What to buy for middle school: laptop or tablet?

[Anonymous]

Our rising 6th grader will be heading to middle school in the fall and she is part of the Bring Your Own Device program, toting her laptop to school.

We want to replace this laptop (it's 4 years old) before the fall but are wondering if she would be better off with a tablet for school instead of a laptop.

What are other folks doing? (And yes, she uses her laptop daily, primarily for taking notes but sometimes for putting together PowerPoint presentations.)

[Anonymous]

We do iPad at school, laptop at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We do iPad at school, laptop at home.

Thank you for your reply. Do you have MacBook for home or a Windows laptop?

[Anonymous]

We're all apple but we have Microsoft office for Mac.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're all apple but we have Microsoft office for Mac.

Thanks. We have Microsoft, Apple and Linux at home so we are trying to decide on a tablet platform. (DD is much better at notetaking with a laptop vs a tablet.)

[Anonymous]

It is really hard to do Power Point presentations on a tablet or to type long papers.

tablets are great for note taking or typing short papers.

They are also much lighter and more convenient to carry around.

If you can I would buy both. If not, depending on what you see her using more frequently.

For us, more homework is done on the computer so I would choose the laptop.

[Anonymous]

Depending on the school I would make sure that its tied to her waist.

[Anonymous]

I highly recommend the Samsung Chromebook which runs on Google's new operating system. They ar ereally new. Launched in the Fall.

My DS, 12, got one for Christmas and it is perfect for this age. It is not a computer in that it doesnt store files. You store everything in the "cloud" and that prevents any issues with accidentally downloading viruses. He uses google docs, which all of the schools seem to use as well, and saves them in the "cloud". It has been perfect and it is only $250.00 for the WiFi version.

[Anonymous]

12:22 here again.

I should note, my Dad is a retired IBM developer and I had him review the Chromebook with me before we got it for DS. My Dad is very old school but even he thought this little Chromebook was amazing. Its a BARGAIN and yet absolutely perfect for a middle and highschooler's needs.

It has been PERFECT for DS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:12:22 here again.

I should note, my Dad is a retired IBM developer and I had him review the Chromebook with me before we got it for DS. My Dad is very old school but even he thought this little Chromebook was amazing. Its a BARGAIN and yet absolutely perfect for a middle and highschooler's needs.

It has been PERFECT for DS.

OP here -- thanks for your suggestion! I had not considered a Chromebook but will look into it. It's certainly cheaper than the Samsung combo Windows 8 device I am currently considering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:12:22 here again.

I should note, my Dad is a retired IBM developer and I had him review the Chromebook with me before we got it for DS. My Dad is very old school but even he thought this little Chromebook was amazing. Its a BARGAIN and yet absolutely perfect for a middle and highschooler's needs.

It has been PERFECT for DS.

OP here -- thanks for your suggestion! I had not considered a Chromebook but will look into it. It's certainly cheaper than the Samsung combo Windows 8 device I am currently considering.

I am so glad. I have been raving about it to all the parents I know. I thinks it's the perfect device for the things our kids do the most - writing and researching/surfing the Internet. And it has built in safety since you dont download anything onto it. I know lots of school use google docs because it allows teachers and students to collaborate, basically access the document and make edits, corrections, notes, etc... It's the hot platform in schools right now. Plus everything is moving to the cloud. When I was looking into it I read a mediocre review on Wired or some on line computer site. It was a criticism of the google os though, not the Chromebook. Google has already made improvements since then. DS loves it and has yet to hit any obstacles to anything he needs to do on it. Lets us know what you end up getting.

[Anonymous]

lap top. it does not go to school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:12:22 here again.

I should note, my Dad is a retired IBM developer and I had him review the Chromebook with me before we got it for DS. My Dad is very old school but even he thought this little Chromebook was amazing. Its a BARGAIN and yet absolutely perfect for a middle and highschooler's needs.

It has been PERFECT for DS.

OP here -- thanks for your suggestion! I had not considered a Chromebook but will look into it. It's certainly cheaper than the Samsung combo Windows 8 device I am currently considering.

I am so glad. I have been raving about it to all the parents I know. I thinks it's the perfect device for the things our kids do the most - writing and researching/surfing the Internet. And it has built in safety since you dont download anything onto it. I know lots of school use google docs because it allows teachers and students to collaborate, basically access the document and make edits, corrections, notes, etc... It's the hot platform in schools right now. Plus everything is moving to the cloud. When I was looking into it I read a mediocre review on Wired or some on line computer site. It was a criticism of the google os though, not the Chromebook. Google has already made improvements since then. DS loves it and has yet to hit any obstacles to anything he needs to do on it. Lets us know what you end up getting.

Can you tell me a little more about the Chromebook? I have a 13 year old and would like to get him something for homework and his general use. Is the only difference between it and a computer that you cant download anything? Can you tell me a bit more about Cloud, I'm unfamiliar.

Someone else I know recommended the Nexus 7.

[Anonymous]

Laptop

[Anonymous]

Check with her school. If she's participating in the BYOD program, the intention might be to allow her to access online textbooks, take online tests, etc. in the classroom. Lots of the new online textbooks are still primarily in Flash, which is incompatible with iPads. Plus, unless you get a separate Bluetooth keyboard, the iPad isn't ideal for writing papers, etc.

If the iPad is compatible, though, I'd lean toward that!