Laptop for children - help please.

[ReneRusso]

My DD (9) wants a laptop for Christmas, which to be honest I don't think is going to happen, because of the cost, and the fact that she already has access to a computer at home when she needs it. But if there was an inexpensive laptop / netbook that's good for children of this age, then I suppose I would consider it. Does anyone know of anything like this? I would need to be able to install internet safety features on it.

DD is 9 - she will get a laptop when she leaves primary - they don't need one before then especially if they have access to the family computer.

Keep their expectations low or they will be wanting a car and a flat by the time they are 15!

Whats your budget?

We have a laptop each in our house but have to say it's brilliant

I suppose £200 or less would be worth discussing. But it would be a shame as she wouldn't get anything else that she wanted.

Was going to say a mini dell but they start from about £250.00.

My DS (9) had a dell 1525 for his b-day, but we only put £100 towards it and he put the rest out of his own money. He uses it loads.

Fizzbooks are nice robust little netbooks for younger children - a bit higher than your budget, but you can get refurbished ones for under £200 on ebay etc. Like most netbooks, though, it doesn't have a CD/DVD drive.

Rustybear, do you know what software the fizzbook actually comes loaded with? I found out it has something called Ability Office - do you know what it's like? Thanks

look here?

Rene - I'm not sure because the ones I saw were bought from an education software company called Sherston, so they came preloaded with various educational programs. I work at a junior school & saw these at another school when I was considering what kind of laptops to get for our clasrooms(we eventually went for full sized laptops with CD/DVD drives, but I did like the look & feel of the Fizzbook)

But both Ability Office & Open Office are good substitutes for MS office

DS2 is getting an Acer Netbook. He is 10. DH has done a lot of shopping about and for what DS needs it for, this one is just about the best.

My DH has now got quite keen on the idea and reckons he can get quite a good one at the airport for about £220. But I'm still not sure . Worried she will shut herself away playing on it all the time.

DD (7y) got a pink Acer netbook for her birthday. It is really good and we have been very pleased with it. As it is much smaller than a normal laptop, yet does all the same as a normal laptop, it is more portable - so it has been on holidays with us. I find it useful for sortin the digital photos on whilst away

we have just bought our son a reconditioned netbook from pc world , cost us £150,
it got delivered a few weeks ago and looks brand new.
think they only do them as an online special though .

Thanks everyone - all very helpful.

One thing to bear in mind, is that most netbooks use Linux rather than word. Some (Like the Dell one) do use word, so it is easy for them to make powerpoint presentations and take them in to school (does your DD need to do that?). I got my DD her dell netbook for £220 in the sale at Tesco, but that was in the summer. Look around though, there may be other bargains on the net!

i bought a refurbished netbook from pcworld and its on windows, i refused to buy a linux one as they r meant to be rubbish

We bought DS a fizzbook for christmas last year - We have been really pleased with it.

The only drawback is the lack of cd rom drive as somehow DS has managed to completely wipe the computer requiring installation of the operating system, Luckily my DB is comp tech and has been able to fix it otherwise I wouldn't know where to start!!

Overall the computer is very hard wearing and child friendly, it does have educational programs installed which all three DC enjoy using.

We were thinking of getting dd1 a laptop for her birthday, she's almost 6 but a bit of a whiz kid on the PC.

I was looking at this but was too many pennies for us. A 2nd hand one would be the better option i think.

My Acer Netbook has Linux and tbh I don't see what the problem is with Linux. However, the Acer one we have got DS for xmas has got Windows and was £199.