Community Newsletter: Q&A forum: Laptop recommendation for children

Take them out for a hike, instead!

That comment "Take them for a hike" is completely inappropriate. as a personal success story I'll have you know i have been using computers since i was 3 years old and playing games since the age of around 7. Hell i've had a playstation 1, 2 , and now 3. I am now just going into high school so i was gaming well before and through my preteen years. The trick is moderation. I am a total nerd and i'll admit it, i love computers. this is no doubt a result of my using them since such a tender age but i also hold a job, am one of the top students in my grade, and am physically fit. I applied to a job at the age of 13 last spring and have since been working at that nusrey. I am because of that job out side all day every weekend and also after school two days a week. Also while i am not currently on any sports teams it is because it would have conflicted with work and boyscouts. So instead me and my friends play manhunt almost every weekend. and my job involves lifting heavy items and constantly moving. So don't insinuate in your comments that having a computer or playing computer games will lead to a sedentary life style or that it will some how harm the children who do this. if you are going to comment least do so in a constructive manner.

i have raised 7. 2 girls and 5 boys. not all are interested in the same things and i found early not to force those who were academic onto the soccer field or baseball field. that breeds rebellion in its own form. we do things as a family and we compromise. there is alone time for the computer, games, etc, and there is family time. the secret is the children know who is the boss. you can have the best of both worlds and have happy, well adjusted children. we decide when the computer is used and if the grades fall, the computer goes up. we have network in our home so we can see what is going on. if respect is given, respect will be received. demands and force always meeet with rebellion. works in our home.

There's nothing wrong with getting kids engaged with technology AND getting them outside. I had my first 'computer' when I was 4, admittedly it was a spelling/word game thing, but I had my own pc by about 7. I probably do spend too much time on my computer, but that's a habit acquired from being a student. That never stopped me from being on most of my school's sports teams, eating my way through books, gardening, spending at least two days a week at archery, photography, sketching, acting and making music. I blame my independence not on computers but the fact I'm an only child.

Sure you have to make sure that they do take an interest in lots of hobbies, and making sure they don't spend too long on computers - especially as RS is a highly addictive game and like most RPGs sucks away time, but that's what parenting's about surely
Being tech savvy can only help them in the future. Just remember - everything in moderation.

Wow! Your suggestion may not be well received, but I applaud you and will read no further, as I agree totally. All these marketed gadgets that have been marketed in the last 10 years have none done much for family values. Children, like their adult parents are learning to become less and less resourceful and phsyically unfit. Take a good look at groups or individuals at the mall or a middle or high school. Thanks for your thoughtful advise, but I doubt it will be considered. But it is the best advice he will get. The children can learn to take turns on the family computer and plenty are available in the schools. And, as I always told my kids, as we loaded the car with more kids, for a ride up to Lost Lake, "I don't care what 'those kids' have, they're not mine."

i am one of the minority that thinks laptops rock. i won't have a desktop again. my daughter has one specially built but she is a quadrriplegic and has some very large programs for her use. i like the mobility of the laptop and it does everything i need it to do plus some. my grandson, age 15, has his own laptop and he plays games on it. you can get gaming laptops, but they are very expensive for most people. i know a lot of people probably will not agree with me, but here is what we do. h.p and compaq have great laptops. you can get them with 250 gigs of hard drive that are quite adequate for what you want. wireless internet, built in webcam and the grandson has no problem playing games. you will have to teach the children respect for expensive equipment, but very nice ones can be had for under $1000.00. i take mine on all trips for use with my photography. i download every evening of a trip. i don't game, but i am the only one in the house that doesn't. personally i won't have anything but H.P. i also don't want to be tied to a desktop. check out different stores, but if you have a best buy anywhere near, you can usually find a nice, affordable choice. by the way, with children, if offered a service policy that covers accidental damage, buy it. a lot of people think service policies are not worth it. from personal experience, i won't buy without it. they have paid for themselves in our household. we run 4-6 computers all the time. good luck.

Too expensive for him i think, and why would a kid need a iMac?

Apple makes a great desktop, but their laptops are complete junk. always have been and, as far as I can tell, always will.

They overheat and die. They are fragile (don't ever drop one.)

God help you if there is a problem and you need to send the "Book" in for repairs.

Yes, they have great incentive programs for students and educators, but the headaches associated with the machine is not worth it.

Apple makes up for those incentive programs by gouging people like me that decide to try them. the student special ($999) ran me $1700, and it was DOA. Its twin, that arrived 7 weeks later, would overheat and die after 30 minutes of use. Thank God for Visa. I had to get my credit card to threaten a lawsuit to get my money returned to me.

My sister, who is a technology teacher in Oklahoma, loves the silly things. she has three in her lab at school and one at home. She was dissapointed by the way Apple treated me with the failed units.

as for the suggestion of a MacBook, iMac, or Mac anything as a solution to his question, a key word, is "gaming". He asked about gaming, and for future reference, the gaming capabilities of a Mac-based anything are nil compared to a same-spec Windows machine. If your going to game, your going to use Windows, that's just how it is. So it is absurd to suggest a Mac as a solution. Sure, you can say "Well, you can use Windows on Mac with "BootCamp" or w/e its called, or any of the numerous other "solutions" to run Windows on a Mac. POINTLESS Heck, you can even run Halo on a Macbook, I've seen it done before! However, despite the fact that it ran great, the Mac had no support for any advanced graphics. (e.g. anti-aliasing, decals, and proper texture rendering). As a result, it was like playing in a "washout" Halo world, with colored silhouettes as your players. BAGH!! A Windows laptop of the same price and specs would have blown the Macbook away anyday. I am not an active "hater" of Mac; however, they serve no practical purpose except for those who do advanced A/V, for those who rarely or never do gaming, for students who need no other distractions installed on their PC, or those who are just not confident enough to sit at a Windows PC, deal with the occasional error message, and learn how to deal with it in a mature and efficient manner. I have been working on PC since I was 8, starting on a 486 and eventually going back to an 8086, and presently run on one of the fastest P4's money can buy, with very impressive specs (custom built of course), and absolutely everything in between. I still run into occasional "Windows flaws" if you want to call them that, but if you take the time to read what it says, and you know what you were doing when it happened, you can very quickly learn how to fix-it-yourself, and it soon becomes minimally bothersome; it just takes a bit of patience and understanding. My software experience rivals that of even the most techie of techies, not to brag, but I have more than ample experience, and a very strong foundation to stand on in my suggestion. Thank You

I think you have seen some information about these kinds of laptops. Including ASUS EEEPC, HP, MSI and so on. The price is under $500. They are small, fits the little fingers of your children. The performance is good enought for internet browsing, email, doc... even some small games. Hmm, the linux version is ok. My friends used ASUS EEEPC, felt good. They could meet your needs I suppose.

First of All, calm down Kid, It may be a stereotype, but just ignore it...

In respect at the question I must agree a Laptop might not be quite adequate for the kids to use, yet if you do desire to give them one make sure you attend the recomendations...

1. Disk space and Memory - The most you can get, 80-120 GB of disk space 1-2 GB of Ram Memory.

2. Brand - Well I'd go for a Dell or Compaq (I have used both Compaq and Dell PCs and have served me well..)

3. Graphics and sound - Here's the tricky part... good Graphic cards are quite expensive, as sound cards are, try to find not generic cards and You'll be OK

4. OS - Avoid VISTA, LINUX, and MAC OS at all cost... Vista is too young to be used at gaming, the others.... are just (in my opinion) crappy.

5. Other Gaming devices - They could not be useful... a good MAME can bring hours of old school fun and, despite that Xbox (both classic and 360), PS3, Wii and Game Cube are not well emulated yet there are alternative solutions like GB(A), NES, SNES, NDS, PS1, PS2 etc. quite well emulated, and I would recomend, besides WoW purchasing games like Fifa, city of (Heroes, Villians) and, for help in fitness Andamiro's Pump It Up!

I also will advice, like so many others to tryto get your kids active, and do family recreational stuff a lot, after all, a healthy Kid will be a Haelthy Gamer, and member of society...

Hi Bob - As a parent I have also been down this track, and have recently purchased a laptop for one of my kids.

Firstly you need to ask yourself - what will the kids be doing on it - and secondly how much do I want to spend.

Both questions are important as you can buy cheap laptops but in many respects you get what you pay for. For kids this age I assume they are into games - if so then this is an expensive route to go down particularly when it comes to laptops. While some have graphics cards these tend to be in the higher $$$ value range and also in a larger form factor ie 15 inch or 17 inch (there are some exceptions like dells XPS 1330 - which is 13 inch).

Seeing as you have decided to go down a gaming route you will need a graphics card, currently the best card on the market for laptops is the 8800GTX card - this is DX10 compatible but expect to pay around $3,500 - $4000 per laptop - a good example of this is alienwares 15xx. This is possibly the best 15 inch laptop around when it comes to performance.

As far as damage control is concerned check out extended warranties from someone like dell who run complete card and accident cover - this costs money but they will fix/replace parts if they get damaged.

The next step down is the 7950GTX card which is not DX10 compatible but can be found in older gaming laptops possibly second hand but these will be 17inch in size and are called desk top replacements so portability might be a tad hard for kids.

One other good option is Dells XPS 1330 - this is a 13 inch laptop so is portable and comes with 8400GS which is rather slow but would play older games and some modern ones on low resolution. Costs around $2,500AU

The other option is dump the graphics card and simply go for integrated graphics this will play only older games but might be OK for short term - you don't really need massage graphics capability for programs outside of games and say 3D rendering.

Another good option to keep the $$$ in your pocket is to find one from graysonline then sell HP's Dells, Acers etc and you can score a cheap deal - I just recently purchased an 14inch Acer for $354 - so bargains do exist if you know where to look.

And lastly decide on the operating system - seeing as you going down the gaming route MS is really the only option - While Vista is installed on almost all PC's these days you can downgrade to XP pro if you have Vista Business or Vista Ultimate, now this removes DX10 abilities in games but few games currently are based on DX10 anyway.

As far as CPU's ram HDD etc are concerned just make sure its either Centrino, or Centrino Duo with 2 gig ram and you should be fine - while the latest chipset out is santa rosa the older chipset called Centrino Duo is fine - try and get a dual core CPU if $$$ permit and aim for 2GHz or above - avoid celeron processes like the plague they are slow and gobble battery life.

In closing if I was in your shoes and had say $1500 per child I would find an XPS1330 from Graysonline - if I had the extra $$$ I would go for a 15 inch display if you thought the weight would not be excessive and buy an Alienware 15xx with an 8800GTX.

is that this is not an investment - all you'll get for your money is the use of the equipment for the time it remains unbroken/functioning/able to run whatever it is you want to run before it is obsolete.

From my experience, I think laptops will have an extremely hard time withstanding the treatment of a child. I am a very careful person and I have to handle my new laptop with extreme care - the screen, latches and case all seem to be extremely fragile to me (unlike my previous IBM Thinkpad with the 8Mb ram, which was a solid little machine). In my experience, even when they are trying really hard, little kids don't have the physical coordination to hang onto things and not drop them, or not to knock drinks over, nor the sense not to leave their stuff lying around to be trodden on, sat on, etc etc. In other words, I would expect even the most careful kid to break it.

There is a brand called Panasonic Toughbook which are marketed as suitable for use at minesites and the like (not sure if they are childproof :D), but when I looked them up on the web they cost about 5 times what a "garden variety" laptop did.

My advice is to go down to the shop and buy yourself the cheapest laptop you can find that has the specs for that game you want and buy that. When it breaks, get another. Or get a secondhand machine. Treat the cost as a rental expense.

If that game is "doable" on a playstation or game "thingy", I'd get that instead (I think they are more "kid-proof") and get yourself the cheapest secondhand machine you can find for internet/word processing (any "antiquated" machine will do this - it's the games that require the latest greatest ram and video cards).

In relation to the games, my new laptop gets really really hot when playing games (not the latest ones, either) and shuts itself off sometimes (I'm assuming due to heat). I don't think they are designed for running under load for long periods.

(I haven't lectured you about doing it at all because you've said you've had that already, but I can't resist completely - there are lots of good games that don't need a computer, and the internet is full of garbage - present company excepted, of course :D).

Personally I am not a Macintosh user, however, working in many technical support positions I would say that less than 3% of my support issues are with MACs and of those 3% most are just simple user mistakes rather than actual technical problems caused by the computer. To save yourself the headache of having to get the laptops serviced for virus removal or other problems I would recommend a Mac Laptop computer.

If you prefer a Windows based laptop I would recommend VAIO or LENOVO/IBM however they are both expensive because they are durable. Lenovo is currently offering 35% off of their ThinkPad laptops and free shipping and you can customize the hardware. I think some of there standard R series models start at just over $500.00 with the discount. ThinkPads are extremely durable and you get all the drivers and support directly from Lenovo.com. They come with a built in factory reset function in case the computer has major problems and they also offer a "revitalize" feature which is meant to keep the computer running at peak potential.

As far as specifications go, I would look at either AMD or Intel for a processor, they're both good although some may argue that Intel Mobile CPU's are more efficient when it comes to battery life. Here's a list of recommended specs:

CPU: 1.5Mhz or higher (dual core or single core; either would work)
RAM (memory): 2GB
LCD size: 11" or higher (makes for easier portability)
(* Some offer 7" screens but that might be a bit small. In the end it's a matter of preference. You also probably do not need widescreen laptops.)
Hard Disk: Probably wouldn't need more than 100GB at most, and for gaming purposes I'd recommend 7200RPM speed over 5400RPM.
Optical Drive: I don't expect that you'd need a DVD burner so you could go with a CD burner / DVD reader that way your sons could still watch DVD movies and it should save you some money.

I think that about covers it. If you're looking to get mobile internet as in Verizon's EVDO rather than just standard WIFI Lenovo is offering a special on that as well. All in all I would say it's still going to be a tough decision. Before I bought my ThinkPad T61p I shopped around for weeks because I knew what features I wanted but at the time I was more partial to Sony VAIOs, and part of me wanted to get an Alienware but my budget wouldn't allow it. In the end I am glad I chose the ThinkPad.

On a personal note: I do not see anything wrong with introduction your sons to they're own laptops. It will teach them responsibility, and get them used to using computers which they will no doubt encounter in the future. Many people might think you're spoiling them but it's a generation gap. In my generation having a TV in the bedroom was pushing the envelope, this new generation is all about the portability. I take my hat off to you though because you're adding a lot to your plate by allowing your sons this privilege. You'll have to continually monitor they're usage, especially when online, and you'll have to occasionally deal with the servicing because computers are like cars eventually something breaks. At least with computers it's typically software rather than hardware. Best of luck in your endeavors.

What I recommend is that you get a Compaq Presario C700T series starting at $479.99 it is running windows Vista so you can set parental controls it should work fine