The laptop computers designed for children have almost the same characteristics as the ones used by regular home users. The difference is that they are smaller and are usually created more for gamers, than for productivity and efficiency. A good laptop for children is the Mini 10v coming from Dell. These Mini computers have the main goal the fact that they let the children to connect with other children of their age from across the world. This require an Internet connection, which these computers provide for their users.

The keyboard of a Mini 10v is 92% the size of a normal computer. The display has 10.1 inches in diagonal and offers a 16:9 aspect ratio. The operating system installed on the computers is either Microsoft Windows 7 Starter, Windows Vista, Windows XP or Linux. Dell recommends Windows 7.



For a kid, this operating system will be the first system that he sees. As a parent, you have to provide all the best for your kid. He must get used to good things. The memory has 1 GB, but it is expandable up to 2 GB, in the case of the Mini computers that use Vista or Linux. The processor is an Intel Atom, the best processor ever created by a processor manufacturer for small computers. The Intel integrated media accelerator 500 is responsible for delivering the images for this computer.

The great thing for the children today is that they can enter Whyville, an application developed by the technicians at Dell’s in collaboration with other geniuses. There the kids can play and learn and all in an environment that has been awarded by numerous organizations and approved by teachers, parents and even kids. The hard drive of Mini 10v has a capacity of up to 250 GB and the computer has the possibility of using also a solid state drive instead of a hard drive. This is the future of the hard drives and it is good that this change includes the computers designed for children as well. The solid state drive lets you store information on 32 GB. This is a huge capacity for a child.



This computer model uses either a 3 cell battery, or a 6 cell battery. Dell recommends to select the variant with 6 cells, because a battery like this gives you the chance of using the computer more time on batteries. It would be recommended that your children don’t play demanding games, when the computer runs on batteries. When you want to see a movie or perform difficult tasks, then you should keep the computer plugged. Fortunately, there is no such a difficult task when talking about laptops for children. The kids use the computer for Internet and for games. And maybe for homework. But most of the time spent on the computer refers to games and chatting.

Yes, this is true because all the institutions have developed their field of activity and in order to reach the highest performance. In kinder garden or school, for instance, children are taking contact with desktop computers or laptop computers since they are very little. They know how to play games. Nowadays, laptop computers are available for all kind of persons, no matter the age. or watch cartoons at the age of 3, and they ask their parents to buy them performed laptop computers when going to school.

They even know how to make an account on a social website. Nothing should amaze us…they can understand and do almost anything. It is always advisable to take into consideration the child`s age when buying a laptop computer. For instance, an 8 year old child will have different requirements than a 15 year old child. An 8 year old child will need a low quality performance and also a low price, but the 15 year old child will ask for more sophisticated laptop computers in order to surf the internet and play music and games.

Several states in the United States are offering the K12 home-school program which grew up thanks to the same people who founded Core Knowledge Foundation and Calvert Homeschool program. I am sure that, at first, it is a little bit scaring to hear that you can rent a laptop computer for your children because children are known as giving a bad treatment to their things technology. But, if you have a service contract, technical support and good warranties, you are lucky. There are available on the specialized sites some small laptop computers and perfect for pleasing the needs of an online homeschooling student and it costs you less to purchase than to rental a laptop computer for one year.



Many laptop computers for children are very small in size and weight and Nobi Convertible has a frame with a rubber handle and a bidirectional LCD touch screen. This little ten-inch machine has a hard drive of 60 GB and an Intel Atom processor especially designed for the Intel Classmate series.

Mini laptop computers have a compact size that do not support built-in CD ROM drives. K12 and Calvert online homeschooling programs require to all the students to have access to a CD Rom drive. So, the cutest mini laptop computers are Acer Aspire AOA150 and Vivienne Tam Hewlett Packard mini laptop computer which have 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 processor, 1 GB of RAM and a very stylish aspect. Usually, those mini laptop computers are able to run Windows Vista XP as operating system or other familiar operating systems. Others mini laptop computers are able to run Linux or other lesser-known operating system and this can be a little bit difficult.



So, I presented above two possibilities you have in order to purchase a laptop computer for your child. First, a rental which different stores and laptop computer manufacturers could offer you or, buying a laptop computer which is better because you know that it is yours and you do not have to pay all the year for a laptop computer.

If you have kids and you want them to learn some things that you don’t have the time to show them, than you should buy them one of the affordable notebooks for children, that are now on the market. They are easy and practical and they will keep you child busy and learning while you do your chores. We all know how children like to imitate their parents, so if your child sees you working on your laptop, he/she too will want to do that. So why not buy the kid a laptop that will help him learn some new things? Below are presented some of these cheap children laptop computers from which you can choose one for you little boy or girl.

If you have a baby girl, than the Oregon Scientific Barbie B - Smart Laptop will make her very happy. The laptop comes with some 80 games, from which 70 are in English and 10 are in Spanish along with a mouse and a QWERTY keyboard to allow your kid to improve her typing skills. The laptop also features a backlit LCD screen and ear buds, as it has an earphone jack. Barbie will initiate you 2nd grader in some fun activities that will help her learn some math, spelling and some Spanish too, as there are 10 applications in Spanish. The 8.7 x 10.5 x 1.5 inches dimensions at 3.4 pounds will make the laptop look as a real one, one that you as a grown-up would use and that will make your girl work happily on it. You can purchase this laptop for only $49.97 at amazon.com.



On the other hand, if you have a baby boy that likes Spiderman, than the Spider-Smart Learning Laptop will suit him well. The 3-pound laptop has a great Spiderman 3 design and gathers some applications that will engage your kid into learning new things while also defeating villains. The laptop has 8 learning zones with 48 activities and it also features a button that will automatically translate the words into Spanish, so your kid will also be able to learn a new language. You boy will also be able to send instant messages to Spider-Man and emails, among other things. He will like very much this learning tool and the learning will also be rewarded by the fact that he will defeat even the ultimate villain – the Sandman. This laptop can also be found at amazon.com at the price of $79.99.



In the case where you have both a girl and a boy, than the Oregon Scientific OSI PC Trainer 5 will make them both happy. Besides the fact that they will learn respecting each other’s schedule at the laptop, they will also learn Math, Memory, Music, Spelling and more from the 92 English and 10 Spanish language games. This very thin and lightweight laptop has a QWERTY keyboard that will allow your kids to perform their typing skills, as well. At amazon.com you can get it for only $49.43 and you’re kids will learn out of it more than just how to solve Math exercises.

As we have seen in a previous article, even the kids are using laptops, but of course they have special laptops build for them. These are more like toys than real notebooks, and they can be useful for the kids to learn on them how to type, how to count and other things like that…or they can just use them for playing video games appropriate for their age. You can find these kinds of laptops in many stores or websites, but there aren’t any kid laptops at Best Buy.



But since this is a large and important retail store specialized in electronic products, it offers some other solutions for the small ones. And these many educational software and games, that can be used on any laptop or PC. These come on CD or DVD, and they have a price of about 20 dollars. An example is the “Typing Instructor for Kids Platinum -Mac/Windows”. This software is made to teach your child how to type on a computer’s keyboard, or increase his skills if he already knows how to type. It is an interactive software, that has instruction techniques and hundreds of typing lessons, exercises, tests and challenges.

All of these are combined with entertaining themes and games to keep the kids motivated. The learning process will not be understood by your child as a boring activity (similar to going to school), but it will be seen as an adventure on the Typer island. The kids will also receive feedback on lessons and results on the test they take, so that you know when he is progressing. This software has a price of 20 dollars. Enjoy it!



Now let’s discuss about another similar product that can be found at Best Buy, for example the “JumpStart Advanced Toddlers”, which has a similar price of 20 dollars. For this price you will receive 4 discs, that will teach your child more than 50 skills. The first disc which is called “Discovery time” will teach your child the concepts of cause and effect, and it features many bright colors, charming sounds and a nice music. The second disc is “Play and learn time”, and it will bring some cute characters and clever activities, that will bring an unique classroom environment. The third disc is called “School time”, and will teach concepts like ranging from shapes, colors and early phonics.

And finally the 4^th disc is the “Sing along time”, that will treat your child with familiar songs, pictures, dances and other interesting activities. This software also includes some motivating rewards, that will keep your child engaged and interested in what he’s learning. Some other skills that your child will learn with this software would be: science, computer use, art, music, letter recognition, vocabulary, memory skills, basic counting, the parts of the human body, animal recognition, using the mouse and the keyboard, colors, visual matching.  It can be useful for kids with the ages between 2 and 9 years old. Have fun!



And here are some other examples of educational software and games found at Best Buy: PBS kids play, JumpStart 3D Virtual World: Preschool & Kindergarten, Elementary advantage 2010, Disney Fun and skills pack: toddler, Middle School Advantage 2010, High school advantage 2010, Charlie and the Chocolate factory, JumpStart advanced 3^rd grade, JumpStart advanced kindergarten, Absolutely Mad, Math success Deluxe, JumpStart 3D Virtual World Preschool & Kindergarten, Star Trek: The Complete Comic Book Collection, Disney Fun & Skills Preschool - 1st Grade, Dr. Daisy and others.