Laptop Materials?

Hello im a bit new to this but my little nephew who is 10 years old an is going to be 11 on April 29th is nagging for about 2 months to get him a new laptop for his birthday as all of his friend have one and you know how kids are when they want something.

So before i think about the laptop i just need to know the different types of materials which are used for lid/casing as he is a bit clumsy and has split water over my laptop once before and accidently dropped it quite a few times when playing in my house.

I just want to know the materials to avoid and the best type of laptop lid casing and why?

These are the materials i know of already from a bit of internet research:

1) ABS plastic
2) Titanium (but it is a bit expensive)
3) Magnesium alloy

are there anymore please cause im going to jot them down on paper then hit the stores tommorow.

everyone is welcome to post i would appreciate it.

 

NOT a valid reason. but who am i to judge?

as for the build quality, the best option in this case could be a second-hand panasonic toughbook, or a second-hand lenovo/hp thinkpad. both are built very solidly, and can take a bit of a beating.

 

Never heard of a mainstream laptop using titanium - too expensive. Aluminum is lot cheaper and more widespreaded material. Again aluminum casing laptops are not the cheapest. Plastics really vary depending on the price point of particular model. Magnesium alloy used in middle and high-end class laptops.
Can't say you should be avoiding certain materials since overall build quality can be both good and bad with the same stuff. It all depends on particular laptop model.
I'd suggest getting something like Dell D430 or the likes of used but solid laptop for your kid - should set you for like 300 quid. But then again this one not for gaming

 

So should i go with aluminium? Or are the plastics dependable? if my nephew drops it accidently is it the best material for the case

 

What's your budget? Perhaps a nice 12" netbook would suffice. Very cheap to buy and very portable. I wouldn't think your nephew would need anything overly powerful.

By the way, I think it's great that he's being exposed to computers at such a young age. This will give him a great advantage in the future.

 

You need a reiforced system to allow dropping w/o damage mate
Materials are one thing. Another is rigidnes and solidness of the actual construction.

 

Get a desktop, much harder to drop.

Thinkpads are kinda tough, but honestly i would not want to be dropping any laptop, except for maybe the toughbooks that are designed to get beatup

 

This is actually a really good idea. I would suggest going this route too.

 

What about a netbook? They can take a beating as long as you don't drop them on concrete. And they are cheap too...
Or what about this? While being 3 generation old it's still a thinkpad and it's not like your nephew is gonna go around playing crisis isn't he?

 

Telling us the material of the casing is pretty much useless.
Some plastic are much more scratch resistant and harder than aluminium or titanium. It can also be the other way around. Generally alumium and titanium casing scratch very easily. They're much more prone to small scratches than those plastic on thinkpad laptops.

E.g. google a used ipod with metal backing and you'll see how easy metals can scratch.