This may not be the right forum but after looking around here and in the UC forum I think you guys may be better experienced to help.

I want to get my kid (6) a PC to play games. Mainly for Minecraft and some web based school games. I'm so far removed from most of this stuff in my older age I don't really know what is really needed. I had in my mind a small form factor machine hooked to the TV with a HDMI and a wireless keyboard and mouse. I have an older gyrations at the office and it always worked well and had envisioned something similar. I will also need a wireless network card because there is no option for a hard connection in the room. I have considered a laptop too but just don't know if it's a good option. I can buy, build or whatever but not looking to go nuts if it's not necessary.

Also is there anything similar to Steady State available anymore? I'd like to put something on the machine that will possibly help keep me from having to screw with it all the time. I know people have different opinions on it but I've really enjoyed these iPads since they have been stable and maintenance free.

Thanks for any help.

Buy a mid to high level prebuilt PC and no worries just go with at least 16GB RAM. Now if you really want a purpose built gaming box that will be future proof for the next 5-10 years then build with the latest chipset on the MB and latest Intel Processor with at least 32GB ram. Video cards can always be swapped out. Here is a pic of mine I built two years ago now. Still haven't found anything to tax it at all.



MSI Gaming 7 X99s chipset with Intel I7-5820 32GB RAM 4GB RAM on the GTX 760 with 128GB M.2 Boot drive, 256GB gaming drive and 1TB Storage drive. Boots after post to Desktop in 10 seconds. X99s Chipset takes about 30 seconds to post no matter the brand or board. Overclocks very easily.

How much were you looking to spend?
I'd consider something like this, relatively cheap since if it's just for your 6 year old I don't see the point in going crazy on a machine that won't be pushed.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($110.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI B150I GAMING PRO AC Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($71.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($76.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($157.30 @ Newegg)
Video Card: XFX Radeon RX 460 4GB Double Dissipation Video Card  ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case  ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair RM 450W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
Keyboard: Logitech MK320 Wireless Standard Keyboard w/Optical Mouse  ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $622.22
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-23 19:59 EDT-0400

You could knock $100 off the top of that pretty quick if you ditch the SSD for a regular HDD. I opted for a 500gb SSD since that's more space than you'll likely ever need but it should be dead silent which is nice if it's hooked up in a common area to a tv. Wireless KB/Mouse included. The case is pretty simple but is good quality, I figure a plain black box next to the tv would be nicer than a flashy rig, although for like $20-30 more you could go that route if your kid digs a windowed case. 16gb RAM for all those minecraft mods and such. The GPU is meh, but it'll work for your needs, the Nvidia 1050 and 1050ti is right around the corner and the 1050ti *should* be a pretty nice step up from the 460 for about $30-40 more. Motherboard has onboard wifi, so should check all your boxes. This would be a super quiet rig as is, but if you want something even cheaper you could go with an AMD processor and a different case, running a HDD instead of the SSD would get you sub 500 pretty quick.

This is pretty basic and will get the job done. I know nothing about steady state, but for a 6 year old just turning the above into a steam box may not be a bad idea and it would save you cash on the OS. A decent laptop would be fine too but after seeing it happen a whole lot it's only a matter of time before kiddo goes running around with it in hand and drops it.

edit: check out https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsales/. You can find deals on components to save some cash or find a deal on a prebuilt laptop/tower. The $622 from the build above would be a lot closer to $500 if you're near a fry's or microcenter.