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Laptop for 12 year old

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  • 11-11-2013 11:27pm
    #1
    lip
    Registered Users Posts: 163 ✭✭


    Hi, was hoping to get some advice on buying a laptop for my 12 year old son. He has started a computer programming course which he absolutely loves and wants to get his own laptop for Christmas. I am totally computer illiterate and have no clue what to look for. Unfortunately our budget only goes to around 350.....would there be anything on the market at this price that would suit him as a starter laptop???? Also, he has said he would prefer a touch screen. Thanks in advance for any help.


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    #2
    Mario95
    Registered Users Posts: 131 ✭✭Mario95


    Check this out: Asus X102BA
    - Quad AMD 1GHz CPU
    - 4 GB of RAM
    - 10.1" touch screen
    Its probably not an ideal laptop for a starting programmer, but I don't think you ask for much more with the touch-screen requirement. It's really limiting your choice by a lot.
    Most applications should run fine but I wouldn't expect it to run (efficiently) new-ish games or picture/video editing programs. It should manage to run most IDEs (the programs where you type your 'code' into) and it would be more than fine for basic internet browsing.
    The biggest downside of this laptop is its screen size, 10.1" is pretty small, even for laptops.


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    #3
    lip
    Registered Users Posts: 163 ✭✭lip


    Thank you so much for reply. Would I get more for my money if its a non touch screen? Been looking at a few in Currys for my budget and salesperson bombarded me with tech lingo that I couldn't understand and recommended this..TOSHIBA Satellite C50D-A-133 15.6” Laptop .. But I am totally clueless....a salespersons dream. He is so interested in programming, would hate to discourage it by getting him a laptop that's not suitable.


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    #4
    Mario95
    Registered Users Posts: 131 ✭✭Mario95


    Writing programs on a 10.1" would not be a very pleasant experience, at least for me ;)
    The one you were recommended is not much faster than the touch screen one.

    Without the touch-screen things get much better. Take a look at this: ASUS X551CA-SX024H
    It has a much faster, Intel CPU @ 1.8 GHz.
    And a 15.6" screen.

    This one is at least three times as fast than the one you were recommended, and it is only €20 euro more.
    It should be more than enough for a starting programmer and it could run some new-ish games too (on low settings).


    What you should be looking for:
    What you should focusing the most is probably the CPU.
    It would be preferably an Intel "i3" series CPU (like the one above), look at their frequencies "GHz", in general the higher frequency the faster they are.
    Mobile AMD CPUs are a lot slower, mainly because of their poor frequencies and operations per cycle, but they are also a lot cheaper.
    You also probably want at least 3 GB RAM for him.


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    #5
    lip
    Registered Users Posts: 163 ✭✭lip


    Thank you. Had a look at that, it looks good, (not that I really have a clue:)). I would prefer to pay the extra for it to get a good 1. Thank you for explaining what I should be looking for too. I'll be going to PC World on Saturday, have to get an ipod and digital camera for my other 2 so may be able to bargain with them and get the price down a bit. Thank you again, really appreciate it.


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