Laptop for 16 year old?

[Dinner]

What do people think about this one? I've been trying to find a decent gamer laptop, not to expensive, but still with good specs. This is the best I've come up with so far.

Acer Nitro 5 AN515-54-70KK Gaming Laptop

AN515-54-70KK



(Intel®)
NH.Q96AA.001

• Windows 10 Home
• Intel® Core™ i7-9750H processor Hexa-core 2.60 GHz
• NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 2060 with 6 GB dedicated memory
• 15.6" Full HD (1920 x 1080) 16:9 IPS
• 16 GB, DDR4 SDRAM
• 512 GB SSD

$ 1099.99

That price is if you buy direct from Acer though I noticed the Microsoft Store has it on sale right now for $100 off which means $999.99 with free shipping.

[EPW]

Seems reasonable. That's a powerful machine.

[Dinner]

The boy liked it, he wanted a laptop which cost almost $2000, I told him his mother and I would buy this one for him, it seems to be in the sweet spot of good but not outrageously expensive. Bought at the Microsoft store for $999.00 plus CA sales tax with free shipping due to arrive on monday.

[Dinner]

The other issue I have is the Dell XPS desktop I bought in November 2019 has died. Apparently, heat issues caused both the mother board and cpu to fail though it has been squirrelly for at least the last six months. Plugging CPU into another system results in it not running. Swapping hardware to new motherboard and cpu has it running, but, putting different hardware on old motherboard results in blinking orange light with no startup or initialization. I did let the fan, airports, and other stuff collect a lot of dust (mostly pet hair and dust) so I am negligent for not cleaning it often enough.

That said the computer repair guy I took it too (who charged $20 to diagnose problems) agreed both the motherboard and cpu were bad. He said he sees a lot of Dell XPS desktop systems which fail due to heat issues and he claimed Dell XPS's case is simply a bad design, too small, not enough air flow, very crowded mini tower, too many heat sources, and just one tiny fan with insufficient ventilation. My existing monitor and peripherals are good but it seems cheaper to just buy a bigger and better tower.

Any suggestions?

[Dinner]

I was considering this, my wife thinks it is over kill and a waste of money, as I don't play really graphics intensive games and the rest of the time it is usual office computing stuff.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08FPXPGJW/ref=ox_sc_act_image_2?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

[Dinner]

The cool thing about the kid's laptop is it has a spare bay for an after market traditional spinning platter hard drive. The CPU and GPU are saudered on, so those can't be upgraded but if you buy higher end at the beginning that isn't a poblem. RAM can be upgraded but the downside is both 8gb modules will have to be discarded or sold to upgrade to 2 x 16gb units.

[EPW]

Seems a little overpriced, but not that bad. Obviously you would get a better computer for the same price if you built it yourself, but not that much better unless you're willing to buy used. I put this together in about 10 minutes:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/RcbYBc

[EPW]

Seems a little overpriced, but not that bad. Obviously you would get a better computer for the same price if you built it yourself, but not that much better unless you're willing to buy used. I put this together in about 10 minutes:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/RcbYBc

It has the same CPU, better RAM, a better SSD, a much better video card, and a better power supply for the same price. If you went with AMD you might save 100-200 more.

[Dauphin]

The other issue I have is the Dell XPS desktop I bought in November 2019 has died. Apparently, heat issues caused both the mother board and cpu to fail though it has been squirrelly for at least the last six months. Plugging CPU into another system results in it not running. Swapping hardware to new motherboard and cpu has it running, but, putting different hardware on old motherboard results in blinking orange light with no startup or initialization. I did let the fan, airports, and other stuff collect a lot of dust (mostly pet hair and dust) so I am negligent for not cleaning it often enough.

That said the computer repair guy I took it too (who charged $20 to diagnose problems) agreed both the motherboard and cpu were bad. He said he sees a lot of Dell XPS desktop systems which fail due to heat issues and he claimed Dell XPS's case is simply a bad design, too small, not enough air flow, very crowded mini tower, too many heat sources, and just one tiny fan with insufficient ventilation. My existing monitor and peripherals are good but it seems cheaper to just buy a bigger and better tower.

Any suggestions?

I used to find Dell desktops convenient and cheap for what you got, back in the 00s. I've bought two Dell laptops in the past decade. First one was awful (power failures and overheating) - I thought it might be an aberration. Second one, bought 6 years later was working great, until the power failure issues came up again just as the 12 month warranty expired. Next machine I get will not be a Dell. Seems chronic.

[EPW]

(Note however that graphics cards are INSANELY expensive right now -- so you kinda have to jump on good deals if you don't want to blow your budget. I was looking at the used market and they are selling for more than retail !! )

[Dinner]

Yeah, bircoin miners are buying up all the gpus they can get their hands on while there remains a global semi-conductor shortage due to the covid shutdowns.

[Dinner]

It has the same CPU, better RAM, a better SSD, a much better video card, and a better power supply for the same price. If you went with AMD you might save 100-200 more.

I think I may go with this suggestion. The last time I built a pc was in the 00's but it wasn't hard and you just had to read the directions.

[Dinner]

Seems a little overpriced, but not that bad. Obviously you would get a better computer for the same price if you built it yourself, but not that much better unless you're willing to buy used. I put this together in about 10 minutes:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/RcbYBc

I noticed that doesn't include a case. I'd like a large case with lots of air flow, and multiple fans, I am doing some research myself, but am interested in hearing if you could recommend such a case? Having just lost a, relatively new PC due to heat issues, I would like to get a good high or medium tower case with lots of airflow and several fans so that I do not repeat the heat failure I saw with my previous Dell XPS system.

[EPW]

I noticed that doesn't include a case. I'd like a large case with lots of air flow, and multiple fans, I am doing some research myself, but am interested in hearing if you could recommend such a case? Having just lost a, relatively new PC due to heat issues, I would like to get a good high or medium tower case with lots of airflow and several fans so that I do not repeat the heat failure I saw with my previous Dell XPS system.

There is a case actually, but yes I agree that a big case with good airflow is preferred. I don't have any particular recommendations except to make sure it can support a lot of fans

[Dinner]

Ok, sorry, missed it. I see it now.

[Dinner]

Damn it. I was starting to buy the stuff this morning and now I'm Amazon says it is out of the motherboard. I am going to see if I can buy the motherboard on a different site.

Edit: Damn it again. Same problem with the video card.