What would a 12 year old use 3TB of storage for?
Well being as games like cod take 125Gb of space these days and I don't see that as a trend that's going to go away ... in fact only get worse, if I'm building a games PC that will likely last him until he gets to university, I'm thinking he's going to need a fair chunk of space. This will be the computer he grew up with. Its not like when I was a kid and you needed a new PC every 18 months because Moore's law was steaming along nicely.
Moreover, what's the point of having both an SSD and an HDD with an OS so crippled it can't even use the SSD as a simple cache? At least give him Linux.
1) Its a gaming computer. You'd have to be deranged to give a 12 year old a Linux gaming computer. Gaming ... windows ... job done.
2) Its his first proper computer. I don't want him staring at a command line all confused and angry.
3) He can install junk operating systems himself if he wants. I'm not going to force Linux on him. Stop being a fascist.
4) Whats the point of having an nvme drive? Or are you asking why I don't just put in a 4tb nvme? Both these questions are stupid.
This sounds reasonable and should provide a good/acceptable experience for many years.
I would consider a Windows 10 Pro licence over Home. Home keeps getting worse and worse over time, with Microsoft just deciding that it'll take more control of your device now. Their reasoning for it is good, but it doesn't sit right with more technical people. Then again, none of that will immediately matter to a 12yo
Make sure you decorate the case with something FE related to properly indoctrinate the sucker.
Yeah, he's 12 and can barely use a computer. I think home will be fine. He can always upgrade as he gets older if computers become a thing he likes. Right now he thinks he's going to be a "microbiologist" when he grows up. If that morphs into computer scientist because he falls in love with his computer ... I can always invest more in future birthdays and xmas'.
I'm thinking ... Ok you want a gaming PC. But you're going to end up doing all your homework on it, watching naked ladies on it as you get a bit older, you'll watch all your TV on it, talk to your friends on it via online games and skype like services, make new friends the other side of the world on it, store all your music on it as you begin acquiring a musical taste ...
I think computers will mean a very different thing to this generation than they did to me 25 years ago. This computer will be the one ... his boyhood computer. I couldn't do that with my 48k spectrum. It was a piece of crap 3 years after launch and I was already jealous of my friends amiga 500. There was no internet ... nobody had an IBM compatible computer when I was a kid. They weren't a thing in people's homes yet. Not for kids, anyhow.
And before I knew it, nintendo was a thing ... and that's where you played games without waiting 7 minutes for the tape to load.
Maybe I'm getting it all wrong and I deserve
OK boomer. But I just think a computer will leave a much bigger mark on a kid today than it did on us way back when.