Non techy mum needs advice!!

[Harrybob02]

Hi
IT and gaming is a foreign landscape to me so I need advice please on buying a laptop or tablet that my children can run Steam games on. They like Subnautica and Cosmeteer and Planet Annihilation Titans(?) . I need something relatively cheap as I need to buy 2 and wondered if a refurbished Dell Latitude D630 or a Lenovo Thinkpad x201 would be any good? A friends has suggested a Linx Vision.

I would also like to know if Steam can be installed on an Xbox360 please. I've Googled it but I'm non the wiser!

If you can help please bear in mind that I know nothing about IT so explanations will need to be pretty basic.

Thank you

[DirtyFishy]

Steam can not be installed on an Xbox 360. It's a PC platform only.
Steam can run on anything but to run the games you'll best be looking at the specs required for each game on the store page.

For help with hardware and specs (specifications). Post here.
http://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/11/

Best of luck.

[Mivo]

The Dell Latitude D630 is a very old model, almost a decade old, and it would have trouble running a modern version of Windows (as it only has 1 GB of RAM). Windows tablets are a mixed back. In general, I would stay away from cheaper ones, they aren't really suitable for running Steam on or for "proper" gaming.

What is your budget? It's easier to make suggestions when we know how much you can spend at most. Just a ballpark figure would help. :) I echo the suggestion to post in the other forum area that DF linked to above.

[Harrybob02]

Thank you for the advice (it just took me almost 15 minutes to figure out how to reply!!).

I will go to the specs forum as suggested.

My budget is £175 each max as I have to buy two (single parent blah, blah, blah).

Thanks again, you've been very helpful x

[Drab]

Find a friend or relative in your real life to advise you on this. It works out a lot beter.

Also make sure you make each child a seperate Steam account and use family view to control what they can do.

[BossGalaga]

There are plenty of games you can still play on a low-spec laptop. There are also a ton of free and awesome indie games you can play on low-spec laptops as well. The budget you have specified is not going to be able to play the games you mentioned, either not reliably or not at all.

[Polly112]

Sorry to break this to you, but if you want a computer that can run at least decent steam games, you're gore have to pay at least $500. Unless your kids are dying for the mouse and keyboard controls, I would recommend upgrading their xbox 360 to an xbox one s. There are some Black Friday and cyber Monday deals that sell it for under $200 and it allows for both of them to play at the same time if you get an extra controller for up to $60. Sorry, but I don't know how American dollars relate to pounds.

[BossGalaga]

引用自 AHungryFalcon：

Sorry to break this to you, but if you want a computer that can run at least decent steam games, you're gore have to pay at least $500. Unless your kids are dying for the mouse and keyboard controls, I would recommend upgrading their xbox 360 to an xbox one s. There are some Black Friday and cyber Monday deals that sell it for under $200 and it allows for both of them to play at the same time if you get an extra controller for up to $60. Sorry, but I don't know how American dollars relate to pounds.

Actually, if you want to play super awesome eye-melting video games what you specifically need is a computer with a dedicated graphics card. It is unlikely that a laptop within the budget that "non techy mum" specified would have a dedicated GPU.

[Polly112]

引用自 BossGalaga：

引用自 AHungryFalcon：

Sorry to break this to you, but if you want a computer that can run at least decent steam games, you're gore have to pay at least $500. Unless your kids are dying for the mouse and keyboard controls, I would recommend upgrading their xbox 360 to an xbox one s. There are some Black Friday and cyber Monday deals that sell it for under $200 and it allows for both of them to play at the same time if you get an extra controller for up to $60. Sorry, but I don't know how American dollars relate to pounds.

Actually, if you want to play super awesome eye-melting video games what you specifically need is a computer with a dedicated graphics card. It is unlikely that a laptop within the budget that "non techy mum" specified would have a dedicated GPU.

Yeah, if they wanna run some PUBG and other games on high graphics settings, than they are gonna need to get a some $1500 desktop with a crazy good graphics card, but I meant if they wanted to play games no more demanding than cs go, than you can get a laptop for around $500 that would run them, but with lower graphics

[BossGalaga]

引用自 AHungryFalcon：

引用自 BossGalaga：

Actually, if you want to play super awesome eye-melting video games what you specifically need is a computer with a dedicated graphics card. It is unlikely that a laptop within the budget that "non techy mum" specified would have a dedicated GPU.

Yeah, if they wanna run some PUBG and other games on high graphics settings, than they are gonna need to get a some $1500 desktop with a crazy good graphics card, but I meant if they wanted to play games no more demanding than cs go, than you can get a laptop for around $500 that would run them, but with lower graphics

No, you do not need a "$1500 desktop with a crazy good graphics card" to play PUBG. Minimum requirements for PUBG are an i3, 6gb ram, and a 2gb GPU.

[Mivo]

She needs two, though. 175 pounds will barely get one half-decent laptop with integrated video that can run Windows 10 and Steam, with some 2D games that aren't too demanding. Hardware is about 20% more expensive here in Europe, compared to the US. I don't think two machines for this money is feasible, so I agree with the poster who suggested an xbox with two controllers, either used or on a sale, provided a TV set is available. Or maybe two Nintendo 2DS, but the games are expensive.

A different route would be to pick up one or two older desktops from thrift shops or from local sales, but if she's not tech-savvy that isn't really a viable option either. Plus the energy these things consume and the space they take up.

[Harrybob02]

Blimey! It really is complicated isn't it!

引用自 Drab：

Find a friend or relative in your real life to advise you on this. It works out a lot beter.

Also make sure you make each child a seperate Steam account and use family view to control what they can do.

Thanks - they will definitely need separate accounts just so that they don't argue over who stole who's credits! It's just dawned on me that my friends teenage daughter is an avid gamer so I'll see if she can help too.

引用自 AHungryFalcon：

Sorry to break this to you, but if you want a computer that can run at least decent steam games, you're gore have to pay at least $500. Unless your kids are dying for the mouse and keyboard controls, I would recommend upgrading their xbox 360 to an xbox one s. There are some Black Friday and cyber Monday deals that sell it for under $200 and it allows for both of them to play at the same time if you get an extra controller for up to $60. Sorry, but I don't know how American dollars relate to pounds.

Thanks- Xbox one might be an option - Ill have to see what they can play on there as they are hooked on Minecraft, Call of Duty and Assassin Creed Black Flag (My brother sets the controls to minimal gore and swearing for me lol). £1 sterling is roughly $1.33 at the mo.

Mivo, Boss Galaga and Hungry Falson - Sorry - I got a bit confused by PUBG and GPU! I'll have to do a spot of Googling. The budget is roughly 2x £175 so an xbox one looks likeit might be a feasible option.

I really do appreciate your help guys, thank you x

[Baosas]

If you intend to go for a PC anyway, custom-build one budget PC with at least passable hardware. It might set you back by ~$500 (doesn't include monitor costs), but you can still stand to get acceptable performance that way.

People around here should be more than happy to provide you with a build, you only need to provide an exact budget, and it's only a matter of buying the parts afterwards (assembly can be left to others).

[Muppet among Puppets]

You should buy / build a pc. No one has a benefit from a portable thing that doesnt play games.
Will they even carry them?
And is that worth it?

[DirtyFishy]

An Xbox may be a better option, considering your budget.

[Harrybob02]

Hi

I've had a quick look at desktops and these two are within my budget and, to my untrained eye, look like they might do the job. Your opinions would be appreciated, thanks:

LENOVO IdeaCentre 310S-08ASR Desktop PC
Operating system Windows 10 (64-bit)
Processor - AMD A9 9430 processor
- Dual-core
- 3.2 GHz / 3.5 GHz (Turbo Core)
- 1 MB cache
RAM 4 GB DDR4 (2400 MHz) (8 GB maximum installable RAM)
Graphics card AMD Radeon R5
Storage 1 TB HDD, 7200 rpm
Motherboard AMD Stoney Ridge
Wireless - Wireless-AC
- 1x1
Ethernet Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000)


LENOVO IdeaCentre 510s-08IKL Desktop PC -
Windows 10 (64-bit)
- Intel® Core™ i3-7100 Processor
- Dual-core
- 3.9 Ghz
- 4 MB cache
4 GB DDR4 (2400 Mhz) (16 GB maximum installable RAM)
—
1 TB, 7200 rpm
Intel® B250
- Wireless-AC
- 1x1
Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000)