Can anyone help? Notebooks, laptops, iPads etc

[christmashope]

Ok so first off I am not great with computers etc but I do have an iPad that I love.

I want to get my 8 year old son some sort of computer, he wants a iPad but I feel that all he will do on it is play games and maybe watch movies I would rather get him like a mini lap top that you can play games on but that also has a cd rom (for school work that he takes home) and I want him to be able to surf the Internet (with supervision) and even type letters etc,
What am I looking for? What is a notebook? Do I need to get him a laptop.
Confused.com any help much appreciated
X

[nellyjelly]

Get a laptop. They are more versatile than a netbook. Some reasonably priced ones out there. Netbooks are mainly good for e mail and net surfing and being portable. You already have that with the ipad.