Mac for kids

[Fantadstic]

Hi all,
My 9 year old DD's PC has just upped and died (after only 18 months ) so we're in the market to get her a new computer. DH has suggested getting a Mac Mini.

I'm all for it as I love my Mac but may be biased. Does anyone have any opinions as to whether it's a good idea or should we stick with a PC for a schoolchild? As far as I know most of what will be done at school will be Office Programs based which we have here anyway.

Thoughts appreciated. TIA...

[Magnus]

Mini sounds like a great choice. It's more secure (no virus or spamware problems), more reliable, and looks great. If you have monitor, USB keyboard and mouse, you can use those with the mini. You can run WIndows on it if you have to. If you want Office there's Office for Mac, but there's also free alternatives (like NeoOffice and OpenOffice) and there's Apple''s iWork which is a great choice too. Tell us more about what accessories you have to plug in to it and what software you want to run and we can advice further.

[Fantadstic]

Thanks for your speedy reply.

Yes we already have keyboard, mouse and monitor left over from the junked PC. We also have Office:Mac here at home so switching from PC to Mac won't require us to have to buy a whole load of extra stuff to make the switch. If we were to buy a mini we'd be ready to go pretty much as soon as it's out of the box.

I guess my main concerns are:
Will it give her problems switching between a Mac at home and a PC at school, or is she young enough to be able to flip from one to the other without a problem?

Is she likely to obliterate everything from a mini with 'curious fingers'?

With regards to software, it won't be much. Maybe a few educational pieces, Photoshop Elements 4 & PrintShop; both of which I have here already. Apart from that she'll want it for email, surfing and a bit of online gaming.

[Magnus]

Thanks for your speedy reply.

Yes we already have keyboard, mouse and monitor left over from the junked PC. We also have Office:Mac here at home so switching from PC to Mac won't require us to have to buy a whole load of extra stuff to make the switch. If we were to buy a mini we'd be ready to go pretty much as soon as it's out of the box.

I guess my main concerns are:
Will it give her problems switching between a Mac at home and a PC at school, or is she young enough to be able to flip from one to the other without a problem?

Is she likely to obliterate everything from a mini with 'curious fingers'?

With regards to software, it won't be much. Maybe a few educational pieces, Photoshop Elements 4 & PrintShop; both of which I have here already. Apart from that she'll want it for email, surfing and a bit of online gaming.

There shouldn't really be a problem for her switching back and forth. Only problem is really if school requires some special Windows-only software, but then you could run that on the mini in Windows of course.

Also, more and more stuff is going online these days, so if she's working on reports, presentations etc. she could put those in Google Docs online and get access from wherever. She could store files with iDisk (you have to have Mobile Me), Box.net or some other service, she could put her bookmarks in Del.icio.us or use Firefox and sync with FoxMarks, etc.

What you should do on the mini is set her up with a normal user account while you keep the admin rights. Then she cannot install or remove software without the admin password. You can also lock down a lot of the settings on the Mac that way.

[Fantadstic]

What you should do on the mini is set her up with a normal user account while you keep the admin rights. Then she cannot install or remove software without the admin password. You can also lock down a lot of the settings on the Mac that way.

That would remove my biggest concern about her running a Mac of any description, so thumbs up there.

Is there any point shopping around Apple resellers within the UAE or is the price of a mini fixed throughout the country?

Thank you!

[Magnus]

That would remove my biggest concern about her running a Mac of any description, so thumbs up there.

Is there any point shopping around Apple resellers within the UAE or is the price of a mini fixed throughout the country?

Thank you!

Prices are pretty much the same. If you join EMUG you get a discount at a few stores.

[Fantadstic]

Your help and advice is greatly appreciated - thank you so much!

[fangpyre]

Remeber that the Mac is weak when it comes to games.
But those can be run from some of the Windows options.
BootCamp may be necessary for the more intensive games (I doubt they apply here).

You should check out the parental controls Mac offers.
You can limit and control how she goes online, who she contacts, and what apps she has.
A nice feature for this young age is you can limit emails to and from a predefined group.
You can also cc your self on anything coming in or out.
So she can have her own email.
It won't be private, but it will be her's.

I personally think this is a good idea.
You can gradually introduce her to the net without risking the dangers.
You can relinquish those controls as and when she is ready.

The same applies to what music she listens to, what movies she sees, and what programs she runs.

[Fantadstic]

Thanks Fangpyre. Would you say that the Mac gives greater/better options for parental controls than a PC?

With regards to games, I'm not sure it's too much of an issue. She doesn't play with downloaded games, just things from websites such as Bratz, Barbie, CBBC etc - all pretty tame.

YouTube's a different matter though.....

Now I've come on here I'm definitely more of the opinion that the Mini is the way to go - thanks for your help.

[fangpyre]

PCs don't come with parental control out of the box.
I haven't compared it to 3rd part options on the PC, nor do I know what is available as 3rd party on the Mac if any.

I don't have any kids so this is not much of a concern to me.

Both the Mini and the iMac are good options.

What is your concern with YouTube exactly?
I know there is a lot of inappropriate material there for children.
You can block it all together, if thats an option for you.
I don't know of any way that allows access to different parts and blocks others on any platform.