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Buying Guide: 5 Great Laptops for Kids
The world is a high-tech place, and kids today will often forgo toys and treats in favor of tech and games. If you're thinking of buying your son or daughter their first laptop, you've probably wondered what's out there for them. We've sifted through the dozens of PCs aimed at adults with grown-up budgets, and found five great kid-friendly laptops.
Kids entering elementary school are now finding themselves interacting with PCs and the web, and it's not too early to encourage a budding interest in technology and computer science. The wealth of information available online has opened up new avenues for education in and out of the classroom, and familiarity with technology and the Internet is rapidly becoming as important to modern life as literacy and basic math.
Whether you want to equip your child for the classroom or just get them used to life online, there are laptops available that won't break the bank, and help ease the learning experience with fewer maintenance issues. When selected the following systems, we avoided laptops that might make buying a system for a youngster more trouble than it's worth.
Kids don't always treat technology with care, so we selected systems that were either ruggedized against drops and spills, low-cost to make replacement less painful, or both. The K-5 set probably won't be using any performance straining software tools, but they will definitely want to play games or get online, so we focused on laptops that would meet those needs without the expense of high-end processors. And finally, we looked for kid-friendly features, such as the educational tools found in the 2Go Convertible NL4 Classmate PC, or the dead-simple ease of use offered by Google's Chromebooks.
Not looking for a laptop? Check out The Top Tablets for Your Kids. And for a wider look at products for budding tech-geeks, check out The Hottest Tech Toys for Kids and 8 Great Websites for Kids.
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Asus Transformer Book T100TA (64GB)
$399.00 list
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For a sub-$400 price, the Asus Transformer Book T100TA is a fully functional Windows 8.1 hybrid tablet, and the natural successor to the netbook ideal from a few years ago. It gives you a bright, usable PC an affordable price. Plus it avoids all of the compatibility issues that plague tablets running mobile operating systems like iOS, Android, or Windows RT.
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Acer C7 Chromebook (C710-2055)
$279.99 list
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Though it still has a couple of faults, the new version of the Acer C7 Chromebook is faster, longer lasting, and better all around. All this and its very low price tag makes it the best inexpensive Chromebook on the market.
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Lenovo IdeaPad N581
$499.00
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The budget-friendly Lenovo IdeaPad N581 is a competent system with solid performance, and a decent selection of features.
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Acer C720 Chromebook (C720-2800)
$249.99
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The Acer C720 (C720-2800) comes closer to Chromebook nirvana, but we still haven't reached that level yet. It's a couple of tweaks from being the perfect low cost bridge between mobile device and full-fledged laptop.
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2Go Convertible NL4 Classmate PC
$589.71 list
The 2go Convertible NL4 Classmate PC is a good laptop if you need its specific mix of educational features, but isn't the best choice for everyone.
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