Tablet Vs Netbook for Tweens

If you are considering a significant investment in a tech gift for your tween, there are a variety of options, more extensive every year given the advances in touchscreen technology.  If you are debating tablet vs netbook for tweens, there are some helpful considerations in narrowing your choices.

Affordable Meep Tablet for Tweens

Cost is a huge consideration when you are thinking about a tween tablet or a tween netbook.  Before the iPad was introduced, many parents hoped for the cheap netbook to be available as a holiday doorbuster.  The mini sized computers served as affordable alternatives to full laptops, easy to transport and fully functional.  I love my netbook as a portable device.  However, the entertainment value to my tweens is minimal when compared with other touchscreen devices.  A netbook for a preteen does provide compact computing.  However, a cheap netbook is limited in its usefulness beyond simple web browsing and game play.  Unless you are looking at the netbook for keyboarding skills and school curriculum, there isn't nearly as much appeal as there is with a tablet.

If you are intent on a netbook for a tween and if price isn't the biggest factor, I highly recommend something in a slightly larger size (11.6 inch screen) and with a larger amount of memory and hard drive space.  Acer dominates in terms of ratings, and the top rated choice at Amazon at this writing is its 11.6 netbook with 4 GB RAM and 500 GB Hard Drive. ( Acer Aspire One AO756-2808 11.6-Inch Netbook )  Less severe on the eyes and less frustrating with limitations on memory.  Only $350 in cost, it's going to be less frustrating.

Alternately, a full laptop in a 14.6 screen size may be a better choice for visual ease of use.

Tablets, though, provide Web browsing and game play, with tactile interaction making it much more appealing than a netbook for many preteen computer users.  If your tween likes games, apps on both iPad and Android tablets are primarily going to accomodate this need.  Further, the likeability combines with great affordability.  The Meep Tablet for a preteen is affordably priced at around $150.  Netbooks in this price range are going to be limited, but the Meep is a kid friendly device with great apps and parental controls built in.  The Kindle Fire is a 7" Android tablet in the $200 range.  These devices are much more user friendly than tween netbooks and the costs are much more budget friendly.  Ideally, many tweens would love to own an iPad, and with rumors of a 7" iPad tablet coming soon, it makes more sense to think about the iPad mini for your pre teen than to buy a netbook.  As a parent, I'd rather use a tablet than a netbook for research, and my main netbook use is for quick web browsing and composition on the road.  A tablet is more apt to meet entertainment and research needs without overly straining the eyes.

Desktop Computer For a Tween

Laptop and Netbook Computers are popular gift ideas for tweens and teens, but the challenge of portable computers is the potential for dropping, and other damage.  A drink, spilled on a keyboard of a portable pc, after all, could be destructive, whereas a spill on a keyboard of a desktop pc will only affect the computer.  The desktop computer isn't likely to be dropped, either, being stationary in nature.  Take a look at the protection plans on desktops, vs laptops, and this is reflected.  Walmart, for example, prices protection plans on laptop computers twice as high as those on desktops. 

Tweens and tech gifts can be a delicate balance of concerns...tweens can be a little bit awkward with portable devices, and even those who have a good sense of balance, and don't have trouble handling an oversized laptop, may have some difficulty in terms of attention and responsibility.  My laptop has had some close calls in the hands of my tweens.  As well, my tweens tend to be really absentminded, and we've had to deal with misplaced items of importance, a washed cell phone, and forgetfulness in a realm of matters.  Do you want to invest in something that's easy to misplace or to damage?  It's a consideration that is worth your attention.  Add to that, the independence that a tween begins to exert in full force, and there's the risk or a portable computer being taken to school, against the rules of a parent.

Netbooks for tweens, or a laptop for a tween, aren't terrible choices, but there is a need to set guidelines for their use, and parameters for where they should be taken or not taken.  A desktop computer for a tween makes it a little less challenging to keep track of that tween tech gift.  At the early end of the tween age spectrum, especially that 9-10 phase, there really isn't a huge need for a portable pc, and a desktop computer is a great way to provide a personal tech experience, with parental controls firmly in place by nature of the system.  Furthermore, there are often some really good bundle prices on desktop computers.

As your tween moves into the middle school environment, and begins to mature, you may find a portable computer is a great incentive to offer, as a result or reward for responsibility demonstrated:  grades, faithfulness in homework, household chores, and behavior.  In the meantime, a desktop computer is a great tween tech tool.

***Amazon has a helpful desktop computer finder tool, helpful in assisting you with finding what you are looking for.

Cost Effective Computers for Tweens

Things have come a long way in a decade, when it comes to computer choices for families, and to computer prices for families.  In the early days of personal computing, a decent system cost a pretty penny...we spent well over $2,000 for our first system, with a 3GB hard drive!  That's laughable, now, as even the simplest mp3 players surpass the storage of that early device.  4 years later, the expenditure for a much better system was half as much.  In the most recent years, great deals abound year round, with the very best coming at back to school time, and on Black Friday, where the relationship between price and hard drive space are even better.


Whether you are searching for a cheap computer for your tween, or just trying to keep your costs low as you find a durable, quality computer, it's good to have this perspective on the improvements that have been seen over the years.  The next thing to keep in mind is the goals for that computer.  Are you looking for an educational computer for your tween to use in doing school research, learning games, and word processing?  Are you looking for something that will adapt to complicated gaming?

As a parent, I don't like to encourage much computer game play, and so our household needs won't entail the kind of memory needs that some of the popular pc gaming entails.  I do like to allow puzzle games, and a little bit of free time on the computer, but my preference for gaming is in the context of educational venues.  At this stage, a slightly outdated pc still handles the needs of the kids in the house, including the tweens.  The low cost systems sold during a Black Friday or Back to School sale are sufficient for most educational needs.  Look for bundled deals which include monitors and printers, to make the most of sales, as both of these components have a tendency to wear out within a couple of years of use.  If the cost is affordable, keep the upgrades in mind, as bigger screens, more memory, and such features are most likely to be big draws.

A desktop system is a good choice for a computer system to be shared by a family, including a tween, and is a great way to curtail activity, while keeping tween computer time to a limit.  Parental oversight, not the favorite of the tween, is important, and much easier to handle with a centrally located desktop pc for tween and family. ( Read through the list of Amazon's best selling desktop computers, and find customer reviews.)

All in One systems are space savers, and still provide a central computing experience.  Again, the deals are going to be best on these during the post-Thanksgiving shopping of Black Friday, and during the Back to School promotions of July and August.  It's wise to spend extra for extended warranties on such a system, as the failure of one component affects the entire unit. The HP Omni, shown at left, has outstanding reviews at Amazon, and the space saving design, along with the serious work environment the desktop creates, are great features, whether in a tween pc, or a family pc.  Comparing the cost of a desktop and monitor, sold separately from each other, this example is very cost efficient.

Touchscreen computers for tweens are attractive, for the additional interactivity, but may be on the pricey side, if you are looking for a cost cutting tween computer choice.  Tablet PC's for tweens are great as an additional educational tool, but as a main computer, not the best selection.

Laptop computers are popular for all who use computers, and give a mobility that a desktop does not.  If you are interested in a cost effective tween laptop, then keep the size of the laptop in mind.  A 17" laptop has a great screen size, but is awkward for a tween to handle.  Fortunately, the relationship between price and size is usually comparable, and as screen size decreases, so does the price.  14-15" is a better handling size, if your tween will be moving about with his or her computer.  With electronics for tweens, sometimes the small sizes cause concern for parents, with regard to eye strain, but in this case, smaller tween electronics are less likely to be dropped or damaged.  Beyond this, a laptop usually includes a dvd drive, perfect for educational disks to be incorporated into tween learning.  Again, there are frequently great deals all year long, with plenty of drive space and memory.  Watch for some especially good deals during Black Friday sales and Back to School promotions. (Find Amazon's list of current bestselling notebooks and laptops.)


For the household on an extremely tight budget, a netbook is a great tween pc choice, as the memory and storage are reasonable, while prices are also reasonable.  Come Black Friday, many people speculate that there will be huge deals, even $100 netbooks, featured in the sales circulars.  However, the only ones that have broached these low price levels in recent years have had very low memory and hard drive capacity, and have been off brands.  Though price is important, it's not a great investment to purchase such a deal if it won't serve your needs.  Comparatively speaking, most brands of netbooks have basic models at the $250 price range, with plenty of memory and hard drive space.  These won't serve the needs of the pc gamer, per se, but will be more than adequate for a tween's base educational use, including the ability to incorporate Microsoft Office software, and to handle other relevant research.   The ASUS featured at left has 250 GB Hard Drive, and 1GB memory, expandable to 2 GB...equal to the capacity of my 4 year old desktop, and a fourth of what the desktop cost at the time.  If you are looking for the most cost effective computer for your tween, a netbook is going to save quite a bit of money, and should last through much of the child's public school education.  It's wise to invest a little bit of the savings in an extended warranty, as accidents can happen with any tween electronic device, more so if it's a portable gadget.


If you are looking for a supplemental computer for your tween, a tablet pc for your tween may be a great choice.  For my thoughts on tween tablet pcs, check out the following posts:

Pros and Cons of iPad for a Tween

iPad for Kinesthetic Learners

Alternatives to iPad:  Tablet PC Choices for Tweens