update to kids tablet. New tablet? Notebook?

[marcplante]

We bought our kids (8 and 6) a pair of Lenovo A7 tablets a couple years back as alternatives to Nintendo DS or other devices. they have served them well. The kids have used them for a mix of android games, educational websites (Schoolbo and Reflex Math, etc) and watching Youtube and local videos. Our son has also worked his way around the Pokemon site and taught himself the details of playing the card game on my desktop.

The tablets recently seemed to be maxxing out memory. I can pop in micro SD cards to extend their utility, but was going to upgrade them to 10" tablets (Samsung Galaxy Tabs)since the pricing is fairly attractive.

This pending purchase started a slippery slope discussion with my wife about purchasing the kids entry-level laptops to start them into computing. they both access websites for their schoolwork, and our 8 yr old daughter is starting to tinker with Scratch. she also loves to write and has done some presentations for school so I figured it might encourage her to generate further her skills.

By the same token, I have an older desktop she has been using, and my son has an account on my desktop. I don't see why I should introduce a breakable form factor into their lives. I'd rather let them tinker with tablets when we travel and use desktops for the next couple years.

Is there any advantage to getting kids to live with technology sooner rather than later? Or are we getting carried away with accelerating technology deployment to kids?



Anyone out there have thoughts of getting kids entry level notebooks at a younger age?

 

[crashtestdummy]

Note that the below is my opinion, and not meant to be an absolute for everyone.

I think the main distinction to make regarding exposure of kids to technology is active vs passive interaction. A device that is used entirely for media consumption (watching movies, playing simple games) is fine, but should be used in moderation with more interactive toys. If they're using the technology as a creative tool, however, there's really no downside to it.

With that in mind, I think a computer (rather than a tablet) would be a good idea. Tablets are certainly capable of creation, but computers are really built for it. It'll be much easier for your daughter to progress from scratch to phython, for example, should she want to. Touch screen-enabled laptops are getting cheaper and cheaper too, and may be a nice middle ground to work in.

Edit: This might be a good fit, at not much more than a cheap 10" tablet.

 

[sm625]

Its crazy to give a kid anything that costs $200 to fix if they drop it. If they drop a mouse or a keyboard or a pair of headphones its a simple fix. But if they break a $200 tablet its gonna make you question whether or not they should have it in the first place.