help finding a laptop for my kids

[renae3]

Hi everyone. Christmas is coming quickly and I really want to buy a laptop for my children. There are so many choices and I could really use some help! They are 11, 8 and 5 years old. I need it to be able to handle watching videos and playing games along with reports for my 11 year old and school. I am hoping to stay around $300.00 and have it last for a few years. I also need it to have parental controls. Should I get a touch screen or a keyboad type? What are the benefits of one or the other? Any ideas or suggestions?? Thanks so much!!

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Windows 8.1 is designed for a touchscreen. I highly recommend you narrow your choices to touchscreen laptops, especially if kids will be using it.

Chose something powerful enough to handle whatever games your kids play. One which is bundled with software you need will save money (such as a word processing program and spreadsheet). You may need to go above $300; although there are some good sales now.

 

[renae3]

thanks, anyone else?

 

[gwynne]

I purchased a couple of laptops in the past two weeks. They both came with windows 8, which I wasn't crazy about, but I could update to 8.1. I did the updates, and the experience has become much more user friendly.

One of the laptops has touch, the other doesn't. Touch is nice, but when I'm working I generally find myself just using the keyboard.

I agree with the previous poster that you'll want to be sure to get something powerful enough for your kids games. I'd probably expect to pay around 400-550 for a touch with the kinds of features it sounds like you are looking for.

 

[pixiewings71]

I just bought a bundle at Best Buy, HP Laptop (model was HP2000), 6 months virus protection, CD/DVD drive (which was important to us and worth the extra cost), mouse, laptop sleeve, for $329.99, no idea if your store has any left but it was well worth it for us. We got it for DD17, it's her big gift this year, she's going to be thrilled! lol She has no idea.

 

[robinb]

I think I might be looking for a laptop for my 14-year old DD too!

 

[HeatherC]

We just bought one too...for my DD. We got an Asus Vivo Book at Best Buy for $599. It has a touchscreen, windows 8, i5 processor and I think 4mb ram and 500 gb hard drive. It should serve her well for a couple of years.

Spent more than I planned, but we liked the screen size...not too big to lug around but can still see good on it. She wanted touchscreen, and Asus gets really good reivews so we pulled the trigger and bought it.

Good luck in your search!

 

[sunshinehighway]

I just bought a bundle at Best Buy, HP Laptop (model was HP2000), 6 months virus protection, CD/DVD drive (which was important to us and worth the extra cost), mouse, laptop sleeve, for $329.99, no idea if your store has any left but it was well worth it for us. We got it for DD17, it's her big gift this year, she's going to be thrilled! lol She has no idea.

My parents bought the same one for my nephew. He's 11. They figure it's like a starter computer and as he gets older and proves he will take care of it and use it correctly (like for school work), he can get a better one when/if he outgrows it.