Laptop for my 10 yr. Old?

[Dave C]

Your thoughts on this or any deals you may know of:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+Pavil...rd120500050019

For $549, it seems like a decent bang for the buck:

Features
•Laptop with Intel® Core™2 Duo processor T6600, 4GB DDR3 memory, double-layer DVD±RW/CD-RW drive with LightScribe, 320GB hard drive and wireless LAN (802.11b/g)
•Laptop also features a 14.1" BrightView widescreen, ATI Radeon HD 4200 graphics, built-in webcam with microphone, 5-in-1 media reader and Windows 7 Home Premium; sophisticated HP Moonlight Imprint finish
•HP Deskjet all-in-one printer, copier and scanner with photo-quality print and copy resolution in color; 2-sided printing; easy USB connectivity
•Sleek Targus laptop case with a contoured fit, lightweight design, durable neoprene construction and scratch-resistant interior; works as a stand-alone case or slips into a larger case for easy travel

[Angel P]

Dave, have you considered a netbook?

[kelley]

That's not a bad buy at all Dave. I'm sure she'll love it.

[Dave C]

Originally Posted by Angel P

Dave, have you considered a netbook?

I did but it would be nice if she could load/play her existing dvd media/games. Rather not go the external dvd drive route.

Any cheap netbooks with an internal CD-DVD-RW drive?

Also by going with a higher spec machine, I'm hoping it will last until she goes to H.S.

[Angel P]

I considered the same for my 12 year old but I'm afraid the more it can do, the more distracted he'll be from school work.

[Dave C]

Understood.

I just priced the printer and the laptop case that comes bundled. Comes to about $100. Taking that into consideration, I don't think I can do much better anywhere else for a 14" Windows 7 Core 2 duo/4GB config. Think I'll place an in-store pickup to hold it while I continue to shop around for any better deals.

[CaptDS9E]

Dave wait and see what Dell does on Friday. They always have fantastic deals on laptops for black friday.

[Dave C]

Originally Posted by CaptDS9E

Dave wait and see what Dell does on Friday. They always have fantastic deals on laptops for black friday.

Will do, thanks, but I went ahead and placed the in-store pick-up anyway. I can always wait until after Black Friday to pick it up or just cancel the order.

[PackFan]

When my son turns 5, we are thinking of getting an iMac for him to do stuff on...

[Robot Monkey]

Originally Posted by PackFan

When my son turns 5, we are thinking of getting an iMac for him to do stuff on...

I'm sure this will sound condescending, but it isn't meant to be:

I'm pretty good with computers. God knows I'm no programmer, but nevertheless, I'm damn good with IT-type stuff.

I firmly believe that a big factor is that my first computers were not namby-pamby, let's-hide-the-fact-that-you're computing-from-the-user. That goes for any recent Windows OS, too, not just OSX.

If I wanted to try replicate my experience as closely as possible today I would plonk the 5 year-old version of me in front of an old box running a popular linux distro.

[CaptDS9E]

So dave which did you end up getting?

I have wanted to get a Netbook for a while, as I miss being able to bring a laptop around the house and when I travel a few times a year. When I was at BB over the weekend I tried every one they had there. Looked for some black friday deals, but missed out on the Acer for $199 at newegg. Gone before I woke up. The sales at amazon were horrible today. Think I'm just going to get one of the compaq models from BB for $179. Just needs to surf the web, e-mail, twitter, etc. Nothing graphic intense.

[Dave C]

Originally Posted by CaptDS9E

So dave which did you end up getting?

I did the in-store pick-up and sold the printer at the store to a shopper for $50. I hovered around the printer isles and watched for people looking at the model that was in my bundle. Saved them $29+ tax and lowered my cost to $500+tax. A damn fine machine for that price.

I'm actually considering picking up a netbook for myself as well. No need to schlep my 10lb 17" XPS Gen 2 hit em over the head zombie killer.