Grandkid of 7.5 years old has been learning to code on his iPad for a while. He is the tablet generation. Now he wants to do it on a PC with a mouse and a keyboard. I have been looking around for a cheap PC and Acer 14" Aspire 1 Notebook Celeron 4/128GB Win11 looks good enough for a kid of that age. Would love to hear your comments and recommendations. Thanks you.
Budget PC Recommendations for Kids Coding
BendBridge on 05/09/2022 - 12:25
Last edited 05/09/2022 - 13:11 by 1 other user
Last edited 05/09/2022 - 13:11 by 1 other user
Comments
Yep, these will be much better than a celeron. Celeron will probably feel a bit laggy
I actually run a Linux VM (with mysql and Apache) on a Celeron machine with a bit more RAM and SSD and the response is not too bad.
Understandable and fair, I should rephrase to the celeron will probably feel laggy running windows
this is a great suggestion! or you can find Surface 3/4 with similar specs for the a bit more.
personally, I would get the think pad but it says Windows in not activated, weird
Considered a RaspberryPi?
Plus get some hats that have buttons and led's.
Visit Jaycar to see what they have as an example of what is off the shelf, but buy from one of the following:
https://core-electronics.com.au/raspberry-pi.html
https://raspberry.piaustralia.com.au/
https://littlebirdelectronics.com.au/products?q=raspberry+piI did assemble a Kano (pre RPi) computer with him when he was five. But he can't really bring that to a class, so he is thinking of a PC as recommended by his coding teacher.
Also worth considering, so they can use it on any machine -
How about a Pi 400 - can take it anywhere!
If you're set of a Windows PC, I can definitely recommend getting a refurb.
My current laptop was a warranty return (screen DoA) that got repaired and sold as a refurb. So basically new at a discount.
Just got my daughter a refurb for school. $250 for an 11-inch touchscren 2-in-1 laptop (screen folds 360°). It is a Celeron (N5400), but seems powerful enough for her needs for now - and at only $250 I bought it on the intention it would be replaced in a year or two (whether she outgrows it or breaks it…)
Have you considered what OS and applications they are using and want?
No point getting a Windows 11 machine if they're learning Xcode..
It’s Web based type of Scratch coding for now. Might move on to something else next year. The instructor recommends Windows or Mac.
Mac. It covers both realms, stuff like C++, NodeJS and Python and Xcode for Apple apps. Plus you can also have Windows on it as dual boot (BootCamp). And it'll last for a decade.
Real developers only use Windows if forced by company policy, lol
If you sit at the front and turn around during a CS lecture at uni then you'll see a sea of shining Apple logos. A preowned Mac Mini would be ideal for a kid, the most recent model you can find cheap if you can't afford the more recent M1 model. Pair it with any Mac keyboard you can find on eBay, any cheap HDMI monitor you can find that still works, and any standard PC mouse you like. Set him down the right path; you shouldn't be spending all night troubleshooting drivers and stuff at 7.5 years old.
you shouldn't be spending all night troubleshooting drivers and stuff at 7.5 years old.
wouldn't that be a part of learning experience ? anyway that would be true 20 years ago but now almost all typical devices are PnP and Windows has own drivers, not exactly true in with the linux though, you might need to compile some drivers (another good experience in my opinion).
Would it be worth learning how to disassemble and degrease a car engine if the government mandated all cars must be electric by the time he's 18? Is it worth learning how to wash your clothes by beating them against the rocks down by the river when we have washing machines now? He's got the rest of his life to worry about PCs. PCs will probably mostly be ARM SoC by the time he's 18 anyway, with machines using discrete PC components being kind of niche.
That's is a really good point, I haven't thought like that. By then everything might be running on cloud with ARM (could be a totally new architecture) based thin clients as well (could be some like like a pen with projecting screen). What I wanted to highlight is the relationship between the hardware & software, and logical learning experience to talk between hw & sw (i.e. all software is just instructions at hardware register level ). But by that time when he is 18, everything might be virtualized, most coding would be done with AI too. So, probably there will be only jobs in highly skilled level who will be needing only to build those AI systems, not even simple coding would be done by humans, could be a total dystopia like in "i-Robot".
Pretty sure that's how most of us working in IT got started
specially thanks to IRQ hell :D I recently tried to use some PCI devices with B550M with a PCI-PCIe bridge, after running for some time PC crashes, I am pretty sure it is due to shared IRQ between two PCIe slots but there is no option to manually set IRQ these days with UEFI.
IMO it's the worst time to buy an Intel mac, support will be ending quickly. New OS later this year will only support machines back to 2017 (2018 for the mac mini and macbook air), I imagine 12 months after that the last of the non-apple silicon Mini's won't be supported, it'll just be some of the more expensive Macbook Pros and iMacs.
At the same time, I'd probably buy a PC that at least supports Windows 11 for the same reason. Don't really want to have to replace it in 12 months or have the kid battle through trying to install 22H2.
IMO it's the worst time to buy an Intel mac, support will be ending quickly
Not really. Apple is good on supporting old hardware, look at iPhones, 6S from 2015 is rocking latest iOS 15. macOS Monterey (latest) supports MacBook Air early 2015.
As I mentioned, new version of macOS coming later this year will only support the MacBook Air from 2018. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS_Ventura
That should be out October or so, And good luck getting a Mac that kind of age for $300.
If Windows required driver troubleshooting all the time I don't think it would have as high a market share as it does.
You can code on a mid 90s machine even if you want to go retro.
True…
On that tangent, get him learning assembly on a 486 (simpler instruction set than a modern CPU, don't want to throw him too far into the deep end /s )
But honestly, I feel like kids nowdays are missing out on so much, with most kids spending their time one 'computing appliances' (i.e. iPads) vs a real computer you can tinker with.
Speaking with teachers, it sounds like most teenagers now don't even fully comprehend what a file system is (not at a technical level, but purely in terms of how folders/files are presented to the user).
it sounds like most teenagers now don't even fully comprehend what a file system is
10 years ago, when everyone knew what a file system is, many had no idea about IRQs, RS232, config.sys and DMA channels. As we move on, low level stuff gets deeper and deeper, one person cannot grasp the whole chain, this is the way.
I would go a second hand sff over that acer or Dell Inspiron 5368 any day
i7-4790 - 512 SSD HDD - 8GB RAM sold for AU $160.00Refurbished/used ThinkPad. Always.
The kid is 7.
You do not want a PC, just get a keyboard and mouse for his iPad.
He will be using Scratch or a similar app, not building an embedded cross-compiler toolchain in Linux.As always, before asking what hardware to get, you need to ask what software will be used.
If he is still into coding in high school, follow the about advice on a PC for kids :)
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/722380
Dell Inspiron 5368 2in1, 13.3", i5-6200U, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, FHD, Win11 $269
or
https://fusetechau.com.au/products/refurb-lenovo-thinkpad-t4…