Are kids moving away from PCs?

[twinrider1]

My kids are old enough now that I've been considering a 2nd computer (up to now they use the main computer, in the living room so I can keep an eye on things). They aren't hardcore gamers; they're happy with Wii/PS3. So this will be a basic surfing/music/movie/homework box.

But I don't know if they'll take to it. They're Android kids. They're touchscreen kids. I wondering if they'd be happier with cheap tablets.

Is this happening out there?

 

[Sleepingforest]

Well, for basic word processing tasks, you could always create a new account for your kids and use parental controls to whitelist just a basic word processor. I hate to say this, but typing an essay out on a tablet sounds awful.

If you're worried about needing to use the computer while your kids do, consider getting a cheapy desktop for like $400-500. The Dell Outlet typically has some good options (look under AIOs for the Dell 2020). If you aren't as money resctricted, there are $800 desktop AIOs or $1000 touchscreen laptops which may work well with the whole "touchscreen generation" idea.

 

[twinrider1]

They do have accounts on the current computer. This is more about availability, and giving them a little more freedom. If I go the tablet route, they could still use the main computer for homework. My daughter loves her smartphone, and her little brother is constantly bugging her to play on it. It just seems like they are into touchscreens now.
Honestly, I have the itch to build something, and I have some spare parts already. But there's no sense in doing it if they aren't interested in using it.

 

[Sleepingforest]

Ask them straight up them. Tablet (I'm thinking 7" is more appropriate if you're getting them each one) or desktop? Keep in mind that desktops can definitely have touchscreens.

 

[frozentundra123456]

They do have accounts on the current computer. This is more about availability, and giving them a little more freedom. If I go the tablet route, they could still use the main computer for homework. My daughter loves her smartphone, and her little brother is constantly bugging her to play on it. It just seems like they are into touchscreens now.
Honestly, I have the itch to build something, and I have some spare parts already. But there's no sense in doing it if they aren't interested in using it.

How old are they? Unfortunately those growing up today are migrating away from the PC toward tablets and smartphones. If they are old enough to be doing serious research/homework for school though, they should really be using a computer instead of a tablet. Even browsing is faster on a good computer, not to mention being able to use a large monitor, and anyting beats touchscreen input, not to mention being able to use Office. Convincing them of that is another story however. My personal bias: I hate android with a passion, or at least the android experience on the tablet that I have. If I ever buy another tablet it will be an iPad or an x86 windows tablet.

 

[wirednuts]

buying them a desktop just tells them to stay in one spot for hours. if they need a desktop, get them a good laptop.

if they just play basic games and browse facebook though, any tablet or phone is fine for that and thats why most kids dont even need computers anymore.

 

[Face2Face]

Kids these days need a nice Packard Bell with a Pentium 166Mhz with MMX technology.

 

[k1114]

My kids (7 and 11) both have desktop computers (with string content filtering, of course). I've often considered cutting back, maybe switching to iPads or laptops or something, but they keep falling back to desktops, despite everything we have tried (tablets, laptops). They do have iPhones, but they prefer the computers for gaming.

 

[Torn Mind]

Let them take the touchscreen little tablets. Less space for p0rn. Get them a NOOK or Kindle Fire so they can read stuff and not have their brains turn into feces. Or a Nexus 7 or 10 so they become Google worshippers. Or the obvious Ipad.

 

[AMD Die Hard]

I got my kids the acer and samsung chromebooks. I wanted them to have a keyboard so they could create content and not just consume it. They were cheap, $199 and $249 respectively. So far so good. They have been using them to learn how to use a computer. The android operating sdytem is easy for them to understand and they can't delete their operating system files. If they break them, its not the end of the world.The Samsung is worth the extra $50 for twice the battery life (6 hours vs. 3)

 

[Charlie98]

You know... I've even gotten away from PC stuff. I used to carry my laptop anytime I traveled... now I just use my pukey little iPhone 3Gs (yes, I'm quite behind the times.) But for hardcore work, I'm at the desktop. Schoolwork, internet, business, gaming... it's all desktop, or, in a pinch, my laptop.

For me, a tablet or smart phone (et al) is for browsing and casual internet, nothing beats a keyboard and a mouse for serious work.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

I'm 17

GNex.
N7.
Desktop for games.

 

[mfenn]

I'm 17

GNex.
N7.
Desktop for games.

Our little Yama is almost all grown up. :'(

 

[Torn Mind]

Kids these days need a nice Packard Bell with a Pentium 166Mhz with MMX technology.

Well, I did use a Pentium 333 Mhz with MMX. That thing was left sitting on the shelf after we got a Dell with a 2.0 Ghz Northwood celeron in the mid-2000s(2004?). I just fired it up a few weeks ago just to see if it is still alive and to try and install a Ethernet card, but that is on hiatus until I backup the hard drive. Still works, although the RAM slots are as obstinate as ever, only 32 MB detected, meaning NT 4.0 took forever to load. Apparently, the piano teacher friend who gave it to us had a son in the military, so there is a popup about it being a DoD computer before you log in.

I didn't even know the BIOS settings allowed me to overclock. Lol, I didn't know about overclocking until around 2008 or 2009 or something.

 

[RaistlinZ]

Kids these days need a nice Packard Bell with a Pentium 166Mhz with MMX technology.

Gonna make them suffer like we did, eh?