Hi
My lad has stated he’s after a laptop, and that he’d like to use it for gaming as well as school homework, internet etc. I suspect that this is just to give him another method or way of playing Fortnite etc, as he already has an X-Box.
However, what spec would a ‘gaming’ laptop need to be? Does it need extra memory cards, processing power and so on…and therefore is a totally different thing than a simple laptop for school work, and therefore a totally different price?! Can he still play games on a simple laptop, but it’ll just be a poorer experience – slower and poorer graphics? He’s not a gaming geek, but just playing the standard stuff with his pals (12 years old).
Sorry for coming across as Victorian Dad from Viz, but you’ll see that I have no real idea and any steer or advice at STW can offer would be much appreciated!
Many thanks
Fraser

There was a thread a few days ago on just this subject.

The upshot was that unless he wants to play games that are not available on console, his Xbox is more than enough, and a desktop always trumps a laptop for cost and power if a PC of some kind is required.

Beat me to it. I’ll dig out the thread in a sec.

First question is, do you have North of a grand to spend? Because that’s what an actual “gaming laptop” will set you back. He’s almost certainly going to be better served with either a PC (which is upgradeable unlike a laptop) or sticking with the console and a regular laptop if portability is a requirement (why if he’s 12, where is he going to be taking it?).

Here.
https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/gaming-laptop-advice-for-xmas-h-e-l-p/

As Cougar says, you’ll have to be spending a lot to get a pukka “gaming” laptop and still quite a lot to even match an xbox one. Way more than will get you a decent home/schoolwork laptop.

As above.
Gaming laptops are basically a fallacy. They are expensive and they get too hot.

Get a proper PC or a console. Laptops are a compromise too far for gaming.

My son asked the same when about that age, true you will spend an arm and a leg for something that competes with a desktop. But Asus do some more reasonably priced gaming laptops (compared to Alienware etc) with GeForce cards and more RAM that separate them from your average laptop. He was quite happy with his.

Asus ROG Core i5-8300H 8GB 1TB + 128GB SSD GeForce GTX 1050Ti 4GB 15.6 Inch Windows 10 Gaming Laptop

My lad made the same request a couple of yrs ago. He was about that age & was in to Minecraft.
In the end we bought him a billy basic laptop with an i3 chip & 8gb of ram, & an Xbox One S for his room.
It’s perfect for school stuff & it played Minecraft perfectly well, but he still hogs my old Xbox360 in the East Wing for Minecraft.
Of late he’s in to some Airport Sim, now it’s a Theme Park designer, where he gets to ride the coasters he designs.
The gaming laptops I looked at were overkill for his needs. Even desktop gaming machines are a money pit, kit is out of date by the time the next magazine comes out.