best laptop for kids

what laptop should i get for a 8 year old kid i dont want to spend to
much. she needs it for school and some games.

thank you

A cheap used one.


mas wrote:

> what laptop should i get for a 8 year old kid i dont want to spend to
> much. she needs it for school and some games.
>
> thank you

> A cheap used one.

Better from 2001 or earlier with a real mobile CPU

2002 started the epedemic with the so called "mobile" P4


--
Roland Mösl
http://www.pege.org Clear targets for a confused civilization
http://web-design-suite.com Web Design starts at the search engine

mas wrote:
> what laptop should i get for a 8 year old kid i dont want to spend to
> much. she needs it for school and some games.
>
> thank you

Sorry can't help you with your question, but am intrigued to know why she
needs it for school?

mas wrote:
> what laptop should i get for a 8 year old kid i dont want to spend to
> much. she needs it for school and some games.
>
> thank you

Figure out exactly what software you need to run.
Figure out exactly what hardware you need to connect.
Then make sure the hardware you buy can do that. A little extra
horsepower for the things you didn't think about might be useful.

Games are some of the most power/display hungry software you can run.
It takes MAJOR computing horsepower to run a game that's anywhere
near realistic/responsive.

Kids are HARD on laptops. I have a friend with what I consider to be
a VERY careful/responsible 16 year old. He goes thru a laptop every
other month. YMMV.
mike


--
Bunch of stuff For Sale and Wanted at the link below.
laptops and parts Test Equipment
Honda CB-125S
TEK Sampling Sweep Plugin and RM564
Tek 2465 $800, ham radio, 30pS pulser
Tektronix Concept Books, spot welding head...
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Monitor/4710/

mas wrote:
>
> what laptop should i get for a 8 year old kid i dont want to spend to
> much. she needs it for school and some games.

Wow! An 8 year old. I'm either very impressed with someone this young
and his/her interest in computers, or concerned that this is the new
status symbol for kids. "I've got an IBM, while you just have some
knock-off brand."

I hope it's the former!

Larry

mas <> wrote:
> what laptop should i get for a 8 year old kid i dont want to spend to
> much. she needs it for school and some games.

I have picked up older machines for well under $100. Old Apple Powerbooks
are great for this kind of use. Check ebay. For under $100 you could
probably also pick up a Pentium laptop (P133 maybe) that could run Windows 95.

Buy an old Panasonic Toughbook from ebay. They go for less than
$100USD for a Pentium1 and 48MB of RAM. They are spill/drop proof so
I'd think they'd be perfect for a 8 year old kid. Hopefully, it
doesn;t have to be too powerful!

-X

(mas) wrote in message news:<. com>...
> what laptop should i get for a 8 year old kid i dont want to spend to
> much. she needs it for school and some games.
>
> thank you

mas wrote:

> what laptop should i get for a 8 year old kid i dont want to spend to
> much. she needs it for school and some games.

I'm a bit busy today but since everyone else who responded (so far)
either doesn't know crap about what they are talking about, or seems to
be some kind of "next thing the kids will want cell phones" geezer
(wake-up notice: they have them, old-timer), I'll make some time to give
another point of view.

Kids actually need fairly powerful computers. Often more powerful than
what you need.

Even the learning software and games for 3-year-olds have bits of video
in them, and a slow machine will stutter and crash trying to play them..
The games are unusable on old used laptops, generally speaking
(Caillou's Birthday Party (2-5) plain wouldn't run on my old Toshiba 4100)

If your kid is *ONLY* going to write reports in a word-processing
program, period, then yes they actually could use a low-end machine.
But on the other hand, then your kid could have a light-weight or
lighter-weight laptop.

Used is a really really bad idea. Laptops get beat up and down't last
like desktops do. And laptop owners have a way-inflated idea of what
their machines are worth, because laptops depreciate at a ridiculous rate.

If you afford 700-1100 bucks, you can get a decent new one. If you want
to spend 300, try looking on eBay. But keep in mind that when a part
dies you might not be able to get a new part, or it might cost you
another 200 bucks to fix it.

Also, laptop batteries don't last forever, they're expensive, and you
might not be able to get a new one for older models.

For your 8-year-old, assuming she/he's not a hardcore gamer but just
doing reports and using learning software (Dicovery Channel CD's, etc.),
I'd suggest 1.4 mhz Centrino or 1.8 mhz pentium or better, at least 256
megs of RAM, Windows XP, pro if you can get it but you can live with the
home version if you have to, a CD with a CD burner of at least 4x write
speed, 16x read speed (most will be faster).

Next you have an issue on resolution for the screen. A lot of kids
software only works well at 800 x 600. Laptop screens don't always
scale that well from their "native" resolution.

When you get the computer, decorate it with a couple of stickers on the
bottom and on the panel (or let your kid do it) so it won't get mixed up
with the other kids.

You might also consider a second, external monitor, keyboard, and mouse,
for at-home use, especially if you wind up with a 12" or 14" screen.
Hand-me-downs are fine in this department.

Lastly, consider a 50-dollar HP printer (but the cartridges will kill
you if your kid prints a lot of stuff, so keep that in mind).

If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask - and ignore the
people without kids, they are apparently living in another century - all
the kids including poor kids have computers these days (not necessarily
laptops but... they have them) because their parents want them to be
prepared.

PS: Don't forget Norton Antivirus 2004 because it will cover
instant-messaging programs, and your kid might be running that quite a bit.

mike wrote:

> Figure out exactly what software you need to run.
> Figure out exactly what hardware you need to connect.
> Then make sure the hardware you buy can do that. A little extra
> horsepower for the things you didn't think about might be useful.
>
> Games are some of the most power/display hungry software you can run.
> It takes MAJOR computing horsepower to run a game that's anywhere
> near realistic/responsive.
>
> Kids are HARD on laptops. I have a friend with what I consider to be
> a VERY careful/responsible 16 year old. He goes thru a laptop every
> other month. YMMV.

This is excellent advice.

You are retroactively excluded from my dismissive remarks about the
other posters! <grin>