Chromebooks or other PC

[acmom]

My parents are considering either one nicer touchscreen PC computer to share or two chromebooks for my kids (8 and 6) as a Christmas gift. (I'm a Mac user but a Mac is out due to price. ) They use both in school.

They would use it mainly for web based activities and games that school sends home plus some basic word processing (typing spelling lists, stories they wrote, etc).

Any advice on which would be better or brands to buy/stay away from?


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[liz]

My FIL bought DS a Chromebook for his birthday this year. It's Asus brand. DS and my FIL both like to research things online, so I am pretty confident that it was rated well. I'm not 100% sure on the exact model, but DS wanted the model with expanded memory but decided against the touch screen version. DS is thrilled with it. FWIW, he's in 7th grade and uses it all the time for school and fun.

[ahisma]

We have chromebooks for that purpose and like them well. We're also mac users, but I like the pricepoint of the chromebooks for kids. They've held up very well, but I like that I don't worry like I would with a MacBook.

We have this one, but bought them a year and a half ago: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MMLV7VQ/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[sariana]

The two biggest advantages of CBs are

1) they update automatically, and in the background. No waiting for updates to "take" during boot-up

2) they don't corrupt easily, and if they do, resetting (or "wiping") them is easy. (You can Google it.)

Some drawbacks:

1) no Minecraft. (I consider this a plus, but your kids may disagree.)

2) some video formats are not supported.

3) they require a network printer and can be confusing to set up to print.

I love my CB. But I know how to convert to Word when needed and download things in different formats. I used to train people to use CBs, so I know some tricks and things. But students usually can figure out those sorts of things pretty easily.

[acmom]

The two biggest advantages of CBs are

1) they update automatically, and in the background. No waiting for updates to "take" during boot-up

2) they don't corrupt easily, and if they do, resetting (or "wiping") them is easy. (You can Google it.)

Some drawbacks:

1) no Minecraft. (I consider this a plus, but your kids may disagree.)

2) some video formats are not supported.

3) they require a network printer and can be confusing to set up to print.

I love my CB. But I know how to convert to Word when needed and download things in different formats. I used to train people to use CBs, so I know some tricks and things. But students usually can figure out those sorts of things pretty easily.

Good things for me to consider! Neither is into minecraft so that wouldn't be an issue right now. If they wanted to play that in the future, can it be done on a PC, Mac or iPad (we have all 3).

If we have a wireless Epson printer that works with our other devices at home, would it be possible to use that with the chromebooks? I know they will want printing ability.


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[sariana]

Good things for me to consider! Neither is into minecraft so that wouldn't be an issue right now. If they wanted to play that in the future, can it be done on a PC, Mac or iPad (we have all 3).

If we have a wireless Epson printer that works with our other devices at home, would it be possible to use that with the chromebooks? I know they will want printing ability.


Sent from my iPhone using Baby Bargains mobile app

Minecraft works on most other platforms, including mobile devices (Pocket Edition, which is all my DS has). I know there are a few other things that don't work on CBs, too, but there also are a number of Apps and Extensions designed specifically FOR CBs, so it's a trade-off.

I don't know about the Epson printer. It has to be a network printer, not just wireless. I don't print from my CB; I just access the files from my desktop PC (since they're all in the Cloud) if I need to print. And I wasn't responsible for printer set-up when I was training. I do know that we disabled printer settings on student devices because a network printer can be miles away and they didn't want students hitting Print, not seeing anything happen on the classroom printer, and hitting Print over and over again, only to have multiple copies spewing out at some other site in the district. So only teacher devices were set up to print. But that shouldn't be an issue on a home device. You won't be able to set it up to print at school or anything because you won't have the password. So you won't accidentally be printing somewhere else.

Just another note: I like that my CB is self-contained. Since it isn't connected to any other device, it can't corrupt them (unless I use one of the ports, which I don't). I use it to browse "questionable" sites and also to do my online shopping because it is more difficult to track. Once I log out, everything resets. Of course, that means I have to log back in to sites all the time, and for some, such as my bank, I need to get that extra password texted to me because it doesn't "recognize" my CB. This can be a nuisance, but it's one I'm willing to live with (I usually use my desktop for my main bank), and it likely won't be an issue for your kids.