Gaming

[SaintRam]

2 hours ago, Beetroot said:

Can anyone advise on this gaming laptop?

https://www.acer.com/ac/en/GB/content/series/nitro5

It's literally half the price of most gaming laptops but I'm only looking for a starter one for my kid (he's only 10 but has just got into coding - I know nothing about any of this).

Is this a decent buy for a starter or is it junk?

FIrst question you need to answer is: Is a laptop necessary?

With a laptop you tend to be putting most of the value into its portability; and a PC is always a better option if the user doesn't need to take it elsewhere. You could put a more powerful tower PC together for that money (or an equally powerful one for less money).

If the answer is yes, you do need a laptop, then that one looks sufficient for the games you mentioned. They're all low-spec games as they're designed to attract the highest number of possible users, rather than be pretty or require a lot of processing power.

Newer / Higher spec games might prove a struggle or require the processor to be put in Turbo mode which I believe that spec has a simple button to do - but you can cross that bridge when it comes.

Edited January 16, 2021 by SaintRam

[Day]

2 minutes ago, SaintRam said:

FIrst question you need to answer is: Is a laptop necessary?

With a laptop you tend to be putting most of the value into its portability; and a PC is always a better option if the user doesn't need to take it elsewhere. You could put a more powerful tower PC together for that money (or an equally powerful one for less money).

This. 

Another point to consider is laptop batteries are not the greatest, especially when running games. Could find yourself replacing the battery after a couple of years.

PC's are also easier to upgrade. 5 years down the line, Dad, I need a more powerful graphics card, good luck replacing one in a laptop. Could look at using an eGPU but that defeats the whole purpose of a laptop in the first place.

 

[Parsnip]

9 minutes ago, SaintRam said:

FIrst question you need to answer is: Is a laptop necessary?

With a laptop you tend to be putting most of the value into its portability; and a PC is always a better option if the user doesn't need to take it elsewhere. You could put a more powerful tower PC together for that money (or an equally powerful one for less money).

If the answer is yes, you do need a laptop, then that one looks sufficient for the games you mentioned. They're all low-spec games as they're designed to attract the highest number of possible users, rather than be pretty or require a lot of processing power.

Newer / Higher spec games might prove a struggle or require the processor to be put in Turbo mode which I believe that spec has a simple button to do - but you can cross that bridge when it comes.

 

3 minutes ago, David said:

This. 

Another point to consider is laptop batteries are not the greatest, especially when running games. Could find yourself replacing the battery after a couple of years.

PC's are also easier to upgrade. 5 years down the line, Dad, I need a more powerful graphics card, good luck replacing one in a laptop. Could look at using an eGPU but that defeats the whole purpose of a laptop in the first place.

 

Ok thanks. I've decided to buy it. Wouldn't consider a desktop at this age - maybe ill upgrade it next year and I'll have this one for work. Its prettier than mine with all its lights.

[Van der MoodHoover]

14 minutes ago, Beetroot said:

Junk then?

Not rubbish - but I think the ad is a bit naughty. Bit like being captivated by the look of the iphone 11 and then finding you've bought the iphone 9. It'll work, but as others have said, the tech has moved on (and continues to do so at a pace).

 

I once put my own PC together from best of breed components with the intention of upgrading the components as and when - which of course never happened....and the thing was obsolete within 3 years.....?

[Parsnip]

23 minutes ago, Van der MoodHoover said:

Not rubbish - but I think the ad is a bit naughty. Bit like being captivated by the look of the iphone 11 and then finding you've bought the iphone 9. It'll work, but as others have said, the tech has moved on (and continues to do so at a pace).

 

I once put my own PC together from best of breed components with the intention of upgrading the components as and when - which of course never happened....and the thing was obsolete within 3 years.....?

It'll be a considerable upgrade on my laptop though I imagine - which is what he's using at the moment. I think it cost me about £400 6 years ago.

[Van der MoodHoover]

8 minutes ago, Beetroot said:

It'll be a considerable upgrade on my laptop though I imagine - which is what he's using at the moment. I think it cost me about £400 6 years ago.

Oh yes - i would certainly agree with that. And if your laptop was a business one, it wouldn't have had the all-important gaming class graphics card so he'd notice a big difference. 

[TimRam]

43 minutes ago, David said:

This. 

Another point to consider is laptop batteries are not the greatest, especially when running games. Could find yourself replacing the battery after a couple of years.

PC's are also easier to upgrade. 5 years down the line, Dad, I need a more powerful graphics card, good luck replacing one in a laptop. Could look at using an eGPU but that defeats the whole purpose of a laptop in the first place.

 

Also a lot of newer laptops are a pain to even upgrade the ram or hard drive. Older ones are a lot easier strangely enough. Just a screw to undo the back panel (as in the case of my 2012 Toshiba).

[DarkFruitsRam7]

4 hours ago, Van der MoodHoover said:

Oh yes - i would certainly agree with that. And if your laptop was a business one, it wouldn't have had the all-important gaming class graphics card so he'd notice a big difference. 

@Beetroot is the most unprofessional businessman you’ll ever meet.

Edited January 16, 2021 by DarkFruitsRam7

[Parsnip]

1 hour ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

@Beetroot is the most unprofessional businessman you’ll ever meet.

 

[Parsnip]

@Van der MoodHoover

Which is a better processor?

ACER Nitro 5 17.3" Gaming Laptop - Intel® Core™ i5, GTX 1650, 256 GB SSD

ACER Nitro 5 15.6" Gaming Laptop - AMD Ryzen 5, GTX 1650, 256 GB SSD

The 17.3" is only a bit more expensive but sounds like a massive screen! Too big?

[Van der MoodHoover]

6 hours ago, Beetroot said:

@Van der MoodHoover

Which is a better processor?

ACER Nitro 5 17.3" Gaming Laptop - Intel® Core™ i5, GTX 1650, 256 GB SSD

ACER Nitro 5 15.6" Gaming Laptop - AMD Ryzen 5, GTX 1650, 256 GB SSD

The 17.3" is only a bit more expensive but sounds like a massive screen! Too big?

The i5 is not intels state of the art processor any more and AMD have been getting slightly better results, with better prices, on the Ryzen chips. 

So it looks to me like the somewhat higher cost of the bigger screen is being offset by putting a cheaper i5 chip in. 

On balance I'd be leaning towards the second one. If your son's genuinely using it on lap then 15 in is plenty of screen. So he'll get a slightly better visual experience with the faster AMD chip. (although the GPU is the same, the AMD will be passing more instructions more quickly so should on balance look "better" in high action animation). 

And there's a few Bob beer money for dad..... ?

[BIllyD]

51 minutes ago, Van der MoodHoover said:

The i5 is not intels state of the art processor any more and AMD have been getting slightly better results, with better prices, on the Ryzen chips. 

So it looks to me like the somewhat higher cost of the bigger screen is being offset by putting a cheaper i5 chip in. 

On balance I'd be leaning towards the second one. If your son's genuinely using it on lap then 15 in is plenty of screen. So he'll get a slightly better visual experience with the faster AMD chip. (although the GPU is the same, the AMD will be passing more instructions more quickly so should on balance look "better" in high action animation). 

And there's a few Bob beer money for dad..... ?

Might be a bit warm for the lap given the temps the GPU reportedly runs at ?

[Parsnip]

1 hour ago, Van der MoodHoover said:

The i5 is not intels state of the art processor any more and AMD have been getting slightly better results, with better prices, on the Ryzen chips. 

So it looks to me like the somewhat higher cost of the bigger screen is being offset by putting a cheaper i5 chip in. 

On balance I'd be leaning towards the second one. If your son's genuinely using it on lap then 15 in is plenty of screen. So he'll get a slightly better visual experience with the faster AMD chip. (although the GPU is the same, the AMD will be passing more instructions more quickly so should on balance look "better" in high action animation). 

And there's a few Bob beer money for dad..... ?

Brilliant thanks MoodHoover!

[Parsnip]

22 minutes ago, BIllyD said:

Might be a bit warm for the lap given the temps the GPU reportedly runs at ?

That's his problem.

[Ramslad1992]

Thought I’d resurrect this... I really like my PS4 but unfortunately I have 2 little people who use it for Disney+ 99% of the time! The majority of my money goes on them so I can’t really justify paying big bucks for the new releases... anyone got any recommendations of old games that would be cheap? I’m just about to finish Just Cause 3 which I paid the extortionate price of £4.49 for! 

[maxjam]

28 minutes ago, Ramslad1992 said:

Thought I’d resurrect this... I really like my PS4 but unfortunately I have 2 little people who use it for Disney+ 99% of the time! The majority of my money goes on them so I can’t really justify paying big bucks for the new releases... anyone got any recommendations of old games that would be cheap? I’m just about to finish Just Cause 3 which I paid the extortionate price of £4.49 for! 

https://blog.playstation.com/2021/03/17/play-at-home-2021-update-10-free-games-to-download-this-spring/

Subnautica is the pick of the bunch imo, well worth a play.

Dunno if Horizon Zero Dawn is still free, but thats a stunning game if you've not played it yet.

[ThePrisoner]

2 hours ago, maxjam said:

https://blog.playstation.com/2021/03/17/play-at-home-2021-update-10-free-games-to-download-this-spring/

Subnautica is the pick of the bunch imo, well worth a play.

Dunno if Horizon Zero Dawn is still free, but thats a stunning game if you've not played it yet.

Started playing Subnautica last week. Really enjoying it. Not sure what took me so long!

[Steve Buckley’s Dog]

Hi all

Have bought my 10 year old an Xbox one for his 10th birthday. His first games console and mine since the Spectrum 48k ( which I still have in the loft!)

Anyway, any recommendations on easy to play games suitable for a beginner? Looking for something we can play together offline, get used to the controls etc. We like Star Wars, he loves Lego, I am really tight and both of us now hate football. Any suggestions for games based on these parameters? Maybe good two player games or something?

I considered Battlefront, which I pretty muck know nothing about, but was worried it would be too complicated for a beginner and possibly age inappropriate. Squadrons seems a little tricky as well although, again, this is only based on what I have read.

Any advice welcome. 

 

[JuanFloEvraTheCocu'sNesta]

Picked up an Xbox Series S and Games Pass Ultimate. 

If there is a better value service in gaming than Games Pass I haven't found it. Holy crap it's good.

[Anon]

7 minutes ago, Steve Buckley’s Dog said:

Hi all

Have bought my 10 year old an Xbox one for his 10th birthday. His first games console and mine since the Spectrum 48k ( which I still have in the loft!)

Anyway, any recommendations on easy to play games suitable for a beginner? Looking for something we can play together offline, get used to the controls etc. We like Star Wars, he loves Lego, I am really tight and both of us now hate football. Any suggestions for games based on these parameters? Maybe good two player games or something?

I considered Battlefront, which I pretty muck know nothing about, but was worried it would be too complicated for a beginner and possibly age inappropriate. Squadrons seems a little tricky as well although, again, this is only based on what I have read.

Any advice welcome. 

 

A pretty obvious one here, given your requirements, but Lego Star Wars (or any of the lego games really) seems like an ideal fit. It's really easy to pick up and play. Good simple fun and there's quite a bit of longevity if you find you like it and decide to try and get all the collectables.

Minecraft is basically lego, the video game. There's an almost limitless list of things you can do and build in that game. I've never tried split screen on a single console though, and it seems like it might be a little fiddly to set up.

There's a game called "A Way Out" that is specifically designed for two player co-op with puzzle and shooting segments. It got pretty good reviews. You do play as criminals who break out of prison, so there's quite a bit of murder and mature content.

The Halo 1-3 games are a great co-op experience in my opinion. As first person shooters go they're quite intuitive and pretty easy on the lower difficulty settings, but it will still be tough to pick it up initially if you aren't used to playing first person shooters.