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We're planning to get our son a netbook for his 8th birthday, which is next month (June 19th). It's primarily going to be used at school because he has a muscle disorder that makes printing quite labor-intensive for him and his teacher and specialists would like to see him get a headstart on typing (he has a computer at home already). The biggest priority is price. We'd like to spend less than $300 because it's for a clumsy, forgetful kid

We live in Edmonton, Alberta (Canada) and I would appreciate any help toward finding something new and cheap. Ordering online is okay if we can find a decent price by the end of this month.

I have talked with the techie at school and they are currently using XP and will be upgrading to Windows 7 by the fall. They mostly use Google from my understanding and rely on the internet a lot (ie. Spellingcity.com and Tumblebooks.com). They use WiFi to access the internet and pretty much any computer these days should meet their requirements for storage and speed.

So, I would like some help keeping track of all the deals out there at this time during the year. I will provide a list of the sites that I know of already, but would appreciate help in determining best bang for the buck, etc.

bestbuy.ca
dell.ca
newegg.ca
satacomputer.com
costco.ca
memoryexpress.com
b-com.ca
staples.ca
futureshop.ca
walmart.ca
computertrends.com
thesource.ca
tigerdirect.ca
ncix.com

Also, it sounds like we'll also need an external hard drive, but I'm not very familiar with them. Any advice/recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

asus netbooks are probably the best and have a wide range in price and features

like

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... 6834220907

i bought my commander this:
http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00322PYYK/ref=s9_bbs_gw_d0_ir01?pf_rd_m=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0R65H1A8KARKCCMW1KRG&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=463383511&pf_rd_i=915398 and we got it from amazon.ca- there was a great discount when we got it. It works great but we use an external mouse as we don't like the little touch pad (i even use an extra mouse on my 17 macbook pro though). I did a quick check and the one matrix linked to is the best deal I could find. I'd suggest searching for discount codes on a regular basis. Maybe Carl can get a deal through amazon?

The only thing about a netbook is the keyboard is really small and you mentioned your child has a muscle disorder. Will this be a problem? We got this one because the ipad had just come out and was too new (not an early adopter). Maybe the ipad would be better as you can have the virtual keyboard made bigger? Just a suggestion.

Does he have a worker? Does he qualify for a grant? A free laptop might be available. It's worth asking about. The worst they can say is no, right?

Good luck!

Yeah, I never thought of asking the school to chip in Zero. I'll ask about that, but I'm guessing I might have to go through FSCD and I closed my file with them years ago because they weren't worth the headache. We like our computers at home, so it's something we'd consider getting him anyway. The techie at school, who knows my son, thinks the netbook would be best for him and we both think that having the actual keyboard would be better for him to learn to type on. His muscle disorder is hypotonia which means that his muscle tone is weak. He gets help and assessed by an occupational therapist every year and his teachers have always taken his needs into consideration. On longer written assignments he gets to use a laptop at the school so that his printing doesn't slow him down from being successful at his projects.

Here are the deals that I have found so far:
Samsung N150 Netbook
-Intel Atom N450 processor
-160 GB drive
-6 cell battery
-max 1 GB RAM
-WSVGA LED, non-gloss, back light display
On Sale for $219.99 (down from $259.99)

Samsung N145 Netbook
-Intel Atom N455 processor
-250 GB drive
-6 cell battery
-max 1 GB RAM
-WSVGA LED, non-gloss, back light display
On Sale for $249.99 (down from $279.99)

Toshiba NB305-02P
-Intel Atom N455 processor
-250 GB drive
-6 cell battery
-max 2 GB RAM
-TFT colour LCD with LED sidelight display
On Sale for $249.99 (down from $429.99 because it was a demo model)

Acer AO532H-2806
-Intel Atom N450 processor
-160 GB drive
-6 cell battery
-max 1 GB RAM
-WSVGA Acer CrystalBrite LED-backlit Display
Regular price for $249.99 (it's purple which is his favourite colour)

Other features that I need to consider would be toughness, sleep mode and accessories (webcam, mouse, mic, speaker sound).

My son will use the internet a lot at school and at home. Otherwise, he likes to use his current computer to draw pictures and watch movies.

Thanks for the input so far guys. I appreciate your help for my little guy

Does it have to be a NetBook? You can still find some decent regular sized laptops that are refurbished/recertified under $300, for example:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834200062

A regular sized laptop may be easier to work with, as the keyboards are larger than a Netbook.