School is online- Computer recommendations

[HazletonEagle]

With tons of schools going to hybrid or fully online again we are interested in potentially buying a cheap laptop/notebook/chromebook for our son. He is going in to 1st grade. We want it to be as cheap as possible. But good enough to handle streaming of his class, and maybe some online interactive activities similar to ABC Mouse, and other streaming video such as YouTube. 

I think maybe this could be a helpful discussion for others in here in the same situation. Or maybe others would like different recommendations for older kids with more demanding usage for their online schooling.

 

I havent shopped for a computer in years and back then I was looking for a computer. Not looking at these little chromebooks, and 2 in 1 tablets and such.

People with computer knowledge, what do you think will provide sufficient computing power for his streaming demands while keeping it cheap since he or his brother are likely to break it?

Im hoping something below $500. Ideally closer to $300 though maybe thats not realistic.

 

Ive been shopping. Is an intel i3 good enough? What the F is Acer? is that and lenovo good enough? is 4GB ram enough? 8GB?

Any recommendations are appreciated.

 

 

[20dawk4life]

https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro-16/

[HazletonEagle]

3 minutes ago, 20dawk4life said:

https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro-16/

when the dedicated product webpage freezes up my computer I know right then that its not gonna be friggin expensive.

No apple. Not only is it overpriced. It sucks. 

Let me revise my previous statement. Any NON-APPLE recommendations are appreciated. 

[20dawk4life]

6 minutes ago, HazletonEagle said:

when the dedicated product webpage freezes up my computer I know right then that its not gonna be friggin expensive.

No apple. Not only is it overpriced. It sucks. 

Let me revise my previous statement. Any NON-APPLE recommendations are appreciated. 

https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/alienware-area-51m-r2-gaming-laptop/spd/alienware-area51m-r2-laptop/wn51mr2mxs?gacd=9614064-1012-5761040-266794588-0&dgc=st&&gclid=CjwKCAjw1K75BRAEEiwAd41h1MRs5hzybfaZwGyiPSfF97FQ6q703GVGp2A5MQKMlhdvXjefs0C-3xoC0b8QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

[HazletonEagle]

thats 10 times higher than the price range Im hoping to be in.

[mikemack8]

So you want made in China pricing with made in America quality?  You should stick to Samsung

[HazletonEagle]

5 minutes ago, mikemack8 said:

So you want made in China pricing with made in America quality?  You should stick to Samsung

for electronics Ill accept the china pricing with the made in china quality. 

[binkybink77]

My new work laptop is a dell and I hate it 

[binkybink77]

Did you look at the Lenovo chromebooks? The Duet also functions as a tablet and runs android apps. It comes in around $300 and includes the keyboard and is supposed to be good for students.

[HazletonEagle]

The duet may be right in the wheelhouse. 

I see it can run android apps and Zoom and Teams are in the playstore. So whatever program they use to stream the class, it will probably be supported.

My only concern is that everything in that price range only has 4GB RAM. I dont know whether or not that is sufficient for streaming live video. I wouldnt want to spend money on this and find that the stream is choppy and you cant make out what the teacher is saying.

When I search the question online google seems to say you should have at least 8GB ram for streaming (games. nothing seems to talk about streaming video). It seems everything in that below $500 range only has 4GB RAM. 

 

 

 

[Dave Moss]

No idea, but I always make really dumb computer purchases.  I just bought a Mac Air for my high school aged daughter.

[toolg]

Any chromebook will likely do. Ease of use is more important than top of the line hardware at that age. Kids like touchscreen. (They're used to it because they grew up with smartphones, tablets, etc.) 4GB RAM is enough. Your WiFi/internet connection will be more important if the class video chat lags. Make sure you shut down streaming apps and get as many devices as possible off your internet connection.

[OCEaglefan]

You can always tell by the camera and microphone quality which kids are using chrome books 

[paco]

5 hours ago, HazletonEagle said:

 

Ive been shopping. Is an intel i3 good enough? What the F is Acer? is that and lenovo good enough? 

Acer is Taiwanese.  Ive had a few of their cheap laptops and tablets and they all fell apart. I think they make some higher end stuff though.

 

Stay away from Lenovo.  Chineese company. They bought the Thinkpad line from IBM a decade ago. Ever since then the Thinkpads went from one of the most reliable brands to one that you are lucky to get 3 years out of.  I speak from personal experience, my company issued them to me for the past 19 years.  I currently have a Lenovo Yoga because.... my last Lenovo craped out just shy of its 3rd year

[HazletonEagle]

6 minutes ago, toolg said:

Any chromebook will likely do. Ease of use is more important than top of the line hardware at that age. Kids like touchscreen. (They're used to it because they grew up with smartphones, tablets, etc.) 4GB RAM is enough. Your WiFi/internet connection will be more important if the class video chat lags. Make sure you shut down streaming apps and get as many devices as possible off your internet connection.

nice.

My WiFi is good, and I got an AC router with a regular and a 5G network. We should be set there.

Great to know a 4GB chromebook will be able to keep up.  Thank you!

And thanks @binkybink77 for the recommendation. That looks nice and is priced just right for what we want. 

 

Now I just have to talk Mrs HE in to going with it because she is a bit jaded on chromebooks. Her mom has one and Mrs HE hates having to help her do things on it. However, Mrs HE is the one who will be doing 99% of the school work with our little one so I guess her input is important as well. 

[HazletonEagle]

7 minutes ago, paco said:

Acer is Taiwanese.  Ive had a few of their cheap laptops and tablets and they all fell apart. I think they make some higher end stuff though.

 

Stay away from Lenovo.  Chineese company. They bought the Thinkpad line from IBM a decade ago. Ever since then the Thinkpads went from one of the most reliable brands to one that you are lucky to get 3 years out of.  I speak from personal experience, my company issued them to me for the past 19 years.  I currently have a Lenovo Yoga because.... my last Lenovo craped out just shy of its 3rd year

hmmm. this goes against binky's rec.

So... I need balance between reliability since this is for school, but also reasonably priced since this is for a very hyper 6 year old who isnt always very careful with things. And his younger brother is even worse.  My 6 y/o is probably going to touch it with cheeto fingers. My 4 y/o who will not be allowed to touch it is likely to eventually get a couple smashes on it. 

I appreciate that Lenovo may not be the best. But do you think it might be good enough for our purposes? I only need a year or 2 out of it. As he gets older, he can get something better.

[paco]

4 minutes ago, OCEaglefan said:

You can always tell by the camera and microphone quality which kids are using chrome books 

[HazletonEagle]

13 minutes ago, OCEaglefan said:

You can always tell by the camera and microphone quality which kids are using chrome books 

the kids without the stupid sticks hanging out of their ears. 

 

In seriousness, maybe helpful info for older kids if anyone else is following this thread.

My son isnt likely to be doing any presentations in 1st grade I think. He just needs to watch and listen. His cam shouldnt really matter and I dont think he will need to be heard much. In fact his teacher will probably always want him muted.

[Imp81318]

14 hours ago, HazletonEagle said:

when the dedicated product webpage freezes up my computer I know right then that its not gonna be friggin expensive.

No apple. Not only is it overpriced. It sucks. 

Let me revise my previous statement. Any NON-APPLE recommendations are appreciated. 

I really don't understand this anti-apple hate. I mean, I get hating Apple for a lot of reasons but not for the quality of their products, especially their computers. Our only personal computer at home (i.e. not provided by work) is an iMac that we've had for at least 14 years. It has gotten a bit slow over the years as new operating systems and software have demanded more memory to run, but if you're patient with it it is still functional and useable for general MS Office use, surfing the web, paying the bills, etc. I have never had a windows computer come anywhere near lasting that long, and this was not the highest end Mac when we bought it either. 

[DBW]

Our kids are getting chrome books.  I don’t know specifics yet.  
 

[HazletonEagle]

I saw a Samsung Chromebook with a 15.6 full HD display at Wal Mart for 299. 

Its a chromebook 4+ and they 

I get a solid "education" discount on samsung.com for having my .edu alumni e-mail address so I checked the price on Samsungs site. It was 299 there as well, and with my discount down to 254.99. After sales tax 271. I feel pretty good about that deal.

Hopefully itll be just what we need.

Heres the link if anyone else is interested in checking it out for themselves https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/chromebooks/15-18/chromebook-4-15-6-32gb-storage-4gb-ram-xe350xba-k01us/

Samsung has discount programs for various different people- education, military, first responder, and more. So be sure to check in to that stuff before you buy. 

 

[Agent23]

RAM as I always understood it just determines how many different programs and browsers and applications you can be running simultaneously On a machine. If your kid is just running his zoom call as you described, I don’t think 1GB vs 16GB of RAM would impact performance in any noticeable way. 

[HazletonEagle]

1 hour ago, Agent23 said:

RAM as I always understood it just determines how many different programs and browsers and applications you can be running simultaneously On a machine. If your kid is just running his zoom call as you described, I don’t think 1GB vs 16GB of RAM would impact performance in any noticeable way. 

Yeah I guess I overthought it. It seems chromebooks are selling like crazy online. Many are out of stock right now as I have shopped online. Probably people buying for school. Sounds like they are what a lot of schools are providing to students as well. And I doubt many schools are buying the more expensive ones either. Seems like a 4GB device should probably be just fine.

Im really pretty happy about the deal I landed tonight. 

 

[IFB DOG]

We built an hp laptop from their website. 16GB RAM (upgraded from 2x4 to 1x8, and bought a second from newegg), 15.6: screen Came in just under 400.

He's going to need it going forward, for projects and such. So I would definitely invest in a higher RAM + processor. 

 

 

[HazletonEagle]

17 minutes ago, IFB DOG said:

We built an hp laptop from their website. 16GB RAM (upgraded from 2x4 to 1x8, and bought a second from newegg), 15.6: screen Came in just under 400.

He's going to need it going forward, for projects and such. So I would definitely invest in a higher RAM + processor. 

 

 

Thanks. That's awesome if you know how to do it.

My son is 6. This isn't going to last.  At this time I wasn't worried about this thing being future proof.

I hope it lasts the first 45 days when school is all online.