Laptop advice

[[email protected]]

Im looking at getting a laptop for the kids this christmas. I don't know squat about computers so am asking for some advice. Can anyone recommend a laptop for around $400 that has windows 7 and would be good to download music/movies and handle homework duty?

 

[bazwell]

If you want a cheap laptop for kids, maybe look into a Netbook.
They are smaller. I have had one of the Asus ones for about 3 years because it is actually portable.
The only downsides to Netbook are the smaller screen (usually 10"), and they usually don't have a DVD drive in them.
The DVD drive issue can be overcome if you have a home wireless network. You can elect to "share" the DVD drive of your home PC so if the kids need to get something off a DVD, or burn one, they put the disc in the home PC, and control it from their Netbook.

They are quite cheap.

http://www.google.com.au/search?q=n....,cf.osb&fp=68ba3ba06bfa2d0b&biw=1249&bih=677

http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/Laptops-...3286.c0.m282&_mPrRngCbx=1&_udlo=200&_udhi=400

 

[RaWarrior]

Any computer on store shelves now has windows 7 installed. Vista has almost completely faded out. Some people are still stuck on XP since it's stable Microsoft got it to be essentially bug-free over the years.

That said, I'd skip buying PCs in stores. Almost always they cost more than they should, and almost always come filled with "bloatware", or loads of trial programs that clog up memory.

I've had good experiences(and know others that have also) with Toshiba laptops. They're well built, and tend to have more features at their price point than competitors.

How about something like this? Or here's a great deal on a recert one....with fairly high specs.

Toshiba also offers a couple specially designed "kid friendly" laptops...not sure how old your kids are, they have spill resistant keyboards, drop-resistant hard drives, built in parental controls and the like. Cheapest one I saw was $500 though.

If you mean homework duty, as in just typing documents and surfing the web, you might try a netbook....which are simply put a "diet" laptop. Smaller screen (usually around 10", most laptops are 13-15"), less powerful components, and longer battery life as a result. They're designed for, as the name implies, surfing the net and other "light duty" tasks like word processors. They'll choke on any moderately intensive games, or hi-rez videos. However they also have downsized keyboards, which isn't really ideal for large amounts of typing.

Newegg typically has the best prices on everything (usually far below stores like best buy), and their computers don't come pre-loaded with a whole bunch of crap that'll just annoy you, slow it down, and get in the way.

The bigger the screen and the more powerful the processor, the shorter the battery life will be. Netbooks can get 7-8 hours. My 17" gaming laptop gets about 45min, and can't run at full capacity off it's battery...the processor and graphics have to automatically throttle back just to accommodate the maximum draw from the battery.

 

[ninjaneer]

..Vista has almost completely faded out. Some people are still stuck on XP since it's stable Microsoft got it to be essentially bug-free over the years.

thank god vista is being purged. what an effin brain fart that was. i forcibly downgraded my laptop from vista to xp--spent a month hunting down the drivers. I by choice am still running xp--granted XP Pro 64, i abso refuse to go to W7.

good advice with the netbook. music and video downloading aside, if your kids ain't gaming and just surfing, even with the casual email and social networking, any netbook nowadays is more than powerful enough to handle the workload. shoot i'd be willing to bet that they could command and control an Apollo moon landing. hahahaha.

my laptop burnt up a few months ago. i personally am not going down the netbook/laptop path looking for a replacement. rather, i'm gonna take up a tablet for my sofa surfing and mobile computing needs. actually i've finally made up my mind and am shooting for the Asus Transformer Prime with docking keyboard. the rig that i pieced together will more than fit my other needs.


here's a netbook that seems to be popular that bestbuy is selling: http://tinyurl.com/26gtov6
if your still inclined to gift the kids a laptop here's one that caught my eye:


actually i can see how choosing one out of the millions of offers could be somewhat intimidating. answer a couple more questions to help us help you out.

what do you want the kids to be able to do with it? surf internet? email? word documents? play games? social networking? download/stream music, files, porn?
how big of a screen do you think is best? 15" 16" 17" 18", etc? personally i stop at 17" after that the thing is too big and cumbersome for travel--especially on planes.
how much storage do you think they'll need? for example how many songs? games? files? personally i look for as much as i can budget. a friend years ago told me i was out of my mind to buy a 2GB hard drive. nowadays i eat up 2GB 100-fold without blinking an eye.
how fast? speed is really imho, neglible, the processors are more than fast enough nowadays.
how long would you like them to have the machine? when do you think the next upgrade would be? two years? five years? after that just foot the bill for a new one.
do you want them to burn CDs DVDs Bluerays?
do you want them to be able to hook into a TV?
do you want them to be able to watch 3d movies? HD movies or tv broadcasts?

what electronic stores are near you? seeing that it's only a few days 'til xmas, i'm thinking that buying one online isn't a viable choice if you were wanting it under the tree xmas morning.

 

[KJShover]

At the start of school last year I went to wally-world and bought this one.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Acer-Computers-15.6-500-GB-LX.RJY02.056/19394106 I've used several of Acer's products (monitors) and have had no issues, so I chose that laptop. So far after many, many hours of use, I've had absolutely 0 issues or complaints with it. I've recommended it to a few friends and they're happy with theirs. Its a great unit for under $400.

 

[ninjaneer]

+1 shover! "savvy" folks nowadays, would sooner dismiss computing devices sold by Mr. Wally just cuz he sells them. on the contrary. granted the machines are a special lineup that the mfrs gear towards Walmart, but they aren't THAT different when it comes down to the nuts and bolts. matter of fact when it comes down to the nitty gritty, they can perform and hold their own doing the same things that their overpriced cousins at the electronic specialty chains can do.

 

[RaWarrior]

porn?

Ah, the crux of any truly great PC. Considering something near half of the internet's bandwidth is used for porn, this is an important consideration in any computer shopping experience. You don't want to miss out on 40% of what the internet has to offer, do you? Of course not. Go for that big-ass screen, HD display, and splash resistant keyboard.

W7 is a tremendous improvement over Vista. I'm running 64bit Professional(got for free via university) and have no complaints. It's far, far faster than it was with Vista, is much more stable, and I like a lot of 7's features like the snipping screencap tool and the dual-view snapping. I have yet to encounter and issues that I had to "work around", or go online to find ways to patch/override/whatever some aspect of windows, which I had to constantly do with vista.

My 17" is realistically too big to be everyday portable. It won't fit in most computer bags, weighs a good 15lbs, and big screens have sucky battery life. But I knew that, and it sits on my desk plugged in 99% of the time, so I don't care. I wouldn't get anything bigger than 15" to travel with, and would probably go with a 13".

 

[Diablotin]

Laptop is nice but it will depend what you think they will be doing with it.
I have seen many kids enjoying more a tablet than a laptop.
Perfect for watching movies, cartoons and playing angry birds

It's very light and allow them to draw and other stuff like that.
Else go for a windows 7 laptop, not more than 14" with a bit of RAM 2GB (at least).
No need to be an high end laptop since they won't push it to the limit if they don't play the latest games.

 

[satariel666]

If you want a cheap laptop for kids, maybe look into a Netbook.
They are smaller. I have had one of the Asus ones for about 3 years because it is actually portable.
The only downsides to Netbook are the smaller screen (usually 10"), and they usually don't have a DVD drive in them.
The DVD drive issue can be overcome if you have a home wireless network. You can elect to "share" the DVD drive of your home PC so if the kids need to get something off a DVD, or burn one, they put the disc in the home PC, and control it from their Netbook.

They are quite cheap.

ASUS rocks - the best parammeters for that price and still good quality!

 

[[email protected]]

I see a hp 2000 299wm. 3 gb memory, 320 gb hd, 15.6" led display. Play /burn cd and dvd, 3 usb ports, webcam (not too interested in this feature for my kids), win7. Price is just under $350 at my local walmart

Is this thing junk?

 

[kevman]

I bought an Asus transformer with android on it .It's a great little machine and Simona 15 loves it .You can use it like a tablet or as a 10" laptop.Ididn't think I was into technology but this little beastie is very easy to use.Cheers Kevman.

 

[bazwell]

I see a hp 2000 299wm. 3 gb memory, 320 gb hd, 15.6" led display. Play /burn cd and dvd, 3 usb ports, webcam (not too interested in this feature for my kids), win7. Price is just under $350 at my local walmart

Is this thing junk?

HP are a name brand and do make sales to business fleets, so in general terms they are OK.
The specs on the machine are not bad at all, for the price. http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...foCategory&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&product=5166284
It says it will support up to 8gb of ram, and Win7 64 bit can cope with that, which means it still has some upgrade potential.

Looks from that to be about 12 months old. ie. last xmas it would have been worth probably double that?

HP are not the coolest machines around. From a kids persective it's kinda like an old IBM v Atari.
Someone has mentioned tablet PC's. They are the cool things now, but buying your kids Ipad's for xmas isn't everyones idea of money well spent! Starting $580, for the lamest 16gb, compared to the 320gb in the old HP. It's a lot of money for the latest thingey! I don't recommend the copycats at the moment. The tech is still too new.

In short, HP's are OK, the specs are good for the price, if your kids will be happy with it.

 

[bazwell]

I bought an Asus transformer with android on it .It's a great little machine and Simona 15 loves it .You can use it like a tablet or as a 10" laptop.Ididn't think I was into technology but this little beastie is very easy to use.Cheers Kevman.

Totally love the little Asus's. :biglaugh:
Better processor than the HP, but otherwise way down on specs. 1gb ram, 16gb hdd, Android OS makes it more of a fancy phone than a small PC.
Also a bit more expensive, but a winner in cool.

 

[[email protected]]

My kids wont mind what brand. They will be very happy to have something that works. I thought about a tablet but when I see I can get a laptop for the same money, or cheaper, it seems to make more sense to me. They can use a laptop for school, make cds and dvds, etc. Just wasn't sure if the hp I posted would be a decent unit. Thanks for all the advice so far.

 

[bazwell]

I like to wait until things come down in price myself. I have only been burned by buying new cool gadgets, so I agree with your rationale.

I think it should hold up alright. I don't see HP's breaking any more than any other brand.
Their customer support in Oz is a bit lack-lustre, but they do fix things if they go wrong. Maybe it takes a few more phone calls, if you know what I mean.

I hope you have a good xmas! :eusa_dance:

 

[SpecOps13]

I like HP..... But do a search for reviews of this specific model to be sure...

 

[sdt354]

Im looking at getting a laptop for the kids this christmas. I don't know squat about computers so am asking for some advice. Can anyone recommend a laptop for around $400 that has windows 7 and would be good to download music/movies and handle homework duty?

Wal-Mart has some great deals Mike. They start at $278 for an adequate lap top. For under $400 more memory and game playing power available. I haven't been able to beat the prices there. As for brands, no difference (like oil). It's the software packages that come with the lap top that matter. Be aware of 30 day trial offers that you have to buy. Get a recovery disk made before anyone uses the new computer, if you don't get one with it. They cost $40 or so to get them at a later date. Extended Warrantee? I don't, but if it quits it's worth it. Computers are reliable and usually come with some free short term warrantee.
Steve

 

[DMAN999]

I like HP..... But do a search for reviews of this specific model to be sure...

That is definitely Great Advice.
Google the Model with Review tacked on the end and see what the reviewers say BEFORE you buy any PC.

 

[ninjaneer]

for $350, what you spec'd out is not a bad deal at all for a kid's computer. i have had my 17" HP laptop for a little over 4 years now. no probs until the just a few months ago when the motherboard finally had enough. other than adding in another RAM stick to keep up with new software as they are released, and replacing Vista with XP pro, I hadn't had the need to do anything else over the years to support that of my daughter as she grew up from 5 to 9 years of age and my self-described-technology-handicapped wife as she assimilates into the Collective.

 

[bazwell]

I did a search for reviews on that model and didn't find any, unfortunately!
The best I could find was the HP specs.
I am not too sure what that means. Maybe it was only used as a business machine, so no-one reviewed it? Or maybe I just missed the mark.