What Should I Buy My Kid?

At the risk of adding to the confusion that's already out there for you B.Y.O.Disoriented parents. Let me literally take you to the next level. In the previous post, I tackled tablets and hopefully clarified that issue a little bit. And for the buyer who has a child of elementary school age, that was all fine and good, but what if you have kids who are a little bit older? Maybe 5th/6th grade, middle school, or what about those angst ridden high schoolers? What does their B.Y.O.Dear experience mean to you? Well, actually, it's a bit more complex.

I can virtually (pun intended) hear the silent scream through the web now. NOOOooooooo!!!! I'm not buying them 3 devices! Actually, you've already bought them one. I don't know many students of the age we're talking about who don't have one of these. So the first step is simple. If your kid doesn't have a smartphone already, get them on one. Now comes the hard part. Sit with them and work through all the apps that they NEED . Not the 36 versions of Angry Buzzards, and Minecraft, but stuff like, Dictionary.com, finding a useful multifunction calculator, how to access their teachers web content through Google Apps. All the various things that Google Apps does, such as taking the place of M$ Office. Then work out a scheme of how you are going to maintain some semblance of control over their appropriate use, AND last, but not least, make sure they fully understand how to switch to your home's, their school's, the doctor's office, Starbuck's, Lowe's, everybody's free WiFi so that they aren't ringing up a crazy number of minutes on their (yours) data plan! 

I teach high school. They pay me to be with teens. Before that, I taught middle school. They paid me to be with younger teens. I know teens. Before they'll use ANYTHING else, they'll grab their phones, for both useful things as well as things less useful. If you don't work with them on this, you're going to regret it. To them; B.Y.O.D. means using their phones!

Now that we've addressed why older students need something other than tablets..... oh, I think maybe I skipped that part. Anyway, here's the scoop, simplified. As kids progress up the school grades, instead of being "consumers" of academic content (such as using practice apps on a tablet), they tend to move more and more toward "interpretation", and then "creators" of content themselves. As such, they increasingly need to use full-blown software applications, which are often too heavy-duty for tablets, although the gap is closing. One thing that is an absolute struggle for tablets is extended typing. Even the addition of a docking keyboard via a connector or Bluetooth rarely helps, especially as students move to typing full essays and research papers. What now?

This now rapidly moves towards the province of the "clamshell". How's that, you say? That's what they call the form-factor of standard "laptop/notebook" computer. There are two main things here that makes this the dominant form of computing today. Basically, this takes not only pretty much a full computer, but a real keyboard and relatively large screen that doesn't require a ton a scrolling to get all your content. These things come in a variety of sizes and weights. The main categories are as follows:

• "Desktop Replacement"- Full-sized laptops that tends to run about 7 pounds or so, a screen ranging from 16" to 17", a full-sized keyboard generally with a separate number pad. The prices ranging from $450 to 5 times that if you let your kid talk you into something like an Alienware "gaming" laptop! These are not for B.Y.O.D. These are for you to set on that desk in the den to replace the old desktop computer.....hence "desktop replacement".
• "Think & Light"- Actually, not all that thin OR all that light. They tend to be in the 5 pound range, which is a lot in today's world. Think desktop replacement with a smaller keyboard and screen. These are the compromise notebooks that corporations buy their workers by the thousands. They can run anywhere from the $350 Acer at Walmart all the way up to the $2500-3000 ones that Fortune 500 companies buy for their workers jetting around all over the world. However, they do tend to show up on the used market by the pallet-load, so they are great (read cheap) deals if you know where and how to look for/at them. Look at some of my previous posts about why and how to buy them.
• "Sub-notebooks/Ultra-portable"- These are smaller (and consequently lighter) notebooks that are less than 5 pound (often around 3lbs) with screens in the 12" range. This combination of small size and light weight make them almost perfect for the older student. One important caveat though: these are NOT netbooks! These are full computer with full computing capabilities in a smaller size. The new price for them range from $500/600 all the way up to the well over $1000 "Ultrabooks". Like the thin & lights, corporations tend to buy them by the thousands, so they can also be had easily on the used market which I cover briefly later.
• Microsoft Surface Tablet- These are actually kinda cool. They are actually real computers despite what they look like. Basically you have a form that's a bit of a thicker tablet, but they come with kind of a full keyboard. Despite their ridiculous commercials that don't tell you anything useful, they are essentially a full computer. They start at less than $500 for the cheaper version, so they aren't out of the ballpark. Go and touch it and play with it and see if your student is OK with it's idiosyncracies.

OK, now that we have that settled, let's talk about getting them into a laptop that they can carry, vs. carry for a few days and totally not carry again. Kinda like my rather petite student who started the year carrying a full-sized desktop replacement HP with a 16" screen. She completely didn't understand why I was laughing at her, until she stopped carrying it! So, don't be that parent...please. But how do you get into an appropriate sized laptop without, killing the budget? This is where we hear the siren call of the tablet. You see the ads: $300-350 they say.....$249 on "Black Friday"! Don't do it; step away from that Sunday ad! Then what should I do, you say?

Go boring. Many schools like mine will give you the option of "checking out" a perfectly adequate machine. Ours high school has the ThinkPad X200/201. These are not "cool". They are not "sexy". They are NOT MacBook Airs. They do not cost $1000-1200! If your kid breaks this, you might be out $200.

But what if my school doesn't have a program like this? Here are the options:

• Go to Walmart, Costco, Best Buy, Micro Center, Fry's, wherever and buy the least expensive computer under $500 made by a company you've heard of. Here's the thing: If you can make this thing last 3 years, you will have only spent about $150 a year. Just don't be tempted to buy the cooler one that cost more. Regardless how cool it was in the store, it will completely not be cool in 6 months.
• If you are brave and know a little bit about computers, go onto eBay or Craigs List and find Dells that are branded Latitude (not Inspiron), Lenovo ThinkPad, HPs that are branded EliteBook (not Pavilion), that are around 3 years old (when they are surplused or come off-lease). Great deals can be had at about half the price of new in a machine that's built for the corporate world. Prices vary a lot.
• Find a small, "Mom & Pop" computer shop that take the "off-lease" laptops and refurbish them. This means that they'll reload the operating system and make sure the machine is working well. You have to look hard, but they can be found around any good-sized city. Dallas has quite a few around Garland, Carrollton/Farmers-Branch, and Arlington. You'll pay a little more, but the hard part is done for you.

Anything else? Yup: don't buy Anti-Virus when you buy the machine. There are a bunch of good ones that are free, ranging from the Avast (that we use), to AVG (which we've used before), to Microsoft Security Essentials (which we used to use). What about an "office" application? If you don't want to spend the $100 on M$ Office for Students & Teachers, use Google Apps, or download Open Office. With everything from Adobe Acrobat Reader and Flash to Browsers, etc. available free these days, there's precious few things you should have to buy.

Here at Frugal Propellerhead headquarters, we just don't believe in spending a lot of money on technology. In today's world, it's essential, and I even love it, but I try to be as cheap about it as possible. I know, I've thrown a lot of unknowns at you if you aren't a computer geek like me. Please feel free to comment or email me and I'll try and answer your specific questions to the best of my ability.

World War "F": The Day of the Tablet

It's almost upon us....the most dreaded day of the year......Black Friday!!! This year is going to be extra dreadful. Black Friday combined with.....B.Y.O.D. That's bring your own device for the uninitiated. I'm not sure how it is in other parts of the country (but I suspect that it's about the same), schools have decided to get out of the technology hardware game and have largely embraced the B.Y.O.D. concept in some form. It's simply moving too fast for the institutions to keep up with it, plus it's so pervasive that most students either have it already or are acquiring it eminently. So even schools like mine which had been on the cutting edge by providing laptop computers are bowing to this irresistible force of technology. 

What has also become apparent is that many parents played the "wait and see" game to determine how much their children were going to need to use technology and how the schools were going to implement it before running out and buying something. Well, I'm going to bet that they've seen enough to now "make the call". So, either they, the grandparents, Santa, or whoever is going to make a major run on these things during this year's holiday buying season. 

Although, B.Y.O.D. doesn't necessarily define it's technology to mean tablets, and sometimes, that's not even the best device for the child; I'm going to bet that they will be the majority of what's purchased this year. There's a number of reasons, but this post isn't about deciding between them, although I might feel the need to write one on that later. This post is about the parameters that make up the decision making process of choosing a tablet. Of course, I'll have to put the caveat out there that the information is for what's currently out now (Nov. 2013), and of course to some degree will be effected by my philosophies and biases. That's out of the way; let's get down to it!

No; that's not me. That is of course, the great Steve. And for many who have just paid attention to their awesome ad campaigns and drank the Apple "Juice" (Kool-Aid to some), you'd think that all anyone needed to do is to run out and buy one of their Uber-Cool devices and have done with it.

Of course, I'm a technological heretic and am here to tell you, it's not that simple. In today's tablet world, there are 3 main forces in play. Apple "IOS" (iPhone, iPad, iBlender, iDryer, yada-yada-yada, ad nauseum), Android (Pretty much any non-Apple Smartphone and Tablet) and new to the game; Windows (Actually Windows 8, phones and tablets). All three, have their strengths and weaknesses and I'll go through them one by one.

There's that man again! Well; that's because he/they invented the modern category of the tablet as we know it, with the original iPad of April, 2010. First, let's eliminate that from your buying consideration, no matter how great of a deal that "Uncle Ross/Aunt Judy" is offering you for their "almost-new" one....don't buy it! This first version of this product simply won't run many of the modern apps on it's IOS 5 which can't ever be updated to a newer version...end of story. Trust me; we have one. However, the iPad 2 (oddly still in production) will run the up-to-date versions of IOS, but just slower then the newest wiz-bang iPad "Air" which has the super-duper-secret-alien technology screen. In all seriousness though, any and all iPads are technologically cutting edge, and function virtually flawlessly and get great battery life. The down side is that they are generally more expensive than others with the current models starting at $399 and going up from there. Best bet in Apples (vs. Oranges ...padump) is the iPad 2 which sells down around $350. Your kids won't be able to tell the difference in the speed of the hardware between it and the more expensive versions. Are there downsides to iPads? Yup; IOS isn't as "open" as Andriod and therefore, some APPs don't have an IOS version. So if you are getting it specifically with the intention of your kid using it in school, I'd absolutely check to make sure whether there's an IOS version of the APP that their teacher(s) are looking to use! Plus, for all it's cutting edge technologies, Apple products are not often friends with otherwise "common" ports like USB, card readers, etc. You'll have to buy a separate device to say.....connect your digital camera or flash drive. Believe me, I've felt this pain. Oh yeah, almost forgot; if you are looking for a smaller version, the iPad "Mini" starts at $280. Also almost forgot; there's a dark secret about IOS devices that they don't like to talk about. They won't run anything with Adobe Flash. What's that you ask? Well kiddies....it's those fun little videos and other automated gizmos that are on everybody's websites these days ranging from just plain news sites to (unfortunately) many educational sites as well! Not trying to Apple-bash, just lettin' you know one of the issues Apple-philes have to deal with.

The other "heavy-hitter" in the tablet market are the various Android tablets. It doesn't matter whether you are looking at a Nabi, the Kindle, or the ubiquitous Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 or 3, they are all based on Google's little adaptation of the Linux OS we all know as the Android. Let's start with the basics before it gets complicated. Don't buy the little cheap ones that you see advertised at places like Big Lots for something in the order of $50-70. Just don't do it. They often run an old, designed for smartphones, version of the OS that runs on a single core processor. An older OS, means that besides it not having the newer improvements and features, but that it also won't run some APPs. A single core processor means that it can't be upgraded to a new OS either. In general, if you are looking for a "budget" tablet in the sub-$200 range, look for an older major brand, like Samsung, Asus, or Acer with at least a "Dual-Core" processor. You won't get the nicer HD screen, or much memory, but it'll be enough to run what you want to. 

What about the next group "up"? $250 or so? In that case, you really want to start with "Quad-Core" processor and a HD screen. What does that mean? It means that you'll be able to make this tablet last a little longer, because not only will it run what's out there now very nicely, but probably the next-gen OS and APPs that haven't been released yet. And if you haven't gone to a store and held an HD screen'd tablet side-by-side with a non-HD screen'd one; go do it and see what I'm talking about. 

What about the other one? Oh yeah; Microsoft Surface, running Windows 8 or 8 RT depending on whether you paid for the expensive version. I'll say this: if you have a high school or maybe a middle school kid who wants something light and physically smaller, then consider this. It's largely because these are better for content creation (read writing papers) than any tablet, even the big ones. However, I'll also say that I'd sooner buy a used ultra-portable laptop than shell out about $500 for one of these. $200 vs. $500, real keyboard vs. membrane kinda keyboard.....you decide. 

Still confused and would like me to be more specific? Want me to make some recommendations? OK, I'll do that....along with some things to think about as well.

• Apple families; you know who you are. You've gone through several generations of iphones. Mom and/or Dad have an iPad, maybe a MacBook? I'd look long and hard a the Mini for your kid unless there are reasons which can't be overcome. Here's the deal. It may be your kid's tablet, but when they can't find something or want to change a setting, you're going to want to know where that is. When you are traveling somewhere, you'll want everyone to be able to use the same chargers...trust me on this.
• Budget driven folks; for whatever reason, you need a functional tablet, but simply can't or won't go over a price-point. The lowest price-point, I can recommend if you really can't do $225, is $175. At this price, you can buy a decent machine branded by a decent company that will be probably be there for the duration of the warranty and won't have turned into "makers" of vacuum cleaners. The older model of the Samsungs, the Galaxy Tab 2, is available at lots of places around $179. HP has a tablet about around $150 that has good specs, but it's build quality is not very good. I'd look for one of the old Asus ME tablets. You might get lucky and get one with a nicer screen. Make sure that the Android OS is 4.xx "Ice Cream Sandwich" or newer. Try to get one with a MicroSD card slot so you can put a memory card in there to augment the low amount of memory that comes with tablets in this price range (typically 8Gb).
• Bang For The Buck Buyers; look to spend $225-275. The Nexus 7 HD, whether you buy the Google version (made by Asus) or the Asus version (made by Asus) are really great deals right now. They typically sell at $229. The hardware is very nice, the screen is excellent and it's well-made. Personally, if I wasn't as price-sensitive, I'd look for one of the Asus models that has the MicroSD card readers although it's not as big of an issue here since most of these tablets will come with 16Gb of memory on board. But hey, it's always nice to be prepared, especially if you travel a lot and want to put a bunch of movies on there for your kid. 
• Beyond this price point, you are mostly paying for extras that are very user specific. These are things such as a docking keyboard, extra-super-duper fancy camera, bigger screen, other things that kids don't need. Also, buy a 7" tablet. You'll/They'll appreciate the way more convenient smaller size. You'll appreciate the smaller price as well.

But what about Nabis and Kindles!?! Here's the deal on those. I wouldn't generally recommend either of them for the same philosophical reason and different real-world reasons. I don't like products that are specifically "limited". Since Android is basically an "open" standard, manufacturers can basically do with it what they want. Some, based on what market segment they are trying to sell to, will create a "walled garden" so only certain APPs are available for their product. This is all fine and good you have a young child, but create issues if you have a school-aged kid who will have different needs as they grow. In the Nabi's case (literally), they've essentially added a silicone case to the case. That might be a good thing if you have a younger kid or a particularly accident-prone one, but I'd suspect that it would be a bit of an issue to put in the typically over-stuffed book-bag though. Both the Kindle Fire, and Blackberry playbook are really nice devices, however, they both limit their users to specific subsets of Android Apps available or worse yet, their own Apps. Just ask HP how that one worked out! Nook? See above. But in the end, what the issue ends up being is that, if their specific adaptations aren't exactly what you need, then not only do they not offer any more for your money, but end up limiting what you can do with it in the long run.

A few last notes and items to address before closing out this post. What about a phone? Your kid may campaign for one, but the simple fact is that they really don't have big enough screens to do any sort of real work on. They are also often too small to allow the user to make accurate button presses on some of the curriculum specific practice apps. Plus, since they are often tied to the data side of your cellphone plan, do you really want to trust that your kid is going to go through the extra step to make sure that they've logged on to the schools WiFi network vs. being still tied to the cell tower sucking down your data minutes? Really? You do actually know your 8, 9 or 10 year old, right? Yeah, that's what I thought.

"So, which size do I buy?" I'll make it easy. Unless you have specific needs, buy the 7" or as close to that size as possible. It's small enough to make it easy to throw in a bag, but it's big enough to read for an extended time and see things without squinting. If you can afford it, get one with Gorilla Glass, much less likely to break when your child throws it. Again, if it fits in your budget, I'd try to get one with a MicroSD card reader (memory cards are cheap). For your sanity, get them decent headphones, and a car-USB adapter (make sure that it'll support the electrical draw of a tablet though; about 2amps). Get a decent case that has a hard cover over the screen. You've seen the inside of your child's book bag, right? .....and have seen how they throw that around?

Where to buy? OK, let me start by saying that I'm not supported by any company in any way shape or form. I share with you what I do based on hard-won experience and my partially tough-in-cheek eccentricities. If there's a Micro Center in your area; print out this post and go there. They have a lot of stuff so you need to give yourself some time. Go on a weeknight or the middle of a weekday. Do not go on Saturday any time around and after noon. Same for Sunday. I like them because unlike other places, their staff seems to know what they are talking about. I like that. They also tend to hire people that actually speak good English. I also like that. But they are physically much smaller than a Fry's so they'll often get crowded. I go to Fry's sometimes, when I feel like being alone. Unless you are like me; don't go. Or expect that no one will help you. You (or they) won't be able to find what you want (the thing in the ad) since they sold both of them within minutes of the Friday ad coming out. I prefer not to go to Walmart or Best Buy for obvious reasons. Although Best Buy usually has lots of stuff out, and is a good place to just go and look at the models. Expect no useful help, unless it's a full-moon and on an alternate Thursday during a Leap-year. I'd sooner go to Walmart, although you won't think that they have what you are looking for since it won't be on display and you won't be able to see it locked behind the expanded steel-mesh cage at ankle level. The one kid who knows stuff won't be working on the day you go there. Amazon is a better bet.