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Anybody have a 6th grader?

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DBissett

Senior member
Our daughter will go to the 6th grade next year, public school AP classes, and I am starting to wonder what device she might get the most use out of during middle school. We have desktops around the house and own no mobile devices of any kind yet. By next year will tablets be the ticket, middle of the road laptop or some other product? We can always check at school but I was wondering what other parents' experiences have been. Thanks.
 
I have a 6th grader...I'm letting him go cheap...$20. SHould put this in hot deals forum...


Seriously...do a small laptop/ultra. It's the 6th grade, but productivity should start early. My kid uses a little HP laptop for everything. Tablets are nice, but not versatile.
 
I don't have kids, but I do IT support for a school... do I count?

It depends on the school - you really ought to talk to them first. Some places actually provide equipment and some are BYOD. Either way, there's an existing infrastructure and suite of software you probably want to be able to use.

That said, if it is completely up to you, then an inexpensive laptop is the way to go. (Cost is more important than size, imo - he's going to break it or have it stolen. Assume that now, resign yourself to it, buy disposable, and back it up.)

I'd prefer Linux to Windows for malware reasons. Or don't give him an admin account. (Not because I don't trust your kid, I'm just a lazy sysadmin and I wouldn't want to be cleaning Bonzibuddy-like software off of my kids' laptop every couple weeks.)
 
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My kids aren't in middle school yet, but I work with boy scouts who are. Between the 3 middle schools and 2 high schools the boys in our troop attend, none require any kind of portable electronic device. Several of the boys have an iPod Touch they take to school, but use them for gaming, social media and music primarily, using it for school work is rare, as far as I know teachers don't require students to provide electronic devices for assignments, they're often encouraged to use school computers and resources to complete assignments.

I'll admit the school district in our area isn't the most cutting edge in the nation, and has a disproportionate percentage of low income and/or minority students. My experience probably isn't the same as yours will be unless you happen to live within a 10 mile radius of my home.
 
If your school district has low-income kids, google "Internet Essentials Comcast". You can get Internet for $10/mo if your kids qualify for free/reduced lunches.
 
Most say I act like a 6th Grader, does that count? ^ What Magnus says. No mobile devices. They are simple too divisive and the user too immature. Kinda like me.
 
I'm in University now, so not that... far past the days of grade school. Pretty much the only way you were allowed to use an electronic device in class was if you had a disability that required it.
 
Get her an Alienware M18X with 680M SLI. Should be around 10 grand, and make sure she's taking a weights class so she can lift it up.
 
Those tablets are gonna get stolen, depending on where you are.. maybe not by a classmate but someone is eyeing those all the time
 
My boys are now in high school. They both have basic 15 inch laptops and they are more than sufficient to there use. I would not want a tablet for any type of typed assignments. Schools though do sometimes have specific programs that they might want the students to use, and if that is the case you might need to buy what runs that app. If you have desktops that should suffice for now. They seem to be easier to monitor for inappropriate use, as you can walk past them easily. If I had to do it over again I would have had my boys wait to get laptops till there senior year, but they were gifts from there grandparents and get used for games more than anything.
 
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