Looks nice, if I buy this the next logical step would be ... to make some kids!

Dang, $600 for a netbook with only 60gb PATA HDD, and some kiddy features you can download on the internet for free. Setting a pc for a kid isn't really that difficult. Just set the parental controls and restricted sights, or install openDNS for example. Ther are also some freeware kid games on the internet. Just get a real netbook and spend an hour or two with the software and thats it, sva $200.

lolz

Agree Jane. I am big supporter of outsourcing, but parenthood can't and should not be outsourced!

Ok, so I recoiled too at the price. Then I went to the website and really looked at the machine and what it offers. I have to admit, I kinda want one now. Ignore all the educational stuff (although my fiancee and I are thinking children in the next year or two), I want the touch swivel screen and mildly ruggedized nature of it. Plus the cheesy themes actually look kinda nice. The Darkmatter ones in particular look well designed.

Seeing as my internet-fu must be too weak to find a suitable tablet netbook for a lower price I could see a lot of people going for this, whether or not they want to use it for kids.

I let my 6 year old play with my netbook, he really likes tux math. When he was 5 he started playing guild wars with his mom on her laptop, please don't ask. My 3 year old plays with my omnia (drawing on it) and netbook with some of the linux games as well.

Would I spend 600 bucks on a machine just for them? Hell no! That's like buying the Eddie Bauer version of a stroller! Stupid people can make that company survive, I won't help.

Kids, computers and Dr. Seuss

"Have you ever wondered what might have happened if Dr Seuss wrote technical manuals for computers............


If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port,
And the bus is interrupted as a very last resort
and the address of the memory makes your hard disk read abort
Then the socket packet pocket has an error to report!

If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash,
And the double-clicking icons put our window in the trash,
And your data is corrupted 'cause the index doesn't hash,
then your situation is hopeless and your systems gonna crash!

If the label on your cable on the gable at your house,
says the network is connected to the button on your mouse,
But your packet wants to tunnel to another protocol,
That's repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall.!

And your screen is all distorted by the side effects of gauss,
So your icons in the window are as wavy as a souse.
Then you may as well reboot and go out with a bang.
Cause as sure as I'm a poet , the suckers gonna hang!

When the copy of your CD's getting scratchy on the disk,
and the micocode instructions cause unnecessary RISC,
then you have to flash your memory and you'll want to RAM your ROM.
Quickly turn off your computer and be sure to tell your Mom!"

(with slight tweaks by yours truly to somewhat modernize)


To be on topic...while bustapr is correct, many parents are intimidated by those options and what they should do to better control the environment of their kid's computer. So if a company wants to provide an arguably preconfigured parent friendly computer, its hard for me to consider that a bad thing.

Of course...the flip side of the argument is that if the parent needs help making a PC safe for their kid...that parent is pretty much screwed once the kid gets savy enough to circumvent the protection that the parent doesn't really understand to begin with. Then it becomes a weird mix of challenging respect and understanding with the all consuming powers of curiosity.

my three year old got so computer savy that i had to make another computer just for him. granted its a desktop and was made from old computer parts lying around the house. but he browses noggin.com better than i can and makes cool cars planes and houses in Spore. its crazy what he can do.

Who says you still can't buy legos and read to your kids... I'd buy this if I had kids.

Not to mention have a massive lego collection... I miss legos, I'd spend hours playing even today. This, although a bit expensive, is a great idea, get your kids using computers early on, it'll take them far.

I think there might be something wrong with getting a 10- year old a $600 laptop.

I have seen 500 dollar laptops that come with Core 2 Duo processors. Their only claim to value is that the netbook comes with child software and its durable. You can easily make your PC child safe by implementing your own parental controls and you can probably find free software online which can do everything the expensive pre-installed software does. As for durable, I could drop an egg from greater than 50cm without it breaking. Just put some of your own cheap padding on parts of the netbook and your fine. And you know what, if I'm wrong and your netbook does break, well buy a new one for another 200 and you have still saved money overall. I have to agree with the author though, you shouldn't be getting children smaller than 8 an expensive piece of technology anyways. Im sure there are cardboard boxes or bright colored objects they would much rather play with.

I would never give a kid something that cost $600 to tote around. A computer is not a toy, it is a tool. My wife and I don't have kids (and don't plan to), but having time to do things like browse the internet with the child would be a requirement - I would want to raise my kid instead of allowing the internet or television to do so. Parental involvement is the strongest security package you can ever have.

My two year old son would love this but I'm not crazy enough to buy it for him. I do plan on building a PC with him when hes five for his birthday though.

BTW.... what is a notbook? Have to abuse you for your typo, sorry.

yeah exactly. Ive still got my lego collection from long ago.
cheap? not hardly. but neither do they require "upgrades" (read: replacements) every year or 2. 1-2 sets every birthday and for christmas and your good to go.

Building a PC from spare parts around the house like most of us TH readers have is probably much cheaper than this $600 kidbook

@Dax
It was a reference to it being not so good.

It is a common writing device used to insult something.

Hmm, seeing as how my 2-yr-old gets bored with his toys and loves to experiment with gravity by opening a 2nd-story door (where a deck will be eventually) and toss the toys on the grass below, I seriously doubt he'll be getting a $600 anything, let alone something more fragile than, say, a boulder or concrete block .

Throw in an SSD and optional accidental insurance and I'd get one for my kid, that is, after I actually knock someone up.

looking at the specs,I have to say I'm not impressed.
The swivel screen with some handwriting recognition are about the only remarkable things. As far as to get $179 of bloatware on a mininotebook, I'd say no thank you!
Rather have the money back,and download some free games,or buy a $50 kids mega software pack with everything in ranging from a few spongebob games,to calculation and grammar games.

too expensive and looks like fragile for small children

I could understand if you said you had to call me on it but 'abuse' is a little strong, don't you think? And fatedtodie is right, it's not a typo.

Wait the hard drive isn't even SATA...

HAHAHAHAHA 600$ for a two year old

let me repeat...HAHAHHAHA

*laughing so hard that im crying*

For a two year old!! Are you kidding me? Give your kid a VTECH laptop and let them beat on that until they are about 6 or 7 then think about this $600 laptop. Really, some people really don't understand what kids are like at that age. I have two kids and I watched them drag the VTECH laptops I got them down the hallway by the mouse, but they only cost me around $50 each.

Umm... just unplug the internet (no DLing pr0n for you mister! )? $600 is over kill for such a device.

This is marketing at its finest. If you get a computer, your child will be smarter, right?

We all know how much television watching is advised for those under 2 (0 hours) and over 2 (not to exceed 2 hours per the AAP). I wonder what the recommendations for computer use is?

I am sure this is just another one of those products like Baby Einstein that preys on parent's lack of knowledge of the negative effect of screen time on developing brains. Well, at least the computer has a timer.

My daughter does both she has a computer running ubuntu and we read books all the time..including dr suess I plan on getting her a netbook (after I buy another for me since my wife took mine) It does help my daughter started when she was 3 and got to kindergarten knowing all her letters numbers shapes colors and starting to read

I was at the same level (letters, numbers, starting to read) when I hit Kindergarten and I didn't even have a V-Tech. When I was 2, my computer was called grandma.