Budget/used laptop suggestions for my 6yr old.

[jason867]

Hello everyone.

I'm hoping to get some insightful suggestions for a used or budget laptop for my 6yr old son. He started Kindergarten this past summer and is already using a Chromebook often for school stuff. His tablet bit the dust a while back so we initially planned to get him another this Christmas, but I'm wondering if he'd benefit more from a decent laptop. I can't help but feel like he should learn how to use a conventional mouse & keyboard, before he gets too spoiled by touchscreens.

My background, so you get an idea of my knowledge level: I'm good with electronics, but not as "in the know" as i used to be when i was younger. I'm still using Win7 personally, and refuse to use any newer Windows (or apple lol). I've dabbled in some Linux flavors in the past, so I know what I'm getting into when i eventually dump win7 and go that route. I set up my own local wifi & wired network. I keep my stuff updated, scanned, firewalled, virus-free. I used to code in BASIC and C for PC, TI graphing calculators, gameboy advance, and the sony psp. I've installed custom firmwares on game systems, phones, routers, etc.

Not trying to brag or boast lol, just trying to say that I know enough to permanently brick some electronics! My problem is due to trying to save money and being just plain stubborn, I'm not as knowledgeable and up-to-date with tech as I'd like to be.

My requirements for this laptop:

• Cheap enough that it's not a big deal if my kids break it.
• But not so cheap that it dies in a year...
• Kid-resistant durability, enough that it doesn't break the first time it's dropped. He has a 3yr old brother too...
• 12" or 13" screen I'm thinking, lightweight & small enough to carry in a binder.
• Good battery life.
• SSD or flash storage for a little more drop-resistance and speedier loading. He won't need a bunch of storage space, and I can provide SD cards & USB sticks if extra is needed.
• Reasonable horsepower. I don't expect it to play Crysis, but having a 6yr old attention span, he won't tolerate lag and slow loading very well, and will want to stream videos and play Minecraft...
• I would say a DVD drive is not needed, and I would prefer the cost/weight/size/battery savings of not having one. But not a deal-breaker or anything...

My plan is to start him with a flavor of Linux, and to learn its ins & outs along with him (for when I retire my Win7 desktop soon). I thought about going with a Chromebook or Chromium variant, but I can't help but feel like the Chrome OS would be too limiting, might reinforce bad habits related to smart phones and touch-screen tablets, and I'm disliking Google more and more as time goes on (don't get me started on Microsoft/Apple/Amazon...) I'm not opposed to putting Linux on a Chromebook however, if that's a good idea.

I'd like to keep this well under $200. I planned to spend at least $100.

So, given all that, what would you knowledgeable folks recommend for my son?

 

[maxwelhse]

Honestly... I'd go with another Chromebook, but since you don't want to:

Dell E6410, hands down winner IMO. It checks every box of yours except weight. I have several of them and have deployed about a dozen to various family and friends over the years. The only fatality of the group was my mother who dumped a Pepsi in one. I transferred the SSD into a "new" $80 unit and off she was to the races again.

I've personally also chucked one off a 5' tall hotel dresser before, running, and it didn't even phase it. In fact, I'm on that machine right now.

Patience on eBay will get you an i7 with 8gb of RAM for $100-$150. You might luck out and get an SSD (which I highly recommend) for that price too. Virtually all of them will need a new battery though, which is about $30 for an extended capacity version, which will last for about 4 hours.

 

[jason867]

Honestly... I'd go with another Chromebook, but since you don't want to:

I guess I should specify, that I'm not against a Chromebook per se, I'm just against the Chrome operating system, as I feel it's too limiting, and I may as well just get another tablet...

Thanks for the Dell suggestion.

 

[maxwelhse]

I guess I should specify, that I'm not against a Chromebook per se, I'm just against the Chrome operating system, as I feel it's too limiting, and I may as well just get another tablet...

Thanks for the Dell suggestion.

I'm speaking purely from ignorance here, but surely there are models of Chromebooks that lend themselves to easy Linux hacking?

It looks like Google officially sanctions this in at least some small way.

 

[fullmetaljesus]

May I ask your adversion to win10?

 

[chocktaw2]

This is my go to site for everything.

https://www.tigerdirect.com/applica...tm_term=tigerdirect&utm_content=Brand - Exact

 

[jason867]

May I ask your adversion to win10?

Without getting into the weeds and donning my tinfoil hat, I've became more of a luddite/technophobe over the years, after seeing where technology is going. I used to feel more in control of my 'data', but I see everything trending to where 'they' are controlling and owning more and more of your 'data'. I wouldn't say I'm scared of that per se, but it is at least concerning and I feel like it's not a bad idea to resist when you can and it makes sense to.

I feel its kind of analogous to what farmers are going through with their modern computer controlled tractors. Something breaks, and you have to let and/or pay John Deere fix it, no one else is "allowed" to. You don't own the tractor or its software. Get caught fixing your own tractor, and no more warranty or sales to you. Since when did it become normal to buy something and not own it and be able to do what you please with it?

I've read that Windows 10 has more thoroughly integrated features to farm us for data for advertising and other uses.
Given that Microsoft used to charge big money to install Windows, the fact that they gave Win10 away for free tells me they plan to make their money another way.

I'm not gonna pretend that Win7 doesn't do any of this of course.

I've always admired Linux for many reasons, and I've tried a few distros over the years on spare machines, just tinkering around. I've just never been passionate about it enough to make the jump in a more permanent and long-term sense. Gaming used to be a big factor keeping me using Windows. Now that I'm not into PC gaming as much as I used to be, as well as it being easier on Linux now from what I've read, that's no longer an issue for me. And Microsoft is becoming a bigger issue for me, and I can't realistically use Windows 7 forever.

I feel like Linux offers me a way to upgrade and stay current, without giving up so much control over what my computers do. And I want my son to at least become familiar with it, even if he decides later on that it's not for him. I don't want him growing up so accustomed to using either Apple or Microsoft (or Google or Amazon) products that he doesn't even recognize other options as being viable. And we can learn Linux together.


I need to pull some weeds.....

 

[jason867]

I'm speaking purely from ignorance here, but surely there are models of Chromebooks that lend themselves to easy Linux hacking?

It looks like Google officially sanctions this in at least some small way.

That's what I was implying. I had the thought of getting a cheap or used Chromebook and replacing the OS with linux.

 

[fullmetaljesus]

Without getting into the weeds and donning my tinfoil hat, I've became more of a luddite/technophobe over the years, after seeing where technology is going. I used to feel more in control of my 'data', but I see everything trending to where 'they' are controlling and owning more and more of your 'data'. I wouldn't say I'm scared of that per se, but it is at least concerning and I feel like it's not a bad idea to resist when you can and it makes sense to.

I feel its kind of analogous to what farmers are going through with their modern computer controlled tractors. Something breaks, and you have to let and/or pay John Deere fix it, no one else is "allowed" to. You don't own the tractor or its software. Get caught fixing your own tractor, and no more warranty or sales to you. Since when did it become normal to buy something and not own it and be able to do what you please with it?

I've read that Windows 10 has more thoroughly integrated features to farm us for data for advertising and other uses.
Given that Microsoft used to charge big money to install Windows, the fact that they gave Win10 away for free tells me they plan to make their money another way.

I'm not gonna pretend that Win7 doesn't do any of this of course.

I've always admired Linux for many reasons, and I've tried a few distros over the years on spare machines, just tinkering around. I've just never been passionate about it enough to make the jump in a more permanent and long-term sense. Gaming used to be a big factor keeping me using Windows. Now that I'm not into PC gaming as much as I used to be, as well as it being easier on Linux now from what I've read, that's no longer an issue for me. And Microsoft is becoming a bigger issue for me, and I can't realistically use Windows 7 forever.

I feel like Linux offers me a way to upgrade and stay current, without giving up so much control over what my computers do. And I want my son to at least become familiar with it, even if he decides later on that it's not for him. I don't want him growing up so accustomed to using either Apple or Microsoft (or Google or Amazon) products that he doesn't even recognize other options as being viable. And we can learn Linux together.


I need to pull some weeds.....

So couple thoughts here.

Win7 can an dmaybe dies report the same things. Also it's quite easy to disable the reporting features in 10.

I'm a Linux admin so I'm a big proponent of Linux.
However if you are wanting a well rounded child to know tech I would think you would want the kid to have the latest level of tech available. It would be useful to get used to newer os's

If you want Linux I say start them with Ubuntu. It's the most user friendly, or maybe centos.

You're cell phone reports way more than win10 provided you have a smart phone and not a feature phone.

 

[KLB]

Without getting into the weeds and donning my tinfoil hat, I've became more of a luddite/technophobe over the years, after seeing where technology is going. I used to feel more in control of my 'data', but I see everything trending to where 'they' are controlling and owning more and more of your 'data'. I wouldn't say I'm scared of that per se, but it is at least concerning and I feel like it's not a bad idea to resist when you can and it makes sense to.

I feel its kind of analogous to what farmers are going through with their modern computer controlled tractors. Something breaks, and you have to let and/or pay John Deere fix it, no one else is "allowed" to. You don't own the tractor or its software. Get caught fixing your own tractor, and no more warranty or sales to you. Since when did it become normal to buy something and not own it and be able to do what you please with it?

I've read that Windows 10 has more thoroughly integrated features to farm us for data for advertising and other uses.
Given that Microsoft used to charge big money to install Windows, the fact that they gave Win10 away for free tells me they plan to make their money another way.

I'm not gonna pretend that Win7 doesn't do any of this of course.

I've always admired Linux for many reasons, and I've tried a few distros over the years on spare machines, just tinkering around. I've just never been passionate about it enough to make the jump in a more permanent and long-term sense. Gaming used to be a big factor keeping me using Windows. Now that I'm not into PC gaming as much as I used to be, as well as it being easier on Linux now from what I've read, that's no longer an issue for me. And Microsoft is becoming a bigger issue for me, and I can't realistically use Windows 7 forever.

I feel like Linux offers me a way to upgrade and stay current, without giving up so much control over what my computers do. And I want my son to at least become familiar with it, even if he decides later on that it's not for him. I don't want him growing up so accustomed to using either Apple or Microsoft (or Google or Amazon) products that he doesn't even recognize other options as being viable. And we can learn Linux together.


I need to pull some weeds.....

If you are using Windows 7 still you should be scared. No security updates is a serious thing.

 

[maxwelhse]

Then I suggest just getting a Chromebook and loading Linux on it. Best bang for the buck by far.

---

Funny enough, during new installation boot up, Win 10 lets you opt out of all of the spying (while I'm sure there is still some behind he veil), which is something Win 7/8/8.1 was never as obvious about.

I held off on Win 10 for a long time too, mostly due to how terrible 8 was, which is why they gave it away for free 5 years ago. I can assure you those days have ended since I just paid for 10 Pro on the new Dell sitting next to me.

Ironically, I'm typing this on a 7 machine. I just haven't transitioned it yet.

Anyhow... Windows, Linux, whatever makes you happy. That said, Win 10 is the bomb from a pure user experience. Its a legitimate upgrade from 7, which I can't say about the others between them. IMO, of course.

 

[jason867]

Thinking about it more, I seem to prefer and use older technology and stuff in several aspects of my life:

My daily driver vehicle is a 1999 Jeep Cherokee. I could see myself never buying anything much newer. It works, it's simple, it's cheap & easy to fix myself, plenty of parts and spares everywhere. (my wife likes newer stuff however)

My other vehicle is a 1978 ford f-250. I'm working on swapping in a Cummins inline diesel engine. One of the reasons I chose that engine is because I can literally run that engine (and its manual transmission) with ZERO wires or electronics. Everything essential is mechanical. I can even install a wind-up starter for it if I wanted to (YouTube it, you literally take a hand ratchet to the starter, wind it for a couple minutes, and then push a lever and it turns over the engine).

When it comes to videogames, I always buy a physical copy if I'm able to. You can't technically resell your digital only copies of games when you decide to sell off your old game system, not unless you want to sell your personal account to a stranger (which is always against the terms of service anyway).

I also don't rely on Cloud services to store my data, only to facilitate sharing it with others. I like the idea of cloud computing, but I will never fully rely on it. Anything important will always be physically with me. Storage is cheap anyway.

ok, I'll stop derailing my own thread now...

 

[fullmetaljesus]

Thinking about it more, I seem to prefer and use older technology and stuff in several aspects of my life:

My daily driver vehicle is a 1999 Jeep Cherokee. I could see myself never buying anything much newer. It works, it's simple, it's cheap & easy to fix myself, plenty of parts and spares everywhere. (my wife likes newer stuff however)

My other vehicle is a 1978 ford f-250. I'm working on swapping in a Cummins inline diesel engine. One of the reasons I chose that engine is because I can literally run that engine (and its manual transmission) with ZERO wires or electronics. Everything essential is mechanical. I can even install a wind-up starter for it if I wanted to (YouTube it, you literally take a hand ratchet to the starter, wind it for a couple minutes, and then push a lever and it turns over the engine).

When it comes to videogames, I always buy a physical copy if I'm able to. You can't technically resell your digital only copies of games when you decide to sell off your old game system, not unless you want to sell your personal account to a stranger (which is always against the terms of service anyway).

I also don't rely on Cloud services to store my data, only to facilitate sharing it with others. I like the idea of cloud computing, but I will never fully rely on it. Anything important will always be physically with me. Storage is cheap anyway.

ok, I'll stop derailing my own thread now...

Do you also only carry cap and ball guns or old ass muskets?

 

[maxwelhse]

Thinking about it more, I seem to prefer and use older technology and stuff in several aspects of my life:

My daily driver vehicle is a 1999 Jeep Cherokee. [...]

Same camp, man. '99 TJ here and all of my other stuff is ancient too. I still buy physical everything (including music), manage my own data storage, etc, etc.

That said, Win 10 is way better than 7. Give it a whirl. You'll like it once you get the hang of it.

 

[jason867]

So couple thoughts here.

Win7 can an dmaybe dies report the same things. Also it's quite easy to disable the reporting features in 10.

I'm a Linux admin so I'm a big proponent of Linux.
However if you are wanting a well rounded child to know tech I would think you would want the kid to have the latest level of tech available. It would be useful to get used to newer os's

If you want Linux I say start them with Ubuntu. It's the most user friendly, or maybe centos.

You're cell phone reports way more than win10 provided you have a smart phone and not a feature phone.

I'm aware there's ways around those reporting features.

I do want my kid well rounded. I'm sure he'll get plenty of exposure to newer windows through school, unless I decide to home school him (I've been very tempted on that issue).

I'm very aware of how intrusive smart phones are. I've been tempted to see if I can still get an old k.i.s.s flip phone for just calls & texts, but I will sorely miss everything my Android can do so conveniently. That would be a lot harder for me.

 

[jason867]

If you are using Windows 7 still you should be scared. No security updates is a serious thing.

It's on my mind, but I'm pretty careful about where I go and what I do. Like I said, I'm ditching it soon-ish.

 

[jason867]

Then I suggest just getting a Chromebook and loading Linux on it. Best bang for the buck by far.

---

Funny enough, during new installation boot up, Win 10 lets you opt out of all of the spying (while I'm sure there is still some behind he veil), which is something Win 7/8/8.1 was never as obvious about.

I held off on Win 10 for a long time too, mostly due to how terrible 8 was, which is why they gave it away for free 5 years ago. I can assure you those days have ended since I just paid for 10 Pro on the new Dell sitting next to me.

Ironically, I'm typing this on a 7 machine. I just haven't transitioned it yet.

Anyhow... Windows, Linux, whatever makes you happy. That said, Win 10 is the bomb from a pure user experience. Its a legitimate upgrade from 7, which I can't say about the others between them. IMO, of course.

If I have to pay then I'm definitely not going 10 lol. I thought I read ( a year or so ago probably lol) that you could still get it for free if you knew how to (legally I mean).

 

[rkwhyte2]

This is my go to site for everything.

https://www.tigerdirect.com/applica...tm_term=tigerdirect&utm_content=Brand - Exact

I second this.

 

[jason867]

Do you also only carry cap and ball guns or old ass muskets?

Well I'm a felon, so...


"sarcasm HEAVILY intended, to erase all doubt"

 

[4651feeder]

Watched the deals last Christmas season and eventually scored four laptops (three different models) and one Gaming Desktop from Best Buy. Been doing the same this season and have almost concluded this is NOT the year to buy when compared to last year. Good luck