Budget computer for 10 year old niece

[mikeymad]

http://www.logicbuy.com/categorydeals/computers/laptops?filter=pricelow

[shellylh]

OK, so I started thinking and looking more into Chromebooks and as long as she has internet at her mom's house (I think she does but I just need to make sure), I think this might be a good way to go.  They have flash I think so she should be able to play barbie.com and things like that.  Also, there seem to be a lot of games in the app store now and one can use google docs offline.  Also (for now), she shouldn't have to worry about getting viruses and slowing down her computer.  If she breaks it, it is also only $200 so not much lost. 

 

Unfortunately, I soon found out that they are sold out mostly, at least the nicer Samsung $250 model is.  But then I noticed that the Acer (a bit clunkier with standard harddrive with 320 GB instead of 16GB SSD) is available at google play for $200 which is damn cheap.  So fearing that it would go out of stock, I went ahead and ordered it and figured that I could send it back if I decide against it (although google does have a 15% stock fee).  

 

https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/acer-c7-chromebook.html

 

What do you think?  If this is a bad idea, I have a couple of days to cancel since it says that it will ship in 3-5 days.  I would rather cancel before it is shipped to avoid the restocking fee and shipping costs.  

[mikeymad]

If all it is is on-line games etc... then chromebook would be the way to go... I was looking at one myself as an extra... (but the new fire HD is tempting my towards tab)

[Dusty Chalk]

If the kid isn't spoiled by used to SSD computer yet, then she'll be fine.  Besides, it's hers, she'll be happy just to have one of her own.

 

For the record -- I'm not an SSD guy, and I kind of don't want to become one, because they don't last as long as regular hard drives.  The technology for all those reads and writes aren't completely worked out yet.

[shellylh]

Yeah, given that she doesn't have *any* computer, let alone one with a SSD drive in it, I think it'll be fine. 

[mikeymad]

hmmm don't know if you pulled the trigger on anything.. but just saw woot deal..

 

 

http://www.woot.com/offers/lenovo-thinkpad-11-6-dual-core-laptop

 

(should last for many years)

[shellylh]

Thanks but I got a Chromebook for her and I think I'll stick with that. Hopefully it works out well.

[shellylh]

Looking at this again - the Intel looked pretty sweet but that was sold out by the time I got there.  The spill resistant keyboard and the build quality of Lenovo would have been nice.  I figure if my niece takes care of this one, I will get her a better one next year or the year after.

 

I went by Best Buy and tried out the Chromebooks.  They both seemed pretty speedy and should probably stay that way with Chrome OS.  Hopefully that is all she needs.  I suppose I should look into giving her some $$$ for the Chrome apps store.  The Samsung (with 16B flash memory) had a nicer keyboard and better camera.  It was also a little cooler/quieter.  The Acer (standard 320GB harddrive) seemed a little bit better in the build quality - I felt that the lid of the Samsung might come off if not taken care of.  It was hard to tell how fast they will be in real life because the wifi at BestBuy was slow (I assume it was the fault of the wifi based on the speedtest I did).  They had a Samsung at the store that I could have bought but I decided to stick with the cheaper $200 Acer since I didn't feel like carrying the laptop on the plane.