The IBM ThinkPad X60, is this the best laptop for kids? Dual Core Performance for £100
I was looking around for the best childs laptop for my oldest daughter who is about to turn 5, I can see there is a whole load of what I class as play or learning laptops on the market which in my opinion really are nothing like a standard laptop.
What I was looking for was a real laptop for kids something that has an industry standard keyboard, and is running Windows XP or 7.
I’m surprised that no manufacturer has brought out a purpose machine, if they have please add a comment to this post.
Not being able to find a real laptop for kids that was purpose built meant that I was going to have to find a standard laptop that was durable, can take some punishment, is light, and has good battery life.
I looked around at some of the Netbooks, but found any decent ones do cost a lot of money, they offer very good battery life, but they don’t look very durable.
Until the last two years my company had always used IBM laptops, we switched to another brand when it came time to replace them simply due to the cost.
One thing I did notice was how durable the IBM laptops were, corporate laptops do have a tough life, but most of them came through their tour of duty very well.
I remember thinking that one of these would make an ideal real laptop for kids, the models I had in mind were the IBM thinkpad x-range, the x refers to the laptops being small.
I managed to find a second user IBM Thinkpad X60 with an extra battery and docking station for £110, it even came pre-installed with Windows 7.
After limiting the user access to the actual computer and web browser I was able to setup the finger print reader for Sophia so now she can easily login, I’ve added a couple of small learning games and added the CBEEBIES and Milkshake websites as favorites, and copied a few movies for her as well.
I’m pleased I selected this little laptop; It’s the best real laptop for kids around, plus is cost less than the price of a Nintendo 3DS which we was also considering.
Last week we went to the Natural history museum, dinosaurs being the big thing in our house currently, and Sophia was very happy to be able to go to their website afterwards and tell me all about them.
Other solutions that I have heard of are people using are some of the tablets such as iPads and Advent Vega’s Android types which is a good idea, especially as the Advent Vega only costs around £200.
Finding a real laptop for kids