Laptop vs. Surface Pro Go vs iPad vs. Chromebook for a kid...and security

[Ben E Lou]

6th grade. Age 11. First year in middle school. She's going to be learning keyboarding this year, and will need the internet, Google Classroom in particular. Her school is currently in-person, but already using GC for some things, and we wouldn't be shocked if they are remote at some point during the year.

She has an iPad that is "hers," to which we could add a keyboard, but we're thinking this might be the time to start to learn to navigate a PC. She has used one at school some, but rarely uses one here other than when she gets on a Civ6 kick. We don't want her behind the curve in comfort level around a computer, of course.

So, what's the best way to go here, combining cost and the things we've mentioned?

Also, what is Chrome OS like? Is it sort of a Windows light, or something entirely different? Can we install Word/Excel on a Chromebook?

Surface Pro seems like a good middle ground, and it uses Windows 10, but we're completely unfamiliar with it. Pros/cons on those?

A good ol' regular laptop would be my leaning, but she's saying she wants something thin/lightweight enough to move from the den to her bed to take to a friend's house for group projects, etc. Any suggestions for small/thin/lightweight regular PCs?

Finally, at this age, it's time to install some trackers/blockers for porn and nefarious stuff. Anyone here have knowledge of some good products in that arena? Ideally, we'd want something that blocks the bad stuff globally, but also allows device-level monitoring.

[albionmoonlight]

This is probably the easiest of what you have asked, but we found that the iPad with keyboard just wasn't robust enough/compatible enough with what the school wants/expects.

I would go either chromebook or laptop.

[spleen1015]

We bought our daughter a macbook before her freshman year of HS. She just started her senior year and its is still going strong.

She's uses it all of the time for everything. It goes with her everywhere.

Well worth the purchase.

[PilotMan]

Chrome OS is ok. Nice that malware and viruses aren't an issue with it. It does have some hangups where it is cloud based, doesn't play well with some programs. It's OS is very similar to that of an Android phone. Coincidentally, I just picked up the Lenovo Duo Chromebook for the Mrs. It's coming today. She has a flip Win10 tablet, but it's bogged down and just doesn't have enough power anymore. I thought I would end up with a Surface Go instead, but she wanted something closer in operation to her phone.

The Surface Go in intriguing. The Win10 is kept in "S" mode, which is purposely dumbed down to keep the computer zippy. You're limited to whatever is in the Windows store, but you don't need to worry about Malware/Viruses with it as Microsoft keeps the OS quite locked down and limited. You could opt to go to the full Win 10 experience, but 1) you can never go back to "S" and 2) it's almost guaranteed to bog the system down, especially if you're running any sort of anti-virus/malware.

I love my IPad for work, but it's way too limiting. I can't do anything in the background, or power use out of it. I've never used the keyboard with that, but the tablet keyboard isn't useful enough to me either.

My middle son has used a decent Chromebook throughout school and found it very useful. Good keyboard, long battery, fairly easy to use, light. There's no gaming use for them. I think they can use Word as well, but you should check the store to be sure.

Personally, I prefer laptops for the full keyboard, but they can be quite bulky. I think it comes down to how much you want to spend. A powerful laptop will last years, work with just about anything and handle progressing tech. IPads have their place but are limiting to all around use. A chromebook, can be the best of both worlds, but you will find some limits due to it being primarily a cloud/internet machine, but it has a solid keyboard and long battery life. Plus you aren't bogged down with major Win10 updates.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

A good ol' regular laptop would be my leaning, but she's saying she wants something thin/lightweight enough to move from the den to her bed to take to a friend's house for group projects, etc. Any suggestions for small/thin/lightweight regular PCs?

Finally, at this age, it's time to install some trackers/blockers for porn and nefarious stuff. Anyone here have knowledge of some good products in that arena? Ideally, we'd want something that blocks the bad stuff globally, but also allows device-level monitoring.

For PCs, you can use https://account.microsoft.com/family/ to control things like the number of hours it can be used each day (you can set different limits for different days of the weeks), what time range each day that the laptop can be used. You can also set up her profile to be a child account and limit access to mature content in music, movies, websites, etc. You can also have it send you weekly reports of sites visited, apps used, etc.

There are also plenty of super-thin laptops around. Not sure how much you want to spend.

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[JonInMiddleGA]

I'd say your instinct -- an actual laptop -- is correct.

That would have been my lean anyway but your post indicates that she's not already keyboard/PC comfortable and by 6th grade that feels like it should not be the case.

It's time.

[rjolley]

We bought the kids Chromebooks in February, partially because that's what they were using at school and partially because they were more cost effective. With the distance learning in the spring followed by the homeschooling this fall, the Chromebooks have come in handy. The kids are able to connect to the school accounts with them and it sets up the environment as if they were at school.

They are using the Google Docs suite of office tools (Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms). I believe you can get MS Office apps for Chrome OS, but the Google suite is ok for now.

Many of the Android apps work on Chrome OS, so if it's there on Android, it should be there for the Chromebook

[stevew]

I would see if your school goes 1:1 chrome book at higher grade levels and probably buy one of those.

[miked]

We just got a refurbished chromebook for our 6th grader. We chose it because the county issues chromebooks but they are locked (cannot download anything) and most of the teachers are using google classroom for the semester, so it is easy to navigate within that. Plus, she is 11 and the likelihood for breaking is higher, and the chromebook is pretty easy so I do not have to hover as tech support every session.

[Coffee Warlord]

I just picked my son up a Chromebook. Several teachers have mentioned they work pretty well for the tools the schools use, and it seems pretty handy.