system for 12 yr old ?

[dm1girl]

I have 12 yr old son who wants a better gaming computer then my Asus laptop. I don't have huge budget ($800) and for most part he plays games on Steam. I was looking at Alienware Alpha 100 console vs something like HP Envy 750-114 -somewhere I thought I saw that had slot where we could add different graphic cards so may last 4-6 years. I do not know anyone who can build so that is not an option for me. If went with Alpha, I would buy SDD hard drive and Kingston 8GB DDR3L ram for about $150;more bringing price to around $550 allowing purchase of TV,keyboard and mouse. My concern is this will not be upgradeable so after 1 or 2 years he will want something else where the computer might be upgradeable....trying to figure best value. Of course on a few years he will be old enough to work and can buy his own stuff possibly. Any insight if Alienware would be reasonable purchase for next four years?

 

[BennCon]

I know this probably isn't the option you want to hear, but maybe let him build it. I built my first PC at the age of 13, and it was a great experience. It goes together very easily, and it's a great thing to understand. So, that's my honest answer, but if it's not an option for you I'll be happy to help with the original question.

 

[USAFRet]

Don't go for an Alienware. Generally, they are more expensive for the same performance.

And YES, let him/help him build one.
You two can go through and pick out all the parts, then, with a little bit of guidance...build it.
Last xmas, I did exactly this with my 10 year old grandson. He did 95% of the assembly.

 

[anoori9000]

LET HIM BUILD IT!!!

Having him build it will make him better at sooo sooo sooo many things. It is such a good project for him to do and again, will just make him better and smarter at way more things than you think. Tell him to make a Tom's account and get him a paypal set up. Let him to do his research.

We are all here to help

 

[1LiquidPC]

With all the advice you can find on here combined w/ countless web tutorial videos, I'd say let him build it as well. There's tons of step-by-step information available, and folks here can offer advice and suggestions on parts to fit within your budget. We're here to help, as mentioned above