What's a good Computer for a Child (5-years old)?

Question

I still fondly remember getting my first computer a C-64 when I was about 5, and of course I'm sure many of you have similar memories. But the catch was the C-64 was a single piece of hardware that even if dropped or kicked wouldn't break, the keyboard was rugged and overall it was a tough machine, simply great for kids.

Of course now-a-days I think a laptop would be the best choice for a child of about 5, and I think that laptop they send to Africa (can't remember its name) seems like the perfect match for what I'm looking for, but they aren't for sale. So I was wondering what other suggestions you all have of a laptop for a 5 year old?

Thanks

Note: Ok I know this isn't totally programming related, and its kind of off topic if you want to look at it that way. But it is about the education of potential programmers :) So if you go on a ledge it should be ok, yes? Thanks!

Answer 1

You are thinking of the "One Laptop Per Child" project. You can do their "give one get one" program where you basically pay 2x the cost, one is sent to a child in a poor country and one is sent to you.

I have seen one, but haven't had much chance to play with it (other than power it on). It seems very cool, and on picking it up and feeling it you can tell it is tought and designed to take a little bit of a beating from your typical child.

I would definitely recommend this for a five-year-old over a traditional laptop. Even if you don't care if they break it, a normal laptop will not survive a serious beating that a child of that age will likely give it. I'm no kid expert, but I think 5 is too young to really care to heart how to treat something fragile like a laptop. By 8 I would say they'd understand how to be careful and why, but still eventually break it.

Answer 2

One Laptop Per child? They are indeed for sale, starting on November 17th on Amazon.

The deal is, you pay $400, you get one, and one is donated to a lucky child.

http://gizmodo.com/tag/olpc/

Answer 3

The African kid's PC is called the XO, also known as OLPC.

There isn't really a good, rugged laptop that can take a kicking unless you want to pay thousands for an industrial-grade PC.

I'd say your best bet would be to buy a cheap piece-of-sh*t laptop off eBay. That way you won't be out of pocket too much when the child breaks it, and the child will learn an important lesson about taking care of stuff.

Also it will come with Windows and as such will be able to run most software.

Answer 4

http://eeepc.asus.com/
my friend who bot one of these and replaces the crappy os with his linux distro of choice, has now stopped using his big laptop and carries this around everywhere

Answer 5

A TRS-80 worked great for me at 5yo. Just give 'em any old piece you have lying around and do not connect it to a network.

And make sure it has some sort of development IDE on it, preferrably for a language you can help them along with.

Answer 6

Since your C64 is still running and you didn't break it when you were 5 years old, this is obviously the PC of choice for you to give to your child.

The second-best answer would be a laptop from an era almost as old as that C64. A friend gave an old laptop to his 5-year-old kid. The kid pulled the LAN cable out, damaging a pin. No big deal. The kid liked painting on it too. That also was no big deal. The lid was closed at the time so the kid painted on the outside top of the lid. If it had been open and he painted the screen, it would have been a minor loss. The kid eventually learned to play games that made use of its computing power.