What desktop computer do I buy my 5 year old?
 

She loves the computer, time she has one of her own to play educational and learning games, hit the Disney and Nickelodeon websites, etc. and not beg to use my laptop all the time.

Of course I will be getting NetNanny and other blocking programs on it :winkwink:

what is the best desktop to get her for these uses? Not too expensive, she is only 5 years old. And I will def get a warranty especially because she is 5. :winkwink:

any suggestions on desktops for kids? Want to get her one for a holiday present.

Thanks! :thumbsup

PS-If you have suggestions on laptops for me, see my other thread :)

A piece of advice: don't just get blocking programs. Never let her online unless you or another adult is present.

yep agreed! I will be there to get her to the Disney sites, etc. She does not know how to navigate the internet. We will stick to educational CD's and such.

Thanks tho, you are absolutely correct! :thumbsup

for her, I might just go for a Dell desktop to get her started.

Best bet is probably just to pick up a P3 from craigslist or classifieds or ebay. Kids software really doesn't use a lot of resources, so a 1999 class machine is totally fine.

How much is too much? You can get a full system from Dell for a few hundred including a monitor & winXP. Don't spend money on some old piece of shit you're going to spend more time repairing or fucking around with than having her use.

go check out some dell systems on ebay. I got a p4, 80 gigs, dvd, cdrw,lcd,winxp for $350 not too long ago. Might want to disable ie and have her use opera or something ;)

There used to be ads for kid computers on TV all the time. The girl one was pink and Barbie themed and the boy one was primary colors. Can't remember the theme... trucks or something?

They were real computers, though. I think they were already set up to be kid safe and came with a bunch of kid software. I'm also thinking one of the big companies made them- HP, Compaq, etc. They were fairly inexpensive (500-800 range).

Hey... I was playing around with child protection stuff not long ago...

what it does is shut down the window shell, kinda replaces it...

No access to HD and systems stuff, just access you programs you add to it...

It can block IE from going anywhere you have not setup....

If ya want a copy let me know... I'll polish it a bit and give ya a copy...


Michael

you can also, set it so that any programs you do not add to it will simply not run..

5 is a little young for installing an IM ect... if it was to happen by accident, if its not an allowed program it will not run...

Just something I was playing with a while ago, while do some other shell programming..

THAT WOULD BE AWESOME! Thanks so much. What is your contact info? can you email me at [email protected] ? :thumbsup

A Barbie computer? really... I would prolly end up paying for the name Barbie than a decent computer but I can check it out for sure.
thanks!

Our 3 1/2 year old loves to play on my computer. She has a few CDs and Disney is a favorite. She's always printing the pictures she paints online.

i'm going to start my kid off with a linux box

Poor kid...he's going to be all demented and twisted, heh...

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n3rd for life yo, start em young.

Never slack off with it, though. Once a kid sees you searching Google a few times, they'll know how to use it themselves. My father found that out the hard way, with my 6 year old sister searching Google for "kissing". Which, incidentally, leads to hardcore porn sites in several languages :disgust

Get her a Dell and it will be good for years

after you get the computer here is the keyboard for her http://www.askergoworks.com/shopexd.asp?id=636

Learn them young :)

Hit me up on icq i jsut got an email from dell for a desktop with monitor for 399, ill give u the code for it, I dont need it

just my 2 cents here but i would go with a referbished pc that way you are not spending all kinds of money

A warranty isn't going to cover spilt koolaid, might as well just get something they can destroy.

a eMac or mini mac

wow really? thanks Pete, hitting you up now :thumbsup

Someone beat me to it. I was going to suggest a mini mac. :thumbsup

Block EVERY website accept the ones you know are good. That way if she wants to visit a site she has to ask permission and have you take a look at it.

Makes me feel so old ! . . 5 year old with desktops - lol

I just got a ball and a stick and was grateful for that ;)

can you tell me more about the mini-mac?

I would suggest a mac mini too. I think it would be a lot safer for a child to use then a PC. http://www.apple.com/macmini/

IMHO...

http://www.learningwithtoys.com/imag...n%20Abacus.jpg

eMachine, I'd say. Just stop over at Best Buy, they're always running killer specials on them. I got my son a new one for school a month or so ago - tower, monitor, printer, keyboard, mouse, after the mail ins, was 300 bucks. And it's not a piece of shit.

Then you set yourself up as the administrator, make a user account for the kid. Disallow anything but what you want them to see or have on there. My son can't install anything and he can't change the list of urls that I let him go to either, since those are admin privileges. No IE for him either, Firefox for browsing and Opera for mail.