Gaming Laptop for an 8/9 year old

_Kaiser_

Hey all

So my little fella has decided he wants a gaming laptop from Santy (the original plan was I'd sort something with him for his birthday next year but sure) and so I'm looking at options

He currently mostly plays Roblox and Minecraft but would probably like to play more demanding games in the not too distant future (he's been playing his uncle's XBox so knows about Call of Duty etc too), so something that will handle that and school work down the line would be good.

Any suggestions? Fairly wide budget but I want to keep it under a grand anyway (preferably much lower if I could get something decent!) with the intention it'll last a few years. EG: I was considering the Lenovo Legion Y540 (was looking at it myself earlier in the year which is where he's gotten the idea from)

Cheers!

I'd probably wait until around black Friday.

imo you should try to get the best bang for your buck specs wise so that it will run games longer

if you can get an Nvidia RTX 2060 card (preferably the higher wattage 2020 refresh model) it would be really worth it for some of the features that it has like DLSS 2.0 which can sort of add more gpu power for free in supported games. also has ray-tracing

lesser cards like the 1660ti don't have these features

that coupled with a 6-core cpu (either intel or Amd it won't make any real difference for gaming) and you should be ok

even go for an 8gb ram model - it's cheap to add more ram yourself after

screen-wise maybe high refresh screens but not as important imo but 120 Hz is common enough anyways

I would say that there should be a deal around black friday offering this sort of spec for 900 sterling

of course the new PS5 and X box series X will be more powerful for what you can get for pretty much twice the cost in a pc but games are more expensive so maybe something else to consider.

something like this was selling for £999 for a fair while recently

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/gaming/pc-gaming/gaming-laptops/msi-gf65-thin-15-6-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i7-rtx-2060-256-gb-ssd-10205333-pdt.html

sort of spec you should look at to get imo

really good value option here for £600 on a deal

https://www.box.co.uk/FA506IH-BQ027-ASUS-TUF-GAMING-A15-FA506IH-BQ027-(NO-OP_2913034.html

solid 4600h cpu (beats intel i7's like the 10750h) and nvidia 1650 card

no OS but just download windows yourself from microsoft and put it on from usb

buy a windows key from ebay or don't even bother (just a watermark on bottom right of screen)

the display is 60Hz but I wouldn't be that bothered about that tbh as most intensive games will be played at under that rate (in frames per second)

_Kaiser_

Cheers Glasso. Looks like a great option to be honest.

I did get a good deal on an almost-as-new Lenovo Y540 but I'm actually very impressed with it myself (and it's surprisingly lighter than my own Precision 5510) but you have me thinking now if I should get him that one and keep the Y540 myself

where did you buy the Y540 - ebay?

_Kaiser_

glasso wrote: »

where did you buy the Y540 - ebay?

Yup.. got it from the UK. Pretty much as new. It's very nice so I'm a bit conflicted now - though my Precision has the touchscreen (which I don't use) and 4K resolution (which is nice!)

B00MSTICK

Any particular reason why he wants a laptop? Or is it more because you were looking at one?
Does he have a "normal" laptop/tablet already?

Having bought 2 gaming laptops in my teens/twenties and having an Alienware 13 and 15 more recently from work I'd always advise against it unless being portable/saving space is crucial.

_Kaiser_

B00MSTICK wrote: »

Any particular reason why he wants a laptop? Or is it more because you were looking at one?
Does he have a "normal" laptop/tablet already?

Having bought 2 gaming laptops in my teens/twenties and having an Alienware 13 and 15 more recently from work I'd always advise against it unless being portable/saving space is crucial.

The plan was that we'd build a PC for his birthday but this was pre-Covid and space is now an issue , hence a laptop is the preferred option. Also because he regularly goes between his house and his grandparents place.

He has his own mobile and access to standard laptops yes, as well as his uncle's Xbox (I think the idea of a PC/laptop to him is more so he can play with daddy - aww! ) So far he's not playing anything particularly demanding.. Roblox, Among Us - that sorta thing!

As for me.. I was looking in the early months as I was away from my gaming PC for a while and the Y540 seemed a well-reviewed solid choice that would last a while and if it was good enough for me, it should last him ages

That ASUS one from Glasso works out at €675 delivered... it's very tempting and probably looks more "gamey" than the Lenovo which would appeal to him too.

Aaargh! Decisions!

to be honest you'd struggle to build out an equivalent desktop with monitor, keyboard, mouse for that money

of course you can't upgrade the gpu or cpu on the laptop but that's the tradeoff for space and portability

the fact that you can use a laptop in many usage scenarios mean that it can be more useful (not that good if trying to restrict usage to certain hours)

that cpu has more power than many recent enough desktop intel i7's

_Kaiser_

I think I'll let fate decide

I'm waiting for a 100 GBP refund from amazon and see that Amazon Pay is an option on that site. If the refund arrives before the price goes up, I'll buy it... If not, he gets the Lenovo

beauf

Your link doesn't work. I assume thats why you deleted it.

I'm hesitant about getting a laptop with a 1650. Its barely adequate for now never mind in 12~24 months time.
A weaker CPU and a better GFX might be more balanced gaming system. I assume this is why there so many of these in stock and anything with a better GFX is in short supply.

Of course it depends what you playing with it, or what you are using the laptop for.

_Kaiser_

In the end he got the Y540. The Asus arrived but I was concerned about some of the subsequent reviews I read on it so sent it back.

He's been very happy with it so far and is already kicking my ass in Roblox

beauf

beauf wrote: »

Your link doesn't work. I assume thats why you deleted it.

I'm hesitant about getting a laptop with a 1650. Its barely adequate for now never mind in 12~24 months time.
A weaker CPU and a better GFX might be more balanced gaming system. I assume this is why there so many of these in stock and anything with a better GFX is in short supply.

Of course it depends what you playing with it, or what you are using the laptop for.

what deleted link?

laptop deals from last October may not be still valid shocker!

at the time I believe it was less than 600 £ for a fully featured entry-level gaming laptop - great deal and certainly not available now.

did you suddenly wake up and decide to hit up a long-dead thread?! :pac:

beauf

I got a notification this morning from boards. I can still see it my history.
I didn't say what it was, or when it was.

If it bothers you that much just ignore it.

beauf

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

In the end he got the Y540. The Asus arrived but I was concerned about some of the subsequent reviews I read on it so sent it back.

He's been very happy with it so far and is already kicking my ass in Roblox

Asus have alway been a bit hit and miss for me. Had a few. Currently, we have a ultrabook Asus. Everyone else likes it, but I think the track pad on it is terrible. No one else use the track pad, so it doesn't bother them. Also the 4k doesn't always play nice with VPNs for me.

What were the issues with the Asus. Always like the Lenovo's especially the keyboards. Thinking of getting a couple of the legions. Supply in the right spec is hard. Many brands seem to have throttling issue with certain models and configurations. Bit of a minefield. Especially if you want to get a long life out of it.

every laptop model version needs to be looked at on its own merits

models from the manufacturers that may keep the same name from the previous year can easily be completely different designs

the current legion 5 is actually a good entry level laptop. it costs a little more than the equivalents from other manufacturer particularly on the lower end but it's worth it

this model at the upper end of the legion 5 range is actually not bad value considering the cpu (4800h) , screen (fast and colour-accurate, lesser models in the range have worse screens) and gpu (115w highest-power mobile version) are all solid with a good build

https://www.currys.ie/ieen/gaming/pc-gaming/gaming-laptops/lenovo-legion-5p-15-6-gaming-laptop-amd-ryzen-7-rtx-2060-256-gb-ssd-10205989-pdt.html

add another 8gb ram for 40 euro. free m.2 slot

beauf

Cheers. I wonder do that have that in stock. How long delivery is. That spec is not available directly from Lenovo from what I can see. As you say decent spec for the price and easy to upgrade.

I'd had preferred a brighter screen. But its meant to be decent regardless. People who reviewed that brighter 500nits screen reported the one they got was only 370nits, which makes it not worth the extra. Reviews can be unreliable.

tbh even if it is "only" 370 nits, that is plenty brightness

currently available

delivery within 5 to 9 working days

beauf

This one is 300 which will have to do. I've ordered it anyway. As you say 5-9 days delivery.

370 would be ok. Unless you're paying a premium of 200~300 for 500nits

Back of the house is very bright. We get so little sun its a shame to have to pull blinds, curtains. Etc.
With WFH and sharing desks with others in the house, we all have to play musical chairs around the house.
Even if I could order the parts for a Gaming PC, it would be hander if we could move anywhere. I
was tempted to get another 17" but thats a lot less portable. You can always just a standalone screen if you really need it.

having DLSS (in particular) and ray-tracing on the 2060 in that is well worth it over the cards below that that don't have it, particularly on the higher wattage model.

e.g. in some cases DLSS can near double the fps with it's AI-upscaling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS1vQ8JtbdM

beauf

I think the extra GFX grunt will keep it viable for gaming for a lot longer than a 1650. The 6GB of VRAM will pay a part in that.

That said if the 1650 was enough, it uses less power and thus better battery, and runs cooler. Which might be important for some playing lower end games.

The systems with the intel CPU seem to all run a lot hotter.

that 115w 2060 is pretty much twice the power of a laptop 1650

you could say 4 times as powerful on a DLSS-enabled game (ray-tracing off).