Three Children = Three Laptops
We are currently wrestling with the idea of buying three laptops for Christmas for our children. It sounds insane, and it sounds expensive, but there is SOME sense involved here.
Firstly, we're looking at the HP Stream laptopsthey are very new, and very cheap. I'm guessing they are Microsoft and HP's answer to the flood of Google Chromebooks that are invading schools across the land. The new laptops are slightly cheaper than Chromebooks, and they run full-fat Windows 8.1. Far more importantly, they are good enough to run Minecraft.
Quite apart from giving the kids a computer each (and hopefully an end to the arguing), I tend to think using a “proper” computer is far more valuable from an educational perspective than using a tablet, or a phone. Computers are not going away any time soon, and it's likely that our children's jobs will involve them for years to come. There's also the whole subject of “Microsoft Windows”which we all love to hate, but knowing how to use it for every-day tasks like moving files around, organising photos, and writing letters is almost mandatory.
The biggest benefit will be felt by our youngest, who has quite pronounced development delaysmostly due to her early life. While her writing is getting better, it lags behind her comprehension, so being able to type fluently will be a huge advantage for her going forwardsand having her own laptop will decrease the time it takes for that to happen.
The only downer I have spotted so far is that Microsoft Publisher is conspicuous by it's absence from the bundled software (our kids use it for just about everything homework related)and after checking, a license for it is over half the cost of each laptop. I'm sure I'll be able to install an older version of it without causing too many problems.
I guess the one issue we will face on Christmas morning is how to tell the laptops apart. I can see the back of their screens being decorated with stickers pretty quickly to help differentiate them.