Help me pick out a laptop for my 11 year old

My son has saved up some money and I would like to surprise him by going ahead and getting him a laptop for his 11th birthday. He will mainly use it for games, watching media, and skyping with his best friend who recently moved out of state.

These are some options that I was considering, but wondering what thoughts are and if you have any other suggestions. I need to keep the price below $700 if possible. He mainly plays Minecraft right now, but he has recently started expanding his gaming tastes (plays Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare on Xbox)....so I'd like something that is capable of playing some modern games with respectable settings if feasible.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834314807

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152586R

@agrippi: This is a little over your budget but for the brand and quality you're getting it's worth it. You're not gonna get anything capable of running games decently for under a grand. You're better off getting a little more money together and waiting a bit.

http://www.amazon.com/GL551JW-DS71-15-6-Inch-Gaming-Laptop-GTX960M/dp/B00T7XRH2A/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1428364266&sr=1-1&keywords=asus+rog+laptop

I would go with the Acer one because of specs, I would go with MSI even though it's a little worse because of brand (one of the top 3 that I recommend)

I wish I could go that high on price, but I can't. Again, my price range really needs to stay under $700. I understand it won't be a "gaming" laptop according to gamers' standards, but it looks like the options I put up can still be functional for a kid his age with the types of games and expectations that he has at this point in his life.

I'm definitely not limiting myself to those two options....but they are at the price point and have a dedicated GPU....so I thought they would be possibilities. Maybe I'm wrong and it is really just foolish to look at a sub 1k laptop for what he wants to be able to do....but when I posted around Christmas time, several people led me in the direction of laptops that are similar to what I posted. Was I misinformed???

This fits in your budget

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232376

It's better than the two you linked.

I would save up a lil bit more money and wouldn't go with anything lower than this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834314849&cm_re=acer_aspire_v15_nitro_black_edition-_-34-314-849-_-Product

@agrippi: I'd definitely save up some more money if I were you and go with something like this...

You guys blow things way out of proportion.

The kid is 11 years old.

It's not like he is going to care about playing the most graphically demanding games at the highest settings.

Also if you shop for a laptop with a lower resolution screen then you can get away with a weaker laptop gpu.

I purchased a laptop last year for 315USD on Ebay and it came with an i5 3230m and Nvidia 2GB 650m and it can play every game out just fine.

I can even play some games at max settings like Alien Isolation and Metal Gear Ground Zeroes, although I use my SLI 970 desktop to play most of my games.

Not really. The difference between a $700 and a $1,000 laptop is pretty big and it's not a whole lot more money. It's better to just save up an extra $300 so he can get twice the life out of it.

You can keep arguing that point over and over though.

The 960m is pretty weak compared to the 970m.

Going from 1000USD to 1400USD with the 970m can get you around an 80% boost in performance compared to the 960m.

The 965m has quite a bit better specs than the 960m and it's only around 100USD more for a 20-30% boost in performance.

Different games have different system requirements. Some will have fairly light system requirements, others require a powerful PC. There is no one size fits all except going higher (and more expensive) with the laptop specs.

You didn't mention portability. Another alternative is to buy a desktop PC instead of a laptop. You'll have to buy additional components like a webcam (for Skype) and a monitor. You can sub an HDTV for a monitor if you want. Since you're willing to have your kid game on a tiny 15" laptop screen, you can get him a low cost (and bigger) 17" 1366x768 or 19" 1600x900 monitor.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227608

Thank you @RyviusARC. You seem to understand more where I am coming from.

He's just about to turn 11. He really only plays Minecraft at the moment. He isn't looking to play super demanding games. He just wants a laptop....and I know that he will be super excited to be able to play Minecraft on it. He wants something that is his own. And when you are his age...asking to wait longer feels like an eternity. He already bypassed most Xmas presents by asking for money to save up for a laptop. Now, it's his bday and to ask him to wait until next Xmas would be torture. It will be a learning experience for him too. This is his first time saving up for something big. When he does run into an issue of his laptop not being able to play something he is wanting to play, we will discuss why. Then he learns more about money, more about saving, more about delaying gratification....

Sorry, getting all "dad" up in here. But, I appreciate you trying to bring this back down to earth.

I really appreciate everyone's thoughts though. I needed to hear a bit of this.

@agrippi

This laptop should suit your kid well.

There are better deals if you buy used/refurbished but if you don't know a lot about computer hardware then it's best to buy new since most laptops have at the very least a 1 year warranty.

http://www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-V3-572G-51DR-15-6-Inch-Platinum/dp/B00R45UFUY/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1428541832&sr=1-1&keywords=Acer+Aspire+V+15+V3-572G-51DR