Hi,

My 6yo DD wants a netbook for xmas, so that she can do some writing in Word, play with some programs, do some Scratch programming, lookup stuff on Google, print drawings, etc., She has been using our own PCs for years, and feels like it would be easier for her to have her own. I think she wants a netbook because it's smaller and maybe "cuter" than a grown-up laptop.

I am fine with the overall idea, and will take care of the monitoring part, so the issue is mostly about usability and compatibility with existing applications.

I want an XP system, absolutely NOT Vista or Windows 7, and my budget is about $400, possibly more if really justified. I can find both netbooks and laptops online with XP for that price.

Does anyone have experience with netbooks use for young children, and if they can run most programs without a problem?
Any suggestion for features to look for, and pros and cons of some models vs. others?

Thanks,
Max

We recently purchased the "Classmate PC" for our DS(almost 5). We chose this one vs. others because we felt like it offered the best design value for the price. It is rugged/durable, features the ability to be a tablet and a touch screen. It does come with some software for kids and a special "front screen" that can limit their access to internet, etc. if desired.

Like all "netbooks" it does not possess as much memory, etc. as a laptop would.

I'm sure the website can do a better job explaining it than I can but feel free to ask if there is anything I can answer.
http://www.classmatepc.com/

We bought an OLPC (one laptop per child) machine for DS when they had their first give-one-get-one scheme. I think it's cute, but DS, though he's had some fun with it, has never been as interested in it as in using my own netbook. I think that the special children's frontend was actually a turn-off, because nobody in the family was familiar with it, so whenever he had a question someone had to actually come and look instead of just shouting out the answer, and it made it seem like a toy to him rather than like a real computer. My netbook (which I use for hours every day for my job) is a Dell Inspiron Mini 9. Despite netbooks' reputation for not having much memory, it has 2GB (chosen as an option at the time) and despite its Atom processor is in practice every bit as powerful as the conventional laptops I've had in the past. I haven't had any problems running any application. It doesn't have superfast graphics, but unless your DD is already seriously into high-speed games, I think it would be highly suitable (what I do includes youtube videos, occasional game use by DS, etc., and I never notice any problem with the graphics; it's just that I know this is relatively undemanding use) Mine runs Ubuntu, but I'm pretty sure XP was an option on it when I bought mine, and it was within your price range. Dell's a good make and the build quality, battery life etc. is excllent. Recommended.

We bought DS6 a netbook for Christmas. He really just needs something small with web access to do his EPGY, e-mail and research. I figure he will continue to use my laptop for other things the netbook can't do.

I saw this thread last night and my first response was, "I think this is the only site I will ever see a question like this posted." I love this place.

I would get a good netbook, you can get one with quite a good size memory. My coworker recently bought him one to use for work (EeePC). He is very happy with it, he does programming, uses matlab, imaging softwares etc on it. The 160GB memory is enough for most of stuff and you should keep everything back upped anyway. 160GB word fits quite a many word files If he is doing something needing more storage space get him a external harddrive at that point. I would get one too if I would not have such a bad luck with pcs.

That 160GB is storage not memory in computer jargon. Memory is the stuff your programs use while they run, so not enough of that means you can't use your applications or they run very slowly. Storage is the stuff you keep your stuff in when you're not looking at it, so not enough of that means you run out of space to put your word documents and photos in. Both are important, but for most people most of the time, memory is what they're most likely to be short of. As you say, external drives (you can get USB sticks that hold gigabytes these days) can solve the storage problem. You can upgrade memory after you buy the machine but it's a lot easier to get that right up front.

I, personally, like the laptops over netbooks, but netbooks are great for browsing. If you are considering netbooks I can offer you this information:

Samsung NC20 $549, Lenovo IdeaPad S12 1 GIG of memory, 160 gig harddrive. $429 are the two best netbooks besides the Sony which is costly. Via nano base chips are the better performers compared to the Adam which is Intel.

Hope that helps.

One unanticipated feature of the netbook vs. laptop for our nearly 5 year old is the keyboard size. The smaller keyboard can be frustrating for adult fingers but allows DS to type much better than he does on a full-sized keyboard. Of course, you lose other feature because of size so it is a trade-off.

As I mentioned before, we have the Classmate PC (aka 2Go PC) for DS. I have the EeePC and a laptop. I love my EeePC (for me) but much prefer the Classmate for DS. They are about the same price but the Classmate has so many more usable features for him. I am not familiar with the other suggestions listed here so I can't help with comparisons on those.

I recently bought a Gigabyte T1028 netbook and I'm really happy with it. It's one of the ones that can work as a tablet (definitely recommend that). They're probably easier to find here in China than in the States because Gigabyte is a Taiwanese company, but the nice thing about their netbooks is that they're engineered to be easily upgradable like laptops - there are doors in the bottom of the unit to access various components - so if memory becomes an issue, you can install extra (and memory is dirt cheap nowadays). Don't know if there are any other companies building them like this, but it might be something to look into.

That said, I'd be prepared to buy a laptop soon. If your daughter starts getting into more intensive uses of computers, like art applications for example, she's going to need a more powerful processor and a bigger screen.

thanks all for your comments and inputs. we ended up buying an Asus Eee netbook 10" from Bestbuy including sleeve for $249 special, and my daughter loves it. We have an adult friend who got the same one a few months ago, and takes it everywhere. It took all software and kids games we had (which wouldn't have been the case with a laptop running Vista or 7), and just runs great. We even connected it to an external art console (Digital Arts & Craft) and to an external LCD screen and it is working great. Hard to beat the versatility for that price. Bestbuy had the same promotion a few months ago, so they might get it again. We were considering the 12" version, but the online reviews were dismal, due to a different and slower video card. My wife is looking for the next sale to get the same one for herself. I wouldn't recommend that for heavy duty applications like some I need, but for kids and for casual browsing and light applications, netbooks are great. Be careful that those shippng with Windows 7 are much slower for similar hardware, according to some posters on Bestbuy and Amazon forums.