Doing some research, I need your help

[Kbabiasz]

I have an idea im working on and i need some help

I'm curious to know, if you had kids, or had to buy a computer for a kid/s, would you rather spend $300+ for a brand new comp that they could possibly completely destroy, or would you rather spend $50-$100 on a couple year old machine?


Now when i talk about kids having computers i mean for learning experience or just to keep them occupied for a while playing simple games/learning games, NOT for internet access.

PLease give me your input

 

[patrickv]

if i was you i'd get an old pc and get some very decent games or maybe Reflexive arcade ones.
A P4/P3 with 512mb ram will be sufficient enough.
but in the end it really depends on the requirements of the games/educational software to be installed !!

 

[addle_brains]

Older machines that don't run quite fast enough can be frustrating and boring for kids.

 

[porterjw]

Define 'couple year old machine'. 2-3? 6-7? So long as it's in good-working condition and was well-maintained, and has a nice CPU for-the-day, then you should be fine. How old are the kids? It takes a lot less to impress a 5 year old than it does a 10 year old. Any game geared for kids should work perfectly on a few-years-old system. My sisters (8 and 10) use a P4/512MB RAM/AGP for homework, Disney-online, and random kid games and even that system is overkill for them. They could probably get away with a P3 and less RAM even and still not care.

 

[Kbabiasz]

Define 'couple year old machine'. 2-3? 6-7? So long as it's in good-working condition and was well-maintained, and has a nice CPU for-the-day, then you should be fine. How old are the kids? It takes a lot less to impress a 5 year old than it does a 10 year old. Any game geared for kids should work perfectly on a few-years-old system. My sisters (8 and 10) use a P4/512MB RAM/AGP for homework, Disney-online, and random kid games and even that system is overkill for them. They could probably get away with a P3 and less RAM even and still not care.

I would say between 2-6 yrs. And the age group would focus on kids under the age of 13. I would build diff computers to suit diff age groups.

I appreciate the help so far, thanks guys

 

[Platinum]

A computer that is 2 years old is very different from a computer that is 6 years old. I mean... in 2001 Windows XP came out, with minimum requirements of 128mb of ram, 300mhz processor or higher, 1.5gb of free space....

compare that with windows vista... 6 years later.... 512mb at the minimum, 1ghz processor at the minimum, and at least 15gb of free space.

Basically, like it was said before. You need to know what requirements the programs you are installing are. If the games are not demanding on the system, you could probably go with an older one.