I'm looking into buying a new computer for my 15 year old son?

Question

I have no idea where to start,
what make,speed,monitor, specifications etc to go for
any tips would be most appeciated,thankyou

Answer 1

Hello,
Your son will most likely need it to write reports and surf the net. You really dont need a very high end system.

Dell computers are very cheap and pretty reliable. I would check out dell's website. Dell.com

Answer 2

Need 2 questions answered before I can make that recommendation.

1) What is he going to do with it

2) What is your budget.

If all you want is basic net access/word processing for homework pretty much any $500 machine (I personally suggest Dell as they are decent machines for the money and have a decent warranty although your mileage may vary.)

If he is going to be playing games on the machine it could get expensive as most of the latest games have extremely steep hardware requirements.

Here is what I would probably go with as a mid range system.

1) Either an AMD dual core system or P4 3.0 or higher.(Prices just dropped on the AMD chips when Intel released their new DUO's last week so you should get a good deal on them right now)
2) 1 gig of Ram
3) Windows xp (Home unless you have network in which case I suggest pro)

4) DVD Burner Dual layer is cheap so get one.

5) Monitor. Depends on space and purpose. If space is not an issue and he is primarily a gamer, a 19 or 21 inch CRT would be my suggestion. If space is an issue or gaming is a secondary concern I would go with a decent 17 inch LCD and a 19 would be better. If money is no concern a bigger LCD would not be a bad thing.

6) Video card: Will depend on purpose and budget. If not much gaming, this isn't an issue. If primarily gaming you want the most card for your budget. Cards run from $40-$400 so without a number its hard to recommend a specific make/model.

7) Hard drive space depends on what you are doing. If he is heavily into movies and music you may want to go with a 120 or 160 gig drive. If not a 60 or 80 gig drive may be fine.

As a final note, don't try to get everything from one place. Go buy a cheap dell and pick up memory from your local retailer or www.newegg.com (love this site) and install it yourself. Same with the cd burner if the price is right. It's a 5 minute install and can save you a ton of money.

Answer 3

I would not buy Compaq or eMachines. They just do not work. For memory (RAM) make sure you get AT LEAST 1 GB, or 1024 MB (which is the same thing) but of course higher is much much better--it makes everything work so much faster. Moniter, the new flat screens are in so if you can, buy one of those. For Processor, I would get a dual core. You can multitask much better that way-especially for school. (I suggest Intel). For Hard drive space, get at least 150 GB, the very least. On my computer I have 250 GB. Make sure it has a DVD Burner and other stuff you might want, such as Media Center Edition so you can watch TV, etc. There's also a lot that have card readers so you can take the digital card from your camera and stick it in the computer to look at pics. I've been using HP for everything and they work pretty well. Those new Slimline versions are small and look pretty nice. But of course, the specifics are up to you, depending on what you want to do with the computer.

Are you looking for a laptop or desktop? It might also be worth it to buy a laptop instead if he wants to go to college, etc. For laptops, I would definitely reccomend more memory and hard drive space.

Good luck! Hope this helped.

Answer 4

Well if your son is 15 im sure he is somewhat into computers and the worse thing you can do is buy a PC he wont use. As far as make goes it really doesnt matter which direction you go in . Most people tend to go for Dell( despite all the bad things you hear about it they are not bad PC'S unles you buy there $299 systems , then you get wht you pay for) If your looking for a basic setup I would prob get something liek this

Proccesor: Intel Pentium 4 2.4 ghz
RAM: 512mb ( at least)
HardDrive: 80gb
Dvd/cd burner

Some other things, prob be nice to have a flat screen. If you have highspeed internet or plan on getting make sure it has a Network adapter (ethernet). Dell makes it pretty simple to configure a system on thier website they will inclde everythig you need ( http://www.dell.com ) and good luck!!!!

Answer 5

Manufacturer: Dell or HP direct. Both are great.

Speed: 256MB RAM is usually good, unless he's into gaming, then you'll want something faster than that.

Monitor: 15" or 17" LCD.

Specs: Get him both CD/DVD drives (Or a combo drive), with a CD burner, Under all circumstances get an Intel processer (AMD is horrible.) At least 40GB hard drive. Also get him some good speakers.

I should also mention that it would be best to wait until Windows Vista comes out to make this purchace.

Hope this helps!

Answer 6

I'd recommend a sony vaio, but you should be able to pick up a hardcore gamers pc reasonably cheap on ebay, and a hardcore gamers machine is what most 15 year olds want. You want a pentium processor, athlons ok too, forget about celeron. A tft monitor is sure to be appreciated by him, perhaps a 17inch. A nice Gb of ram will be sufficient, and a nice direct X 9d compatible graphics card that will play all the latest games.

Answer 7

Well obviously start by looking in well-known. The speed of the computer depends on what he uses a computer for. If its gaming then u r gonna need quite a fast one as games are becoming more and more complex. I don't think a fancy monitor is that important as long as it is clear and bright.

Answer 8

i found a gr8 guy that builds puters here in my town and he also builds puters for others .....he is gr8 and cheap ....Custom Choice Computers 715-736-0204 [e-mail] is the place to get a great new computer custom built ask for tony or Adrienne tell them matt and soul sent ya They also will ship to where ever ya are at a reasonable cost ....he also can tell u what kind of puters like how big or small no other company like dell will give u a 5 yr warranty on most the parts ...he does

Answer 9

well =\ the cheapest I've seen is dell and the most highest is a sony computer with the sony you wont have to worry about anything for a long time and it runs like you wouldn never think so if u want somthing cheap go for the dell the dell is pretty fast for alot of softwares and everything especially if he wants a computer game and his homework too. hope i help.

Answer 10

i just give you the best configuration

intel dual core processer 3.8ghz
DDR2 RAM 2G.B or 1 G.B.
intel 945 gnt mother bord
these two give you the best speed for your pc

remaning all are the ar per your budget

but dont forget to get a SATA hard disk either 160 gb or 200 gb dependining on your requierment( i preffer samsung)

DVD R/W ( any one)

but its better to have microsoft keybord and mouse

any ATX case with smps.