Laptop for Minecraft - please help!

[LauraR]

Hi,

I am looking for a laptop for my 12 year old daughter. I have spent hours trawling the internet trying to research which would be best for her requirements but I am just getting more confused! I don't understand the terminology half the time I'm ashamed to say!

She needs to be able to play Minecraft on it primarily, but then also do school work, watch YouTube and films etc. She also likes to make her own vlogs so a web cam is important.

I'd like it to see her through secondary school and our budget is around the £400 mark.

I've seen a few that seem to be good but I've no idea which one would be best for her needs so please could someone look at the links and offer their opinion?

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-pavilion-15-ab269sa-15-6-laptop-white-10137876-pdt.html

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Search/searchTerm/4249386.htm?cmpid=COJUN&catalogId=10001&cjsurferid=412202273821378437%3Av_JrRg3XB6NI&_%24ja=tsid%3A11674%7Cprd%3A1546795&storeId=10151&referredURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.argos.co.uk%2Fstatic%2FSearch%2FsearchTerm%2F4249386.htm&referrer=COJUN

http://www.tesco.com/direct/hp-pavilion-15-p251na-156-inch-laptop-amd-a10-12gb-ram-2tb-hdd-silver/780-5690.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=780-5690

Many thanks,

Laura

 

[jaguarskx]

I would get the 1st laptop you linked to (repeated below). It will be more than enough to play Minecraft with especially if the OptiFine mod for Minecraft is installed. It will be fine for everything else as well. Intel CPUs uses less powerful so battery life will be much better compared to AMD.

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-pavilion-15-ab269sa-15-6-laptop-white-10137876-pdt.html

Just make sure the vents underneath the laptop are not blocked because that can cause laptops to overheat over time. If she is going to use it on her bed, then buy her a tray to put the laptop on.


For some basic technical information, based on the specs of all those laptops the dual core Core i3-5157u in the HP Pavilion 15-ab269sa has the most powerful graphics core of all three laptops, the Intel HD Iris 6100. It's processing performance should be about equal to the A10-4655M APU in the HP Pavilion 15-p251na (your 3rd link). And just ignore the HP Pavilion 15-ab091na in the 2nd link.

 

[jaguarskx]

Here's a link to OptiFine in case you / your daughter want to install it for better performance in Minecraft (lowers graphics quality a little bit).

http://optifine.net/home

 

[LauraR]

Wow, thank you so much. That's so helpful! Can't believe what a minefield it is nowadays! I used to think I knew a bit about computers until I started looking at them! Think my knowledge is about 15 years out of date!

Just one last question - does that seem a reasonable price to pay for a laptop of that spec?

 

[jaguarskx]

Price seems reasonable for the UK. If you can wait for Christmas sale season to kick off you should be able to find better deals.