It’s not exactly a secret that the last few months have been really strange ones for most of us – and one of the ways in which they’ve been particularly strange, is the fact that schools have closed and you have likely found yourself having to do more homeschooling than you ever did before.
At the same time, there may have been immediately obvious technological issues hampering your kids’ ability to keep on top of their schoolwork, or even just entertained during those long and boring hours away from education. In short, that one ‘family laptop’ might not cut it anymore!
So, here at Type IT!, we thought we’d run through some of the latest great options if you’re currently looking to buy a laptop for your child.
If you’ve got the best part of £500 to spend on a decent laptop for your child, this Samsung will cover all of the basics. Its specifications are just fine for all of those everyday tasks like homework, Netflix viewing and randomly surfing the web, while its built-in security applications and automatically provided free updates will help to ward off those online nasties.
What if your budget is only around the £200 mark, and you’re also worried about what damage a clumsy child could do to it? Well in that case, we’d probably point you in the direction of this Asus, which was designed very much for ‘that’ kind of kid. It’s a rugged laptop with a spill-proof keyboard, as well as Google’s Chrome operating system that is familiar in schools. Its memory and storage are less impressive, but that’s to be expected given its low, low price.
The word ‘Chromebook’ has already been mentioned in the titles of the two laptops we’ve covered so far; it refers to a type of laptop that depends heavily on Google’s Chrome platform. It probably shouldn’t surprise you too much, then, to learn that Google itself offers probably the best mainstream Chromebook, which is secure and a cinch to use for kids and adults alike. Oh, and it can also be yours for just £949 from John Lewis.
Of course, it isn’t just schoolwork that your kids may conceivably wish to do on their laptop, and if you have a teenager, they may really want a machine that has the power for more advanced gaming or video editing. Satisfying that wish doesn’t necessarily have to leave you penniless – this Acer, for instance, is great for graphically intensive uses, while its dual fans will help it to stay cool, all for just £629 at Currys PC World right now.
For deeper-pocketed parents, a 13.3” MacBook Air with Retina Display from Currys PC World might fit the bill quite nicely, while still offering change from £1,000. This 2019 model’s Intel Core i5 processor means that even highly demanding photo and video editing software is within its capabilities, and it’ll all look formidable on the Retina Display. In addition, up to 13 hours’ battery life is possible, so your kids won’t need to start recharging it again in the middle of a school day.
So, once you’ve armed your child with the best possible laptop, what’s next? We humbly suggest helping them to make the most of it, by getting them to learn touch typing!
Our remote online courses for kids here at Type IT! continue to run throughout the coronavirus crisis, and when it comes to ensuring your children thrive at school, arranging for them to enrol could be one of the best things you do this year – aside from buying the laptop itself, of course. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us before you book your place.