best laptop for a small child

[Ian Stokes-Rees]

I got my 3 year old daughter an OLPC XO-1 when they first came out.  It
may be useable by her some time next year, when she is about 6, but
otherwise OLPC, who had many great ideas, really failed to deliver
something which I found to be usable (by me or by my young kids).

Having experimented with different options for my (now) 5.5 year old and
2.5 year old on the computer front, I can give you an easy answer to
this question: buy a used Toshiba M-series tablet ($200-$350, depending
on condition and model), and install the experience pack and education
pack, then get them setup with Kidzui, Starfall, and Tuxpaint.  That
will give you half a dozen touch-screen enabled applications that they
can interact with, from educational, to web browsing/videos, to
artistic.  The tablet pen proximity feature for writing and painting is
so good it makes it hard to be happy with the binary finger-touch
compatible alternatives.

My tablet died about a year ago, but this was by far the most successful
computer interaction they have had.  If you want some other notes/options:

* My kids can't figure out mice or track pads, but do OK with a Logitech
Trackball.  YMMV.  Maybe they have been spoiled with touch screens.

* They press and hold every button on the machine, including the power
button.  Be warned.

* They love my iPod Touch.  For about $200, this could be a good
option.  If cash isn't an issue, spoil them and buy your kids an iPad.

* They love the HP Touchsmart monitor (L2105tm, about $300) I bought:
21" widescreen, finger-touch compatible (comes with a stylus, but I
don't want to teach my 2.5 year old to use pens on screens).  Downside:
there are only windows drivers for this, so doesn't work with my Mac
(for touch screen features), only my wife's WinXP netbook.

* I can imagine one of the HP all-in-one TouchSmart PCs would be pretty
cool, or a cheap-n-cheerful Windows-7 laptop with a Touchsmart
multi-touch monitor.  If I had more money, I would have bought one of these.

* A few more words on the OLPC XO-1: It hangs all the time.  It is
unresponsive.  The applications are dismal.  The only apps that interest
my kids at all are maze, video/photo, TTS, MiniTamTam.  Firefox sort of
runs, but not well, built in browser is hopeless, trackpad is full of
gremlins and impossible to use.  Potentially useful arrows and "pad"
beside screen do nothing most of the time, although these are what my
kids are drawn to press.  For a machine made for kids (even young kids)
it is impossible to disable or require special key combos for the power
button, rotate screen or switch "mode".  The machine is hopelessly
slow.  Sugar is terrible.  Ubuntu is a bit better, but then not kid
friendly.

I'd be very interested to hear opinions from others about computers for
0-5 year olds.

Ian

On 6/17/10 12:39 PM, Adam Russell wrote:
> I am looking for something along the lines of the OLPC XO-1
> or the Elonex One for a very young relative.
> Oddly, I thought it would be easier to buy one of the above mentioned
> machines but they seem to be largely unavailable.
> Any suggestions?
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-- 
Ian Stokes-Rees, PhD                       W: http://hkl.hms.harvard.edu
ijstokes-/2FeUQLD3jedFdvTe/nMLpVzexx5G7lz at public.gmane.org               T: +1 617 432-5608 x75
NEBioGrid, Harvard Medical School          C: +1 617 331-5993