So trying to get a small laptop for my 7yr old for use at home and school work. I want to get her a basic windows 7 machine with office on it, and a touchscreen so she can do her homework and learning games....too many choices and too much confusing info....trying to first neck down on a brand, but maybe I am taking the wrong approach...Thoughts?

6/20/2014 11:45:51 AM

a touchscreen with windows 7? why?

6/20/2014 12:40:31 PM

how much homework does a 7 year old have that requires a computer? If there's a school requirement, I'd imagine the school would have some guidelines. follow those guidelines.

[Edited on June 20, 2014 at 12:42 PM. Reason : .]

6/20/2014 12:42:17 PM

Quote :

"buying a laptop for a 7yr old"

there's your fucking problem. kids dont need that shit.

6/20/2014 2:12:51 PM

if homework and learning games (using a touchscreen) are your goal, why not go desktop + cheap tablet?

6/20/2014 2:50:27 PM

Get her a Surface RT and a type cover.

Three reasons:

1) They are built like fucking tanks. It's damn near impossible that she will break it.

2) It's Windows RT, which means she can use Office for school work, but she can't install random shit from the internet. You will have a LOT more control over her usage of the thing than with a normal laptop. No worries about her getting viruses, or spending tons of money with in app purchases in shitty games, because there aren't many worth playing on Windows (yet at least).

3) They are dirt cheap now, you should be able to get one with a type cover and a 64gb SD card for under 300 bucks total if you look at the deal sites.

6/20/2014 7:52:30 PM

Chromebooks refurbished all day on slickdeals for 100-120.

Google docs has shitty spell check, but she needs to learn how to spell without all that anyway.

6/20/2014 9:27:29 PM

^^says the guy who defends windows 8 to the death.

6/21/2014 12:06:11 AM

^You must have me confused for someone else. Generally speaking I think the Surface RT (and RT 2) are both colossal failures. I think Windows 8 was a huge failure, and 8.1 is still a hodgepodge of weird hybrid shit.

But there are some good things about both. Maybe the only upside to Windows RT, is that it's an extremely secure environment, especially for kids. It's immune to almost all malware, viruses, trojans and RAT tools. It's extremely easy to lock down with parental controls. It's built like a tank. But it still provides kids a way to learn proper home-key typing, traditional GUI, touch, Office and web basics.

Chromebooks are another really good option, but the built quality on most of them (At least the HP and Samsung ones I've tried) is trash. One accidental drop and they are hosed. They have (or at least had) pretty shitty battery life, and weren't exactly easy to control from a parental perspective. Maybe these have all improved.

Type Cover 2 on sale today http://slickdeals.net/f/7013336-microsoft-surface-type-cover-2-keyboard-black-59-99?src=pdw&v=1

And the RT 64gb with touch cover is $229 on ebay http://deals.ebay.com/5001313560_Microsoft_Surface_64GB_Bundle_with_Black_Touch_Cover__Brand_New_?customid=3fdac5268e874c649b81cf4463938441&pub=5574652453&afepn=5335869999&campid=5335869999&icep_id=117&ipn=icep&afepn=5335869999

[Edited on June 21, 2014 at 3:45 PM. Reason : .]

6/21/2014 3:43:16 PM

maybe i do. i thought you were the resident microsoft apologist... who am i confusing you with?

6/22/2014 10:12:27 AM

Jesus Christ, does every thread with "Windows 8" in it have to turn into one of those threads?

6/22/2014 2:44:28 PM

I thought windows rt was dead? not sure why I thought that though

6/22/2014 2:57:25 PM

^no idea but I sure hope so. Outside of special cases like this, i d never recommend an RT tablet. And even here, only because they are dirt cheap now

6/23/2014 1:58:23 AM

My daughter is almost 8. I can't imagine her needing a laptop.

6/23/2014 10:24:26 AM

windows rt sure would be nice if I could buy it OEM and driver specs were published so they didn't all have to be first party.

6/23/2014 11:09:15 AM

^^I just got a survey from our school about technology for elementary school kids. Sounds like they might be requiring something in a year or two.

6/23/2014 12:13:19 PM

^^It's possible, but its a giant pain in the ass and not at all worth the effort.

[Edited on June 23, 2014 at 6:15 PM. Reason : ^]

6/23/2014 6:15:22 PM

ARM servers are totally worth the effort

6/23/2014 7:13:57 PM

I was programming commodore 64s at 7... maybe get her a commodore 64...

6/23/2014 7:33:48 PM

I was modding WAD files in Doom at that age, see no reason why she couldn't benefit from it. certainly i don't think it could hurt her to use for an hour or two a day.

6/23/2014 8:05:23 PM

*I was loading other people's PWADs from the command line when I was that age

6/25/2014 11:16:50 AM

I was creating GUI interfaces in Visual Basic to track IP addresses

6/25/2014 12:33:33 PM

Thank you for all the comments and thoughts. In the interim we went with a refurbished Ipad3 with a keyboard....we have an inquiry into the school on any additional requirements for 3rd grade.

6/27/2014 12:31:36 PM

so basically the most expensive, least comparable thing to what you originally desired? *facepalm*

6/28/2014 12:58:39 PM

^+1

6/28/2014 9:51:06 PM

^^It will be for the family use also for facetime with family. Decided on a compromise for the short term while we continue homework. Got it for $300 from Apple

6/30/2014 11:18:16 AM

Noen wins this thread.

6/30/2014 8:50:50 PM