🚀 go-pugleaf

Andy D. Digh (digh@cs.utk.edu) wrote:
> Hello,

> 	I'm in the market for a computer for a five year old.
> I'm not sure whether a Macintosh or IBM compatible would be best.
> The Mac seems to be more user friendly for young children, but
> yet more children's software seems to be available for the IBM.
> I was wondering if anyone could help me out or know of a particular
> brand that would be good.

For a five-year old, getting a high-powered computer is not that
important. If you plan to use it yourself, you'll have to look into it a
bit, but for a young kid...pretty much anything. Go for second-hand. Keep
an eye out for people unloading old computers, because they'll usually
offer the whole system plus software for a great price.

And now for my personal bias: I grew up on a Commodore VIC-20 and later, a
64. Software for these computers is no longer available, but if you can
find someone selling an old system, they will usually be selling all the
software too. There were lots of good children's programs written for the
64. And speaking of programs...most Commodore machines run on BASIC, which
is easy to learn. I could program at the age of 10 (won a few programmig
contests!) and my 12-year-old brother, almost before he started school.

If you're going to use the computer yourself for more high-powered
applications, I'd say an IBM or clone. There is more software and PCs are,
for the most part, industry standard. For a five-year-old, this won't
matter because whatever s/he's using now will be beyond obsolete when s/he
gets to college or the workforce. But if you plan to use it, it could make
a huge difference.


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