Thinking of giving my just turned 7 yo a laptop-thoughts pls?

[Marmitecrisp]

Just that really. She's asked for one of those expensive Vtech Kidizoom phones, which are not only expensive but I think a waste of money too. Not much she can do with it, it'll probably wind up forgotten just like the kidizoom watch that I've got her. Was thinking of getting her either a chromebook or a cheapish laptop? She is quite creative and fairly academic and was wondering if it'll help do PowerPoint stuff etc. She'll only be allowed to use it when one of us is around so we can see what she's doing on there? What are your thoughts please? Do your 7 yos have a laptop/chromebook? I don't want to go down the ipad rabbithole

Also any advise as to which would be better, would be most welcome, thanks

We have got a Dell Laptop for my similar age DS

We actually contemplated this for ours who is a similar age and looked at the entry level Chromebook style ones which are about £150. She uses a similar one in school and seems to be enjoying the basic computer skills they're learning.

Saying that, we actually went with the shit Kiddizoom phone in the end because it was on offer for £40 though 😂

My youngest is a similar age and it would be a big nope. She can use yours with supervision if she will need to be supervised anyway. The only real advantage of having her own is independent access and use (my 11 year old still doesn’t need that, she will sit and use one of ours at the dining table for homework).

If she’s creative, what about things like an etch a sketch (mine loves his), a spirograph, some coding gadgets, that sort of thing.

They had iPads when the Amazon kiddie gadget thing [fire ?] ran its course. We both use iPhones so iPads were easier to set up security etc on.

Manufacturer not withstanding you want something that
has decent creative apps and learning apps. If she's very creative I recommend Procreate
can be tracked - 7 yro have a habit of leaving things in really random places especially if they've been sneaking access to it [which they will]
can be locked down so app downloads and in app purchases can be blocked
so that times on apps can be limited through settings. She won't be 7 forever - presume you want at least 3-4 years out of it.
check what the school are using to set homework - google classroom is really popular in schools and a bit of faff to use on iPads so a chrome book might be dead handy by year 5
Touchscreen is useful at that age. Laptops that are touchscreen are rare? I don't know what's available admittedly.
Microsoft tablet is an expensive solution for a 7 yo but obviously has all the power point etc apps. Everyone else incl Apple is a knock off but you can use basic versions

Thank you all for replying. Lot to think about , and not much time before Christmas 😆