Laptops ideas for a 10 year old
 

Hola,

Question for you guys... my son turns 10 next month and we're getting him a laptop. I was curious to find out if any of you had any advice on the types of laptops to consider or avoid.

Also, what is the best way to lock it down where he just can't stumble onto bad sites, while providing me the ability to view reports - possibly from my pc.

I don't want to get all crazy with the 'big brother monitoring', but he's 10... there are a lot of places I'd like to keep him from landing.

Thanks,
MHM

Honest question...

Is there a reason that he needs a laptop? Is he going to be using it for schoolwork? And if so....why can't he just use yours?

I'm not judging your parenting skills because I realize that everyone is different but I don't really see the reason for a 10 year old to have a laptop.

Get him an iPad.

Start them early so they're ahead of the technology curve when they start learning it in school etc. Same as teaching them a language when they're young.

Considering the rate we're progressing right now, kids are going to need to be experts with computers in the future.

Just monitor the internet and it's all good.

Great idea. There interface would be easier, I would think.

It was just a question.....dick.

And I understand what you're saying. But I don't know if I'd go as far as to buy him his own laptop.

lol.

He'll probably break the damn thing anyways. But how about one of those little laptops? That might work.

Just buy him a black friday cheapo. It'll have what he needs to get on the internet and do microsoft word and stuff like that. Password your home internet and don't let him connect unless you are around or something like that.

Yeah.....a netbook might be best for him. It has enough power to surf the net and do school work on.

I WOULD NOT get him an iPad. That's a lot of money invested in one device for a 10 year old. Unless you're rich....then go right ahead.

This.

As cheap of one as you can get. Make sure you take all the junk off. You'd hate to have him buy 10 years worth of Norton or something.

Depends on what you want it for.

My SIL said both her kids wanted an Ipod touch so they could play games on it. So she bought an Iphone thinking the kids could use it for games, and she's thinking she's saving all sorts of money, even though she uses not a single smart phone function other than games.

I don't have the heart to tell her that instead of buying a $300/month plus $360/year data plan guaranteed for $720, she could have bought an Ipad and used the wifi in her house for $200.

If kid just wants to play games, Ipad is not a bad deal.

My son Is turning 9 Next week and he loves to read - I picked up one of these for him

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NOOK-Simple-...-/300589902031

and when the time comes that he needs to do a bit more I'll root it and it will allow him to play games/apps etc..

With Android at least there is an app called "Kids Mode" by Zoodles and it will send you reports, and lock the tablet/phone down etc..

If you Must go Laptop look into K9 Protection from Blue Coat - its free and locks the PC down pretty good

So, here's the deal ... my laptop is my work laptop and I'm not interested in the kids getting on there and potentially deleting something by accident.

We have 3 kids... all in elementary school and we have a home computer that the 3 of them have access to for games, etc.

My son is in 4th grade and they use computers in school. I want to make sure that my kids are competitive when it comes to technology and their ability to do work, research for homework projects, reports, etc.

Sure, he'll play games and things like that, but we'll monitor it.

My son loves to write and create things at school using powerpoint, etc. He has an email address (that we monitor) to send notes to grandparents, cousins, etc.

So, as we have seen him become more involved at school in various projects (currently doing a History Fair project on Bunker Hill), we've realized that having access to his own computer isn't really a bad thing. An iPad really isn't ideal for some of the things he wants and needs to do. I have one and if he wants to play Fruit Ninja or Angry Birds... he can do that.

We're encouraging him to do more because he appears to have the nerdy desire to do more things at school - like the history fair thing, it was not mandatory, but he thought it would be fun to do.

Our thought is that we're taking the opportunity to fuel the desire to learn and push him in these areas at school, because... who knows when or if that will change.

And, regarding the notion that he might just break it... this is a kid that has had the same 2 pairs of glasses for 3 years and has never lost or broken them. He's a good kid and I think he's earned the right to have something like this and we'll monitor usage to make sure nothing crazy is going on.

Still, I think a cheapy laptop you can get on black friday should suffice. It doesn't sound like he needs a powerful machine to run BF3 or Skyrim or render video or anything.

Honestly....I would look into a netbook then. It should be powerful enough to do what he needs to do, small enough that he can carry it around with ease and cheap enough to not kill your pocketbook.

2nd the netbook idea. While it'd be way too small for me to use, it's probably ideal for a 10 year old. Probably want one with a dual core processor.

BF sales or Slickdeals should be your starting point.

2nd??!?

I came up with that idea!


DAMN YOU PESTILENCE!

I have a Dell netbook - it'll work well for what you're needing for the boy. I'd recommend it.

Cool - thanks. I have not looked at the Netbooks before.

So you can run MS Office apps, etc... with ease? I'm not really looking for this to be a gaming machine, much to his disliking I'm sure.

Thanks.

Netbook would be the best fit. And yes to your questions about MS Office.
Functions like a fully functional system - minus the optical drive.

Something cheap. www.tigerdirect.com or Walmart.

Good for you and him, I hated those projects and didn't enjoy school. Some great parenting right there.

www.newegg.com > www.tigerdirect.com > wal mart

Looks like you can get an HP 10.1 Mini for under $300. We gave 10.1's away to our incoming freshmen last year, and had no real complaints.

Great tip...a friend just ordered one from HP.com and I forgot about it. Looks like a decent little setup.

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/sh...i_kw={keyword}

My daughter is in the same boat. She is 11 and in her first year of middle school. Next semester she has a computer class, and her current classes make use of technology as well, which is pretty cool.

My folks want to get her a netbook for Christmas. I have not yet done any research to figure out which brand is best, although Dell is off my list at the moment. My Dad has a Dell netbook, and he wanted to put in some additional Ram. I was going to do it for him, but it is a major, major pain in the ass to put memory in a Dell netbook. Practically have to take the whole thing apart.

So far I know that I want a netbook with either 2gb of ram, or one that the ram can be reasonably easy to upgrade.

I would imagine that there will be some nice Christmas shopping deals on netbooks this season as holiday sales get going.

Absolutely. Newegg is one of the best vendors on or off the internet, period.

"what is the best way to lock it down where he just can't stumble onto bad sites, while providing me the ability to view reports - possibly from my pc."

I have it on all the computers to which my kids have access and it is effective. Reporting, protection, PC or MAC:

http://www.netnanny.com/

Dell notebooks have had a single user accessible panel for accessing the memory slots for close to 10 years now. Generally it only takes 1-3 screws to remove the panel and install new RAM. I've been working on Dell laptops for almost 15 years, and I've never encountered one that required taking the whole thing apart or anything even close to that.

Dell has some pretty good small profile notebook solutions right now. And I can assure you that every one of them offers easy access for RAM upgrades.

Great stuff, thanks everyone.

Agreed on this.

The most I ever had to do was pull up a keyboard maybe?

We got our 8 and 10 year olds laptops this year.

Just basic HP laptops. Something like $350 each from Best Buy.

Sorry, I mistyped. I meant to say netbook. His netbook is the A10 I think (could be wrong, be awhile since I have messed around with it). Never done any ram on a Dell laptop, but will take your word for it. Most laptops nowdays have easy access to Ram from the bottom, which is partly why I was so surprised it was going to be such a pain to upgrade the memory on the netbook.

Oh, and as a sidenote, was not meaning to pick on Dell. My Mom has a Dell laptop, and my Dad's desktop is a Dell, they bought both of those along with the netbook in the last year.

I just bought my son a laptop last month. He's 12.

Don't block anything.

Get him a subscription to brazzers.

Yeah - you're a prime example as to why kids needs NetNanny...

If a 10 year old gets an ipad before me i must really suck.

I still get pissed when i see a child texting.

Kids are gonna find porn so you might as well give it to them.

Still a terrible idea.

Yea I have an idea.........don't get him one. He's ten

Can you have MS Office on a netbook? My kid is in 8th grade but it seems every computer project he's had for school for the past 4 years has required Word or PowerPoint.

Yes.

Netbooks are fully capable computers, they just come in a much smaller package. They run the exact same OS and software that their larger counterparts do.

The important thing to realize with netbooks though, is that they almost never have an optical drive, so any software you want to install must be downloaded directly to the netbook, or you must use a USB flash drive or external drive to install.

LMAO You twisted ****. I laughed.
Seriously though, it is an absolute jungle out there. Some form of filter on the computer and smart phones for kids is key to being able to parent your kids in the digital world.