limit is probably $1000 including tax, shipping etc.

Our son probably knows more about them than we do....but obviously we can't ask him.... Technology comes so easy to him....as I guess most kids these days.

Any help or advice you can offer will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

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http://cgi.ebay.com/DELL-LATITUDE-D6...d=p3286.c0.m14

Would something like this be worth considering?

 

I've had all the laptops you can think of, I use them for work, go with a dell. You need to find out what he plans to do with it. If hes likes playing games, get the best video card and the most memory possible. I'd suggest going to www.dell.com and you can basically build your laptop on line. Also, Dell has the student microsoft office software, Get It! Anymore questions, feel free to ask.

 

You can get good buys at places like Office Depot and Best Buy on discontinued models . They have sales staff that should have the technical knowledge to assist you in your choice . I've heard a lot of complaints about Best Buy though . DO NOT let Best Buy Geek Squad take the laptop out of the box to "check" it .
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...4124945AA4EFC5
Many people are not happy with Windows Vista . You may be able to find a new notebook with Windows XP . http://www.nextag.com/laptop-xp/search-html
Avoid Lenovo . They have the former IBM Thinkpads that require a password to boot up . If the password is forgotten you have a major problem .

 

At 12 years old play base ball with him or football or take him shooting or hunting or fishing ride a bike. Kids that age shouldn't have lap tops or cell phones they should be having life.

rant off.

 

My daughter has one for school, must have one. She also runs cross country, track and loves to go camping. Use the laptop wisely.

 

Dell Outlet

http://www.dell.com/content/products...=22&l=en&s=dfh

 

I completely agree... If you have no PC/laptop for your son to do homework, or you are looking to better what they have, then I would look at the Dell laptops as all kids need a computer.
We limit our kids to homework only during the week and 2 hours on the weekend for fun. We want them out of the house playing like kids should. Sports teach all kinds of things you want the kids to learn.

Good Luck...

 

The D610 you have in your link is more of a business machine. Also that is a refurbished model, so it is probably a trade-in from a company somewhere.

I used to have a D610 for work, now I run a D630. The D610 is a little big and awkward compared to newer machines, but better than the older stuff I had.

Depending on what you want it to do, you may want to look at Dell's Inspiron line of laptops. They're better geared toward a home user than the Latitudes are. But I can't say anything bad about the Dells I've had over the years. My next computer will probably be Dell as well.

 

Like others have said, it makes a big difference what he plans to use it for. If just internet research and writing papers, just about anything will do. If he wants to game, honestly I would look at a desktop rather than laptop, price for performance is much better. If he has an xbox or playstation that he games on and will only use the laptop for basic tasks, go to dell, but a cheaper inspiron model with a dual core processor and at least 2gb of ram if you get vista (less is ok for XP).

Price wise, a basic laptop starts at 399 and then add some ram so under 500 should be doable for a basic one, more if he wants to play some games on a laptop, this is because games play better with a dedicated graphics card and most laptops have integrated ones.

If you have other questions, just let me know.

 

I've had good luck with Dell....stay away from the geek squad at Best Buy......they are morons.

 

One thing I forgot. How much he is going to carry it around plays big into what size screen you want. If it's mostly going to be used at home, then I would try to get the largest screen you can get. Makes working on it much easier, plus it gets you a full size keyboard with plenty of options. If he plans to carry it around and use it at school, you may want to go with more of a mid-size screen.

The large screens are nice to work on, but not so friendly to tote around in a bag.

 

12 year old + laptop = DESTROYED.

Is a desktop computer completely out of the question? Laptops also give alot of freedom to do anything on the computer anywhere... much harder to monitor from a parental standpoint (if youre worried about that at all)

 

I appreciate everybody's opinions so please keep them coming!


I agree about 12 year olds needing to be outside playing. My son loves to play, go camping, we ride ATVs, Bikes. That said, he is not real athletic. He is a computer nerd of sorts who plays trombone in the band. I am not going to force him into being something he is not. He loves computers and computer games so it only stands to reason his mother and I should encourage that and offer him opportunities to learn more and grow in it. (not to mention keeping him off my computer...)


The computer we get needs to be pretty tough and can banged around. He will be taking it back and forth between me and the 'ex's place so a desktop is out. I am not as worried about a LARGE screen as I am toughness. I want him to be able to drop it or bang it around it some and it keep on ticking. It needs to have gaming ability too.

Sounds like the consensus of this thread is leaning toward Dell. Based on the above criteria, does anybody have a recommendation from Dell? Should I order direct from Dell?

Thanks....keep the opinions coming.

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The Dell's also have a Complete Care Warranty that is WELL worth the cost! Especially for a 12 year old. It covers all damage. Dell just replaced my 4 yr old laptop that I totally destroyed by dropping with a $1500 refurbed one!