Is it child abuse to give my kid a Chromebook?

Remember me? I'm the one who wrote right here at Betanews that Google Chromebooks are a waste -- gimme Windows and a good browser -- just 24 days ago. Gulp. I might have been a little hasty and over-generalized in my perspective. You tell me.

So far, I feel on solid ground with the idea: She doesn't need to do anything remotely fancy, so Google Docs will be fine -- and she'll be able to get to her files from any computer on the Internet. It's easy for me to see her work no matter where I am, and she can cheat on her math homework with the spreadsheet program ;)

Yeah, I know I wrote previously that Chromebook has serious limitations and that users would be better off with a plain old Windows notebook running the same Google software. Somehow, for my daughter, the simplicity of the Chromebook is tempting -- even if it is, technically, a bad buy.

What she wants to do with the computer

It depends on what she wants to do with the computer.If all she needs is internet access, Chromebooks win.Anything "offline", most notably any games that are not web-based, and a traditional OS like Windows is the answer. As well keep in mind that 3G would need to be used anywhere there is no WiFi access, if you don't get a book with 3G or do not want to pay extra for 3G access, you don't want to get her a Chromebook if she may not be online with it most of the time, since that makes it useless.

too much crack.however skip the 15" laptop as they'll be carrying it around the house, etc and 15" laptops are $299 for a reason... they're clunkly.Get the kid a decent yet inexpensive WXGA(1366x768) windows laptop 11.6 or 13" screen. I know kindergarteners who can use many capabilities of windows laptops and by 3rd grade WORD and real apps will come into the picture that they'll use at school. Why would you want to limit them to a chrome book? How absurd an idea.Microsoft Security Essentials, IE9, FF4/AdBlock + Live Essentials 2001 Family SafetyLenovo x100e is a great deal on closeout as is the new x120e. Substitute other brand nevertheless these are unbeatable at the price.Forcing a round peg into a square hole happens a lot with tekkies and bloggers.

[Update] Like so many other things in life, the Internet will change the way we go to war, and it already has. The few alleged "cyberwar" actions we've seen were likely waged in some cases by government contractors. It makes sense for us to adopt this model.

Classification as pointless as the feature itself

It may seem like a classification as pointless as the feature itself, however I have come to regard the presence of a kickstand as an immediate indicator that a smartphone is too big to carry in my trouser pocket.