Opinion on Laptops for Kiddos

M.D. Holloway · 12-08-2012, 05:57 PM

I want to get the kiddos a laptop for Christmas - while the majority of the time they will be using it is for school (right now they use my HP I have for writing) or my Dell which is my work laptop. The iPad isn't good for the work they do. They each really need a laptop but I don't wanna drop a ton of money either.

What make/model do you guys recommend? Now mind you, they are not gonna watch movies but they will be cruzing the net and prolly watching YouTube from time to time. Word processing, presentations and a little photoshopping is the majority of the things they will be doing.

Best Buy seems to have some interesting offerings...

azasadny · azasadny's Garage

I do not recommend laptops because they are too fragile, are difficult to upgrade/repair, screens are small, parts are expensive, etc... unless you MUST have one and then I recommend a Dell. Get an SSD, max out the RAM and buy the extended warranty...

craigster59 · craigster59's Garage

What's the deal with the Google Chrome notebooks for $249, will you get what you pay for, a cheap POS computer or are they any good?

redstrosekNic · redstrosekNic's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by craigster59

What's the deal with the Google Chrome notebooks for $249, will you get what you pay for, a cheap POS computer or are they any good?

^^^ I've been wondering the same thing. I have a Dell laptop that I use for school, and it does the job just fine.

stealthn · 12-10-2012, 05:47 AM

Refurbished Macbook Pro, do they use Macs in school?

onewhippedpuppy · 12-10-2012, 06:04 AM

Older kids, right Mike? My laptops inevitably end up with damage from my young kids punching the keys too hard. We currently have an entry-level Sony Vaio that's been great for about two years, it was $500-ish when new. We used to be a dedicated Dell family, but in my opinion the quality has really gone downhill.

Personally I won't let my kids have laptops because I don't want them having a computer in their room. Not only because of the stuff that they can find on the internet, but also because of the stuff that they can put on there. A webcam and a teenager can be a very dangerous thing, and many a naive parent has said "it won't happen to me". We have a nice quiet office with a desktop, which will be their homework location through high-school. A laptop will make for a great high school graduation gift when they go off to college.

M.D. Holloway · 12-10-2012, 06:37 AM

Agree that the webcams and internet can be dangerous, with these two monkeys they don't have time to get into any trouble. Between her music, soccer and school and his scouts, sports, school and bow they barley have enough time as it is. I make sure to keep them stupid busy - found out that the busier they are the better they do and the happier they seem to be. Idle time is the worst for these kiddos and I run a tight ship

M.D. Holloway · 12-10-2012, 06:40 AM

Got this advice from a friend...seems sound:

It should always be considered a 3 yr investment. So whatever the final price is divide by 3 and if you can’t get a real low end computer for that then it might not last you more than a year or two. On average I expect to spend $600-700 for a decent computer (desktop) and a couple hundred more for a laptop. ($700-$900).

Keep in mind that although you may not use the computer for much you still have to be able to power the applications of the future (all those updates that you are forced to install) if you want to continue to use it even for simple things like banking.

Look through online reviews of the model number to see what the most common complaint is. People will always give poor ratings but if you see things like “Freezes constantly” and “Locks up” repeatedly. Then it safe to say that you probably don’t what that machine. The reviews are usually pretty safe to buy if there is a decent number of them.

onewhippedpuppy · 12-10-2012, 11:35 AM

Mike, I've never spent anywhere near $900 and always had more than enough computer for the task. I ran CATIA v5 3D CAD software on my old Dell 5-ish years ago, it wasn't fast but adequate for a very demanding software. This was on an old laptop that probably didn't even had a dual-core processor. My current 2-3 year old $500 Sony Vaio easily runs basic CAD, Photoshop, and HD video. A brand new laptop, even an affordable one, will be significantly faster than my current one. For kid use (word processing, pictures, video, internet, music) any entry level laptop should be more than adequate. More so than the processor I would consider looks (they are kids after-all, it's gotta look cool), high quality and loud speakers (most laptop speakers suck), and a big hard drive to store all of their photos, videos, and music. I bet you can get all of that for under $600 along with 4 GB+ RAM and a quad-core processor.

gprsh924 · 12-10-2012, 11:41 AM

Get a refurb machine from any of the big manufacturers. You will spend $500ish for a $900-$1000 laptop that will be more than your kids will ever need.

red-beard · red-beard's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by LubeMaster77

Got this advice from a friend...seems sound:

It should always be considered a 3 yr investment. So whatever the final price is divide by 3 and if you can’t get a real low end computer for that then it might not last you more than a year or two. On average I expect to spend $600-700 for a decent computer (desktop) and a couple hundred more for a laptop. ($700-$900).

Keep in mind that although you may not use the computer for much you still have to be able to power the applications of the future (all those updates that you are forced to install) if you want to continue to use it even for simple things like banking.

Look through online reviews of the model number to see what the most common complaint is. People will always give poor ratings but if you see things like “Freezes constantly” and “Locks up” repeatedly. Then it safe to say that you probably don’t what that machine. The reviews are usually pretty safe to buy if there is a decent number of them.

Sellout Woot has 14" Lenovo Thinkpads (i5) for $499.

Lenovo ThinkPad 14.1" Core i5 Laptop

I'm in the need for a new laptop, but I'm going to spend near $2K.

vash · vash's Garage

times have changed..this is what i had!

Rusty Heap · Rusty Heap's Garage

1) easy to reboot
2) no Operating System to constantly upgrade.
3) no virus protection req'd until weird Uncle Charlie takes it into the bathroom with him.
4) no batteries required.

gr8fl4porsche · gr8fl4porsche's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by craigster59

What's the deal with the Google Chrome notebooks for $249, will you get what you pay for, a cheap POS computer or are they any good?

Reviews are not good. It's basically a net surfing machine running on
Google's OS. Very limited - not a real notebook. As a surfing device, they say it is very snappy though.

You can run Linux Ubuntu on it to get away from the web browser based OS.