Mac or PC, and when should you buy your child their first computer?

In the United States children usually begin learning how to use a computer towards the end of elementary school and the beginning of Junior High. Up until that point our kids are too busy learning the basics like reading and writing.

What people in America do not realize is that learning how to properly use a computer has become a basic necessity. Countries like Japan and Korea have been educating their children on the use of such devices in the second grade and sometimes earlier.

It's no secret that we as Americans have slipped down the list in almost every category you can think of, whether we're talking about education, infrastructure, or quality of living standards Americans have fallen behind.

So when should we start teaching our children about computers and their proper use? Well that really depends on how much you care about what kind of life and career your child will have when they grow up and move out into the world. I have started taking the time to teach my 3 year old rugrat about using the mouse, and what computers are for (such as homework, work, email, writing, learning, etc.). Granted, my rugrat doesn't know anything about term papers, but ask her what email is, and she can give you a better answer than most kids three times her age. Will she be programming by the age of four? I seriously doubt it, but by the time she reaches the first grade she will be two jumps ahead of all her peers.

Starting children when they are young is the only way to go and you don't have to be a taskmaster about it either. Just wait until your child shows interest or asks what you are doing and then use that opportunity to teach them a little bit about the computer and what it can be used for. Your kid will get a kick out of it, and learn something new. For practical reasons I would wait until around the age of 3 (or around the time they enter into preschool) just because this is usually the age where they begin to become very curious about things more complex than when is their next bottle and why did they just pee on themselves.

Your child's first computer probably won't come until much later, maybe five or six at the earliest and more than likely they will be twelve or thirteen before they really need one (and is usually around the age that they get their first computer), but which platform and what type of computer should you choose and does it matter? Absolutely!

It matters because you have to think of your child and where they are at when it comes time to purchase a computer for them. My big thing is to tell people to stay away from desk top computers. We live in a mobile world and that world is moving towards doing away with the desk top pc. Every year companies see desk top sales drop a little more over the last year. These days our kids are more mobile than ever, and a mobile kid needs a mobile computer. So I always recommend to my friends, family, and clients, to stay away from desk top products like the iMac or their PC counterparts and instead focus on a notebook.

Now that we have decided on a mobile computer, what kind should you buy? I know netbooks are enticing because they are cheap, however I don't like the idea of having my kid's eyes ruined at a very young age because they were staring at a very small screen, and most netbooks do not have 12 or 13 inch screens, which is the smallest I would recommend. Also, a netbook's keyboard is smaller than what your child will encounter in school, and it may actually do more harm than good. I recommend a notebook with a good 13.3 inch screen and a resolution of no more than 1280x768 (That's equivalent to a 720p HDTV screen). Any higher and once again, you risk seeing your child in glasses before they make it out of their teen years.

The platform or operating system choice is going to be a little more difficult. The reason why is that teachers tend to gravitate towards Apple products and at a lot of high schools and especially universities they will push students towards Macs over Windows machines just because that is what they use, and they know how to use them. The issue I have with this however, is that once they get a job they will be staring at windows based PCs all day long, every day. Apple has not broken into the business world in any meaningful way, and Apple isn't interested in doing so either.

If your children is not interested in a career that is technology based, A Macbook is probably the best route to take. The main reason is technical support. Apple has invested heavily in it's technical support infrastructure. If your child has an issue with their Apple computer, they can call tech support and get help not only with the hardware, but the operating system as well. They won't be told to call Microsoft, for instance, if the tech deems it a software issue and not a hardware issue, but the best reason to get a Macbook for your non-techie child is the Apple store.

So let's say your child has some issue with his Macbook, and he needs to have it looked at. If it were a Windows based notebook, it's going to have to go in for service in most cases. however, with a Mac, all you have to do is take your kid and his or her Macbook down to the Apple store, and let them worry about it. This saves you time from having to deal with the issue, and it also teaches your child to be more independent. It's a win-win situation.

And the final reason to buy a Mac over a Windows based PC? Most games are made for Windows.

However, if your kid is the type (like myself) who spent his or her days growing up dissecting their Christmas and Birthday presents to see how they worked or if they just like technology and figuring out how stuff works, stick with Windows based notebooks all the way. Windows based notebooks have a huge support base out here on the Internet, and most of your child's issues will normally be resolved with knowing how to do a search on Google, it will give them an opportunity to further their education, get them familiar with the machines and operating system that they will be using in the work place, and satiate their natural curiosity for how it works by allowing them to break things and then fix it themselves.

Apple Recommendations

Now, I'm not totally heartless, for most kids, the base model Macbook will do everything they need for school and personal use. It's inexpensive by Apple's standards and unless your rugrat is going to be running a lot of CAD programs for college prep or college courses, it's got more than enough power.  To make things easier on you, the parent, over the long haul, I highly recommend the AppleCare Protection Plan - For Portable Apple Computers 13 Inches and Below.

If your child needs more power for heavy computational tasks, then the Apple MacBook Pro 13.3-Inch Laptop should do the job, but whichever Apple computer you buy, go ahead and figure in the price for Apple's extended warranty protection plan as well.  The plan covers up to three years which will cover them for seventy-five percent of their high school or college years.

If they want a bigger screen, the next step up is the Apple MacBook Pro 15.4-Inch Laptop.

Under no circumstances do I recommend the 17 inch model.  You and your child will regret it when they start having to lug the thing around to study sessions and classes.

Windows Based Notebook Recommendations

This is a little more complicated mainly because of the brands.  So what I will do is recommend a general screen size of 13.3 - 15.6 inches, 4 gigabytes of ram, and a Core 2 Duo or better CPU.  For the child's school work needs, everything else is just gravy for most children.  

My choice would be the HP Envy 14.5-Inch Relic Laptop.  I like this particular notebook, it is as close as you can get to modern style queue's, has a metal-alloy chassis, and a larger track/touchpad, also consider HP's 3 year extended warranty as well, if this is not to your liking than any of the Toshiba, or Dell notebooks that best fit your child's needs will work fine as long as you stick to the recommendations I made.  Though I will say I work on a lot of Dell's in my spare time, doing repairs, and I find their warranty tech support to be even worse than HP's (and there's is really bad). 

If you plan on buying a new notebook through HP this Christmas, wait for the Black Friday deals that HP will inevitably offer.  A couple of years ago they were giving out 30% off coupons for Black Friday on any system they had.  For 2009, the deals weren't quite a nice, but they still had 25% off coupons for many of their products on Black Friday.  All you have to do is use Microsoft's Bing search and look for the gold dollar signs.

On The Cheap Recommendations

This notebook fudges my recommended specifications, however, I'm all about saving your child's eyes even if you aren't.  For the price of most netbooks, this Acer Aspire AS5251-1805 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) has a single core processor but a 15.6 inch screen, and it retails for under $400.00 at the time of this writing.  Slightly more expensive is the Toshiba Satellite LED TruBrite 14-Inch Laptop (Black) for under $500.00 as of this writing.  Both of these notebooks will get the job done, and they won't break the bank!


Note: Remember to stay away from netbooks and even tablets.  These items are not meant for heavy work loads and are more of a novelty.  They can actually harm productivity potential and can cause eye strain due to their small screens.